I really wanted to love this book, but I think it's time for Lockhart to step away from the Sinclair family. I loved We Were Liars when it first came out, but this just felt like it was stretching too far to connect to that story and neither one was stronger for it.

The idea of approaching a We Were Liars story from outside of the wealth intrigued me, but I don't think enough was done with it, especially given how all of the characters end up wealthy at the end of it. We Fell Apart doesn't engage with the themes of We Were Liars in any meaningful way, and in fact seems to muddy them.

The characters really didn't resonate with me. Mirren, Gat, Johnny, and Cadence all read pretty young in their book, too, but the cast in this one feels all over the place. Meer and Brock could easily be aged down to about 12 without issue, while Tatum might as well be in his 30s. Beyond one or two traits tied to that, none of the characters feel fleshed out; largely, they just do whatever is needed at that moment to preserve the mystery or occasionally move the plot. June actually does disappear for a significant chunk of the story and only reappears to be a villain when the plot has stalled for too long. The romance between Tatum and Matilda is a particular casualty of this, coming across forced and disingenuous.

The writing style didn't quite land for me either. In We Were Liars, the pseudo-poetry makes sense for Cadence's narration. She's a hyper-privileged, arguably pretentious rich girl. Matilda, on the other hand, is an unmoored gamer. Giving that exact same style of storytelling to Matilda just doesn't make sense. Why would she describe people the same was as Cadence? Gat being "enthusiasm and strong coffee" feels intentional and unique; Cadence using the same structure to identify the boys and Holland feels out of place.

Finally, the mystery itself left a lot to be desired. A good twist recontextualizes the story - discovering the truth of Cadence's injury in We Were Liars changes the whole story we thought we knew. Here, the reveal that June and the boys are lying to Matilda and Kingsley is locked up just...fizzles out. There's no real tension driving the story - Matilda doesn't need anything specific from her father, there's no ticking clock (since her looming college semester is largely ignored), no reason at all for urgency (something that is driven home by the fact that Matilda gets no answers and just chooses to stay at the castle). "What happened to Kingsley" is a question the book wants us to ask, but it also doesn't matter much to the majority of the story.

It's obvious the boys and June are lying. Finding that out doesn't change anything.

Ultimately, I don't feel like this book captured the magic of its predecessor. It doesn't have much to say, and it doesn't offer much in the way of shiny distraction from that fact.

This book was diabolical, I was completely shocked with how it tied in so seamlessly with the other two books.
At first I really wasn't sure where this story was headed, but was hoping everything would come together in the end. Even if it didn't though, I love this author's writing style so much I could have honestly read anything by her.
I instantly loved our main character and also came to love all the side characters as well. They all had lots of depth and mysterious elements that made me want to keep reading to find out their secrets.
I loved the storyline, it was so different from anything I've ever read before and had me glued to my book.
The drama this book served was perfection, I was completely shocked, horrified and excited by the time we got to the end.
If this author keeps adding to this series I will be here for every book!
Thank you so much to netgalley and E Lockhart for my arc copy, these opinions are my own.

The whole time I was reading this, I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not… I decided that it was ok but I wasn’t SUPER engaged in it. I enjoyed We Were Liars so I was eager to read this.

In classic E. Lockhart style, We Fell Apart is emotionally charged, psychologically intense, and full of unexpected turns. The narrative plays with memory and identity, unraveling a story of love, grief, and the fragments that make up who we are. This novel will resonate with readers who enjoyed We Were Liars and crave a dark, twisty emotional journey. Beautiful and haunting.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed being back in the work of Beechwood Island. I liked this book but not quite as much as We Were Liars.

