This will definitely be a #booktok book!

While this book was not my favorite, it was, in fact, better that “We Were Liars”. I did not like We Were Liars. The story was very superficial and did not go in depth into the characters or anything.

But “Family of Liars” did better. We got to see a POV of Carrie, Johnny’s mother, and her time on the island growing up with her sisters. There is a plot twist, but it was a bit predictable.

However, I liked Carrie’s character. While I am not privileged like her, I related more to her. She spoke her mind, she didn’t roll over and accept her situations.

Overall, this book was good. 3.25/5

Thanks to Delacorte and NetGalley for an advaced copy of Family of Liars to review! We Were Liars made such a splash on TikTok last year; I was excited to read the prequel! If you loved We Were Liars, you'll definitely enjoy getting more background on the Sinclair family. Even if they're not a particularly likeable family overall.

The writing style of this is much the same as We Were Liars, with short chapters and a lot of dialog. Honestly, Lockhart is just great at capturing teen dialog. The conversations flow easily between characters and help to move the plot forward quickly. While the characters might not be the most likeable characters, you're still invested in their story. 

Like with We Were Liars, there are plot twists abound in this book. While I found them a little predictable, they still add a sense of intensity to the story overall. From the beginning, there's an air of mystery of what's going to happen on the island over the summer. You know something will happen, but it's not immediately clear what. Lockhart is an expert at keeping that air of mystery, even without making it totally obvious. However, I did think the book took a little too long to find it's narrative voice. The voice didn't really pick up until about halfway through the book.

Overall, if you enjoy summer themed mysteries, you'll definitely enjoy this book! Especially if We Were Liars is one of your favorites.

This book was absolutely fantastic. You should definitely read We Were Liars first as Family Of Liars does, otherwise, contain spoilers. I read this one on my phone and loved it so much I couldn't put it down. I'm facinated by the Sinclair family and their never-ending endeavors to live by their family rules. I'd definitely give this 5 stars and recommend it to any fan of YA or adult fiction. Thanks to Net Galley for the advanced reader copy. I can't wait for this to hit the shelves!!!

Somewhere around a 4.5.

I loved We Were Liars when it first came out. I reread it in preparation to read this and am glad I did to refresh myself with the Sinclair family.

If you liked We Were Liars for the family drama and relations, I think there's a good chance you'll like this one too. If you liked We Were Liars for the plot twist, you might not love this one as much.

The book spoils We Were Liars on the first page (so read that one first if you haven't and want to!) and uses what we learn in the first book as the set up for this second one. It's equally as sad, there's some great twists at the end, and there is lots of family drama and a dash of doomed romance

The writing style is similar as well with poetic moments interspersed through the narrative. In the ways that We Were Liars now feels a little dated reading it, Family of Liars does a good job at bringing the Sinclair family into modern conversations that teens want to have despite it being set in 1987. It's not perfect, but where We Were Liars fails to have conversations about privileges, this book explores that more.

Lastly, Lockheart just does a great job at capturing the feeling of being a teen. The conversations feel real, the feelings are so deeply felt. It's clear to see why these books are such a hit with teen readers.

I would pick up another book about the Sinclair family.

Another great story!! I couldn’t put this down. My students will thoroughly enjoy this. It was a quick and easy read that kept me coming back for more.

To me, Lockhart is quickly becoming the new V.C. Andrews. Set in the 80s, this prequel is Carrie's confession to what happened on the island when she was a teen. It adds to the atmosphere of wealthy upper class privilege on the island, seeing a family so far unblemished. I absolutely think this novel is stronger than We Were Liars, though the twists were easy to see coming and not as surprising. You come to care for Carrie, seeing how she and her sisters struggle with their coming of age in a family of expectations.

When I read We Were Liars many years ago I can fully admit that I read the book wrong the first time I read it, and when I got to the end had to re-read it with new eyes. That being said I loved the book, and have since given it to many students over the years who also loved the book. So I was understandably excited to learn that the author had written a prequel to the book, and it does not disappoint. Written in the same unique writing style, of pros, intense imagery, and narrative the author allows us to see how the Sinclair family became what we saw in the second book. The additional integration of various fairytales into the book continues the
storybook quality that these characters and their lives create. Much like the first book it is not an easy read, but one that forces the reader to focus, think, and analyze not just the words on the page but also the characters intentions, and how much are they really telling the truth, or are they all just liars.

Fun and twisty, this is a perfect summer thriller and a fitting prequel to "We Were Liars". Loved it!

The prequel to We Were Liars has been well worth the wait!
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This YA book tells the story of Carrie, the oldest of the Sinclair daughters, as she spends a life changing summer on the family’s island before her senior year of high school. It turns out…the Sinclairs were always liars.
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I really wasn’t a big fan of We Were Liars. I remember it being slow and the ending not the biggest reveal in the world to me, but this #prequel was really, really good. I was hooked and actually could t stop reading, wanting to know what big secret Carrie had in her 1980 summer. I highly recommend this, even if you haven’t read the first book, as it’s been a while since I had. #booktok made this title popular again, but this one will send it to the stratosphere. Grab your copy May 3.

CW: fire (mention), death, blood, violence, drowning, substance abuse, rehab, alcohol, attempted rape, murder

I received an advanced copy of Family of Liars by E. Lockhart from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Family of Liars is the prequel of We Were Liars. Carrie, eldest of the Sinclair sisters, tells the story of her own lies and betrayals during her seventeenth summer.

