“He was a person who couldn’t fake a smile but smiled often.”
We Were Liars is a 2014 contemporary young adult mystery book by New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-nominated author, E. Lockhart. The story follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman, a teenage girl who belongs to a wealthy family. Every summer, the Sinclairs retreat to their private island where Cadence, her cousins Mirren and Johnny, and their friend – known as ‘the Liars’ – grew up together. However, a tragic accident during their fifteenth visit has left Cadence with severe amnesia. As she returns to the island after two years away, she begins to uncover more and more of the twisted truth behind the family, the accident and herself. Haunting and emotionally charged, join us at What We Reading for the best books like We Were Liars! These stories are all mysteries that share themes of dysfunctional families, wealth and privilege, memory, identity and the overhanging feeling of guilt.
Genuine Fraud – E. Lockhart
Where better place to start in a list of the best books like We Were Liars than with another one of E. Lockhart’s finest reads? This suspenseful psychological thriller is told in reverse, kicking off with Jule West Williams, a master of manipulation and disguise on the run. She becomes friends with a charismatic and wealthy woman named Imogen Sokoloff, and the pair quickly strike up an inseparable bond. However, with one woman refusing to be the person she once was and another refusing to give people what they want from her, this friendship isn’t destined to last long.
Similar to We Were Liars, Genuine Fraud is a story of identity, reinvention, privilege and deception. If you loved the murky morally-grey positioning of Cadence, Jule’s story should be a great follow-up.
See All The Stars – Kit Frick
Kit Frick’s debut novel, See All the Stars is the story split by two timelines following Ellroy May, a high school student, and her once-close-knit friendship group. During the ‘Then’ timeline, Ellroy is shown to be a part of a strong, inseparable group that includes her best friend, Ret, and her handsome love interest, Matthias.
Fast forward to ‘Now’, however, and everything is revealed to have changed. Ellroy is beginning her senior year isolated and ostracised, having lost all of her friends and her relationship with Matthias. As the story progresses, Ellroy’s downfall is shown through the secrets, lies and control each member of the group once housed. Like with the Liars in We Were Liars, these toxic dynamics culminate in a tragically shocking event that shatters all their lives forever.
One Of Us Is Lying (One Of Us Is Lying #1) – Karen M. McManus
Karen M. McManus whisks readers to Bayview High and Monday afternoon detention in her bestselling YA mystery book, One of Us Is Lying. Five students walk into the room to serve their time: Bronwyn, the bookish nerd who never breaks the rules, Addy, the picture-perfect homecoming princess, Nate, a criminal already on probation for dealing, Cooper, the baseball-playing superstar and Simon, the creator of Bayview’s infamous gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of the classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon is dead and the police have ruled that it wasn’t an accident. To make things even stickier for his four classmates, it is revealed he had planned to release juicy gossip about all of them the day after he died. With all four having a motive to kill him, the investigation into Simon’s death is another story like We Were Liars that explores how far we’re willing to go to protect our secrets.
The Last Time I Lied – Riley Sager
Fifteen years ago, summer camper Emma Davis watched from her bunk as three of her cabin mates snuck out in the middle of the night. The last she – and anyone else – saw of them was Vivian closing the door behind her, shushing Emma with a finger to her lips. In the present, Emma is now a rising art icon in New York turning her past into paintings. Her work soon pulls the attention of the wealthy Francesca Harris-White, the owner of Camp Nightingale.
Francesca begs Emma to return to the camp as a painting counsellor. Seeing this as an opportunity to find closure, she agrees. But it soon becomes clear that all is not well at the camp. Haunted by her memories, growing distrust from Francesca and a series of eerie clues left by Vivian about the camp’s dark origins, Emma is forced to confront threats from both man and nature as three further girls disappear and history threatens to repeat itself. Another one of the best books like We Were Liars, Riley Sager’s The Last Time I Lied is a guilt-ridden story of a woman unravelling the mysteries of the past.
