1.5*
This... did not work for me. I wanted it to, and I tried for it to, even after I knew I should probably just give up. But I am bad at giving up, so I persevered. Mistake? Probably, but I can live with it. It wasn't all bad or anything, but... I was hard pressed to find things I enjoyed.
Things I Enjoyed:
- I did really want to know what happened to Lizzie Lovett. I knew that Hawthorn's theories were ridiculous, but I still needed to know where Lizzie ended up, what went on in her life, etc.
- Hawthorn did end up having a bit of character growth, so that was a plus. Hawthorn also was written in a fun way so that her thoughts were humorous, when they didn't annoy me. Oh, and there are some people who come to her house, they are also big wins. They might have been the reason I kept reading? I do think that the author has a ton of potential, as I did enjoy the writing- just not the story.
What Went Wrong:
- Hawthorn is... I don't even know where to begin with this girl. She's supposed to be 17, but she's acting 7, at best sometimes. She's got this fixation with Lizzie, who she spoke to once for like 33 seconds. I get being curious and such, but Hawthorn is straight up obsessed. I mean, just in the synopsis it tells you that she basically takes over Lizzie's life, and that is not normal. And she thinks her really out-there theory about Lizzie is legit. She's not just like "oh, haha, I think X happened" as a joke... she is for real thinking things that even my five year old would roll her eyes at. If you must know, spoiler tags. She thinks Lizzie has turned into a werewolf. An actual werewolf. Again, not a joke, she's actually scouting places in full moons for were-people.
- Seriously, why is everyone so obsessed with Lizzie Lovett? It doesn't make any sense, and no one gives me any evidence to suggest why. She's spoken to no one in their town for eons, and sure I can understand searching for her and such, obviously she is a human being who is missing, but the strange obsession, especially on Hawthorn's part baffled me.
- Hawthorn's family wasn't great to her. Granted, she's tough to take, but man, they let her run about doing all kinds of things that my parents would probably not let me do still, and I am twice her age. I liked that eventually her relationship with her brother is explored a bit more but... her parents need to step it up.
- The ship was... creepy. Look, there are times when an age difference is not a big deal. For example, if I date someone eight years older or younger than me, no one cares, and you know why? We'd all be consenting adults. Spoiler! Hawthorn is not a consenting adult, and yet she's scampering around town with Lizzie's 25 year old boyfriend. Again, can someone please page mom and dad? I could not get on board with this, even though Enzo was every damn bit as immature as Hawthorn, he was still 25 and his girlfriend went missing in the woods. While he was alone with her. Red flags much? I felt like I needed to call CPS on some fictional characters.
- I was bored. Honestly, I started not to care what happened to Lizzie Lovett, and was kind of tempted a few times to just jump to the end to see what happened and be done with it.
Bottom Line: I really wanted to love this one, but I am afraid I did not. Between Hawthorn's unlikability, and some of the really outlandish plot points, I just couldn't get into it.
*Copy provided for review