Review: "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart

“We Were Liars” by E. Lockhart is one of those books where you want to kick yourself for not reading it sooner.

This book has been resting on my shelf, waiting to be read, for longer than I’d care to admit. I’ve heard it was good time and again, but as a mood reader, it just never felt like the right time.

Well, I saw a trailer for the upcoming Amazon Prime series based on the book, and with how well they did The Summer I Turned Pretty, I knew I was going to want to check it out in June.

Thus, here we are. In short — I am so glad I finally picked this one up. In fact, it was a 5-star read for me.

As always, I am going to try my best to keep this review spoiler-free, which is hard with this one because I want to discuss the ending so bad. If you’ve read it, feel free to message me! I know I’m a bit late to the party, but wow — I did not see that coming.

The book, which follows protagonist Cadence Easton, is broken into five parts that help to shape the plot and give you important details and back story.

Cadence, nearly 18, is part of a large, wealthy family who spends every summer vacationing off of Beachwood Island, a private island where members of her family have lived for generations.

Each summer, Cadence looks forward to spending time with her two cousins, Johnny and Mirren, but especially with Gat Patil — who she is hopelessly in love with. While not a member of the family, Gat comes to the island every summer with his uncle Ed, who is dating Johnny’s mother, Carrie.

Gat is from New York and is unlike the rest of the group. He has a way of fitting in with the “Liars” but not within their world. His motto is, “Do not accept an evil you can change.” He views the world differently, wanting to understand things on a deeper level — always thinking, always curious.

I love the way the author describes each character in this book so lyrically. For Gat, she says: “He is contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee.”

Fun fact: This is one of the first books in a while where I had to break out the sticky tabs because her prose is just so beautiful in certain places that I wanted to be able to go back and revisit it.

While never really explained, Cadence often refers to herself, Johnny, Mirren and Gat as the “Liars,” hence the book title.

After getting through the first part of the book, you learn that there was some sort of accident that took place in Beachwood Island in summer fifteen.

As a result, Cadence suffers amnesia and excruciating migraines that have truly changed her life. She cannot remember the accident and no one will tell her what happened — for fear of making her symptoms worse.

You spend the rest of the book getting little glimpses into what happened as Cadence starts to slowly regain her memories and piece things together.

That is all I can really say about the plot as I don’t want to give anything away. This was a book that I was really happy to have gone into blindly. It made the reading experience that much better and the ending truly shocked me.

This book takes you on a rollercoaster of all the emotions through Cadence’s POV: nostalgia, joy, happiness, love, heartbreak, sadness, anger, regret. It reminded me of what it felt like to be a young adult navigating the world and figuring out just who you want to be in it, while also adding in the complexities of experiencing your first big love.

I cried at the end for multiple reasons.

I highly recommend this one if you’re looking for a book that will give you all the feels.

While it wasn’t as fast-paced as some of the books I typically love, it pulled me in from the start and the writing was just so poetic. My favorite type of books are the ones that make me pause and say, “Wow,” enticing me to reread the passage again. This book did that for me in several places.

Here are a few parts that I marked in my copy (I will avoid the ones toward the end of the book as to not spoil anything):

• “He is so beautiful. So Gat. I know the arc of his lower lip, the strength in his shoulders. The way he half tucks his shirt into his jeans, the way his shoes are worn down at the heel, the way he touches that scar on his eyebrow without realizing he’s doing it.”

  
  

• "Someone once wrote that a novel should deliver a series of astonishments. I get the same thing spending an hour with you.

  
  

• “Better than chocolate, being with you last night. Silly me, I thought that nothing was better than chocolate. In a profound, symbolic gesture, I am giving you this bar of Vosges I got when we all went to Edgartown. You can eat it or just sit next to it and feel superior.”

  
  

• “Our kiss was electric and soft, and tentative and certain, terrifying and exactly right. I felt the love rush from me to Gat and from Gat to me. We were warm and shivering, and young and ancient, and alive.”

Purchase "We Were Liars" here: https://tinyurl.com/yzdscrkv