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dr_ew's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Definitely not believable but I enjoyed the writing style a lot. Was definitely a page-turner but the twist was too implausible.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury
page_not_found's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
toxic family dynamics, racists grandfather, classism, to many rich people problems
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Dementia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Drug use and Death of parent
luna_98's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
first of all, the writing in this felt like poetry — so beautiful and tender and real.
secondly, i think i almost like this story more with time, it’s something i still think about and feel sad about.
this book was unlike the books i normally gravitate towards so in that way it was something new and interesting. some people are hesitant to read YA but this book didn’t have that cringey, dumbed down vibe that YA books typically get a bad rep for.
i like how nothing was over-explained; the author respects the readers enough that they are following along and leaves them with questions (but not in a bad way). it deals with heavy topics and doesn’t shy away from the uglier parts of life.
secondly, i think i almost like this story more with time, it’s something i still think about and feel sad about.
this book was unlike the books i normally gravitate towards so in that way it was something new and interesting. some people are hesitant to read YA but this book didn’t have that cringey, dumbed down vibe that YA books typically get a bad rep for.
i like how nothing was over-explained; the author respects the readers enough that they are following along and leaves them with questions (but not in a bad way). it deals with heavy topics and doesn’t shy away from the uglier parts of life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction
sabrinabeschke's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
han_amey's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
eleasofia's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- 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
4.0
it was a quick and easy read, compelling enough to get through fast. the book drew me in right from the first chapter and i liked the fast pacing of the first 10-20%. then it slowed, which made me impatient at first. then, once i had gotten used to the new pace, it suddenly picked up again in the end, which felt a bit off again. but overall the pace was okay. the writing itself was okay too - sometimes trying to be beautiful and poetic but it didn't resonate with me much. i also didn't connect to the characters well enough to be emotional in the end, even though i'm very prone to crying over books. it's the typical kind if book where you're trying to solve the mystery at the same time as the main character is also getting more and more information. the hints and sings are very obvious, but it took me a while to figure out what they meant. i caught on a bit before the big twist was revealed, which is just perfect in my opinion. but now that i know the twist i wouldn't particularly enjoy reading the book again i think. i don't feel like i missed important clues, which is something that makes me want to re-read books with lots if clues and a twist. it's a good book overall, but to me it's not a great one because it didn't move me much. it's not something i will be thinking about for long.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Racism, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
gracewiddup's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- 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
5.0
Absolutely amazing novel which finally got me out of a two year reading slump. Would highly recommend as a fast paced and easy read which will keep you in your toes throughout. A fair warning though, the twist at the end is both genius and heartbreaking - so be prepared to have a cry and spend the next few days reflecting on what you have just read!!!
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism and Fire/Fire injury
annilane's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Racism and Grief
roxanne_blythe's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It’s me a while to get into the story in the beginning they were parts of the story that was definitely confusing. The twist being that the liars excluding Cady being dead the whole time like some sort of sixth sense thing was very anti-climactic….
Overall, this book was interesting. I like the setting, and I secluded island in New England. He gave me the summer. I turned pretty meets big little lies, and one of us is lying.
Overall, this book was interesting. I like the setting, and I secluded island in New England. He gave me the summer. I turned pretty meets big little lies, and one of us is lying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Child death
Moderate: Racism
mikathereviewer's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- 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
Summary of my review: Short chapters, interesting story line, fast- to medium-paced, nice writing style, showing us readers how the book was planned (first sketches, scenes, etc.), weird romance, all story parts felt so different from the previous ones, disappointing ending, explanantion as to why they are called 'liars' were only mentioned in the afterword instead inside the story
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
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
Content Warnings
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 syndrome