Review of We Were Liars

Recently my family went on a beach vacation and my bedroom had a bookshelf full of books to tempt me (why do you think I chose that bedroom?). After finishing a couple of the novels I had brought with me, I started perusing the bookshelf. I decided on We Were Liars. The name sounded familiar. Had a read a review of it? Had I read something else by the author E. Lockhart? Turns out, I'd been seeing promos for a series based on the book streaming on Prime.

More About 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.

Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

More About E. Lockhart

I am the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers We Were Liars  and Family of Liars. The We Were Liars TV show comes out in 2025 from Prime Video. My novel We Fell Apart publishes in 2025 as well.

I invented a superhero for DC Comics: Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero.

Other novels: Again Again, Genuine Fraud,   Fly on the Wall, Dramarama, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and the Ruby Oliver quartet: The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book,  The Treasure Map of Boys, and Real Live Boyfriends. How to Be Bad was co-written with Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski.

Disreputable History was a Printz Award honor book and a finalist for the National Book Award. We Were Liars  won the Goodreads Choice Award and was Amazon's #1 YA novel of 2014. Genuine Fraud is a Times bestseller and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times book prize.

I have a doctorate in English literature from Columbia University. My field was 19th-century British novel.  In 2013 I chaired the committee on Young People's Literature for the National Book Awards. 

Thoughts About We Were Liars (the book)

We Were Liars is a YA book but it is so captivating, you'll forget all about that categorization. If you love a book that keeps you off-balance, wondering if what you're reading is everything or if there's more to the story this is the book for you. Cadence, the narrator, suffered a brain injury so we're dealing with an unreliable narrator. Or are we?

I found myself equally loving and hating the teen characters and wanting to give all the adults a good smack. I devoured this book in two reading sessions, I was so intent on unraveling the puzzle. I feel this would be a great book to read with your teen - along with the "What do you think will happen next?" conversations it opens you up to conversations about about so many things - addiction, entitlement, goals, prejudice, bullying, etc.

I've been instructed to lie about the ending but I fear any ending I give will give you a clue so, in the tradition of The Sopranos, let's just fade to black.

Thoughts About We Were Liars (the streaming series)

Even though I already read the book, and knew the ending I was still caught up in the series. This eight episode series switched a few things around, expanded some plotlines and added some completely new things. In fact, there were enough new plots that I 'll have to watch the entire series again just to appreciate everything.

They do a great job of hiding clues in plain sight so, as the credits roll, you'll be asking yourself how you didn't catch them. The scenery and house shots are gorgeous. And some unexpected minor characters (townies) really shine and help stress the difference between the realities of the Sinclairs and the rest of the world.

Get a sneak peek at some We Were Liars (the streaming series) highlights HERE.