About the book:
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
Genre:
Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Drama
Other info:
Female Protagonist, Side Characters I didn't bother to care about, Unbelievable "romance"
Author:
E. Lockheart
** spoiler alert **
Spoilers of the story within this post. These are my thoughts about the novel.
WE WERE LIARS
💎 March 17, 2022 - Want To Read
Normally I shelve a book because of the book cover or the title is pretty catchy.
💎 April 18, 2022 - 2:09 PM - Start Reading
I've had this in my to read list for a while now. Let's get started with it already!
💎 April 21, 2022 - 9:58 PM - 11%
I still haven't gotten to the point where I care about what's happening but let's push through.
💎 April 22, 2022 - 10:05 AM - 23%
What kind of writing style is this? I'm looking passed it but it just kept happening 😳
💎 April 25, 2022 - 7:57 PM - 40%
Can someone explain to me why she's giving away her grandmother's photo and the sweater Gat gave her without spoiling anything? Like what is the point of that? And sure Gat is nice and sweet and maybe flirting with her, but Cadence is the only one clinging and declaring love to him. 😳🤔
💎 April 26, 2022 - 12:11 AM - 100%
Binge read it so I don't have to suffer anymore.
Let the discussion begin!
I don't want rush-reading a book but I slowly lost interest in the MC (to whose POV we are following in this story) so I took the time to actually binge read to avoid DNFing it.
Recap.
Meet Cadence Sinclair, the MC of the book. Apparently she is rich like the rest of our cast and she has amnesia about her summer.
Meet Gat (I forgot his last name), the MCs love interest, the "passionate political" boy of the group.
Meet Johnny and Mirren, also part of the group but I couldn't describe anything important about them.
These four consist of the LIARS that the book is pertaining to. Every summer they hang out together, whatever the usual things that rich teenage friends to kind of thing. Most of the time we see glimpses of their summer hangouts and how they just really talk and rant to each other about what's wrong with the world (mostly Gat I suppose) and their family (complains, gossip, issues, you name it).
The book is basically just that, oh and Cadence and Gat's "romance" which I will rant about in one of the sections below.
Writing.
I respect writing styles and I mostly adore writing styles of my recent reads but this one is just read. Maybe the MC is being poetic but it's just so weirdly spaced. Here is an example from the first page.
So much in love that equally desperate measures must be taken.
It's literally as you see it. It doesn't happen often (or I probably didn't care anymore) but that's just weird. I mean I've read Alone by Megan E. Freeman with also a unique style to write but I loved it. We Were Liars' style didn't receive the same love I gave Freeman's Alone.
There is also that time that got me really, really super confused!
Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound,
I thought at first her dad left her and then shot her so I was like- WHUUUTTT! Her father shot her?! Was that the accident?!
But no.. the MC is just being overdramatic and exaggerating little details like she does in every single occasion she has with Gat. This is very misleading!
A little warning to those who doesn't like chapter-timeline-jumping; The chapters are a bit jumbled, I don't know what the order is but it's hinted by "Summer 15" or "Summer 18" something like that. Cadence jumps from present to past with her monologue.
Misleading Title.
You guys have seen the title and the book summary.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
I removed some parts and just picked the ones that I need to make a point. Ideas were planted in our head that these characters we are about to meet are "Liars". And that by some impression as our MC, Cadence Sinclair, talks about her summer with the Liars, she was hinting that their group is a group of liars-- that could mean they are troublemakers or cool kids vibe. Like Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass vibe. But no. The direction is wrong. They aren't liars. They are whiners.
They talk about grandpa. They talk about granny Tipper. They talk about Gat's family, his history, they talk about their family's relationship issues, the money, their wealth, this and that and maybe a little bit of college and quoting books. They seclude themselves from the fam and talk to each other every summer. Maybe call them the Exiles or Pariahs or Loners or something. I'm pretty sure the title "Liars" isn't the right fit.
PLOT.
Going back to the plot. We got the writing and the title complains now. Add them and we get = what in the world is the plot of this book?
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
The only element of this book left that kept me going is the part that there is a secret that is yet told. No one is telling Cadence yet what happened during the summer, no one is telling her anything, they are either lying to her or keeping it a secret. It was good enough motivation until I've had enough of Cadence's personality and everything she does in general. I was so ready to drop the book now and cheat (cough cough I know, I'm sorry) and skip to the ending.
Without that untold secret, this book is headed nowhere but random memories of Cadence's summer with the Liars.
CHARACTERS & RELATIONSHIPS.
Cadence Sinclair. The MC. What is wrong with her?
I get it she has headaches, has issues with her family- the Sinclairs- her mom- her grandpa or whatever but she is just... unlovable as a character. I can't sympathize with her pain or that people are keeping secrets from her.
Why does she dislike her mom so much? Bad mother and daughter relationship I guess. There are times her mom tells her to be normal, maybe it's offending to Cadence but girl, your mom is right, why aren't you normal?
One of the parts I don't get about her is that; why is she giving away her things to random people?
GIVEAWAY: A PHOTO of Granny Tipper at the Farm Institute party, wearing an evening dress and holding a piglet.
Like who gives away a photo of their grandmother just because they are deceased? Maybe keep it stocked somewhere in the basement, attic or a box you'll never open again and lose it when you move to another house-- but giving it away as some sort of donation??? Is that supposed to make her a good person because she committed the act of "donating"?
She gave away a bunch of other things, twice to a random homeless girl but still. What is wrong with her? She's rich, she's wealthy, she has a lot to give? Or she's mourning, she's angry and confused so she's giving stuff away?
"Just think before you complain about stuff other people would love to have.”
I think Gat said this to her and I'm quoting him because what in the world, he's right! Why is Gat even interested in her so much just because she's the MC? MC always gets the decent guy, is that it?
Characters that don't matter are everywhere in this book really. I remember Taft and Tipper, Caroline and some other names but not to the point that I really cared about them. Maybe because I'm reading it in Cadence's POV (and she sadly doesn't care much of background people) so it feels like they are bland, wrongly introduced by our MC. She better takes this injustice to her grave!
Cadence and Gat's "Romance"
I'd like to quote some of the things that Cadence has said in her monologue and then let's talk.
GIVEAWAY: GAT'S OLIVE hunting jacket.
Because I was sick, and even more because Gat never called. He didn't write, either. Weren't we in love? Weren't we?
The bottom line is, Gat bailed when I got hurt. The bottom line is, it was only a summer fling. The bottom line is, he might have loved Raquel.
Gat, my Gat, who is not my Gat.
I don't know how to talk to him. 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.
Gat. My Gat. Is he going to be my Gat?
Now that you've read it. Tell me now if you and I are in the same page about her.
She's dramatizing everything. There is no chemistry and I don't find their little moments sweet either, I am bored by it because there is no spark. Just Cadence obsessing over Gat for the entirety of the book.
He was silent with her at some point, no writing or anything and she decides to give away his jacket (that he gave or lent her during the summer because she was cold). "Oh you know, casually giving away his jacket because he's not talking to me". She is probably the one that whines the most (because we are reading her thoughts) and it's so hard to keep going because of it.
Romance pretty much tops the reading list of many readers and as much as possible, I steer clear of that because mostly it's cringe. Now we have it again!
WARNING.
SPOILERS OF THE ENDING.
SPOILER ALERT.
PLEASE BE WARNED.
SPOILER ALERT.
THE ENDING.
Pretty much the plot twist IS THE ONLY-- literally the only thing that saved this book and pretty much the only good thing that I loved about it.
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If you put it that way, then yeah sounds like the MC is mad