TBR-ed! | 5 “not lies” about “we were liars” by E. Lockhart

it was a fever dream
to be reading this book.

i know i gave it 5 stars on my goodreads, but i’m still reeling from that ending. i’m in “recovery mode” if you’d call it that.

it really wasn’t what i expected it to be. not in a bad way, just that it surpassed all the molds and expectations i’d imposed upon it. i was enchanted by the writing, the prose and the timeless storytelling. i loved gat, johnny, mirren and cadence (well mirren not so much but..) strong characters with totally different and vivid backstories, angels and demons of their own, and as the story developed, it was interesting to see the various planes to their personality that these characters held.

Not Lie #1: Maps and Machines

• this book has a map??!!! how cool is that? i mean considering the fact that this is almost a decade old, maps in books were all the rage back then. it’s nice to again have those maps back, it instills a somewhat type of nostalgia in me.
• i also liked the illustrations and the whole this-is-an-island-you-shall-not-enter type of vibe with the map, and the family tree after the map was pretty intriguing too.

Not Lie #2: That Ending Though??..

• the ending had me pretty confused frankly speaking. i think it’s because the author either expected us to have enough braincells to comprehend where the story was leading, or i just lost my shit halfway through it.

Not Lie #3: Should I feel guilty for saying I hate one of the Liars?

• i hate mirren. i don’t know why. i just don’t like her. she seemed like a more complex character than candence, gat or johnny.
• she kept switching sides halfway through the book, and she ignored cady more than johnny or gat.
• overall she didn’t seem like a very trustworthy person and she had a lot of issues on the inside which she kept projecting upon the people who actually cared for her.
• not my type of character frankly speaking.

Not Lie #4: The Romance of a Lifetime

• speaking of which, i thought gat would betray cadence in the beginning but turns out he loved her as much as she loved him.
• this is the type of moment where i love to be proven wrong because all the moments gat and cadence shared had my heart hammering out of my chest.
• the descriptions and articulations of their romance were stunning and even if i don’t get to re-read the entire book, i would definitely go back to re-read just the moments of their romance.

Not Lie #5: The Characters>> The Actual Plot

• in this type of book, i liked the premise of the plot more than the actual plot itself—except for the ending that is.
• i liked the characters, their complexity and layers more than the plot itself, or what they had to do with the plot. i think in this book, the characters outshone the plot. that’s not necessarily a bad thing though.

i don’t know about the rest of you but i think i’m sticking with the 5-star. i’ll probably change my rating after i make more sense of that ending.

did you like the book? i saw a lot of mixed reviews on the internet, but do try to help me reel from the ending by telling me yours!

[ ps: all the best for your boards, if you’re writing them!🥳 ]

suffering from success
asic signing off,