I first read WE WERE LIARS in one sitting, telling myself, “just one more chapter” all the way to the end. So, when I heard there was going to be a prequel, I knew I had to read it. It’ll be a little tricky to review the book without giving any spoilers for WE WERE LIARS, but I’ll do my absolute best!

FAMILY OF LIARS takes place on the same island that WE WERE LIARS does. It’s an island owned by the Sinclair family, where they stay every summer in beautiful houses with hired staff. The story is told by Carrie, the oldest of four sisters, the aunt of Cadence, the main character in WE WERE LIARS.

Carrie is grieving the loss of her youngest sister, who drowned on the island. Her family never talks about her sister, though, so Carrie feels isolated in her grief. She’s also addicted to pain pills, something that began during her recovery from cosmetic surgery to reshape her jaw.

That summer, for the first time, Carrie falls in love. It’s not like she expects, and the boy, Pfeff, is unpredictable and… odd. He’s very odd. Charming and impulsive. Daring and forgetful.

So Carrie tells us the story of the summer she met Pfeff and all that happened to her family. The secrets that devastate them quietly behind the masks of perfection.

I felt like the story began a little more slowly, building gradually. At the beginning, I wasn’t sure I was going to love it. I couldn’t get a feel for where it was going and whether it was going to have that same emotional, destructive darkness that WE WERE LIARS had that I found so compelling.

Then, the story began to build speed. Power. I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened to Carrie, her sisters, her mom. All these broken girls with their secrets and lies. I needed to know what would happen to them.

So I stayed up waaaaay too late finishing the second half of the book, and now I really want to read WE WERE LIARS again to see how knowing these things about Carrie’s generation of the Sinclair family fits into what we learn in Cadence’s story.

All in all, though, I’m so glad I read FAMILY OF LIARS, and I recommend it to anyone who loved WE WERE LIARS. You don’t have to have read WWL before reading this book, but know that FAMILY OF LIARS contains spoilers for WE WERE LIARS, so if you plan on reading both, read WWL first.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is the prequel to We Were Liars and had a similar intense YA feel to it. We learn more about Carrie Sinclair (Johnny's mom) and her family, but spoilers abound if you haven't read We Were Liars. Admittedly, I am not the author's target audience, and like the last book, I could not get invested in the characters or story. It was well-written and developed; I just couldn't relate.

Family of Liars, prequel to We Were Liars, has the same unexpected twists and turns of the original. Caroline, her friends, and family spend the summer at their Massachusetts retreat after her sister Rosemary drowns. Caroline, who is dealing with drug addiction after a painful surgery, is visited by her sister's ghost, and gets caught up in a web you won't see coming.

Family of liars is a great book. It follows the story of the Sinclair family (whom you may remember from We Were Liars!). Every family has their secrets and this is definitely the case with the Sinclairs. As the summer progresses, and they deal with the loss of the youngest daughter, each member must face their own demons and hopefully find each other in the end. I literally couldn’t put this book down. It’s told through the perspective of Carrie the oldest daughter. She is able to see the ghost of her youngest sister but she doesn’t know why Rosemary isn’t at rest. This is a story of learning who you are and finding your way through, even when the path seems impassable you must struggle through.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. I enjoyed the overall story and how it connected to We Were Liars, although there were parts that confused me a bit, especially when mixing in paranormal aspects. The ending also seemed a little rushed today. 3.5 stars, rounded to 4

E. Lockhart has a special ability to draw you in and make you stay even if you get uncomfortable. As with "We Were Liars," I found myself wanting to get to the bottom of things. What happened that summer? And what is true? It was interesting to hear Carrie's story in this prequel, since the first book was from the perspective of her niece. Lockhart has a way with words that is both dazzling and devastating. The juxtaposition between descriptions and content comes together in a beautiful sadness, which goes to show that even the most pretty of external appearances can hide some very dark secrets -- the apparent eternal fate of Beechwood.

