You know that feeling. The one where you’re scrolling through TikTok at 2:00 AM and suddenly someone is sobbing into their camera, clutching a book with a yellow-and-white cover. They look like they’ve just witnessed a tragedy. In a way, they have. This is the enduring legacy of We Were Liars videos, a corner of the internet that turned a 2014 young adult novel by E. Lockhart into a permanent cultural fixture. It wasn't just a trend. It was a shift in how we consume stories.
I remember when the wave first hit. It was early BookTok. People weren't just reviewing books; they were performing their grief. The "twist" in E. Lockhart's We Were Liars became the gold standard for "the emotional payoff." If you haven't read it, the story follows the Sinclair family—old money, private islands, and deep, rotting secrets. But the videos? They weren't about the plot. They were about the reaction.
Honestly, the phenomenon of We Were Liars videos is a fascinating study in communal spoiler-dodging. Everyone knew something happened, but nobody would say what. That silence created a vacuum that sucked in millions of readers.
The Anatomy of a Viral BookTok Reaction
What makes these videos work? It’s the raw vulnerability. You see a creator start the video with "Day 1: I’m starting We Were Liars. Everyone says it’s sad. I don’t see it. The Sinclairs are just rich and annoying." Then, the jump cut.
The jump cut is everything.
Suddenly, the lighting is dim. Their mascara is running. They are staring at the final pages with a look of genuine betrayal. This specific video format—the "Before and After"—is what propelled the book back onto the New York Times Bestseller list years after its initial release. It proved that in the digital age, a book's "shelf life" is basically a myth.
Why the "Twist" Format Won the Algorithm
The algorithm loves a mystery. Because these videos never explicitly stated the ending—to do so would be a cardinal sin in the BookTok community—they forced viewers to go buy the book to understand the hype. You’ve likely seen the comments: "I just finished... I will never be the same." Or, "I need a therapist and E. Lockhart is paying."
👉 See also: The Perfect Match: What Most People Get Wrong About This 2016 Rom-Com
It’s meta-storytelling. The video itself becomes a trailer for an emotional experience rather than a summary of a plot.
Examining the Aesthetic of Beechwood Island
Beyond the crying, there’s the "aesthetic" side of We Were Liars videos. E. Lockhart writes with a very specific, fragmented prose. "A crack. A bleed. A blow." It’s rhythmic. Creators leaned into this by making "vibe edits." Think grainy footage of docks, golden hour sunlight hitting the ocean, and shots of expensive-looking lemonade.
These videos tapped into the "Old Money" aesthetic before that was even a mainstream term. They focused on the Sinclair family's motto: Be a pioneer. Remember that God is watching. The juxtaposition of that pristine, wealthy imagery with the underlying horror of the story is why these edits still get thousands of shares.
People are obsessed with the idea of a "perfect" family falling apart. It’s "Succession" for the YA crowd.
The Role of Music in Setting the Tone
If you’ve watched more than three of these videos, you’ve heard the music. Usually, it’s something haunting. Phoebe Bridgers is a staple. Maybe some slowed-down Lana Del Rey. The music acts as a psychological primer. It tells the viewer, "Prepare to be devastated."
I’ve seen edits that use the sound of crashing waves mixed with snippets of the audiobook. It’s immersive. It’s not just a book review; it’s a mood board.
The Impact of the Prequel and the TV Adaptation
Just when the We Were Liars videos started to plateau, Family of Liars was released in 2022. This prequel took us back to the 1980s, giving creators a whole new era to play with. Suddenly, the videos shifted from modern-day tragedy to retro-summer nostalgia.
And now? We have the Amazon Prime Video adaptation on the horizon.
This is a massive turning point. Historically, when a "BookTok book" gets adapted, the video volume explodes. We saw it with The Summer I Turned Pretty. We saw it with Daisy Jones & The Six. The "fan casting" videos for We Were Liars have been circulating for years, with people picking actors like Sadie Sink or Timothée Chalamet for the lead roles.
The Risk of the Visual Reveal
There’s a tension here, though. Part of the magic of the We Were Liars videos was the internal imagination. When you see the tragedy play out on a literal screen, does it lose its power?
The book relies heavily on "unreliable narration." Cady, the protagonist, has suffered a head injury and can’t remember what happened during "Summer Fifteen." Translating that memory loss to video is tricky. If the showrunners get it right, we’re going to see a whole new wave of reaction videos. If they get it wrong? The BookTok community is famously protective. They will let the world know.
What We Get Wrong About the Hype
A lot of critics claim that We Were Liars videos are performative. They say people are just crying for the camera to get views.
Sure, some of it is for the 'gram. But you can't fake the collective shock of a generation discovering that ending for the first time. The book deals with heavy themes: racism, greed, the weight of inheritance, and the literal fire of teenage rebellion.
The videos aren't just about a "twist." They are about the moment you realize that the world you've been told is perfect is actually built on a foundation of lies. That’s a universal feeling for young people. It resonates.
Nuance in the Criticism
Not everyone loves the book. Some We Were Liars videos are actually quite critical. They point out the privilege of the characters or find the writing style pretentious. This "anti-hype" is just as important for the algorithm. It sparks debate. "Did you actually like Cady?" "Was the twist too obvious?"
I’ve seen hour-long video essays on YouTube dissecting the Sinclair family’s wealth through a sociological lens. This is where the content moves from "silly TikTok" to "literary analysis."
The Practical Legacy of the Trend
If you’re a creator or just a fan of the book, there’s a specific way to engage with this content. You shouldn't just look for spoilers. Instead, look for the "reading vlogs." These are the most authentic versions of We Were Liars videos.
They show the progression.
- Hour 1: Confusion about the family tree.
- Hour 3: Growing dread.
- The End: Total silence.
It’s a shared human experience, mediated through a small glass screen.
Actionable Steps for Readers and Creators
If you’re looking to dive into this community or revisit the story before the show drops, here is how to navigate the current landscape of the fandom:
- Avoid the search bar if you haven't finished. Seriously. Even the auto-complete on TikTok will spoil the ending for you. Search for "BookTok recommendations" generally rather than the specific title if you want to stay pure.
- Check out E. Lockhart’s own social media. She often interacts with fan videos and shares behind-the-scenes insights into her writing process, which adds a layer of "Word of God" authority to the theories.
- Look for the "Annotating" videos. There is a massive trend of people filming themselves highlighting and "tabbing" their copies of the book. These are great for seeing the foreshadowing you might have missed on a first read.
- Compare the prequel. If you’ve only seen content for the original book, search for Family of Liars videos. The tone is different—more "70s/80s summer" and arguably even darker in its exploration of the Sinclair parents.
The hype isn't over. As long as there are teenagers discovering the sting of a well-placed plot twist, We Were Liars videos will keep appearing in your feed. They serve as a digital campfire, a place where we all go to talk about the things that broke our hearts in 250 pages or less.
Don't just watch the reactions. Pay attention to how the story is being reinterpreted for a new generation. The Sinclairs might be fictional, but the way we talk about them says a lot about what we value—and what we’re willing to burn down.
To truly understand the impact, go back to the source. Re-read the book with a critical eye for the clues Lockhart leaves in the first twenty pages. Then, watch a reaction video from someone who just finished it today. You'll see the same expression of shock. Some things never change, no matter how many times the video loops.