Thursday 16 March 2017

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti

Hawthorn wasn't trying to insert herself into a missing person's investigation. Or maybe she was. But that's only because Lizzie Lovett's disappearance is the one fascinating mystery their sleepy town has ever had. Bad things don't happen to popular girls like Lizzie Lovett, and Hawthorn is convinced she'll turn up at any moment-which means the time for speculation is now.
So Hawthorn comes up with her own theory for Lizzie's disappearance.  A theory way too absurd to take seriously...at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie's life? Like getting a job at the diner where Lizzie worked and hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend. After all, it's not as if he killed her-or did he?
Told with a unique voice that is both hilarious and heart-wrenching, Hawthorn's quest for proof may uncover the greatest truth is within herself. 




Review: There was a lot of hype surrounding this book and sometimes that means that one picks up a book which has been championed by the hype and is somewhat disappointed by what they read. I wasn't hugely disappointed by this one but I wasn't as blown away by it as some people seem to have been.

This book was very easy to get into and was definitely a real page turner in the beginning because of the nature of the missing girl and trying to work out where she was and what had happened the night she disappeared. At the same time, we have Hawthorn's own storyline, her position as an outsider at school, seeing her relationships with her classmates and her family. For me though, the book starts to slow down after this initial rush of action. We get to see Hawthron's take on the disappearance and how her reaction compares to others in the community. But that's all that really happens. Obviously by the time we reach the end of the novel, we get to find out some answers about both girls and the pace definitely picks up again, but there was definitely  slump in the middle in terms of the storyline and the pace for me.

I thought Hawthorn was an interesting character and i could definitely relate aspects of her life back to my own time in high school. I think the main crux of Hawthorn's story is that she is having a bit of an identity crisis, as so many of us are as teenagers and so she sees Lizzie's disappearance as a chance for reinvention herself, but she ends up mirroring a lot of what Lizzie did in an attempt to be liked. There is much deeper forces at play throughout this storyline and I liked the story of Hawthorn's self-discovery much more than I liked the mystery aspect of the book.

There is also a little romance at play here and, of course, I really loved that story. There were some really cute moments and some other moments that were appropriately cringe-worthy given the fact that this is fist love territory. I really like the way the book ended and I was highly satisfied with the way all aspects of the plot wrapped up. This was a good read but unfortunately it didn't live up to the hype!

To get your copy and see for yourself, click here!

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