I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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.

Short and Sweet Review

Family of Liars is the prequel to We Were Liars and our main character is Carrie, Johnny’s mom. We see what Carrie’s life was like on the island during her teenage years. She tells Johnny’s ghost a story of a time she did something really bad and we follow Carrie as she goes back and tells her story. During the summer the family spends time on their private island and it seems like a regular summer until Carrie’s cousin comes and brings along some boys as guests. Carrie tries to be a good hostess but she’s not that good on it, she’s hooked on pills and half the time she feels drowsy and weak, she also sees the ghost of her dead sister Rosemary who drowned a year ago. Carrie ends up falling for one of the boys but unfortunately he has eyes for her sister Penny which enrages Carrie. This is where the story really picks up. Carrie is always comparing herself to her sisters and she usually sees herself as less than. Anyway jealousy is the name of the game and that is mainly Carries whole story for why she ends up doing what she does. I will say that like We Were Liars things don’t pick up in this book until the whole story is revealed and at that point the book is basically over but the reveal makes the book.

Overall, this book has the same feel as the first and the family really is full of liars. I did like the reveal at the end but the pacing is too slow for me when its trying to build up to the climax. These books are entertaining to read and its really the ending that makes them as good as they are, but I’m not sure that small portion makes up for the rest of the story.