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sabrinabeschke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
mikathereviewer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
When I saw that the book has 87 chapters I was like: What
But guess who's happy now for getting short chapters to read :D
Writing style was, well, interesting. I mean sometimes it was out of place and I was confused or preferred if it wasn't written down some parts, but some of them were really cool. Especially the beginning of the book. The eerie feeling was great!
The original hand drawn things, poems, and 'how I wrote We Were Liars' were really cool. Most authors don't include this, even though I think it's good to see the progress of a story for people who might plan to write their first one themselves.
(Also kinda glad the name 'Let's do and say we didn't' was changed to 'we were liars')
Despite everything I still liked the story. The plot. What happened. It didn't turn out like I hoped for, but it was still interesting to read. And honestly I wasn't triggered by anything.
Also, thanks for the spoiler warning for the #0 book as I wanted to actually start this one and didn't know that it would spoiler the other one 😅
All parts of the book are so different. The beginning gave me eerie and kinda spooky feelings — I was totally invested.
The middle part was medium-paced and gave me standard thriller vibes.
The romance was so weird. I used to find it cute at the beginning but it turned out to be more dramatic than necessary and both their decisions weren't really great and I think only hurt their relationship more than doing good.
The ending was disappointing. I had many theories how it would go and this wasn't one. So one could say the ending wasn't predictable, which I usually love, but I wished for it to be something else actually. I thought the story is perhaps about grief and the whole gory things were metaphors for being sad inside and needing to supress it as everyone in this family does it. I mean they don't even want to talk about people that passed. And the eerie vibe at the beginning made me think that it includes perhaps a bit of horror.
I had so many theories and so many great ideas for an ending, I even thought it was a Shakespeare re-telling of King Lear. What a disappointment.
I think the explanation at the end of the book why they were called bad liars was great, but it would have been better to include the scene of origin for this in the book so that we readers don't feel confused about it the whole time while reading.
Afterword
Before anyone says that the whole book copied other books (as one can see in her sketch for the book) I would disagree, as she only got Inspiration for a few aspects and didn't copy everything. I would call it Inspiration. And inspirations are great, they help you to get a better picture of how the story is supposed to be and might even motivate you.
Her whole preparations are well organised and I very very much appreciate her for showing us them. It can help so many. Help them to start they own book one day.
27. July 2024
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Rape, Vomit, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol
The book also includes survivor guilt also known as KZ syndromewhynotreadwithalex's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I suppose I should start by saying that I don't read sad books. Like, ever. And when I do, it is by accident and begrudgingly. And NEVER in the "hurt-no-comfort" category. Because I don't like being sad on purpose. Period.
However, a friend of mine gifted me this book when she moved, and after all the hype surrounding it when it came out, and of course the intriguing premise, I knew I was going to have to just power through and give it a chance.
Even though I knew it would be devastating.
And even when I reached the halfway mark and guessed at the truth hidden underneath the lies -- at which point, I knew for certain that I was going to be, you guessed it: devastated -- I wanted to finish it. To feel it and live it with Cady.
Oh, my poor, sweet Cady. How I wish I could just wrap you up in the biggest of hugs.
All in all, this is an excellent book. Devastating, yes. But exquisitely told. Grief is explored in every aspect. And as much as we would all rather avoid this kind of heartache, it comes for each of us. And this book does an amazing job of taking the reader through the process of pain, acceptance, healing, denial, and hope that surfaces even as the wounds turn to scars and the phantom pains set in. I can't say that I loved this book, because it's still so fresh and raw and, well, painful. But I needed it. My soul needed it.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
gemjar321's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Abandonment
alixsbooktherapy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I loved how descriptive the author was for the first few chapters
"I wanted to go back with a book" me too cadence
Gat flirting was so funny really brought some brightness to the awkwardness
"The universe was good because he was in it"
My heart hurt for cadence after she found out gat kept something from her
"The universe is seeming really huge right now I need something to hold onto" gat said
"I'm here"
THE KISS YES!! IM SO HAPPY
Granny tipper😭
Mummy should of been nicer and let the kids grieve
How I hated mummy she was a drunk and loved to manipulate her kids I definitely feel this book was overhyped I hope book 2 redeems my hope for this
I feel this book would of been 10x better if it was longer and was more descriptive other then that the end pulled it to together for me
I hated the family and how mommy and granddad were such assholes to the kids and wanted to spilt gat and cadence up just because he's not white like take your racist bullshit elsewhere
We finally learn that Cady didn't hit her head on a swimming injury and it was a fire injury instead.
"I have lost you, gat because of how desperately,desperately I fell in love"
'It's good to be loved even though it will not last"
"Be a little kinder"
"Shut up I'm 10 already"
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
jordan_noel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
However, I didn’t feel that I really knew the characters. I knew what Cady felt, but I didn’t know any of their interests and true motivations beyond their love for each other. This made it difficult for me to be engaged in the book.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Moderate: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism, Self harm, and Blood
ilaronicly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Murder, and Abandonment
oliviastewart716's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Abandonment
profilernewt07's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
naddl0r's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment