We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars
Written by E. Lockhart 
Contemporary, Mystery
Expected publication August 1st 2014
240 Pages
Thank you to Allen and Unwin
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RATING ★★★
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 that will leave you reeling. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
The Sinclairs are a wealthy family, they spend their summers frolicking on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts with their grandfather. Harris Sinclair purchased the island after making his fortune as a young man, inheriting houses and land, ensuring his three daughters have never wanted for anything. But with money, comes a sense of social responsibility, which the eldest grandchild Cadence had never thought about, until now.

The Sinclairs are the white, all American family, Democrats, manipulative and entitled. Her grandparents have been bringing their three daughters to the island every summer since Cady could remember. Through births, divorces and lies. Now it's Cady and her two cousins Johnny and Mirren, along with Gat, the Nephew of her Aunt Carrie's partner. The teens, along with their mothers, will carry on the legacy of returning to Beechwood each year. They leave their lives behind, because the Island is an escape. Cady begun to see Gat as something more. They understood one another, the wealthy Sinclair girl and the outsider, equals and falling in love... Until the accident.

Now Cady is seventeen and returns to the Island in the hope of remembering...

MY THOUGHTS

I simply can't review We Were Liars coherently, it was phenomenal. From the very first page, it grabbed my attention and unraveled a storyline that left me in tears, shaking and on the verge of a literature breakdown. We Were Liars is the perfect example why I read young adult, how a novel with so few pages can have an incredible impact on the reader. I wondered if this would be just another heavily recommended book that would fall flat, but he writing was impeccable, short sharp sentences intended to draw you into the world of the Sinclairs. Personally I absolutely adored it. It gave me a sense of arrogance that came with the Sinclair name and not so much as telling a story, but stating facts.

I knew very little about the actual storyline and tried to remain as oblivious as possible, which only added to the intensity and left me on the verge of a manic hysteria. I read long into the night and with only a small few pages to go, I was pacing the house.

Forgive me, it's been two weeks since I had the privilege of unraveling We Were Liars, and my state of mind can still only be described as...

22 comments

  1. This is the second positive review for it that I have seen today! :D Is this a sign??? That I should pick it up? I do want to.. but I am so not in the mood for reads that will break my heart and I get the feeling this will be emotional.. really emotional.. especially if I end up liking it.

    Lovely review, Kelly!! :)

    Rashika @ The Social Potato

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    1. Yes, you DO want to pick it up. It's brilliant. Simply the best book I've read this year. The intrigue and suspense lured me in and blew me away. There needs to be a support group for this one.

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  2. This just didn't work out for me. I don't know if it was my mood, or the writing just caught me off guard. I felt like I was reading bad poetry. I just felt disconnected with Cadence. Still, a lot of people did love this book.


    ~ Dre @ Sporadic Reads

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    1. The style of writing varies from almost verse like, into average chapters. I completely agree, I don't think it'll be for everyone. I love the short and choppy sentences though, it's unique and it drew me in quicker than I'd thought it would.

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  3. Originally gave this one 4 stars, but now I'm leaning towards 3.5 or even 3. I did love the ending, it was definitely a unexpected packed one hell of a emotional punch. Totally didn't see it coming, it was unpredictable to say the least.

    Looking things over now, I see that despite the amazing ending and Gat that I did have issues with this story. I had so much trouble with Cadence, I felt distant from her character. I'm unsure why but I also couldn't connect with Cadence, her voice often felt hollow and detached. I also had issues with the writing. It felt like purple prose to me, I found myself annoyed at the fragmented sentence style. For me it interrupted the flow of the writing, I found it choppy. I can see how this can be poetic and work for others but it just didn't work for me. I never really could get into the writing style and it made this book seem longer than it really was.

    So glad that this one worked so well for you (: Great review, as always!

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    1. Completely agree Larissa, it was by no means perfect. I had issues with the lack of emotion from.the main characters, especially Cady early on. She seemed quite wooden at times, but I put that down to keeping the style of writing less involved and giving it a more factional feel, then the reader is even more unsuspecting. The emotion and intensity floored me, I think I may have been experiencing a form of book panic at one point.

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  4. I absolutely loved this book as well Kelly! <3 The writing was absolutely beautiful, and I loved the mystery aspect. And oh my gosh! That ending! *cries* Thanks for sharing lovely, and, as always, BRILLIANT review! <3

    ~ Zoe @ The Infinite To-Read Shelf

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    1. Thanks Zoe. I still can't get over it. It was probably the biggest emotional twist I've experienced with young adult so far. Just incredible.

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  5. I love your review. You described the book perfectly without actually giving anything away. Yep, I was definitely crying at the end too. I think a lot of people actually didn't like the writing style, but I guess it goes both ways. I loved it, and everything about this novel. Definitely shows why we read YA :)

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    1. Couldn't have said it better myself Gina. I actually adored the style of writing, how to changed from verse to chapters, it made more of an impact on the storyline how how I was able to connect.

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  6. That gif. THAT GIF. Well you just summed it all up for me too. And woot woot! You wrote a good and proper review! I WAS NOT BRAVE ENOUGH. *huddles in shadows* I had to cheat with just a list of blather.
    This is totally one of my favourites of the year. Because I adore having my feels shredded.

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    1. Mine too, it was spectacular. I love books that take us by surprise and it's incredibly hard to review without giving anything away. It took days for me to put together something semi coherent, and even then I buggered it up.

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  7. That is absolute perfect gif usage right there, Kelly.

    And you know I absolutely agree with everything you said!

    We Were Liars is such a brilliant novel and I actually feel kind of privileged to have been able to read it.

    Like you, I was up late into the night finishing it because I simply had to know how everything was going to turn out. And it did not disappoint. Not in the slightest.

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    1. I just adored it, but it left me so empty and even now, I just can't get into anything. I keep wanting to find books just as brilliant. I've had to revert back to classics, or I'll be comparing everything to how phenomenal this one was.

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  8. Such a great review, Kelly! I'm so glad this one worked for you! While the ending surprised me and rendered me completely speechless, I decided to rate this book a 3.5 as I felt distanced from Cadence and didn't enjoy the majority the novel just as much as I was expecting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :)

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    1. Oh no, so sorry you couldn't connect with this one more, I think it's one of those books that'll divide most readers. It was a solid three star read for me, until the final quarter. It blew me away completely.

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  9. I badly need to start this book and also Dangerous Girls. Everyone's raving about it, my curiosity is almost exploding! Lol.

    Wait, wow, literature breakdown!!! Seriously this book made it??? Now, I am really really intrigued!

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    1. Dangerous Girls is another one I'm looking forward to reading as well. This one is just incredible, I can't wait to see what you think of it Abby.

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  10. Oooh, you did really well with your review Kelly, it's fascinating seeing them all come out now and seeing how everyone approaches it! It definitely left a lasting impression with the stuff that happened in the book, just wow.

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    1. Thanks Jeann, gosh it was a killer to try to write something coherant about. I'm surprised with writing my reviews in the early mornings, that I didn't accident blurt something out.

      I'm still at that wow stage, I don't think it ever leaves you with this one.

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  11. Wow. This must have been some book. The speechlessness is a testament enough. I totally understand that feeling! It's really hard to figure out your thoughts when a book just blew you away. Awesome review, Kelly. I'm really looking forward to this one.

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    1. Francine, it was phenomenal. There are no words. No. Words. I can't wait to see what you think of it and hope you love it as much as I have.

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