We Were Liars by E.Lockhart

We Were Liars

Beautiful, Privileged, Damaged - Liars


This book kept appearing on several Instagram accounts that I follow and both the title and the cover really intrigued me. It has also like Everything Everything been featured on Zoella's Book Club Summer 2016. I rarely read books like this. Even Everything Everything was bit out of my comfort zone. 

I literally finished the book within a couple of hours. I was really intrigued. I had my suspicious the whole time as I read and I could not put it down until the answers were given. Cadence has been injured and she can not remember her accident. It all revolves around her time on her families own island with her cousins: Johnny, Mirren and her friend and love interest, Gat. Her injury is serious and has affected her brain leaving her with crippling migraines and pain. When she is finally allowed on the island again her memories and feelings begin to unravel to reveal the truth amongst the lies.

The pace of the book is quick, helped along a bit by the bizarre style of writing and punctuation. Cady is so ridiculously dramatic. Sometimes I wasn't sure what had genuinely happened to her and what was just her weirdly over the top way of describing her feelings. If you are anything like me you'll get confused about whether she was shot at the start - FYI she wasn't it was just how she felt about something. Some people will find the style of prose unbelievably frustrating and if you are even slightly OCD about punctuation this book might not be for you. I feel the style of writing reflects how Cady is after her accident but maybe that is just me being overly analytical.

The style of writing at least allowed me to finish the book at speed.  Personally I felt that the revelation of the truth was disappointing as it was revealed so abruptly, I was hoping for something less matter of fact. It was a  anti-climactic for me and considering how much Cady dramatises everything I was expecting a bigger reveal. The twist was a little predictable and I didn't really warm to Cady as a character. I was moved by the way Cadence and her family deal with the truth of her accident but at the same time it was not enough to endear me to the characters..  I can see why this has been popular as although a weird writing style it is an easy read for summer.


I initially gave this book 3 stars but on reflection it's more two for me. I'm just not convinced by the characters. .

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