We were liars by E. Lockhart combines elements of romance, family drama and mystery.
Cadence is the eldest granddaughter of the beautiful and wealthy Sinclair family. She spends every summer on her family’s island with her grandfather, aunts and cousins. Her mom is the youngest of three daughters and they each have a home on the island. Her closest cousins are Merrin and Johnny. In their teen years they are joined by her aunt’s boyfriend’s nephew Gat. The group of four are inseparable. Feelings develop between Cady and Gat; however, Gat will always be an outsider due to his Indian heritage.
A terrible near drowning changes everything at the end of Cady’s fifteenth summer. Afterward, she becomes very sick with headaches, withdraws from all activities, and spends the next summers away from the island. She can’t remember anything that happened.
Her seventeenth summer is finally a chance to go back to the island and figure out the missing pieces of her memory. In doing so she remembers the toxicity of her family’s relationship as it revolves around wealth and status. She also is reminded of the unspeakable acts that drove her to nearly drowning.
The writing portrays Cady’s spotty memory and emotional state, and her story kept my attention.
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