We Were Liars

I have had this book on my TBR list since at least 2016. I was first intrigued by the title and then later I learned that it was a popular YA book title. Over the last few years I have seen this book pop up over and over again in book lists and bloggers reviews, so I finally decided that the time to read the book was now!

The most intriguing thing about this book is the tagline "If anyone asks how it ends just lie." This tagline makes me feel like you become part of a club when you finish it. You only get to know what happens if you read it. You only get to talk about it if you know the ending. There's something about the exclusivity that adds to the themes of the books. Since this is a book that is often recommended because of the plot twist I will not reveal any spoilers.

Recap:

The story centers around Cadence, her cousins, and her crush. They all gather with each summer at their family's estate. The novel is mostly about Cadence trying to remember the events of her 15th summer.

Cadence is dealing with memory loss, family issues, and a drug addiction. By the end of the novel she does piece it together and the plot twist is revealed at the very end.

Normally I would go into more detail about the plot, but it is hard to say anymore without giving away anything.

Thoughts:

-I actually read E. Lockhart's book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks when I was in high school. At the time it was a really popular book that many authors that I liked recommended. From what I remember it was an ok book, but I wasn't very interested in her books until We Were Liars. I bring this up because a big part of the reason why I wasn't interested in any more of her books was because of the writing style. She writes in a very particular way that I don't think is for me.

-I went into this book knowing the plot twist already. (I happened upon it accidentally years ago). Because I knew the truth of what was going on I was trying to pick up on the clues and I was analyzing whether or not the clues worked or if there were enough of them. Overall, I do wish it hadn't been spoiled for me because I think I would have liked it more.

-The plot twist does work. I was not overly impressed, but I think that is because I already knew what to look for.

-Cadence likes to insert short fairytales that parallel her life. At first I liked it, but then I felt it was just annoying.

-It was hard to like any of the main characters. This would have been a DNF, but I wanted to see how the plot twist was going to play out.

-I can see why this book is considered an excellent example of an unreliable narrator, but the writing style was too distracting for me.

-Overall this wasn't a bad book. This was just a book that wasn't for me.

3/5 stars