We Were Liars - E. Lockhart (2014)

5 stars

I bought this book because I kept seeing everyone rave about it, but I still had no idea what it was about when I bought it but I was definitely happy with my decision.

Although the whole "this book is so great but I shouldn't tell you anything about it" strategy worked on me, I don't think it's the smartest thing in the world because unless you spend your whole life on the internet like me I don't think many people would see it in a bookstore and pick it up. This book is told from the perspective of Cadence, and I kind of enjoy all her fairytales and exaggerated metaphors, and I love the short chapters, if you could even call them that. This book combined all my favourite aspects; summer holidays, good friendships, romance and a bit of mystery, I thought it was a good length too, because any longer with her not being able to remember what happened and I would've gotten really frustrated. My favourite characters in this book are Johnny and Gat, Johnny because he was hilarious and brought some much needed humour to the book, and Gat because I fell in love with him along with Cadence. I would recommend this book to people who like drama and romance, but also like a mystery.

Cadence is the eldest grandchild of Harris Sinclair, a rich and prestigious man who owns his own island that she and her cousins go to every summer. She and her two other cousins around her age, Johnny and Mirren, along with Johnny's stepfather's nephew Gat, become the best of friends and have a great time together every summer, calling themselves the liars. As Cadence gets older she starts to love Gat and during summer fifteen they declare their love for each other even though Cadence's grandfather doesn't approve. During summer fifteen Cadence has an accident she can't remember along with most of that summer, and when she returns to the island two summers later she has to piece together her memory to work out what happened. She eventually remembers that her mother and her two sisters were fighting over their inheritances and their granfather was manipulating and threatening them all over it so much that summer that the liars decided to do something about it. Cadence remembers that she convinced them all to burn down the grandfather's house on the island while everyone else was out except they didn't plan it that well and Cadence lit her floor too early and Johnny, Mirren and Gat all died.