Welcome friend! I wanted to return to the world of We Were Liars and We Fell Apart as the sequel offered that opportunity! However, since this isn’t directly related to the Sinclairs and is an adjacent family’s story, the book didn’t start off as equally appealing. I had to work on untangling myself from my desire to know more of the Sinclairs and be more accepting of how the author wanted to get there. Take a look at what the book is about and then read on for my thoughts.
E. Lockhart | We Were Liars # 3 | Goodreads
The invitation arrives out of the blue.
In it, Matilda discovers a father she’s never met. Kingsley Cello is a visionary, a reclusive artist. And when he asks her to spend the summer at his seaside home, Hidden Beach, Matilda expects to find a part of herself she’s never fully understood.
Instead, she finds Meer, her long-lost, openhearted brother; Brock, a former child star battling demons; and brooding, wild Tatum, who just wants her to leave their crumbling sanctuary.
With Kingsley nowhere to be seen, Matilda must delve into the twisted heart of Hidden Beach to uncover the answers she’s desperately craving. But secrets run thicker than blood, and blood runs like seawater.
And everyone here is lying.
We Fell Apart – Review
We Fell Apart is the story of Mathilda. She is in the in-between time after ending school and before starting college. She was brought up by her mother and is estranged from her father until a fateful email invites her to his property at Hidden Beach. Matilda wonders if by going, she will be able to understand part of her history and herself this fateful summer.
At Hidden Beach, she meets everyone but her father. Kingsley Cello is out traveling Europe. She meets her half-brother, Meer, and instantly makes a friend. He is about the same age as her but has lived a completely sheltered life at Hidden Beach. She also meets Tatum and Brock, young men who took up residence with Kingsley, inspired by his beliefs about life and living.
Matilda is a fierce character. She is at the age where she is able to finally establish herself as someone separate from her mother. She is a gamer, an artist and is curious about her place in the world. She has had to follow her mother’s whims and fancies for most of her life but not anymore.
We Fell Apart takes place at the same time as We Were Liars. Hidden beach is very close to Sinclair’s island. Tatum, Meer, Brock and Matilda visit the island many nights after the tragedy. It is an eerie moment and though neither me nor Matilda know the significance of this place in her life yet, the sadness of the loss of young lives does linger. We Were Liars, told through the perspective of Cadence, is a parallel story but We Fell Apart succeeded in giving a glimpse of the impact of that loss on young minds who are on the periphery.
The lifestyle at Hidden Beach is completely different from what Matilda has grown up with. There are restrictions on using devices and there is unlimited access to the beach. Time takes on a different meaning in this place. Though Matilda does not mind it at first, the waiting to meet her father really starts to get her. She is an observant person and notices the way the family members interact, what they say and don’t say about Kingsley, what they do and don’t do. They are hiding something from her and she needs to find out what it is.
I liked the character cast. Every single one of them has been painted at some time or another by Kingsley and being the subject of art comes up a few times in the story. Once I let go of how all this was related to the Sinclairs and actually started taking interest in the story as it was, I enjoyed the emotional tension, the obligations and choices that each character is faced with and the ways in each everyone is just trying to be their true self while balancing that with what is expected of them as members of Hidden Beach.
Matilda, as the outsider, challenges the status quo. She has nothing to lose by questioning establishing norms as this summer will end and she will be gone to college. Her father has not been a part of her life and if he still isn’t and does not follow through on his promise to meet her, she is no further lost than she already feels. I really liked Matilda’s development arc. She helped the other characters blossom too.
All in all, as a standalone, We Fell Apart was a good book. It is the most philosophical work of the three and I found lots of highlights! I don’t read or like YA often and it definitely makes the list of good YA books that I enjoyed as an adult. It touched on art, creativity, living outside of society’s expectations, being comfortably different but at the same time, trying to preserve what was. It questions what it means to belong to a family and if the next generation must function the same way as the last one.
We Fell Apart is about a daughter who has been asked to return and take her place. It is about a son who wants to respect his father’s wishes but doesn’t know how to support him. It is about a family that exists but is a secret. It is about the tragedy of being exiled, knowingly and unknowingly.
Should you read We Fell Apart if you loved We Were Liars? Yes.
Many thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for a review copy of this book for my honest thoughts!
You can find my reviews of We Were Liars and Family of Liars in the linked text.
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