It’s been a while since I read We Were Liars, but that didn’t matter; Family of Liars is perfect as a stand alone novel, and I would even consider reading We Were Liars again now that I have more context.

Family of Liars has all the makings of a great summer read: the beach, murder, and an unreliable narrator. Despite Carrie explaining that she is a liar from the very beginning of the book, it is hard not to root for her. All of the characters are flawed, yet surprisingly likable. While the book starts out slow, the lies spiral out of control toward the middle of the book, and you really begin to appreciate the complexity of the story.

Read this book for E. Lockhart’s unique voice and character development. You won’t regret it.

When a book series has a prequel, I always wonder if I should read them in the order they were published, or in chronological order. This prequel MUST be read after We Were Liars unless you have absolutely no intention of ever reading We Were Liars, because it gives away a major plot twist at the beginning. In this sequel, we are taken back a generation to the Sinclair sisters' summer on Beechwood and another peek into the lives of the rich and undeserving :) There is suspense and intrigue and bad behavior and twists galore.

3.5 ⭐️ This was a perfect domestic thriller-esque summer read. I did not read the author’s first book prior to this one but still found it to make sense (and I now look forward to reading their other titles).


Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

E. Lockhart is a master storyteller and Family of Liars is more proof of her talent. Whether you read We Were Liars or not, this tale of family, grief, and deception will be hard to put down.

Family of Liars was an enjoyable prequel to We Were Liars (a novel that I was actually recommended to read by my mother). I enjoyed seeing into the family's past and learning more about the island. Also, the literary references within the novel were enjoyable! Any nod to Narnia is always a plus in my book.

As for the story, I liked it even if I didn't so much care for all the characters. However, there were moments that endeared them to me more at times (like the scenes with the "cheetah" who happened to be my favorite character).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book! All views and opinions above are entirely my own.

I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. this prequel did not disappoint. Delving further into the world of the Sinclair family from we were liars was awesome and there are just as many mysteries and twists and turns as in the original. Highly recommend this- fans will be satisfied!!

This prequel to "We Were Liars" didn't really need to be written. It wasn't as strong as "We Were Liars" and the beginning was quite confusing trying to sort out the characters and who was narrating. I think there was an assumption by Lockhart that the reader remembered a lot of "We Were Liars" (which I did not.) I loved the premise of living on a private island that was set up in "We Were Liars" but the joy and uniqueness of living on the island didn't come through in this book.

I wasn't quite sure what I expected coming in to "Family of Liars." I both loved and hated "We Were Liars," because it was an incredible story and the plot twist broke my heart. I wanted it to be its own thing but still feel like the first book, and E. Lockhart absolutely delivered that.

I would say I still enjoyed the first book more, but the story and characters in this prequel were equally as compelling and creative. "We Were Liars" exploded on TikTok, so I know expectations will be high, and trust me when I say this was a 5/5 read. I could barely put it down and finished it within 24 hours of being sent the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children, and thank you to E. Lockhart for this amazing return to the Sinclair family.

Summer 1986; the youngest member of the Sinclair family, Rosemary, dies while swimming off the coast of the family's private island, Beechwood. Carrie Sinclair, the eldest sister, is deeply troubled by her family's response to Rosemary's death and their persistence to move on. She struggles to cope and turns to pills to dull her pain.

Summer 1987; the Sinclair Family returns to Beechwood; this time with their Uncle Dean and cousins, Yardley and Tomkin. With Yardley come three friends; George, her boyfriend, and his two friends, Major and Pfeff. Carrie immediately is smitten with Pfeff, but something lurks under his suave persona. Rosemary has also returned to visit Carrie and their mother, but Tipper rejects her as Carrie learns the secret of who she is and where she fits amongst the Sinclairs. This is the story of Caroline Lennox Taft Sinclair and how she became a liar.

Family of Liars is a beautiful prequel to We Were Liars (2014). Readers learn about the Sinclair family before the sisters inherited Beechwood, and how they became the liars that they all are. I found this novel easier to read than the first because the format, although still aetherial, was not as difficult to follow between the stories and the "story". This is a fabulous novel that stands with and alone from We Were Liars.

Name of Book: Family of Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Genre: YA/Thriller
Publisher: Random House Children’s ~ Delacorte Press
Pub Date: May 3, 2022
My Rating: 3 Stars

I actually read " We were Liars" twice! When I first read it in 2015 ~ I loved it! Then it was selected for Book Club discussion. SO I reread it and I picked up on so many small things I missed in the first read ~
Now reading the reviews on this prequel I see there are very mixed feeling ~ it seems a lot of readers have a love/hate relationship with the ‘liars’!
But. . … I was really anxious for another round with the Sinclair Family…So here I go again!
Additionally was looking forward to Ms. Lockard shocking me again!!!

Hmm not sure if shocked it the correct word~ True this story had some big shoes to fill.

But have to say I liked WWL better.
Perhaps I will suggest this for book club discussion as “We Were Liars” certainly was a great discussion.

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Children’s ~ Delacorte Press for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 3, 2022.

“What’s the worst thing you did?”
Before the events of We Were Liars, there was another generation spending summers on the island. And there are more haunting Sinclair family secrets.

Family of Liars is told from the perspective of Carrie, the oldest of the four…well, I guess three… Sinclair sisters.
I loved the writing style and how you could feel where Carries headspace is at. She was well written and I could relate to her a lot. I loved how each setting was described with attention to detail. It made the book seem more real and I could play it like a movie in my head.
The occasional fairytale story was refreshing and helps readers to better understand the dynamic between characters.

