by E. Lockhart
Delacorte Press, May 2022
256 pages
source: borrowed from the library
Publisher's summary (from goodreads):
The prequel to We Were Liars takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come.
A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.
Welcome back to the Sinclair family.
They were always liars.
My thoughts:
This book checked so many boxes for me: family drama, a New England island setting, the 1980s, and of course, secrets and lies... lots of secrets and lies.
I rarely read YA (young adult) fiction, but devoured this author's earlier book We Were Liars over a summer weekend back in 2014. This prequel, which I didn't know existed until I spied it on my library's new fiction shelf, transports the reader to another fateful summer on that same island compound one generation earlier. Once again, I spent a delightful weekend reading about the Sinclair sisters... only this time they were teenagers. I was quickly caught up in their story and thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience.
Judging from my own imperfect recollection of We Were Liars, you don't really need to read that book in order to appreciate this one. The sisters were vaguely familiar to me, as was the island with its various "cottages," and a memory that something traumatic happened there ... but that didn't add much to my enjoyment of this earlier story.
Bottom line, this was a quick, entertaining summer read.
My rating:
I really loved We Were Liars so a prequel sounds great!
ReplyDeleteHelen - I'm sure you will enjoy this book. Hopefully your memory of We Were Liars is less blurry than mine... I though for a moment about rereading it when I'd finished this prequel!
DeleteI remember reading We Were Liars and I remember my jaw literally dropping when I got to that big reveal. I need to pick up this prequel!
ReplyDeleteKatherine - I remember feeling like that, too, but don't remember the details for the life of me! Hope you enjoy the prequel, too.
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