Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Narrator(s): Ariadne Meyers
Series: n/a
Length: 6 hrs 27 mins
Publisher: Listening Library
Publication Date: May 13, 2014
Source: ARC received from publisher, audio borrowed from library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.



What everyone says of this book is true:  the less you know about it going into the story, the better. I have to say that I enjoyed the writing style much more in this book than in the previous book I'd read of hers, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. If you're already a fan of the author's, I'm pretty sure you'll like this one, too.

The thing is, this book is twisty. There are tons of flashbacks. And it's full of the unexpected. I knew going into it that I should expect it to be unpredictable, and so I was watching for whatever it is I was supposed to watch for. At least, I was at first. Because the first half of the story was honestly kind of bland to me, I spent more time analyzing than I did enjoying the book. But then something changed, the story became engaging, and I forgot to be on the lookout for anything. Which is probably what was supposed to happen, but it still caught me off guard, and that BIG twist got me. I want to compare it to something, but doing so would give everything away, I think.

So, instead, I'll just talk about how fabulous the narrator for this audiobook was. Ariadne Meyers also narrated Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler, which is kind of perfect, because she brings the same type of narration to We Were Liars, by way of Cadence Sinclair Eastman. Cadence is a spoiled socialite who has a tendency toward whiney, but it isn't grating. It's just who she is. She's also very visual in her descriptions, and Meyers brought those descriptions to life. Again, I can't say much more without spoiling anything.

I do wish the "liar" aspect had been explored a bit more, but in the end, I get it. Too much would have meant less mystery, and honestly, the not knowing what's going to happen is the best part of this book. I usually find contemporary novels all too predictable, but not this one. This one WINS in that respect.

GIF it to me straight:




About the author:

E. Lockhart is the author of a number of teen novels. She has had nine official boyfriends, if you count the boy who asked her to go with him at a 7th grade dance and then basically never talked to her again. She has never been on a sports team of any kind and got excused from gym class by going to ballet lessons. She has a tattoo, cuts her own hair, and has worn the same perfume since high school (Kiehl's Chinese Flowers). In her office are two Betty & Veronica dolls, a photo of a particularly fat bull dog, an official business card from “Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective,” and the 1920s flapper dress she wore to the prom.

Find Emily:

Website | TwitterGoodreads | Pinterest


18 comments:

  1. It's so hard to talk about this book--props to your for being able to write a review on it! I went into it knowing nothing about it, and enjoyed it so much more because of that. I absolutely adored the writing style!

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    1. Believe me, it was hard. If I hadn't received this book specifically for review, I might not have even tried. :) I agree, not knowing anything about the story is the best way to approach it.

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  2. I kind of guessed the gist of the twist early on. Would you believe that I read another book with the SAME twist the day before I read Liars??? What disappointed me most about We Were Liars is that the book seemed to serve no other purpose other than to set up the big twist.

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    1. Really?!? That's kind of crazy! And I see your point...it was ALL about the twist. But I still enjoyed it. I'm curious to know what the other book is, though, lol.

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  3. I tried this one on audio but after listening for 3 hours and not knowing what was going on, I gave up. It drives me crazy to not know what is going on when there's a big twist or secret in books. I still want to finish though because I want to know what the twist is.

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    1. I'll admit, the first half was rather slow as it built up to the big reveal, but I think the payoff was worth it.

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  4. I enjoyed this one too! I could see where things were headed for the most part but I think it is because I knew there was a twist so I kept looking for where it would be. So happy you enjoyed it :-)

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    1. I was looking for it at first, but it caught me off guard when I finally got to it. I think it probably has something to do with me listening instead of reading the book, too, though. I tend to really get caught up in my listening. :)

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  5. oooh, yay for not being predictable. I'm wondering if I should have went with audio on this one, but it was only 6 hours and I like to reserve my audible credits for longer books. Is that weird? lol

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    1. Yeah, I borrowed it from the library...I don't like paying for short audiobooks either, lol. :P So, not weird at all.

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  6. I really want to read this one myself. It's interesting that the same narrator did Bittersweet, which I've had on my wishlist FOREVER and really need to find time for soon. Maybe the audiobook route is the way to go with this one! :)

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    1. I had Bittersweet on my shelf FOREVER so I finally broke down and got the audio. I really like this narrator, so hopefully you get a chance to listen to both. :)

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  7. So glad you enjoyed this one! :)

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    1. So am I, especially since I didn't love the last E. Lockhart book I read. :)

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  8. For the most part, readers have really been digging this one, but I have seen a few conflicted/negative reactions from reviewers I trust. While that does worry me a bit, your positive experience with the audio makes me think I should take that route (whenever I'm ready to take on the story.). I've never listened to an audiobook before, but I do take notice with the ones you recommend, Jen. :) I'm going to have to start a list -- or at the very least, create a bookshelf on GR with all the ones you rate highly!

    Marlene @ The Flyleaf Review

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    1. I've seen some mixed reviews for it myself, and I can understand why, but I genuinely liked it once it was over. There was a rocky start for me, but about halfway through, the story really hit its stride. And I probably enjoyed the story that much more because I listened to the audio. I hope you do check it out so we can compare notes. :)

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  9. When Steph Sinclair posted about this on Twitter, I added it to my list ASAP. I'm super excited to own it, eventually. Everyone is in love with this one!

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    1. It's definitely worth the high praise it's been receiving. I hope you get to it sooner rather than later, lest someone spoil it for you. :)

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