We Fell Apart was a moody, mysterious return to the world of We Were Liars, packed with brooding atmosphere, coastal decay, and buried secrets. Matilda’s journey to Hidden Beach was as emotionally rich as it was unsettling, peeling back the layers of a family tangled in art, pain, and deception.
The author's prose was as sharp and lyrical as ever, and the gothic undertones gave the whole story a dreamy, haunted quality. The characters—especially lost-boy Brock and the bristling, enigmatic Tatum—felt like they’d stepped out of a myth and into a memory. And while the twists didn’t hit quite as hard as Liars, they still left an emotional bruise.
This was a beautifully crafted tale about identity, family, and the versions of ourselves we leave behind. It didn't quite reach five stars, but it came hauntingly close.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was incredibly excited for this book originally. And while I enjoyed it for the most part it however did not live up to my expectations. I have read the previous two book that take place within this universe, both of them I loved. I feel like the writing felt discombobulated at times and rushed. I found most of the characters to be unlikeable and juvenile in their behavior, both the kids and the adults. June acted like she could control each and every person in her home just because they were a guest. With the previous two books I didn't see the "twist" in the story coming but I felt like I caught on fairly quickly this time (which could just be that this is book 3 and now I'm noticing the clues). The book had two twists and while I did see one of them coming fairly early on, the second was a surprise. However, that surprise, after sitting with it for a few days and working on this review, felt slightly forced. It felt like the author was trying to tie up the connection between this book and the previous two others set in this universe in a neat little bow rather than letting them coexist separately. This book took me almost a week to get through just because I never found myself having an "ahh I MUST continue" moment and could be easily distracted and pulled away from the book.


Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book.

╰┈➤ 3.75 ✩
.ೃ࿔*:
➤
i read we were liars this year and completely devoured it and the family drama of the Sinclairs so I was incredible pumped to see this in my inbox one morning.
like me? Getting an arc of a book I was so excited for and recently had previous works from the author? Dream come true!



this book follows maltida going to hidden beach (same area as the sinclairs and very recent after the...tragedy ! yay! after she discovers who her father really is and he invites her there. there's a lot of secrets and all in all a lowk boring plot ?

.ೃ࿔*:･

➪ 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭

my main beef with this book is the plot. because we have this entire mystery of her and her father and his secrets and everyone "knows" him because he's a famous artist, she gets an invite from her father (kinglsey) to come and visit him because he wants to meet her. so she goes because her mother sucks as a parent and you know what, why not?

she meets meer, who...is her long lost brother!! yeah her father is a real upstanding guy. who knows how many siblings she has she doesn't know about im negl. meer just wants to meet his half-sister and have a sibling relationship with her. she also meets brock who is a former child actor going through it and tatum.

honestly tatum pissed me off. you know what, i didn't like a singular character in this book. tatum pmo because he did. he's a jerk and i said it. this man was rude almost 24/7 and played part of it off "im just like..testing you"

so we have tatum (the love interest), brock (the broody), and meer (the brother) and maltilda.

where's her dad in all of this you ask?

oh yeah, HE's NOT FRICKIN THERE. YEAH NO THE UPSTANDING JERK COULDNT EVEN SHOW UP FOR HIS DAUGHTER. Yeah stellar guy, what a role model.

so while maltilda is trying to get to know these strange people better, with meer's mother (kingsley's housekeeper) being sus as hell, and things being hidden and people keeping secrets more than you know, we follow the book for however many pages.

to say that i was a little bit bored is an understatement. i read this before bed and i fell asleep--. but i digress. i pegged the plot twist so fast into the book i almost was hoping she'd spin it a different way that when i got to matilda figuring it out, i was like "dang gurl you slowww" but no, i think it's semi obvious.
.ೃ࿔*:･

╰┈➤ side note, remember i said i hated every character? i take that back, as i was writing this review i remembered Saar, who is an upstanding citizen and more of a dad and parent that matilda has ever known. this man (was her mom's ex boyfriend) literally HOPPED A PLANE TO COME AND SEE MATILDA BECAUSE SHI WENT DOWN!? HELLO!? respect to him, he actually cared about her unlike other people
.ೃ࿔*:･

➪ 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬
the summer on the island around rich (or not actually) kids and secret vibes deffo hit! i totally think we still have lockhart's siganture style in this novel and her writing is not for everyone but it's one of the reasons i like her writing. in a bookstore you could pick up a book and be like, yup this an e lockhart novel. and i love that.

but i wasn't left with that same feeling that i had with we were liars. and why i'm comparing it is because it's set in the same world, it's a week (i think?) after cady and her familiy's aftermath, everyone is talking about that incident!

the ending is very e.lockhart style though i think it had more...depth than the entire novel? like the ending was happy! like we were liars was not happy at all, nothing happy about that. but the ending is why i'm giving it that extra .75, i liked the wrapup.

