We Were Liars Review ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5/5) | A Confusing Journey With an Ending I Never Saw Coming
There are books that hook you from page one... and then there are books that spend 200 pages making you wonder if you accidentally skipped several chapters. 😅
We Were Liars was a very strange reading experience for me. I picked it up because of the title and the cover—they're both incredibly intriguing. They practically whispered, "Come on... something weird is happening here." They weren't wrong.
The problem? For a large chunk of the book, I had absolutely no idea what was happening. 😂
I kept zoning out, rereading passages, wondering if everyone else knew something I didn't. But I also had a feeling the confusion was intentional, so I stuck with it.
And I'm glad I did.
Because that ending?
I genuinely didn't see it coming.
📚 Book Information
Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Published: 2014
Genre: Young Adult • Mystery • Psychological Fiction • Contemporary • Family Drama
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
This book contains:
🔥 Arson
💀 Death of major characters
🐶 Animal death
😢 Grief and trauma
🧠 Brain injury and memory loss
🤕 Chronic migraines and chronic pain
💊 Prescription medication use
🍷 Alcohol abuse
👨👩👧 Toxic family dynamics
💰 Greed and inheritance disputes
🏚️ Emotional manipulation
🏳️ Racism and prejudice
👋 Parental abandonment
👊 Physical altercations
📖 What Is We Were Liars About?
Every summer, the wealthy Sinclair family gathers on their private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
From the outside, they're the definition of old-money perfection.
Beautiful.
Successful.
Privileged.
But underneath all those white dresses, sailboats, and family traditions are jealousy, resentment, manipulation, racism, greed, and decades of emotional dysfunction.
At the center of the story is Cadence "Cady" Sinclair, who spends every summer on Beechwood Island with her cousins Johnny and Mirren, along with Gat, the nephew of her aunt's longtime partner.
Together they call themselves "The Liars."
After a mysterious accident during one summer leaves Cadence with severe migraines and almost no memory of what happened, she returns to the island two years later determined to uncover the truth.
Unfortunately...
No one wants to tell her.
💭 My Thoughts
This was honestly one of the harder books I've had to rate.
The beginning grabbed me immediately.
I really liked the short chapters because they made the book fly by, and I enjoyed the mysterious atmosphere. Every conversation felt like people were hiding something, which immediately had me curious.
Then...
Somewhere around the middle...
I started getting frustrated.
Like...
Very frustrated. 😂
I spent probably two-thirds of this book feeling completely lost.
The writing becomes fragmented, characters avoid answering questions, memories appear out of nowhere, and I constantly felt like I was missing some huge piece of information.
Now, to be fair...
I also found myself zoning out while reading, which absolutely did not help my situation. 😅
Every time I looked back up I was like:
"Wait... who's talking now?"
"Did I miss something?"
"Why is everyone being so weird?"
Turns out...
Everyone was being weird for a reason.
🤯 The Twist (Without Spoilers... Yet)
One thing I absolutely have to give this book credit for:
I did not predict the ending.
Not even close.
I usually spend thrillers trying to outsmart the author.
This one pulled the rug out from under me.
Once everything was revealed, a lot of the earlier confusion suddenly clicked into place.
Scenes that had seemed random suddenly had entirely different meanings.
Even details I barely noticed earlier became significant.
I always appreciate when a twist doesn't just exist to shock you—it actually changes how you interpret everything you've already read.
❤️ What I Enjoyed
✅ Short chapters that made it easy to keep reading
✅ A genuinely surprising ending
✅ Beautiful, almost dreamlike atmosphere
✅ Strong sense of mystery throughout
✅ Interesting exploration of family expectations and inherited privilege
🤔 What Didn't Quite Work for Me
The biggest issue was simply how confusing the middle portion became.
I understand why it's written that way.
In hindsight, it makes complete sense.
But while I was reading?
I felt disconnected from the story for a long stretch.
Instead of eagerly putting puzzle pieces together, I mostly felt like I was wandering around looking for the puzzle box. 😂
That meant I never became as emotionally invested in the characters as I probably should have been.
When the reveal finally came, I appreciated it more intellectually than emotionally.
🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨
Everything below discusses the complete ending of We Were Liars.
Seriously.
This is one of those books where the ending is the entire experience.
If you haven't read it yet...
Go away.
Come back later. ❤️
🔥 Full Plot Summary (Including the Ending)
Cadence Sinclair belongs to the incredibly wealthy Sinclair family, who spend every summer on their private island, Beechwood Island. Her grandfather, Harris Sinclair, expects perfection from everyone around him while quietly manipulating his three daughters—Penny, Carrie, and Bess—by dangling their future inheritance over their heads. Since the death of family matriarch Tipper, the sisters have become increasingly bitter, constantly fighting over money, property, jewelry, and who will inherit the most.
