Readers United Book Reviews | We Were Liars and The Sea of Tranquility

Aisha Pasha ’20 returns this week with two gripping novels full of mysteries and surprises.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart is a haunting story of secrets and the mysteries that surround a family. The synopsis on the back of this book is purposefully short and vague because, going into this book, it is best to know as little as possible. Whatever you do, don’t ask anyone about the ending before you finish the book.

We Were Liars is about a seemingly perfect family that gathers on a private island every summer. Every summer is the same for the Liars, a group of three cousins and a family friend. But after one destructive summer, everything changes and lies unfold into truths. The book follows Cady, a girl who tries to find out the secrets that surround her family and the summer that she doesn’t seem to remember.

I was absolutely amazed by the haunting beauty of this book and was covered in chills while I was reading. It contains time jumps from the summer before to present day throughout the book to make even more questions arise for the reader. The plot slowly unfolds before your eyes and soon you won’t be able to put it down. Every word, memory, and character was carefully crafted to fit the mysterious plot of the book.

Verdict: I give We Were Liars by E. Lockhart a full five out of five stars. I didn’t expect to love the book as much as I did, but as soon as I closed the book I knew I had made the right decision to pick it up. Go read this book and enjoy it as much as I did. It will stay with you forever and you’ll want to read it again.

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay remains one of my favorite contemporary books of all time because of its uniqueness and stunning writing.

Nastya Kashnikov used to be a pianist. She also used to have friends and a future. But that was all before. After moving to a new school, all she wants is to remain a shadow in the crowd and to get revenge on the person who took everything from her. She’s not all that different from Josh Bennett, a boy with a past full of grief and feelings that everyone that gets close to him will soon disappear. As Nastya barges into his life, he can’t ignore the mysteries surrounding her or how well she hides them. Part of him wants to find them out, but another part of him tells him that he shouldn’t.

Going into this book, I knew almost nothing about it and it was the complete opposite of what I expected it to be. There was so much more to each character than I anticipated and everyone had a backstory that haunted them.

I was stunned by how amazing the writing style was. The words were linked beautifully and the plot moved smoothly. Millay also was able to mix in some humor into the dialogue that had me laughing out loud. There is a major aspect of mystery in this book and I felt like Millay did a perfect job of revealing things at the perfect time. By the first few chapters, I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down.

Nastya was written beautifully as well. You could clearly see how broken she was and how intent she was on hiding it. I thought her character developed immensely by the end of the book. You could sense the change in her dialogue and the way she looked at life. She changed from being completely closed off to being ready to talk and reveal all the pain she had been through.

Verdict: I would recommend The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay to people who love a good mystery novel with a surprising twist. I would give it a solid four out of five stars. Go pick it up!