╰┈➤ all in all, if you are looking to pick up this book and think you might enjoy it after this review, just know you are in for a book with a confusing/ m but slow burn filled romance / mystery nce with a lot of secrets and lies.

༄
but this love is an everyday magic, i share it with a person who sees the bringer of madness

༄
╔═════════════☆♡☆═══════════════╗

thx to netgalley + the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review !!

Devoted fans of We Were Liars will find this enjoyable as the book brings further connections and insights into the Sinclairs. While the book also works as a standalone, it doesn’t have the same nostalgia that ultimately saves the story from being too flat.

We Fell Apart


Another captivating read by e Lockhart
This follows another eccentric family and friends at Hidden Beach at the Vineyard
They stayed out to late
They fell apart and made mistakes
The lives of Matilda, Meer , Brock and Tatum intersect on Hidden Beach and the castle of world renowned artist Kingsley Cello. As the mystery of Matilda’s estranged father Kingsley unfolds . I think I might have liked this more than the first book !!!

#wewereliars
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

It was fun to go back and visit the world of the Liars just in time for the Amazon series debut. Fans of the first two books will enjoy this one. While knowledge of the Sinclairs is not necessary to enjoy We Fell Apart, I would suggest that readers who haven't read We Were Liars start there. I want to go back and revisit both Liars and Family of Liars!

I devoured this in one sitting - We Fell Apart is set at the same time as We Were Liars. We follow a different rich, privilege family in the area. Matilda receives a letter from her estranged father, Kingsley, who is a famous artist. However, when she arrives at his secluded house with no real address, he is no where to be seen and is instead greeted by her brother, Meer, who she had no idea existed, along with his mom June and former child star Brock and brooding Tatum. Meer, Brock and Tatum are accustom into getting into shenanigans around the island - like breaking into pools. Matilda joins them - but can sense something is really wrong. And she's right.

I loved We Were Liars & Family of Liars. Would definitely recommend this book for fans of the universe.

My niece literally screamed when I told her I was lucky enough to get an early copy of E. Lockhart's latest book. As always, she nails it with the solid characters and suspense. All I can say is that I am glad I'm not part of the Sinclair family!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of We Fell Apart!

E. Lockhart returns with her signature lyrical prose and haunting atmosphere in this standalone companion to We Were Liars. This novel is soaked in mystery, family secrets, and emotional intensity. It weaves together a beachy, gothic backdrop with a gripping story about identity, art, and the dark threads that tie people together.

The tropes are spot on for fans of moody, twisty YA: estranged family, found letters, hidden truths, a touch of forbidden romance, and a main character piecing together her fractured history. Matilda is a compelling narrator—curious, vulnerable, and determined—and the dynamics between her and the other teens at Hidden Beach crackle with tension and intrigue.

This isn’t a book you can skim—it demands your attention and rewards it with unexpected reveals and gut-punch emotion. Fans of We Were Liars will appreciate the thematic callbacks, but We Fell Apart stands firmly on its own as a compelling psychological coming-of-age mystery.

Dark, dreamy, and deeply unsettling—in the best way.

What a delight to return to the world of the Sinclairs, especially in light of the We Were Liars tv adaptation! This book functions as a standalone, but the Sinclairs are mentioned quite a bit, so I definitely recommend reading We Were Liars first, at least.

Our main character Matilda receives an email from her father - a stranger to her, a renowned artist to the world - inviting her to visit for the summer. But when Matilda arrives at his castle, across the water from Beechwood, her father is nowhere to be found. Instead, she finds a messy chosen family, and she chooses to wait for her father’s return with them.

