REVIEW | Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

—  A REVIEW OF FAMILY OF LIARS BY E. LOCKHART  —

Family of Liars

E. Lockhart

We Were Liars #0

releases May 3, 2022

Delacorte Press

Goodreads | Storygraph

View Synopsis »

The prequel to We Were Liars takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come.

A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.

Welcome back to the Sinclair family.
They were always liars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

So about a bazillion years ago, I think around the time I started this blog, I read We Were Liars.

And We Were Liars was, and still is, one of my all time favourite books.

So when I heard that there was going to be a prequel, I had a lot of mixed feelings. We Were Liars is eight years old and suddenly a prequel is being published. It worked fabulously as a standalone, so what more could there be to tell in a prequel? And still I was excited, because there was going to be more!! to one of my favourite books of all time. I could only hope that Family of Liars wouldn't have second book syndrome.

Unfortunately, it did.

Admittedly, I did not re-read We Were Liars before reading this book, but I still remember the impact of the style of the writing and the twist of it all. Family of Liars had a lot to live up to and large shoes to fill, as a follow up to the first book. And for me, this prequel didn't manage to fill these shoes.

Family of Liars follows Cassie, the eldest of the Sinclair sisters and the mother of Johnny from We Were Liars. We follow Cassie's retelling of her past, growing up and spending summers on their private island, and the one summer that changed everything.

I remember WWL being more stylistic and of course having a big reveal that had me shocked. WWL had more vibes and Family of Liars has more depth in its reflection on their family history and the family secrets. We get to learn more about the family and it definitely provides more background that will most likely change the way that I view some of the characters in WWL when I eventually re-read it.

And because it's been quite a number of years since the first book and the impact that it made, as a reader I was expecting big things from a follow up novel; expecting a gut punch of a twist like there was in the first book.

Despite my expectations not being met, this was a good read. It definitely makes me understand the Sinclair family more and I know more about each of the members and some of the family members that we dont' get to meet in WWL. I just expected too much going in and this made me feel like this book was kind of mid in comparison to WWL. As long as you don't go in expecting another banger of a book that punches you in the gut, and more of a background prequel to WWL, I think you should be fine.

Happy Reading!