'We Were Liars' by E. Lockhart

 

'We Were Liars' front cover

'We Were Liars' by E. Lockhart - Review

*There are NO spoilers in this review!*

Description:

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?

Goodreads Rating: 3.84        My Rating: 3.7 

First Impressions

I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf for AAAGES but never really got around to starting it! It seemed like it would be quite a heavy read and didn't give anything away by the blurb, so I think I steered towards other books instead. BUT I'm really glad that I did decide to read it as I've heard great things from so many people, so if you need that same push to read it - GOGOGO!

That being said, I was really confused at the start of the novel because I didn't understand the premise of it and just assumed everything was a lie. It could have been me getting used to Lockhart's writing style and trying to immerse myself in a story very unlike the rest of my reads, but I managed to pick it up after the first handful of chapters so don't let that stop you from continuing! I really liked the pace of the book and felt like there wasn't endless amounts of watering down the key moments: I was always wondering what the next chapter was going to be about!

The Characters

The narrative of the book being in Cadence/Cady's point of view was quite clever, in my opinion, because you are only really given her perspective. Once the accident has happened, it is as though you are on the same journey to find out the truth. Mysteries like this one are always fun to try and solve before the truth is revealed, but sometimes has moments from other character's perspectives to help you. However, I really had the opportunity to immerse myself into the book as Cady! 

At a few times, I got a little bit confused at who some of the other characters were or forgot that they were actually in the story which effected the flow of the book when I had to pause and try to remember them... I also still don't really know who I was meant to like; since it was all from Cady, I couldn't understand the other characters as well as I would have with their own chapter. There are pros and cons for each method, I suppose!

The Truth? The Lies? 

Once the truth had been uncovered, I was a MESS! Full blown ugly crying, snot dripping everywhere, wet t-shirt mess to be exact. I really did not expect what was revealed, Lockhart did a really great job at avoiding predictability with this novel and it really hit me hard because it was so unexpected. I have definitely had a much greater connection to characters in other books and cried tonnes more because of that, but I think it was the way the final chunk of the book was written that choked me up more than the characters or the events!

Final Thoughts / Conclusion

With this being my first novel by E. Lockhart, I wasn't really disappointed. Her writing style is very different to what I have experienced before, but once I was able to get used to it, it really captured me (especially in the last part)! I am still wondering what will be happening after the book finishes which was a little bit disheartening in a way, but I'm glad I actually care about what comes next rather than moving on.

'We Were Liars' was a great introduction into works by Lockhart for me, so I definitely have my eye on some more of her novels! If you have not yet read this book, I do recommend it, but I would warn that if you aren't particularly familiar with books like this, please be patient and stick it out! I'm so glad I read all the way to the end, otherwise I would not have been able to have had my little (okay, maybe huge) cry near the end! 

Let me know what you think! :)