I raced through this one — Lockhart’s books *feel* like summer. The twists didn’t blow me away like We Were Liars, but truthfully, I’d return to every story Lockhart tells about this fictional version of Martha’s Vinyard.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an advanced copy.

Lockhart's propensity for weaving fairytale and poetic stanza into prose strikes again, though not as successful as I had hoped it would be from the earlier chapters. There is so much potential in the interweaving of fairytale, story games, and the characters' complicated lives--which all attempted to provide a greater message around identity, freedom, and family--but unfortunately there was no ultimate deepening of these connections and themes by the end of the novel.

The interspersed poetic framing of certain thoughts of Matilda's seem purposeless, a use of the form without any function. Some scenes or actions that move the narrative along also come across disjointed, as if Matilda (or others') illogical actions should be taken as a given, though in reality they can be jarring. The infinite ensemble cast provide the illusion of a robust story, but each character falls just short of being three dimensional (albeit well-formed enough to be endearing in the case of the main three boys).

While it is not required to have read the other books in this series, the superficiality of the somewhat aimless narrative becomes more prominent for a reader in that case. The ultimate saving grace of the novel, and what makes it readable, is the strained yet intriguing sense of mystery surrounding Matilda's elusive father, Kingsley Cello. Unraveling his hidden origins and the secrets everyone is keeping at his property, Hidden Beach, is a decent enough driving force behind moving the narrative forward.

Matilda is about to graduate from high school and even though her mother has moved her from lover to lover and Matilda's boyfriend has just broken up with her, there is still some grounding in her life. Her mother's latest cast-off, Saar, has stepped in to provide a home and security for her and her biological father (who left her mother before she was even born) has mysteriously reached out and wants to meet her.

So begins Matilda's odyssey to meet her dad and perhaps learn more about herself. Traveling to a small town in Martha's Vineyard she finds her father, a world famous painter, has gone leaving her with a brother she never knew she had along with his mother who resents her presence altogether. Matilda is soon surrounded by her brothers' friends and other newly discovered distant relatives.

As relationships grow and the summer turns to fall, Matilda discovers the many ways in which love enters our lives and the important ways it stays. This is a book that will find it's way into the middle of your heart and linger there.

Another E. Lockhart triumph. While We Fell Apart was a bit slower than We Were Liars and Family of Liars, the same underlying suspense and strong character development kept me engaged the whole time. Loved the plot twist and that everything was explained and wrapped up in the end.

Welcome back to Sinclair family madness!
This book, while it is the third in the series, contain spoilers of the previous book.
This book had so many twists and turns, it was a real roller coaster ride from beginning to end.
I really liked Matilda and was really rooting for her to have a happy ending!
Sit back and enjoy one more roller coaster ride with the Sinclair family!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s Books for this ebook ARC copy.

We Fell Apart by E. Lockhart
Pub Date November 4, 2025

Matilda has never known who her father is, one day she receives and invitation from him, Kingsley Cello, a well-known contemporary artist. He asks her to spend the summer at his estate, Hidden Beach, she agrees because she has wanted to know him for so long.

When she arrives, she meets her half-brother who she never knew existed.
Brock who used to star in a TV show as a child, one she is familiar with.
And then there’s Tatum, who initially treats her with dislike and seemingly pushes her away. But the one person she wanted to meet isn’t there.

Matilda is desperate to know her father, so she explores his home, his world and finds glimpses of him in everything around her, but his absence is also palpable, in the way things are managed and the state of the home that looks like a castle. Is the castle all it seems to be or is there more to it than what can be seen?

This is probably my favorite book so far in the series, I don’t know if there will be more, but I enjoyed how this tied into the previous books and uncovered even more secrets, or lies, in this case. The facades that people put up to appear as something that they are not can be life creating or life ruining. It all depends on the upkeep, the maintenance, the preservation of these secrets to keep these lies going.