Cadence's closest companions each summer are her cousins Johnny and Mirren, along with Gat Patil, who is the nephew of Carrie's longtime partner, Ed. Although Gat is welcomed by some family members, Harris never truly accepts him, viewing him as an outsider because of his race and background. As Cadence and Gat grow older, their friendship develops into a romantic relationship, though it remains strained by Harris's prejudice and the growing tension within the family.
During Summer Fifteen (Cadence as a 15 year old), Cadence experiences what everyone describes as a terrible accident. She is discovered alone on the beach suffering from hypothermia, severe head trauma, and complete memory loss surrounding what happened that night. She develops debilitating migraines and selective amnesia. Doctors diagnose her with post-traumatic headaches, and she spends months recovering while taking strong prescription pain medication.
During her recovery, she repeatedly emails and calls Gat, Johnny, and Mirren but receives no replies. Feeling abandoned, she spends the following summer traveling through Europe with her father after Harris quietly pays for the trip, ensuring she stays away from Beechwood Island while the family rebuilds the destroyed Sinclair house, Clairmont, into a modern replacement called New Clairmont.
Two years after the accident, Cadence finally returns to Beechwood. She is reunited with the Liars, who seem unchanged despite the passage of time. They spend the summer together as though nothing has happened, although strange details begin piling up. The younger cousins barely interact with them. Adults seem oddly absent whenever the Liars appear. Mirren often seems ill. Carrie wanders the island at night in a daze. Cadence slowly creates a giant memory wall, trying to reconstruct the events she has forgotten.
Eventually, the missing memories return.
The Liars had become disgusted by the endless greed consuming the Sinclair family. Watching their mothers constantly fight over inheritance, houses, and expensive possessions convinced them that the family's wealth was poisoning everyone they loved. Believing they could somehow free the family from this obsession, they decided to destroy the source of the conflict.
Their solution was to burn down Clairmont.
They carefully planned the arson for a night when all the adults and younger children would be off the island watching a movie. They spread gasoline throughout the house, believing they could safely escape after lighting the fire.
But everything went horribly wrong.
Cadence, who had been drinking, ignited the fire before everyone had escaped.
The flames spread almost instantly.
Johnny, Mirren, and Gat became trapped inside the burning house.
None of them survived.
Neither did Granny Tipper's beloved golden retrievers, Fatima and Prince Philip.
Cadence managed to escape, but the trauma of realizing she had accidentally caused the deaths of the three people she loved most shattered her mind. Unable to cope with overwhelming guilt, her brain blocked the memories entirely.
The friends Cadence spends time with throughout Summer Seventeen are not actually alive.
They are manifestations of her grief and fractured memories—ghostly presences that exist only until she is finally able to remember the truth.
Once Cadence accepts what happened, Johnny gently tells her they are tired and that it's time for them to leave. One by one, the Liars walk into the ocean and disappear, allowing Cadence to say goodbye at last.
Although devastated by what she has done, Cadence finally begins the difficult process of healing. Harris, meanwhile, is emotionally broken by the tragedy and appears increasingly detached from reality. The surviving Sinclairs are left to live with the consequences of both their greed and their losses, while Cadence decides that although this tragedy will always be part of her life, it will not be the only story that defines her.
⭐ Final Thoughts
Looking back, I understand exactly why so many people love this book.
The ending is excellent.
It completely reframes everything that came before it and ties together what initially feels like an intentionally confusing story.
That said, I can't ignore how I actually felt while reading.
For much of the novel I wasn't captivated—I was confused.
Maybe that's exactly the experience E. Lockhart intended.
Maybe it simply wasn't the right storytelling style for me.
Either way, I finished the book impressed by the reveal, even if I wasn't completely sold on the journey getting there.
The good news?
That ending was strong enough that I'm actually curious to read the next book.
And considering how frustrated I was halfway through... that's saying something. 😄
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5/5)
📚 If You Enjoyed We Were Liars, Try These Next
Family of Liars — E. Lockhart
We Fell Apart — E. Lockhart
One of Us Is Lying — Karen M. McManus
The Inheritance Games — Jennifer Lynn Barnes
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder — Holly Jackson
The Cheerleaders — Kara Thomas
Sadie — Courtney Summers
The Cousins — Karen M. McManus
Truly Devious — Maureen Johnson
The Ivies — Alexa Donne
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