We Were Liars by E. Lockhart | Book Review

RATING: Captivating, Heartbreaking Stand-Alone! (4) // AMAZON

PAGES: 225 PAGES | PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

FORMAT: hardcover | SOURCE: bought | AGE GROUP: Young Adult

GOODREADS SUMMARY

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
 
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

4

I remember reading the synopsis of We Were Liars and instantly wanting a copy in my hands to devour. From the very beginning, We Were Liars had an air of mystery to itself and I just had to know what lay behind that curtain of lies & secrets.

We are introduced to the Sinclair family – beautiful, rich, and simply perfect. And, every summer the beautiful Sinclair family goes to Beechwood Island. We follow the story through the POV of Cadence Sinclair or Cady to the Liars. She’s been going to Beechwood Island for the past 15 years. But, when she is 8, Gat, an outsider, comes to the island. Soon Beechwood Island is filled with mischief from the 4 Liars – Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, & Gat. Then, the accident happens during summer 15 and Cadence is not the same. Her blonde hair has been dyed black, she is unhealthily thin, she is plagued by awful headaches, and some of her memory from summer 15 is missing. She misses summer 16 at Beechwood Island to travel Europe with her divorced dad and spends most of it in misery wishing to be with her Liars. But, summer 17 she returns to Beechwood Island determined to regain her lost memories and figure out the secret everyone refuses to tell her.

Besides the amazing mystery & suspense throughout We Were Liars, I was captivated by E. Lockhart’s beautiful & simplistic style of writing. Her writing had a haunting effect, always leaving you wanting more & more. It almost felt like I was reading poetry. These are some lines in We Were Liars that really stood out to me:

“Johnny, he is bounce, effort and snark” (p. 8)

“Mirren, she is sugar, curiosity, and rain” (p. 8)

“[Gat] was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee.” (p. 10)

Not only is We Were Liars filled with intrigue & questions without answers, but it is a story about love & self discovery. I had a love-hate relationship with Cady & Gat. They were absolutely adorable together, but the moments when they were trying to act like just friends killed me. I mean they both loved each other, so get over it & be happy together. And, at times, Gat could really got on my nerves. But in the end I was rooting for them. Watching Cady’s growth throughout the novel was really heartwarming because it felt very real. Cady was struggling with some serious baggage and it was interesting to watch her recovery from her accident. It allowed her to learn so much about what kind of person she had been and what kind of person she wants to become. And, you can take away several lessons from the multiple mistakes of the “perfect” Sinclair family.

We Were Liars had it all. Mystery, love, suspense, friendship, family, self-discovery, anguish, humour, surprises, tear-worthy moments, and the classic case of memory loss. It was a captivating read I did NOT want to put down and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I never saw the ending coming (if you did please tell me in the comments below) which definitely made the book even better. I would without a doubt recommend We Were Liars to fans of mystery, suspense, and lyrical writing. Also, if you’re ever in the mood for a book that will tug at your heart strings & take you on an emotional roller coaster, I would definitely recommend picking up We Were Liars. It’s a quick read that will break your heart!

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