We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart

A YA mystery about an extended family who spend their summer holidays on their private island. It is about relationships, inheritance, jealousy and loss. The book has a twist at the end, but I guessed it really early on. It is a great twist, but the whole book would have had a bigger impact on me if I hadn’t expected the ending. Although I found it quite a slow burn to begin with, I was really gripped the further on I got. It is a very emotional read, but I did find it hard to relate to any of the characters.

How dyslexia-friendly is it?

I did not find this easy to read. It is a relatively short book, but I kept having to re-read certain parts. It is written in a style that is poetic and lyrical, and I found it really odd at first. I also got really confused at certain points because I took what was written literally, only to find out later that they were just dramatic metaphors. I’m used to reading crime fiction so I read some bits and was disappointed to find out they were just metaphors and didn’t actually happen. I persevered with it, and I started to find the writing style easier to understand, and I really appreciated that there was a family tree and a map at the beginning of the book, I referred back to that a lot!