We Were Liars 2⭐️/5

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

2⭐️/5

I really really wanted to like this book. I think the premise is a good one and I was hooked initially. Between the family history and connections to one another, a secluded island, the young (perhaps untrustworthy) protagonist, all things that make for a compelling novel.

However, even going into it blind, I figured out the twist almost instantly, and my theory was all but confirmed about 70 pages in. I did not read ahead because I thought maybe there was another element I was missing, but that was not the case and it deflated the experience. Since this book lives and dies by the twist, without it, the rest of the story (the intrigue, the pacing, the characters themselves, even) all fell a little flat for me, which is why I rated it as I did.

I enjoyed the vignettes of storytelling, the fairy tale element. I think that was creative and really gave you a sense of where the characters were as you moved through the story.

I also felt that Cadence was a hollow echo of Esther Greenwood from The Bell Jar. Her voice, her manic observations, her sliding into depression, just the way she spoke felt like I’d heard it before in many ways.

I think this book is worth a try, it just wasn’t the book for me.