Book Review

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. OMG. This book... I mean, wowza.  You will NOT see what is coming.

"Do not accept evil you can change.""There is not even a Scrabble word for how I feel."

The Sinclairs are a rich family.  They have everything they could ever want--cars, houses, money, an entire ISLAND! The island is where Cadence, her cousins, aunts, and grandparents vacation every summer.  You might think the rich have it all, but there is always a seedy underbelly.  The aunts have lost husbands, they drink, the argue...who will get Granddad's inheritance?  The cousins have had enough.  How can they escape all the fighting? At the same time, staying with cousin Johnny is Gat.  The handsome, brooding, intelligent nephew of the new man Cady's aunt is dating. Which means, he's NOT off limits.  Year Fourteen and Fifteen the two fall madly in love, but can this love withstand being apart all school year? Both Cady and Gat have lives off the island, but together, on the island they are inseparable.  After an accident in Year Fifteen that leaves Cady with debilitating migraines and selective amnesia, she stays away from the family for a year.  When she returns, the secrets and the past creep up until Cady can no longer deny her subconscious.  The lies the cousins have told, the secrets they have kept come crashing around Cady, and she must find the strength to carry on.

When I first started this book, I was unsure.  I couldn't get hooked.  The perspective and voice the author gives the story was a little confusing for me.  But then I realized what Lockhart was doing.  She was slowly giving the reader the background, the pieces of the puzzle.  You aren't supposed to know what is going on at the beginning, because you are empathizing with Cady after her head injury leaves her memory scattered.  Everything comes full circle in the end, and all the details and clues throughout the story completely click into place.  Why did Gat act this way? Why did Mirren hide in the same house? Every line of the story makes sense when Lockhart reveals the big ending.  Be patient with this book...you will NOT want to leave it unfinished.