I am a super SUPER huge fan of We Were Liars. I'm talking gasped out loud once I caught onto what was actually happening. So when I saw Family of Liars, a PREQUEL to We were Liars, I jumped.
So WWL we were introduced to the Sinclair sisters more as secondary characters (being the mothers to the main characters) Here in Family of Liars, this is the Sinclair sisters story. There is the oldest Carrie, then comes Penny and finally Bess. The book was just released this week and I really do not want to give a lot away, BUT so many things in We were Liars makes sense after reading this!! The control Harris seemed to have had over the family, the sisters "something is off" relationships. It all comes together.

This is a must read for fans of We were Liars and if you haven't read We were Liars, start off with this book! Trust me, E.Lockhart has written two beautiful psychological thrillers with new things at every corner.
Thank you so much to #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have some conflicted feelings about this novel. On one level I like the fact that Lockhart tries to downplay the elitism that the Sinclair family clearly has in their family. I mean, they're a very rich, very white, and a very elite family who can seemingly do and say whatever they want to do and say. That is a very annoying element about this family and this series, but Lockhart does her best to quell some of those misgivings... however, I still don't feel for these characters. They are very shallow and privileged and while I try and feel for their situation, it does nothing for me. There is bad stuff that happens to people all over the world.

If we wanted to look just at America and the injustices that take place to an everyday, run of the mill, American, no one would give two craps about that person, however, you place really rich and white people in that scenario, and all of a sudden it's important and needs to be highlighted. I suppose the fact that Carrie is lying throughout the narration, and she is in fact narrating the story and it's not on the news or something, makes it a little better, but I found myself asking again and again, why should I care about these people?

That was the root of the problem with We Were Liars as well. I just don't really care about the plight of the super-rich. Regardless, Lockhart is a very talented writer, and I appreciate the time and effort she has put into this book, but I am not sure I am up for another Sinclair lie or adventure when all is said and done.

I'll be honest that I only kind of remember what happens We Were Liars (mostly I remember the big twist), so while this is a prequel, I didn't really make the connects with WWL. That said, this was also a book that stood on its own. Even without that context, this one was a ride! The premise of this focuses on Caroline, Johnny's mom, telling the ghost of her son stories from her childhood that no one knows. The book's focus is flashbacks to the childhood/teenhood of Caroline and her sisters. As you can imagine, they navigate some tough stuff, and as the story goes, the thrills build and there are some big twists. This is one that kept me reading. I knew something was going to go down with the sisters, and I had to know what it was! Similar to the first book, this one makes you think you know the twist and then it's got an even bigger twist that gets you! Thanks to NetGalley for the early look at this May 2022 and solid page-turning read!

E. Lockhart writes in such descriptive form that you almost feel as though you are on the island, hunting lemons & eating pie. That same way of writing lends to the emotion in each twist of the plot.

As is expected from a book related to We Were Liars, this story contains its share of summer activity, family drama, secrets, & twists. It contains just enough drama that I expect it will stay on my mind for days to come.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Having been a fan of We Were Liars, Family of Liars naturally caught my attention and excitement. There's a few things to pull apart with this statement, it's been a loooooong time since I've read We Were Liars and a lot of reading has happened since then. This means that I remember the big shock at the end, but not much else about it. I recently went back to reread We Were Liars and realized that almost 10 years later, I'm not as big of a fan. Alas, I was still excited about Family of Liars as I'm a fan of E. Lockhart's other books.

Family of Liars is a prequel of sorts to We Were Liars focusing on the sisters of the family when they are late teens. To say that this family has always been a bunch of liars is in some ways completely on point and in other ways sad. The story focuses on Carrie, the oldest sister who is coming to the particular summer the story is about addicted to pain pills and mourning the loss of her youngest sister who tragically drown the previous summer. When her cousin arrives with her boyfriend and a couple of his friends in tow, it sets up a summer of jealousy and competition between Carrie and her sister Penny with dire consequences.

Overall, this story had a slow start for me. It look almost half the book for the story to really start to take off. It paid off in the end and is a solid companion to We Were Liars, but do not read this story first as there are some pretty immediate spoilers.

