This book is one that has lingered with me long after finishing it and I have just ordered a copy for my sister for Christmas - high recommendation indeed. While it didn't me long to suspect that not everything was as it first appeared (clue in the title also!), and I played out many different predictions as I kept reading, when the punch came, it was both unexpected and hard. As a British child who grew up on the Sweet Valley High books and the all-American dream, this book had enough of that nostalgic 'rich American kids at Martha's Vineyard for a summer of indulgence, privilege, and freedom' vibe to hook me in quickly, but the lingering 'who/what is real here?' question that bounced along with me as I turned the pages lifted it far above that teenage high school story and into ghost/thriller/suspense and more. I finished this book a few weeks ago, but the characters and the reveal are still haunting me (no pun intended.) An excellent read, and firmly on my 'will read again' pile.
I'd recommend this as an easy crossover from the adult market into YA.

This story is set in Martha's Vineyard, around a wealthy family with various teenagers. It goes back and forth in a very clever way and I wasn't at all prepared for the final dénouement. I thought it was very well written and gripping.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I thought it was excellent and am keen to read the sequel.

I really enjoyed this book, quite a few twists and turns, loved the characters, and the story line.... It kept me rading right to the end and i enjoyed the way it ended also

i read this book a while ago and im currently reading the sequel.
Its a great book, the perspectives can be confusing with there being so many characters, but don't let it put you off.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this book as I’ve seen a range of feedback, some of which had been hit or miss. I ended up really enjoying it! I found it to be quite fast paced although it took a little while to get into it. I particularly enjoyed the twist and didn’t see it coming! Although this is classed as a YA book, it could easily be an adult book as well.

I enjoyed this book. The plot was intriguing and kept me interested so I read this very quickly. However, I didn’t like the characters.and found it quite tedious at times because of this.

We Were Liars is such a tough book to review because, in all honesty, I wasn’t really sure I was enjoying it, it’s not that it’s a bad book but I guess I just didn’t really see where it was going I was starting to wonder if anything was going to happen. I kept reading because whilst I didn’t read any reviews before I picked it up I knew that it had done very well and had been thought of really favourably, and then all of a sudden I really started to connect with it for the last 40% of the story.

The writing style is an interesting choice, to me, a lot of it read like a literary fiction book that thinks too highly of itself and decided to steal some structure from a poetry book, it’s definitely not a style that I have ever come across in YA before and I’m not sure it worked but that is just my opinion. It has short and snappy chapters which I did like and includes some fairytale verses, which I wasn’t convinced of the relevance of but I actually enjoyed the reprieve from the main narrative because I felt like I was waiting for some form of plot to materialise.

I didn’t really feel connected to any of the characters, we don’t really get the chance to deep dive into their relationships and they all feel very surface. Now that could have been a choice by the author because the Sinclairs are supposed to be an elite family so they are greedy and manipulative and it probably isn’t easy to form close relationships in that kind of atmosphere but I feel like it would have added a bit more depth to the story and helped to get me invested in the story a lot sooner. I also really didn’t understand why they called themselves the liars, it didn’t make sense.

As the book turns toward Cady trying to figure out what happened during summer fifteen, that’s when things started to actually become interesting for me. I can’t really say much about what happens after 60% when it does pick up because there is nothing that can be said that won’t spoil it for anyone that hasn’t read it. However, it was very surprising and I got a bit emotional, which I definitely did not expect, and even though I didn’t feel invested in the characters at the start of the book they certainly stayed with me for a bit more than I thought they would.

Strangely enough, even though this isn’t a glowing review, there is something about this story that I do think a lot of people will like and find fascinating, plus it isn’t a very long book so it is worth a read.

A much hyped book and a perennial fave on Tiktok, We Were Liars is a YA novel that explores - in very superficial detail - privilege, class, prejudice, race and teenage hormones. There is no character development - everyone is a cardboard cutout, one dimensional and bland.

The writing style is odd - longer sentences broken up with
short ones
for dramatic effect
to ramp up the tension
but this just made me laugh, it was a bit contrived.

I think knowing there’s a big twist coming probably takes some of the enjoyment out of the book and it’s not that hard to predict what the twist is. I can imagine though being an early reader of this book and loving how the story plays out. Alas, it’s too far gone now in the annals of hype to come at this book fresh.

This is the sort of novel I would have enjoyed as a teenager and I can see the appeal for a younger audience. I’ll leave it at that.

I was delighted to be approved for this book given its sequel , "Family of Liars" is released this Summer.

The Sinclair family indulge a wealthy and privileged life . Beautiful and carefree they spend their summers on a secluded private island. The story is told through the eyes of Cadence a young teenager who has a terrible accident one night which has devastating consequences causing her months of memory loss and migranes.
She revisits the island trying to piece together the events of that night.

