We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

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.

-from Goodreads

Review (with minor spoilers):

I loved this book. Loved. It. So. Much. 

I finished this book in one sitting. It’s not super long, about 240 pages. The way it is written is poetic and beautiful. I found it a bit confusing at first, but I adjusted quickly. Once you really start to get into the story: HOLD ON TIGHT, IT’S A WILD RIDE. And you will feel emotionally drained by the end.

That’s the best kind of book, isn’t it? When you finish it and you are like, “Well, now what do I do?” because you feel like you just went on this huge adventure in this character’s life in just a matter of a few hours and now you’re back in reality and disoriented and confused – in a good way. Oh boy. So good.

We Were Liars is told to us through the character Cadence’s perspective, but it’s not just about her. It’s about her entire family. The story itself is told in riddles and fairy tale like stories that foreshadow the ending. It is a mystery, romantic, psychological YA novel – and it also holds some supernatural and horror elements. There’s a lot going on within those 240 pages, let me tell you!

It follows Cadence and her super rich and complicated family. Every summer they go to a private island where each individual family within that large family has their own home (there’s a family tree on one of the first pages – always a good sign that detail has gone into the story). Their life seems perfect, but it is far from that, especially when tragedy strikes.

The characters are so likeable and relatable, although I was reminded at times of Gossip Girl with the lifestyle and drama they have. It was a nice kind of drama though: the kind that is addicting to read about, making you read quicker and snap at anyone who interrupts you.

I don’t want to spoil anything, although I would love to hear other people’s opinions on the ending: put a spoiler warning at the beginning of your comment if you want to discuss it with me. Also, for those you are wanting to read this book – AVOID SPOILERS AT ALL COSTS. It will affect how you perceive the climax of the story. At least, it would have for me because the entire book I was making my own speculations as to what the heck was going to happen next and I was right sometimes and way off other times – but it was fun to guess like that!

There is a lot of romance in this book and heart-breaking emotion as well. (I love everything about this book. I cannot sing praises loud enough for it. Read it! ALL OF YOU! NOW!)

If you like fast-paced psychological, mystery, and romance YA novels with unique writing styles (there’s a mix of poetry, frame narrative, and just regular first-person narrative throughout this book), then you will like this book!

Overall, I would rate We Were Liars by E. Lockhart 5/5 stars!