The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

by Chelsea Sedoti

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I received this book for free from NetGalley, courtesy of SOURCEBOOKS Fire in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This review was first published on Paging Serenity.

Narrated by its main character, Hawthorn, a high school senior, The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett is a story about self-discovery and the power of assumptions. A lesson not only about the self, but on the facades people put on and the masks we wear.

I have mixed feelings about The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett and most of them stem from Hawthorn. She’s just a… quirky and naive character. Her maturity and imagination was hard to believe given her age. What high school senior believes in the existence of mythical creatures (when you’re not reading, of course)? My realist mind could not cope with Hawthorn’s imagination and naivety. There were too many instances where I almost stopped reading the book because of the extremely high level of second-hand embarrassment and face palming that she caused.

Still, despite her flaws, Hawthorn’s quirkiness was kind of endearing at times and she did have her redeeming moments. There were times when I was close to dnfing, but she pulled through and kept me interested (and somewhat invested, tbh) in her story.

Although Hawthorn did a good job reeling me in when I thought about quitting, it was the moral of the story that really convinced me to push on through. I think the lesson The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett tells, the lesson on self-discovery, mental illness, stereotyping, and facades, is incredibly important for everyone to learn. The lesson Hawthorn learns is more relatable than Hawthorn herself. I found the plot kind of stagnant but it was simply the messenger. The message was far more important and worth putting up with the roller coaster ride (not in a good way) the messenger took you on.

So overall, Hawthorn wasn’t too bad and neither was the plot. They didn’t kill me. What killed me was the romance. Oh. Dear. The romance. Let’s just say I could do without it. I found it inappropriate and unnecessary. There were other ways to achieve the same outcome.

In conclusion, The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett was an okay read. I don’t regret reading it, but it is definitely not a book I would read again. Most of the time Hawthorn was a bit hard to connect to, with all the second-hand embarrassment and “seriously????” moments that she caused. But she did have her redeeming moments that kept me reading. The lesson of the story is an important one and it sort of compensated for the poor, but relatable plot (this is definitely more a character driven novel). That being said, I don’t think anything could compensate for the romance that I was not at all a fan of.