We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Series: N/A
Source: Netgalley (Thanks, Delacorte!)
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: May 13, 2014

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.

We were warm and shivering, and young and ancient, and alive. I was thinking, It's true. We already love each other. We already do.

Sometimes, (not always but sometimes) you find a book that leaves you in a stunned world where nothing can touch you for a day or two. We book lovers like to call that a book hangover, and it's a perfectly acceptable term to use for this feeling. We Were Liars was that book. I spent the next few hours after reading this trying to duplicate the awesome high that it gave me. I thought about it for the rest of the day. I called up my reading friend, and told her all about it while I tried to convince her to read it. I started a new book, knowing that it would probably be nothing like what I had just read - and was still processing. It wouldn't be a lie to say that We Were Liars totally and completely blew my mind.

It was one of those books where you knew what was coming, but you couldn't stand to think about it - so you blocked it out. And you hoped against all logical thought that maybe you were wrong, maybe it wouldn't all end in the way it was going to. Sometimes books are perfect, even if maybe they aren't perfect in the literal sense.

Honestly, all I really want to do with this review is quote line after perfectly poetic line. But I won't, I talk about some other things too.

We Were Liars started off with a real bang - an instant "I need more" kind of line.

Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family. No one is a criminal. No one is an addict. No one is a failure.

From that first line, I knew I wanted to know everything about this family. I knew immediately that they were going to be screwed up, and that there was going to be a tragedy - but I still wanted to know it. And most of all, I wanted to know all about Cadence. At first I thought I would dislike her, but it only turns out that I pity her, in a large way. I assumed that she was probably bipolar, and that she was for sure depressed.

But I didn't know everything about her right away. I liked that I had to work my way through the book, waiting for every single new fact to reveal itself. I lived for those reveals. Each little hint came out of nowhere, and somehow it all fit together into a beautifully crafted mystery. Some things were obvious, but most were hidden under the surface.

In many ways, We Were Liars was one of the saddest books I've read. I wanted to love Gat as much as Cadence did, but I couldn't get him. I thought that he was a jerk of the highest quality for most of the book, but when the end came... let's just say that I've never apologized to any fictional character as much as I did to him. I thought that he was so back and forth and up and down, but really, he's just a normal kind of guy. He doesn't deserve to be scorned, because his story is tragic.

Now, he was free to go forth and make a name for himself in the wide, wide world. And maybe, just maybe, he'd come back one day, and burn that fucking palace to the ground.

All of We Were Liars was tragic. And I never wanted it to end. I guess I'll leave you with one final line, to whet your appetite for this book - if I haven't already. And honestly, I'm already hoping that you've dropped everything and ordered this book - because it's simply beautiful.

My full name is Cadence Sinclair Eastman.
I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools.
I like a twist of meaning.
I endure.