We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
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 that will leave you reeling.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
I just finished We Were Liars and I don't even, can't even, understand what just happened, what to think. When you go into We Were Liars, go in knowing nothing about the book, it makes it so much better!
Part One: Welcome
"Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.
No one is a criminal.
No one is an addict
No one is a failure."
Summer 15 is when everything happened for Cady, Johnny, Gat and Mirren. Gran Tipper has past away before summer 15, grandad Harris is pitting his children against each other for part of his estate. Cady realised that her feelings for Gat is love but he has a girlfriend back in New York. The summer that Cady barely remembers and the summer of the accident.
Summer 16 Cady spends the summer in Europe with her dad. She emails Johnny and Mirren about her summer, but when they don't reply she wonders if her aunts tell them not to because of the migraines from the accident.
Part Two: Vermont
During the year Cady starts writing stories about her family and what happened in summer 15. She also starts giving away her possessions to others and talks her mum and dad out of taking her to Australia and New Zealand for the summer to go to Beachwood Island again.
Part Three: Summer Seventeen
"I will see Gat soon.
Gat, my Gat, who is not my Gat."
Summer 17 Cady goes back to Beachwood Island, but things are different when she returns. Clairmont house has been completely rebuilt, Bess has moved with Taft, Liberty & Bonnie to Clairmont house with grandad and Mirren, Gat and Johnny are living in Cuddletown house by themselves. Everyone refuses to talk about what happened that summer two years ago to Cady, Grandad is suffering dementia, the aunts are drinking themselves drunk every night, night time walks and nightmares are taking control of the island and Cady has no idea what is going on.
Part Four: Look, a Fire
"I understand our story now."
The relationship between the four liars is strained this summer with Gat pushing Cady away but at times also pulling her towards him. Mirren is tired all the time and refuses to leave the house & Johnny is forgetting things. But then Cady's memories start to return and everything that she knows about the accident is all just a lie, because Cady wasn't ready for the truth then but now she is.
Part Five: Truth
"My full name is Cadence Sinclair Eastman.
I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools.
I like a twist of meaning.
I endure."
We Were Liars will leave you wondering what just happened, writing mottos on your hands and take you on a summer journey on what happened that summer 15. The story, writing and need to know what happened will drag you in the story and leaving you refusing that the last word is in fact the last word.
Thankyou Allen and Unwin Australia for the review copy!
Rating: 4.5/5
Keely xx
After procrastinating a lot during my final exams for the year, I read a lot. I found out that my library now has e-books! Which was a bad thing because I had five exams and they were maths, statistics, chemistry, biomechanics and sports psychology (psychology hates me guys). So I came to thinking that I would tell you why I love YA!
Gives you ideas on what you want to do in life:
In year 9 I did work education and I had work experience, I learnt from that week that I hated teaching. I found the Gracie Faltrain series by Cath Crowley and feel in love with the series. The series is about soccer, boys and everything that a teenager has to face in the final years of school. From the final book Gracie Faltrain Gets It Right (Finally) Crowley mentione
d that Gracie might want to do Sports Management, which is something that I thought would be interesting since I love sport. So, from searching the web for degrees that related to Sports Management,I found the degree that I am doing right now: Exercise Physiology. Books can not only help you understand what others go through but help you learn things about yourself, like I did by finding a degree that I would like to do.
Gives you perspective on things that you don't normally think about:
Last year I read Speechless by Hannah Harrington and it literally left me speechless. It covers the topics of bullying, the consequences of saying something that didn't need to be spoken about, homophobia and what true friendships are like. Every high school kid goes through either being bullied at least once or even bullying others it's a fact, but when things turn for the worst like beatings or even suicide makes it a real problem. In Australia we don't have a huge problem with people being homophobic unlike in the U.S, in Year 11 & 12 we had a least 20 people in the school who were either gay/lesbian/bi and no one cared, which I think is a great thing that Australia is moving towards.
On the subject of bullying, when I read speechless I was also reading Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett. This book also deals with the problems that are faced in high school, especially bullying. I think that these two books should really be read by all high school students because it teaches an important lesson about bullying and cyber-bullying.
Takes you to a whole new world:
Fantasy, Paranormal or whatever, these books can take you to your imagination side. While I haven't been reading many of these lately, only to finish off series that I have already started, I do enjoy some of what fantasy and paranormal books have to offer. I enjoyed the Wings series by Aprilynne Pike, Fallen series by Lauren Kate, Hush Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and more recently the Elementals series by Brigid Kemmerer. All these books give you a new world to look at weather it is magic or vampires, fairies or angels it takes you back to your childhood and imagination of what fairytales could be real.
Travelling through a book:
I love travelling and having only left Australia once, I can't wait to do it again. One trip made me want to see the world. I am sucker for contemporary novels not set in America or Australia, so of course I love Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Just One Day by Gayle Forman, Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill and The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams. I think that it is great that these books take you places that you haven't been before and lets you learn new things about these places.
Books by Australian authors and set in Australia:
I am loving that there are more Australian novels in YA! I love Cath Crowley's books, The First Third by Will Kostakis, On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Steal my Sunshine by Emily Gale, Finding Home by Lauren McKellar and Wildfire by Fiona Wood. I'm glad to see more Aussie novels getting out there and by Aussie authors too!
So that is some things that I love about YA! Let me know what you love about YA in the comments!
Keely xx