It s a relatively short book but it felt longer as I didn't connect with any of the characters. It felt like it could be more suited to a YA Mystery audience who enjoy a family drama.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
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We Were Liars (2014) takes place on a private, (very rich, white-) family-owned island off the coast of Massachusetts. It tells the story of Cadence (17), who returns to the island whilst recovering from an accident that happened on the island two years previously.
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Cadence has spent her summers, bar the previous one, on the island with her cousins, Mirren and Johnny, and Johnny’s friend Gat, collectively known as The Liars. This summer, Summer 17, she wants to find answers as to what happened in Summer 15, but how much will The Liars tell her and how much will she believe?
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We Were Liars was one of the first YA novels I read as an adult and I decided to reread it before the prequel, Family of Liars, was published on 4th May 2022.
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I remember enjoying it at the time and a few years (and a couple of kids) later I’d forgotten / mixed up the ending so it was like reading it for the first time again.
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First of all, there is a map AND a family tree at the start of the book! Love that. It really sets the scene; think Gilmore Girls x The Affair. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the book. On the one hand it’s dark - Cadence is a troubled young woman and her family are proof that money doesn’t buy happiness - but on the other hand there are good days where The Liars are having the perfect summer, reading, swimming, boating, and eating ’s’mores.
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It would be a great book to read in secondary school or with a book club as there is plenty to discuss - the writing style, the King Lear references and the inclusion of fairytales, and issues like such as privilege and racism.
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We Were Liars seems to really divide opinion, with almost every second review on Goodreads being either one-star or five-stars! For me, it was a four star read. If you’ve read it, what did you think?
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*Thanks to the publishers @hotkeybooks and @bonnierbooks for the digital copy of We Were Liars via @netgalley*
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#WeWereLiars #FamilyofLiars #NetGalley #NetGalleyShelfDestruction #YoungAdult #YAfiction #PsychologicalThriller

Cadence Sinclair Eastman can't remember all the events from Summer Fifteen on Beechwood, the Sinclair Family's private island, where she and her incredibly privilidged family holiday, each summer. She was found, hypothermic, on the tiny beach, with no memory of how she got there and has been plagued with unbearable, life altering migraines ever since. She eventually returns to the island and, with the help of her three fellow "Liars"; Johnny, Mirren and Gat, she starts to remember....

This is well paced mystery, with a great twist that I unfortunately guessed early on. That didn't take away from my enjoyment of it. My only criticism is that a lot of the characters weren't fully fleshed out. That may have to do with the terse style of writing and was probably echoing the narrator's frame of mind. It's apparent from the get go that Cadence is an unreliable narrator and whomst among us doesn't love an unreliable narrator?!

This was made available again on NetGalley, prior to the release of the prequel, Family of Liars, in May of this year. It was originally published in 2014. I'll definitely read the prequel and see what made the rest of this awful family tick.

Thanks to the author, @netgalley and the publisher for the e-copy. As always, this is an honest review.

Intriguing premise but guessed the 'twist' quite early on. I did enjoy the writing style and would read more by the author and am going to pick up the prequel to read.

This is the first sequel of this series and it was interesting. Looking forwards to reading the next book.

Candice and her mother live in Vermont and every summer the whole family get together on the Sinclair island. Two Aunts and six cousins. Each aunt has their own house on the island , but there are many arguments over the island and the valuables.

It’s an easy read with a twist to the ending.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a nice shirt read which suited me down to the ground. I found the writing really quite poetic and the twist was so unexpected!

4.5⭐️

I wasn't sure about this given the hype and some of the comments but I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down.
It reminded me a lot of some of the Sweet Valley type family sagas I read as a teen and I just loved the escapism and feeling like you were there on the Island with them experiencing it all.
There were a lot of characters to keep up with but I loved all the family drama.
I enjoyed Cadence as a narrator and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing, I had a bit of an idea but I was still utterly devastated at the end
Can't wait for the prequel
My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for my eARC in return for my honest review.

We were liars

I received an advance review copy for free via netgalley during promotion for the prequel, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read it.

This book made me feel like cadence, in the sense that I have a headache that just will not go away. The confusion is strong with this one.

I found the imagery in this book a little confusing. I couldn't quite tell if it was actually happening or just a character using a visceral metaphor. Especially the one early on about bleeding wrists - I'm still not sure if she meant literally or not. Does she mean crying, I think she does but also maybe not.

I cant even write an articulate review because I really am just confused and a little disappointed because this book is so raved about and I just don't think its for me.

2 stars from me for this one, I don't necessarily think it's a bad book but it's not something I enjoyed personally.

So I'd been planning on rating this book at two stars for at least sixty percent of it, but after that absolutely incredible plot twist that I NEVER saw coming, I had to rate at four. After much deliberation, I've decided to average out at three.

Whilst reading the first half of this book I was mildly curious to find out what was going on, but I wasn't really that engaged with the story. I was approved for a netgalley copy of this book, and I found the formatting very difficult to read. Everything felt a bit chaotic and unlinked, which I now think was partially due to the copy I had, but now knowing the ending of the story I realise was probably intentional.

Overall I liked the premise of this book, and love the concept even more having completed. My advice if you're reading this for the first time is to keep going! It's not too long a story, and whilst it may not read amazingly at first, when you finally get to the plot reveal it should all make a lot more sense

We Were Liars was not what I expected it to be and at the start I just wasn’t sure what the story was doing. Then it caught me with a few intriguing themes so I persevered. The main protagonist, told entirely from her perspective, appeared to have had some kind of serious accident but it all felt off - something wasn’t adding up and a few things were going through my mind. I didn’t actually work it out until right at the end when the terrible circumstances were revealed. I liked that I wasn’t sure, and that the author led us to believe there could have been other things happen, in fact anything except the truth! But once again I feel like those things could have been made so much more of. In fairness this was off-set by the fact the book wasn’t very long and was told in short sharp accounts so there wasn’t time to dwell on the lack of details. I’d say this is an average book, easy to read, fairly compelling, enough to keep me occupied today!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this ARC.

Everyone made a very big deal about this book so I felt compelled to read it. I struggled with both the premise and the author's writing. It was not for me.
The story itself was interesting and I can understand the appeal, however I am not certain I would have read it if it had not been so popular during the recent years.
Personally would not recommend.

This was a great read
Perfect summer holiday book although you may get very distracted and may not want to put it down
Superbly written and I cannot wait for the sequel