We were liars by E. Lockhart, spoiler free.

 We were liars (spoiler free).

Another Booktok recommendation ! 

I was too curious... And truth is, my curiosity is going to kill me one day. I cannot help but wanting to know, to experience, to see by myself... 

I feel like Booktok recommendations are truly... uneven. Some are amazing, just like Alice by Christina Henry (see my review here : ) and some are just... awful...? And unfortunately, this story falls under the latter.

The story.

We follow Cadence, part of the Sinclairs, a very rich (and white) family, who goes on summer vacation every year on their private island. The four cousins, Mirren, Johnny, Gat and Cadence are known in the family as the liars. During the summer when she was fifteen, she had an accident and lost most of her memories from this time. The next year, she is forbidden to go back on the island and has to repeat a year because she got addicted to her medicine. The year after, when she is seventeen, she goes back to the island and reconnects with her cousins who act very strangely.

Thoughts.

I love family drama. Maybe because mine has a LOT of it, but I find it so funny and entertaining. People are petty, people are mean, people are stupid... It's just so interesting to see.

The Sinclairs are a very rich family who deals with problems by acting like they are none. They try really hard to keep the "perfect with no flaws" image they have. Cadence has troubles with this, as she has her own struggles ; an accident, causing her to lose memories and lack of empathy from her family. More importantly, her cousins, with whom she has a good relationship, ignore her calls and texts, living her lost and lonely. 

Once she's seventeen, she goes back to Beechwood Island, where she finds her cousins once again, but they are act weirdly. By spending time there, Cadence starts to remember some things that happened during Summer Fifteen, the famous time when she had her accident (and she forgot everything). 

You learn more about her family, the power dynamic there is, the relationships, the lies, the mysteries, the fights... 

The story is good. It's not amazing, nor was it horrible. Want to know what's horrible in this story?

The writing. The damn writing. 

Now, even if I love writing, I am not an author and I don't have the pretension to write so beautifully that it feels like I was blessed by God Themself. But the writing in We Were Liars really through me off. Considering the age of the Cadence, it seems quite justified (and it's also the author's first work). Still, it made me put the book aside at times, because I could not bare with how childish it was. It felt like a script for a series' tailer voice off. You know, when you have some fancy words thrown with slow mo and action with no sound, and then "this year" scene, "discover" scene, "the secret" fire, explosion, running, breath ad title card. It felt a bit weird, though it was understandable. 

Conclusion

It was an entertaining book to read. The story was enjoyable but the writing was truly hard to go through. If you are used to Wattpad writing, it will not bother you though so do not hesitate if the story peaks your interest.

However, I do no think I would recommend it. It was not incredible or mind blowing and honestly, I'm not sure to remember the story years later. Or maybe?