As someone who really enjoyed, We Were Liars, I was so excited to get my hands on this book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The novel starts off slow with too many character introductions. I found myself numerous times flipping back to understand who is who. The plot had a lot of the same things similar to We Were Liars, so many of the twists could easily be predicted.

Demand from the fans of We Were Liars was just too strong for E. Lockhart. She wrote a sequel just for us. The Sinclair family is just too delicious to not explore further. Want to know what caused the Liars’ moms to act the way they did which caused the Liars to do what they did?? This story has the answer. And it . . . explains a lot.

Family of Liars is told from Caroline’s POV - the oldest Sinclair daughter and the mother of Johnny. Johnny asks his mom to tell him about the worst thing she ever did. And she obliges. She goes way back to the summer after her little sister drowned. The summer George, Major, and Pfeff came to the island. The boys’ arrival starts a series of unfortunate events and exposes jealousy among the sisters and revelations about the family. Like We Were Liars, it ends with a stunner.

I love being back on Beechwood with all of its “breezy glamour” (reviewer Elizabeth Kaplan’s phrase from Publisher’s Weekly, not mine). The Sinclair family’s unreal wealth, white privilege, and absolute power is frustratingly realistic and makes quite a statement about today’s society (even though this story is set in 1987). If you’re like me, the second you finish Family of Liars, you’re going to pick up We Were Liars and start that one all over again. Spoiler alert - it’s just as good the second (and third) time, if not better.

Family of Liars is the prequel to We Were Liars. I first read We Were Liars several years ago, and was drawn in by the writing style. The writing flows smoothly for me. It's elegant without being oversimplified. I enjoyed the book so much that I never saw the plot twist coming! When I saw there was a prequel, I knew I had to read it. This book takes place with the same family on the same island. Only this time, you know from the beginning that they are all a family of liars.

This book did not disappoint. I could have read it in one sitting if had more time. It was a fun, engaging, quick read. This time I was prepared for the plot twist. The beginning of the book sets it up for you not to trust the protagonists, while at the same time you build pity for them. Or at least, as an adult, I developed pity for seeing a teenager struggling to deal with their emotions and with little family support. This book touches on a lot of issues.

This time I did see the plot twist coming! but only because of the setup at the beginning of the book. I think this is the perfect book if you were looking for a little bit more of the Sinclair family.

I am going to preface this with the fact that I loved Lockhart's We Were Liars...the mystery, the characters...the whole nine yards. I was so excited to read this prequel, Family of Liars. A mystery and thriller is only as good as the conclusion. I was not impressed with this, although the shocking twist came out of left field. It was nowhere near the shock of the first book. It reads like a CW show--everyone's rich and owns an island. The wealth and excess were difficult to digest in this day and age. I am not the target audience, true, but being a teacher for so many years, I can usually tell what my students will like. This was not one that I would recommend.

Listen, I'm endlessly a sucker for the genre of novel best described as "rich white family does Kennedy cosplay, complete with Secrets and Crime.' Bonus points if there's a special island or beach mansion involved; triple bonus points for a moody 20th-century setting. So, yes, I loved FAMILY OF LIARS. Is it functionally the same as WE WERE LIARS but with added ghosts and a slightly less dramatic twist? Perhaps. But it's also compelling and moody and haunted and the sort of book you just hole up reading from cover to cover. E Lockhart doesn't mess around!

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

This is just your average book. Didn’t know it was part of a series.

Riveting prequel to We Were Liars - descriptive characterizations make this a must read. Instantly transported into the lives of the Sinclair family, the reader becomes immersed in the family drama.

Intriguing story about a teen girl and her family during a summer on a seemingly idyllic New England island. The narrative flowed well. The narrator said she was a liar but most of the story was not fabricated.

And now we know how we were liars learned their tricks. Family of Liars tells the back story a generation before that tangled family alliances, truths, and lives. We learn from the Sinclair family how simple choices have vast consequences--that can last for generations.

I have not read Lockhart's earlier book, so this was my first introduction to the Sinclair family and they are definitely a lot. I enjoyed Carrie as a narrator, but felt like there wasn't a great deal of development with the others - maybe this happened in the other book? I'm still wondering if a major plot point was real or imagined and I felt that the big ending was a bit rushed. Still a good read, but not a great one.

I read We Were Liars last year and I loved it, so I was very excited about this book.
Sadly I didn't enjoy it as much as We Were Liars. The plot had lot lot of the same things similar to We Were Liars, which as a prequel that's to be expected. But it felt like I read parts already, so it wasn't a shock that the Sinclairs were always the way they were. There were a lot of plot twists and I saw all of them coming. The book starts out with some major shocking events, so it kinda felt like the book showed its hands of cards too soon.

It's hard not to compare this book to We Were Liars, in terms of the mystery We Were Liars kept me guessing and this book didn't and it was just kind of lackluster.

The book retroactivley made one of the characters gay when its never brought up in We Were Liars. It feels like it was done for shock value and not for any actual character development.

The general theme of the book is how the Sinclair family has the expectation of perfection, no one talks about any problem and anything undesirable is set aside....but I felt that We Were Liars did this well enough on its own. I kinda felt like this book would have been better as a stand alone instead of a prequel.