"The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett" by Chelsea Sedoti

I received an advanced copy of this title from Netgalley for review. The official release date of the book was January 3, 2017. This is a YA contemporary novel about a teenage girl Hawthorn who becomes obsessed with Lizzie Lovett when the latter disappears in the woods. Lizzie is three years older than Hawthorn and they never really knew each other. But Lizzie was the homecoming queen, the most popular girl in high school, the captain of the cheer-leading squad, the one everyone loved and secretly envied. So Hawthorn felt like she really knew Lizzie.

I have mixed feelings about this book: there were some things that I really liked and some that I did not care for.  For one, Hawthorn was a bit too self-absorbed for my taste and I also did not understand why she kept thinking of herself as weird and loser. It's like she had this distorted view of reality: there was "them - the popular kids who go to parties and have friends" and then there is her - the loser, the weirdo, the only person who never goes to parties. Contrary to her worldview, we learn that she does in fact have a close friend Emily, a loving brother and parents, and throughout the book, she also demonstrates that she is quite capable of making other friends. So you can't even say that she has no social skills It is as if she is determined to be miserable and hate the high school experience no matter what. I thought the romance in the book was on the creepy side, and her entire theory of how Lizzie disappeared was extremely far-fetched, juvenile, and frankly cringe-worthy at times.

What I did like about the book is how intense Hawthorn is. She, as her brother puts it, "takes everything too far."  She gets completely obsessed with Lizzie's life to the point of getting her job and becoming friends with her boyfriend (the creepy side of her obsession). But she also feels and grieves so intensely, I am not sure I am able to ever be this passionate about anything in life. So even though I could not relate to her obsessive thoughts, I thought the author was able to do a good job showing to us the main character's internal world.  I also liked that Hawthorn learned from these experience and realized that everyone has difficulties. No one's life is perfect or as glamorous as it might seem from the outside. All of us are unique and weird, and sometimes we feel like losers and sometimes we are intensely happy. I also appreciated the dynamic with her brother. I thought it was well and realistically written.

So overall, I rated the book at 3 out of 5 stars.  I liked the fact that Hawthorn grew and learned as a result of this experience, but I could not get on board with some of the creepier and far-fetched portions of the plot.