The Sun Down Motel – Simone St. James
Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some of its customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, attempting to hide their secrets. In 1982, Viv Delaney gets a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down. But, she soon finds herself entangled in the bizarre occurrences in the building, which leads to her investigating the disappearances and murders of local young women, until one evening, when Viv suddenly disappears.
Thirty-five years on, Carly Kirk, fascinated by her aunt’s disappearance, travels to Fell and takes the same night shift job as Viv. Experiencing the same eerie occurrences as she did, Carly delves deeper into the fate of Viv and some of this motel’s most grizzly secrets. If you loved the mysteries and investigation in We Were Liars, Simone St. James’ The Sun Down Motel needs to be on your TBR list!
Five Survive – Holly Jackson
Eighteen-year-old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. A long drive lies ahead of them, but the mood amongst the group is good. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile reception and no one around to help. But when all four of the RV’s wheels are shot out, the friends begin to realise this was no accident.
A sniper is out in the dark watching them. And he knows exactly who they are. But, which of the friends has a secret worth being killed for? As a potentially deadly game of cat-and-mouse plays out, buried secrets are brought to light and tensions in the cramped RV soon threaten to boil over. If you’re looking for another viral sensation like We Were Liars where you never know who to trust, Holly Jackson’s Five Survive is a must-read!
That Weekend – Kara Thomas
Claire and her two best friends, Kat and Jesse, had planned the perfect prom weekend getaway. But it’s clear something went horribly wrong when Claire wakes up bloodied and alone on a hiking trail with no memory of the previous forty-eight hours.
Everyone is desperate for answers, no one more so than Claire. She remembers Friday night but nothing after that. And now her two friends are missing. She knows the answers are buried somewhere within her memory, but Claire soon begins to learn that everyone has secrets – even Kat and Jesse – and she’s certain she won’t like what she remembers. One of the best books like We Were Liars featuring our main heroine struggling to unlock a hidden tragedy, That Weekend is a 2021 YA mystery by Kara Thomas.
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Even In Paradise – Chelsey Philpot
For another book similar to We Were Liars that dabbles with careless wealthy individuals and uncovers a series of twisted secrets, look no further than Chelsey Philpot’s Even in Paradise. When Julia Buchanan enrols in St. Anne’s at the beginning of her junior year, Charlotte Ryder already thinks she knows everything about the former senator’s daughter.
Charlotte never expects to be Julia’s friend. But, almost instantly, she is pulled into her world of larger-than-life parties, fizzy champagne cocktails, midnight rendezvous and palatial vacation homes. Then, Charlotte meets, and begins falling for, Julia’s charming older brother, Sebastian. But, underneath the self-assured smiles and toasts to the future, Charlotte soon realises that Julia is still suffering from a tragedy. The sort of tragedy the Buchanan household is doing their best to keep hidden.
Everyone Here Is Lying – Shari Lapena
On the surface, William Wooler looks to be the archetypal family man. But, he’s been having a secret affair. An affair that ended badly at a motel up the road from where he lives. When he returns to his house, devastated and angry, and finds his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, already home from school, he finally loses his temper.
Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing. In a single moment, the quaint safety of Stanhope is shattered. And William isn’t its only resident with a secret. As witnesses come forward, each with information that may or may not be accurate, Avery’s neighbours all become more and more unhinged. Shari Lapena’s 2023 thriller Everyone Here Is Lying is a gripping mystery featuring shocking twists and plenty of unresolved guilt.
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A Map For Wrecked Girls – Jessica Taylor
Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce and dazzling older sister. The pair had always been inseparable best friends until something happened that upended all of that.
Then the unthinkable happened. The two girls find themselves washed up on a shoreline, completely stranded. Their only companion for the ordeal is Alex, a troubled boy tormented by his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Henri and Emma fall catastrophically apart in Jessica Taylor’s YA mystery A Map for Wrecked Girls. To find their way back home, the sisters have to find a way back to one another. But, there’s no map for navigating these things, and surviving both the past and present may be a challenge too far for the pair of them.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
