Review: WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We are the Liars.
We are beautiful, privileged and live a life of carefree luxury.
We are cracked and broken.
A story of love and romance.
A tale of tragedy.
Which are lies?
Which is truth?

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I’ve heard so much about We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and it’s one of those books where I was almost nervous to read it because I didn’t think it could live up to my now high expectations of it. But it did, and it surpassed them.

This is a dark, twisty contemporary story about friendship, forbidden love, dark secrets, guilt, blame, and a family that is both loving and toxic. It’s skilfully written and kept me eagerly turning the pages.

There are a lot of characters in this book, and it took me a while to remember who was who and work out the familial relations. We’ve got multiple timelines too, as the story is told in Cadence’s present day, as well as at least the summers of the last two years. These timelines have been wonderfully slotted together, and we meet Cody before and after her accident, and really want to discover what happened along with her (she has selective amnesia).

The characterisation was wonderful. I really felt like I knew each of the Liars, the four main characters. They felt like real people.

The twist ending? Well, I can’t say too much because of huge spoilers—but I did NOT see that coming. And due to a friend telling me that there was a huge twist, I was already on the lookout, yet E. Lockhart still managed to blow me away. I was speechless, yet the reveal felt right. It felt natural for the story, and I could easily see how the signs were there—I’d just interpreted them incorrectly.

There’s also something lyrical about the writing, and not only does it really match Cady’s troubled voice, but it also spoke to me on an inner level. I realise how weird that sounds, but I don’t know how else to say it. This book felt like it was letting me in on a secret as I read it, and I felt privileged to discover the story.

This may be the first book I’ve finished in 2019, but I already know it’s going to be one of my top reads this year.