Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Firstly, thanks to Random House Children's for this review copy <3

Date Read: February 21 - 24 2014
Release Date: May 13th 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House Children's)
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Contemporary/Mystery
My rating: 

Synopsis:

"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."

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“Life feels beautiful that day. The four of us Liars, we have always been. We always will be.”

Ahhhhh this book. Where do I even start? HOW do I start? This book blew me away utterly and completely. It knocked me off my feet and mind fucked me to the max. This was hands down one of the most original books I’ve ever read in my entire life.

The synopsis doesn’t say much about the book. It was this vagueness that actually pulled me in. It was everything unsaid that made me want to find out what was between the lines. And I’m so glad I did.

The story is told from the point of view of Cadence Sinclair, the only daughter of one of the three Sinclair sisters. They are part of an extremely wealthy family who own an island. The setting itself had an almost historic quality to it. The island is so isolated from the rest of civilisation, it’s a world of its own. Cadence, her two cousins and their friend Gat form a strong friendship over the course of many summers and are dubbed the Liars. This is their story.

“This island is ours. Here, in some way, we are young forever.”

The setting and writing style together made me initially think this was a historic novel because it was so otherworldy but it’s actually set in the modern day. Absolutely beautiful writing, Lockhart’s style is enchanting and poetic. Cadence's thoughts are pondering and thought provoking, and at times haunting. I loved this style because as I said, very thought provoking and left room for one’s own interpretations for what she could possibly mean.

This book builds and builds and despite only following these four teenagers through their summers, you can’t help but get sucked in to their life on the island. There is friendship, love, adventure and suspense. The plot was amazing, everything just fell into place and that ending? Woah. Shocking. Stunning. Emotional. I’ll give you only that, don’t ask me anymore because I’ll have to lie.

“For a moment, the two of us were alone on the planet, with all the vastness of the sky and the future and the past spreading out around us.”

Possibly the shortest review I’ve ever written since I officially started book blogging, I hope you’re intrigued. I hope I’ve piqued your interest enough to want to pick up this book. I implore you to pick up this book, to meet the Liars, embark on this mystery and find the truth. And when you do, come back because I would love to hear your thoughts.

“But there must be more to know. There will be more.”