We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: May 13, 2014
When my friends ask me for book recommendations, I’ll often direct them to WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart—it’s one of my favorite YA books because of its combination of suspense, character development, and lyrical writing. The premise is simple: an extremely wealthy family spends its summers on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts. However, the relationships between the characters (specifically, the four teenagers on the island) make the story unforgettable. Lockhart’s writing style is metaphorical, but she maintains a matter-of-fact tone that is genuinely fun to read. Anyone who likes novels with unreliable narrators (think A CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME ) and hasn’t read this book definitely should.
All of This Is True
by Lygia Day Peñaflor
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: May 15, 2018
When four teenagers befriend their favorite YA author, they don’t suspect that anything will go horribly wrong. Miri Tan just figures that her plan to get to know the author has been successful. Soleil Johnston is happy because the mysterious new boy Jonah Nicholls has started to hang out with them. Penny Panzarella hopes that with their newfound friendship, she can show her school that she is more than just an airhead party girl. Yet things can’t always go your way, and the teens figure that out when author Fatima Ro’s pleas for them to be "transparent" with her turn into her manipulating them so they become the plot of her newest book. And we all know you can’t write a book without a good twist.
This book has so many amazing aspects. For one, it has an amazing method of communicating the story: through "documents" gathered about what happened. These documents include transcripts of interviews, diary entries, and snippets of the book that Fatima wrote on the protagonists. I really enjoyed this because it made you feel a lot like you are actually in the story and experiencing it just like a real scandal is going on.
On to the actual story. At first I was a bit bored. Peñaflor pretty quickly revealed what the big "twist" was that made the group so scandalized. After I read this, I figured what more could they do? But this idea was quickly dismissed in the middle of the book when things began to pick up. This was very interesting because a lot of times when authors reveal the twist too early, the rest of the book feels pale and weak in comparison. In this book, the author did the opposite of that. The author even made it so readers feel almost like they are spoiling the book for themselves through the "excerpts" of Fatima Ro's book.
Another great aspect of this book was the characters. I don’t think I have ever read more relatable characters in a YA book before. The three main girls were all book nerds in love with YA (which many readers could relate to) who each have different distinct teen personalities from the suck up, to the victim, and the one who just wants to fit in.
Overall, I recommend this book for fans of ILLUMINAE because even if they are not in the same genre, they utilize similar methods of storytelling. Also, this book is best for teenagers because of references to rape and mild violence.