I was so excited when it was announced that a prequel to We Were Liars was being released. I was a big fan of that book and thought that the twist was brilliant. I re-read We Were Liars before jumping into Family of Liars and was still blown away by how well-done that novel was. I did not thing Family of Liars lived up to how good We Were Liars was. The beginning of the book was a bit slow and I found the inclusion of the teens from We Were Liars to be unnecessary, especially since most of them are dead. I found the entire book to be tinged with sadness and moroseness and it was just not a world I wanted to spend a lot of time in. It was a super quick read and I enjoyed the story. I definitely thought this could have been a standalone novel and making it a prequel to We Were Liars seemed more like a way of getting publicity than actually telling more of the Sinclair family story.

This book was a great prequel to We Were Liars! I read both books in one sitting because they are the kind of books you cannot put down until you're finished. I loved the insight on the family that we received from a different POV. I definitely recommend reading We Were Liars first as there are some minor spoilers, but overall I recommend this book!


Thank you #NetGalley for a copy of #FamilyOfLiars in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this book. First, it is set when I was in high school so it was fun to read a book by characters my age that would still appeal to my students. Second, having read We Were Liars in one sitting, I had high expectations for this novel and it did not disappoint. I loved the setting, the characters, and the connections to her other book, yet each one can be read as a stand alone novel. It is the perfect escape from reality set on a private island one summer. It has a classic resort in Cape Cod feel with a satisfying murder. I highly recommend it.

Fabulous suspenseful mystery and family psychological novel! I loved the story unfolding backwards from Carrie’s POV and how she recounts the trauma that led her family to become liars. I do think it helps to have read the previous novel, even though the author did a great job of making this novel able to stand alone. I had read the first novel & found some clues helpful from it.
The little details about the family’s secrets, and how they affected the daughters, cousins, & their descendants, which shows the readers how many layers of stress and addiction have coalesced into the habit of lying. I liked the portraits of grief and how people develop coping mechanisms to handle their pain or not handle it as the case may be.I enjoyed the mystery and didn’t guess the victim until right before it happened. Fabulous suspense and kept me up late reading!

If you loved the 🤯We Were Liars, you will love this prequel! It can be read as a standalone, but if you plan on reading both, read this one second. This book shakes a lot of skeletons out of the Sinclair family closet. I laughed, I cried. Lockhart made me feel all the things.

The story takes place on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts, same as the first book. While We Were Liars follows the cousins, this one follows the OG heiresses, their mothers.

Unreliable narrator Carrie Sinclair is the fixer with a sharp tongue who excels at school and public speaking. She’s also addicted to pills. Carrie is always in the shadow of her gorgeous middle sister, Penny. Bess is 14 and trying to act older than her years, while Rosemary is the youngest sister who drowned the previous summer and visits Carrie as a ghost. Carrie feels that she’s the only one who truly mourns Rosemary.

When their cousins and uncle arrive with a trio of teenage boys, Carrie quickly develops a romance with one of the boys. Over the course of the summer, old family secrets are revealed as new betrayals unfold.

While scandals abound, this is also a story about the different ways people process grief after tragedy. I loved Lockhart’s poetic and atmospheric effortless writing. It made for a quick and enjoyable read. The characters were complex, flawed, and expertly developed.

Thank you to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Family of Liars - E. Lockhart
4.5/5⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the advance Kindle copy of this book, which is out TODAY! All opinions are my own.
•
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this prequel to We Were Liars. The story takes the reader back to the Sinclair family in the 1980s. Back to the island, with a previous generation full of secrets. Fans of the first will definitely want to read this one. It’s a bit more mature than I remember the first one being, so I would recommend it for grades 8+.

If you liked "We Were Liars" you will like this book. If you didn't, you won't. It's a prequel but it contains spoilers to the other book.

It's a great teen/young adult fiction/mystery with a summer, yet dark vibe.

It reads great for an angsty teen. As an adult - I read this fast and that worked for me. Don't love it but I wasn't the target audience.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down! I didn’t read We Were Liars so it was all new to me. Fast moving story with great characters. Fast read!

I didn't love this as much as I did We Were Liars, but I enjoyed it very much! This gives the back story that you just knew had to exist, but you didn't know you needed...until now.