We Were Liars

We Were Liars, Book 1

By: E. Lockhart

Narrated by: Emily Alyn Lind

COMING SOON AS THE ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES WE WERE LIARS

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURY • The modern, sophisticated suspense novel that became a runaway smash hit on TikTok and introduced the world to a family hiding a jaw-dropping secret.

"Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart, We Were Liars is utterly unforgettable."—John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

Explore it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Don’t miss any of the We Were Liars novels

WE WERE LIARS • FAMILY OF LIARS • WE FELL APART (Coming in November!)

©2014 E. Lockhart (P)2025 Listening Library

Critic reviews

“Sometimes a book is a book and sometimes a book is a phenomenon. E. Lockhart’s 2014 Y.A. psychological thriller We Were Liars is, without a doubt, a phenomenon. . . . The prequel aims to stand on its own, and technically it does; you don’t need to have read the earlier book to understand this new one. But for the greatest enjoyment of Family of Liars, read We Were Liars first.”—The New York Times, on Family of Liars

"You’re going to want to remember the title. Liars details the summers of a girl who harbors a dark secret, and delivers a satisfying, but shocking twist ending."—Breia Brissey, Entertainment Weekly

"This mindblowing YA thriller from E. Lockhart will make you glad you're the 99 percent...And that's about all we can tell you when it comes to the story of 'We Were Liars,' the book by E. Lockhart that everyone will be reading, and re-reading, this summer. It's twisty, it's mysterious, and it's got a surprise ending that'll knock your socks off."—Kat Rosenfield, MTV News

So good

Excellent narration and the story kept me hooked and guessing until the very end, highly recommend!!

What did I just read?

The ending twist of this book will have you feel all the emotions! Loved the storyline, beautifully written!

Excellent book and lovely voice reading it!!

Loved the story, the twists and that it is a prime show I can watch!!

Brilliant.

I did figure out what happened way before, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to read this book. The author did an amazing job storytelling.

beautifully written

i did not love the story/plot but this author has a way with words. i will not be watching the series as the story wasn’t one that pulled me in. however it was a young adult book, id love to read one by this author for older woman

Not my favorite but not bad

It’s a quick read, kind of drawn out. The same things repeated over and over that I literally started rolling my eyes when it was brought up again lol. Kind of predictable but read extremely well . Overall, I am not mad that I read it but I can already feel myself forgetting that I did.

Perfection

Cadence Sinclair Eastman, the oldest of the wealthy Sinclair grandchildren spends summers on Beechwood island with her cousins Johnny and Mirren and family friend (and crush) Gat--nicknamed the Liars. She has migraines and memory loss since an accident on the island two summers ago, but now she's back with her cousins, hoping to remember what really happened. But, the Sinclairs are not as perfect as they seem; everyone on Beechwood island is a liar, maybe even Cadence herself.

E Lockhart has written a nearly pitch perfect novel that will appeal to both teens and adults. Told from Cadence's first person POV this fast pace story grabbed me from the first sentence with short, pointed sentences. Every word had a purpose. Every sentence showed character, setting or plot. I felt like I was on the island observing Cadence and her cousins. I began feeling like I wanted this book to last forever when I hit 25% on my kindle, the more I read, the more I wanted to know what happened, yet to have the book continue after the mysteries were solved. Cadence is a multidimensional, flawed character. I couldn't help to feel her frustration not remembering and feeling like everyone was lying. I wanted to scream at the other, "just tell her". I never saw the twist at the end coming and was completely shocked. Every guess I had was completely off base, yet the ending made perfect sense.
I can't recommend WE WERE LIARS highly enough and expect it will be nominated for and win many awards this year. I'm about to reread it and see all the clues I missed.

We were liars

Oh my goodness this book was fascinating. I totally did not expect the plot twist, but everything fell into place at the end! Would recommend!

loved how the actress from the TV series reads the book !

loved how the book is slightly different from the series but still true to the major parts! great job Prime 👏

Plot Twist 😳

I loved the flow of the book! I did not want to put it down! I did not watch the tiktok trending show. I just heard about it from a co-worker and read the book first! Now I'm starting the second book, the prequel to, We Were Liars! Overall great book!!