We Were Liars

So occasionally I like to delve into the Young Adult genre to enjoy some escapism much in the way that even at 38 years old I still enjoy watching shows like Pretty Little Liars. E Lockhart's We Were Liars was widely recognised as one of the standout Young Adult books of 2014 and so I decided to give it a try.

The first intriguing thing was the introduction from the publisher asking readers to please whilst enjoying the book try not share anything with other people who hadn't read it so as to avoid spoilers for other people. So as a reviewer I am going to do my best to review the book whilst avoiding sharing anything more than I need to in order to abide by their wishes.

The story essentially focuses on Cadence Sinclair who we learn at the outset has been subject to an “accident” which has left her with severe headaches. We also learn that her summers are spend holidaying on her families private island with her grandparents, mother, aunts and cousins. The 3 eldest cousins Cadence, Johnny and Mirren along with Gat an outsider form close friendships and spend idyllic times there together.

We are essentially led through the summer of Cadence's accident and the one two years later in a series of flashbacks and memories returning to Cadence piece by piece. The story is so well put together that before you even blink you are 25%, 50% or further through it and time has passed you by. I read it in just over a day so engaging and addictive was the story.

It is to be fair not an overly long book, much in the style of If I Stay and I can fully understand why it has become so highly regarded amongst its target audience. The idyllic setting and wealth surrounding the characters is a great backdrop, it has that feeling of Revenge about it. We are given small crumbs throughout the book which make the story clearer but when the big reveal came it did so suddenly and without warning and was not what I could have predicted at all.

I find it nice that I can still pick up books of this genre and enjoy them because it truly allows you to take a real escapism moment away from books aimed at your age group which can often become bogged down in marriage, families and the struggles which sometimes its nice to pretend you don't have yourself.

I couldn't recommend this book highly enough it was excellent, a nice quick read with a great story and an ending which was worth waiting for.