As a whole, I enjoyed this book more than We Were Liars. There is more going on throughout the whole story that kept me intrigued. However, the insane plot twist from We Were Liars is still my favorite.

Family of Lairs can be read as a stand-alone novel, but does contain spoilers for We Were Liars.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this ARC!

5 Stars

A great prequel. Every question you had about the prior book, this answers. I don’t know how they did it with me and even more compelling story. I was immediately drawn in and read it rapidly. I absolutely recommend it. I can’t wait to read it again.

I couldn’t be so excited to start the prequel of one of the most mind blowing, shocking, surprising stories I’ve ever read!

“We were liars” hit me real hard with its sucker punch twist I didn’t see it coming. With this prequel we get a closer look of the parents of three liars: the story’s narrator is Johnny’s mother Caroline: promising ghost of her son to tell a story that only sisters know about. She did something back in the past and she is finally ready to share her secret which also open a lot of can of worms because it seems like becoming part of Sinclair family means pretending, lying, acting, keeping everything to yourself, showing no weakness even though you slowly get torn into pieces inside just like Caroline has been doing for years!

We return back private island belongs to Sinclair family ancestors where is off the coast of Massachusetts.

In the summer of 1985, Caroline has so much on her plate: dealing with the grief of drowning 10 years old sister Rosemary whose ghost starts visiting her as her beautiful and self absorbed sisters Bee and Penelope already moved on with her lives, flirting with boys, enjoying summer, pretending nothing tragic happened just like her parents do.

Caroline’s painful face surgery that reshaped her bone structure heals with the help of drugs but Caroline’s addiction to those pills gets out of control, resulting with stealing her parents’ pills to sleep tight at the night.

When their uncle Dean, her favorite cousin and her best friend Yardley show up with surprise guests with them including Yardley’s boyfriend George and his friends from school Major and Pfeff, things eventually change and their summer vacation gets heated!

Pfeff’s flirting with Caroline, giving a romantic first kiss in the moonlight, awakes so many foreign feelings and pure excitement Caroline has never felt before.

But things uncontrollably change as Caroline finds herself surrounded by web of lies, betrayals, secrets! Only way to survive at that haunted summer and become a part of family mean she has to learn how to lie and how to pretend like all Sinclairs do all the time.

This tragic, gripping, well written, thought provoking story, heart wrenching, twisty story will deeply affect you and shake you to the core!

Most of the characters including sisters of Caroline were dislikable. I think I mostly loved Yardley: she’s smart, confident and devoted friend who stood up for Caroline and I think I cannot say no to another prequel to learn more about her story evolved.

This book doesn’t have a jaw dropping twist but it’s a sensitive psychological and realistic fiction that portraits an unforgettable dysfunctional family.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s / Delacorte Press for sharing this one of the most anticipated books’ digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

This was honestly so well done. I read we are liars by Lockhart years ago. I fell in love with the characters and the writing. I cried multiple times and I feel like the memories came back once I started reading family of liars. This was honestly great. It was again an emotional read and one I’ll remember always - just like we were liars! 5/5 stars

We Were Liars was a suspense-filled book that kept me wondering how the mystery would be solved. Family of Liars was disappointing when compared to the original. It is a new summer and a new set of circumstances, but the mystery isn’t there. Readers discover what happened relatively early on and the mystery is the why behind the episode. The author’s note does warn that this is a prequel and spoilers will be given to the original story, but overall this story was not as good as We Were Liars. I wanted to have a five-star adventure, but sadly it was only a three-star read.

If you liked We Were Liars, then you need to read Family of Liars to see where it all began. The Sinclair family takes us back to a summer from the past on a private Massachusetts island. With an unforgivable story of betrayal and dreadful mistakes another generation of Sinclair’s will keep you intrigued till the end.

Absolutely loved this book. It was intriguing and had me captivated as soon as I started reading. I had a hard time putting the book down when I needed to be sleeping instead. This book has the fun of summer with a very exciting twist of events.

This is likely just not a book for me, but I could not get into it. I'm guessing it picks up at some point and I might try again one day, but the first chunk was so hard to get interested in that I stopped reading.

Ooh I really liked this! I remembered liking We Were Liars when it came out but at the time I have to admit I hadn't given too much thought to the generation of moms/aunts, but this was very compelling. It made me realize that I only barely remembered the events of We Were Liars so I went back and re-read that and this did make me think more about that generation but there really weren't many specific call-backs to this, but it tracks that this family would create those kids. like yes this is a little melodramatic I suppose but the prose is beautiful and I enjoyed reading it!

Wow! It was so interesting to read this book after not having liked the first book. This is a 4.5 stars for me. I enjoyed so much about this book. I feel as though I can't say too much without ruining it, but I will do my best.
Fantastic characters and the way the story flowed worked out perfectly. I loved that the narrator was sharing a story with her son about her own youth. There was so much wrapped up in that story of the summer when Carrie was 17 and the terrible things her and her sisters got into, but it wasn't what I had expected at all.
Lockhart did such a wonderful job of developing these deep and flawed characters. And the relationship between Carrie, Penny and Bess was both heartwarming and heartbreaking. The Sinclair family had experienced so much loss and pain and you can see Carrie struggling to make sense of everything throughout the book. It almost seems as though Carrie is forever living in both the past and present and constantly battling so much heartache.
If you didn't like the first book in this series, I think you should still give this one a shot. It was so worth it.