‘We Were Liars’ delivers surprising secrets

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” This is the main character, Cadence Sinclair Eastman’s motto in the book “We Were Liars” by Emily Lockhart. 

Lockhart is also the author of “Genuine Fraud” and “Again Again.” She even made a sequel to “We Were Liars” called “Family of Liars.” 

Despite all of her amazing books, “We Were Liars” had the biggest impact of them all. “I’ve read lots of books in my 15 years of living, and I still think ‘We Were Liars’ is the best out of all of them,” ninth grader Greta Huhn said. 

“We Were Liars” is all about the beautiful, elegant and perfect Sinclair family. Every summer the Sinclair family vacation to their own private island. The main character Cadence looks forward to seeing her cousins, Mirren, Johnny and her lover Gat. The Sinclair family calls these four the Liars. 

On summer 15 at the island, Cadence suffers from a terrible accident. She loses her memory, and nobody tells her what happened to her. She has to endure constant migraines and loss of appetite. She gets skinnier and more frail as the days go on. 

Once she finally returns to the island on summer 18, she notices how strange everyone is acting toward her. Johnny, Mirren and Gat never tell her what happened to her during summer 15, so she tries to figure it all out.

I recommend this book to any teenager or even young adult. There are so many lessons you can learn from this book, like “always do what you are afraid to do.” Lockhart uses so many different writing techniques to make her readers feel how her characters feel. Her writing is so intense, but light at the same time, and it makes me want to read her books over and over again.