Will I love We Were Liars?

What makes a good fiction book? For me, it’s staying up way too late in bed because I have to know what happens in the next chapter. We Were Liars was that book.

A wealthy family, a private island, and one summer nobody will talk about. That’s all you get from me. Anything more is a spoiler, and in this book the spoiler matters.

Read it if: you want a story you’ll finish faster than you planned, and you’re fine being tired at work the next day.

Holey baloney.

This book.

I had a feeling I would enjoy it, it's been waiting on my TBR for ages, then I picked up a paperback of it at a tag sale so I jumped it up and OH MAN.

The voice was fantastic, Cady and her split sentences, too many feelings, and perfectly imperfect recollection of reality.

Gat, Johnny, Mirren, and the littles all roving the idyllic island until things are... less idyllic. The aunties, the King. I don't think there was anything about this book that I disliked. Suspenseful, twisty, heartbreaking (even once you… show more.

There's a moment in We Were Liars—anyone who's read it knows exactly which one—where I had to close the book and sit still for a moment.

I trusted Cadence. That was a reader’s mistake and Lockhart's design. The whole story was told in prose that kept splintering into fairy tales, and I followed her through it like a sleepwalker.

When the truth finally surfaced, I opened the Amazon app and bought a physical copy (I was reading it on Kindle) to gift to my partner. 

I think this is my favorite novel about grief of all time.

I’ve read it more than once; I’ve studied its lines and have it on my ‘best books’ shelf at home. I love how E. Lockhart made each character so their own; yet fit them all together perfectly. I could relate to this story of cousins as I’m close to my own cousins and write about this strong bond myself.

I also fell in love with the perfect setting of this book—an island that becomes one extended family’s playground, with all its rituals and special spots. This is a… show more.

It completely wrecked me in the best way. I thought I knew what kind of story it was—and then it shattered me. The writing is haunting and poetic, and the twist left me sitting in stunned silence. It's the kind of book you keep thinking about long after you've finished it.

I had to include the OG twisty friendship story on this list. Even though I read this novel a decade ago, that final twist stays with me. However, the twist wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t been invested in the relationships.

What really struck me is that the “friends,” in this case, are actually cousins. As someone who considers my cousins to be my best friends, this was the aspect of the novel that resonated the most with me. Also, reading about a vacation home near Martha’s Vineyard didn’t hurt matters.

E. Lockhart's book is a really stunning blend of tragedy and mystery, set against the backdrop of a seemingly perfect, affluent family.

The story revolves around Cadence Sinclair, a young woman who spends her summers on her family's private island. After suffering a traumatic head injury, she struggles with amnesia and is desperate to piece together what happened during the summer of her accident.

The narrative is both haunting and beautifully poetic. It makes the shocking truths that slowly unravel feel even more impactful. What I love most about this book is its deep dive into themes of family, privilege,… show more.

I wasn’t sure what to think of this novel. I picked it up in a bookstore after reading the back cover with no recommendations from anyone. I should do that more often.

This book pulled me in quickly with its well-crafted mystery and buildup of suspense. I thought I knew what was happening, who to suspect, who to love, and who to despise. I didn’t want to put it down. Then, in the end, the author turned everything upside down and broke my heart.

It left me questioning the validity of my perceptions and my own reality for a long… show more.

This novel is told in first-person, following the story of Cadence, who suffers an event that leaves her with scattered memories of her fifteenth summer at her family’s prized island.

My daughter loved we were liars because of the mystery, family, and friend relationships, and plot twists. She told me that it fills its readers with contentment and sadness. Lockhart paints such a scene that she felt as though she was watching the story unfold before her. 

I found this book interesting because life was so different from anything I had ever experienced. 

E. Lockhart spun a tale of how bonds are built among children. How to a child it is the parents who build the social walls. How it doesn’t matter what material your clothes are woven from, lies are lies. Privilege doesn’t mean anything when a crime is committed, or a marriage is destroyed.

Children are dragged around the dirt of the secrets and soon become their own secrets and lies. Every turn was a building block of different social aspects and the lives it… show more.