We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Genre: YA Suspense

Blurb (on back of book): We were liars.
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.

MY OPINION: *****

Okay, this book was just WOWOW. What did I just read?

This was a two-day read so...

Anyways, that blurb doesn't provide me with much information about the plot. So I dove into this book without knowing basically anything about what it was going to even be about.

First, let me just say that I was not hooked into the book. Sure it took me a little while to read it but that was only because it was relatively short. Anyways, the first parts of the book was meh and kind of boring. I loved reading all of Cadence's memories though. That provided a lot more detail.

But as I read more, I got more interested, mainly because of the romance between Gat and Cadence. Honestly, their relationship was basically the thing that kept me going.

This story was haunting and beautifully written. I loved the writing style and the way that it worked. It was gorgeous and definitely unique. I liked the one-liners and the choppy sentences and the very gorgeously worded longer sentences. Wow.

BUT THE ENDING.

She killed Gat and Johnny and Merrin? WHAT? I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING AT ALLLLLLL. Cadence set a fire to the house and while doing that she killed her three friends and made herself a criminal but she had an accident so she remembered none of that and couldn't tell anyone that she was guilty? And all the time, Gat and Johnny and Mirren were SPIRITS or GHOSTS or something???? WHAT

That ending shook me and bumped my rating up to a clear five stars. It was so shocking and unique and something that I honestly didn't see coming.

And the poor dogs.

ANYWAYS, I never really resonated with any of the characters. And maybe that's because those characters and personas were so unique, so different, and so strange that nobody can relate to them.

Here are some of my favorite passages:

"I had kissed an unimportant boy or three by now. I had lost my dad. I had come here to this island from a house of tears and falsehood and I saw Gat, and I saw that rose in his hand, and in that one moment, with the sunlight from the window shining in on him, the apples on the kitchen counter, the smell of wood and ocean in the air, I did call it love. It was love, and it hit me so hard I leaned against the screen door that still stood between us, just to stay vertical." -Page 15

Of course, that passage was written in fragmented sentences so you have to read the real thing to see how it was laid out.

"I love him. He's been an ass. I shouldn't love him. I'm stupid for still loving him. I have to forget about it. Maybe he still thinks I am pretty. Even with my hair and the hollows beneath my eyes. Maybe." -Page 72

Honestly, I don't think anyone can really understand this book from a review. You have to read the real thing to really understand.

So yeah. This was a really good read and I would recommend it to suspenseful readers and suspense readers.

Yes, those are two different things.

In my world.

AM I A LIAR?

Main Character: Cadence
Sidekick(s): Gat, Johnny, Mirren, etc
Villain(s): Fire, death, etc
Suspense Elements: This book keeps readers on the edge of their seat with suspense.