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The Independent
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
We Were Liars is the perfect YA thriller for summer – here's where to watch
E Lockhart's YA thriller We Were Liars (£6.99, was the cult novel of 2014. Now, the twisty tome has been adapted into a TV series by Amazon Prime. The eight-episode series is the latest addition to the canon of rich-people-behaving-badly TV. The series will join the ranks among HBO's The White Lotus and Netflix's recent Sirens, as well as now-perennial classics like Succession and Gossip Girl. Just like the book, it centres around 17-year-old Cadence Sinclair, who is the eldest grandchild in the wealthy Sinclair family. Spending her summers on a private island at the family holiday home, she suffers from chronic migraines and memory loss after a serious head injury a few years before. Part love story and part amnesia thriller, the series follows Cadence's inner circle – dubbed the liars – as they try to piece together what happened that fateful summer. The show stars Gossip Girl's Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping' s Joseph Zada and Esther McGregor as her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and Shubham Maheshwari as her friend, Gat. Fans of the cult series The Vampire Diaries will also recognise Candice King, who stars as Bess Sinclair. Here's everything you need to know about We Were Liars on Amazon Prime, and where to read the bestselling novel on which it is based. How to watch We Were Liars All eight episodes of We Were Liars are now available on Amazon Prime Video, meaning you can binge the whole series this summer. If you're not already a member, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial. After that, a Prime membership costs £8.99 per month or £95 per year. Alternatively, you can subscribe to Prime Video alone for £5.99 per month. Where to read E. Lockhart's We Were Liars We Were Liars became an instant New York Times bestseller upon its release in 2014. A story of mystery and deception, Cadence Sinclair is grappling with a fractured memory two years on from a serious head injury. Back on her wealthy family's private island for summer, Cadence and her confidants – otherwise known as 'liars' – spend the season trying to recall the events. In doing so, family secrets are unearthed, the consequences of actions laid bare and relationships reach a boiling point.
The Review Geek
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
We Were Liars – Season 1 Episode 1 'Tell Me Sweet Little Lies' Recap & Review
Episode 1 Episode 1 of We Were Liars begins with Cady aka Cadence Sinclair washing up on the beach. She is heavily injured and doesn't remember anything. A quick montage shows arguments among her family members. Cady narrates all that she can remember of Summer 16. Her family spends the summers on Beechwood Island. Cady is smart and so her mother, Penny, lets her get away with everything. Penny is divorced but no one is allowed to talk about her ex who cheated on her. Cousin Johnny is a troublemaker but his mother, Carrie, feels a lenient approach is the best way to handle him. Carrie's partner, Ed, is a designer. Cousin Mirren is clumsy but sweet. And as luck would have it, her mother, Bess is snarky. Everyone jokes that Bess is a tradwife while her husband, Brody, is constantly busy with work. While they take their routine family photo, they realise that Gat is missing. A flashback to Summer 8 shows Ed bringing his nephew, Gat, who has just lost his father. Gat is quiet and shy but Cady welcomes him and he becomes an honorary Sinclair. Soon, Cady, Gat, Johnny and Mirren become the best of friends. Courtesy of their antics and the way they get away with it, they are known as The Liars. Back to Summer 16, Gat arrives and The Liars happily reunite. The family has dinner by the cliffside. Penny and Bess argue over which of their estates should be renovated. Ed mentions having a kid but Carrie interrupts. A party boat anchors in their view and while Johnny is excited, Grandfather Harris hates it. We soon see that Gat and Cady are attracted to each other. Penny and Bess constantly argue and throw barbs at each other's marriages. Carrie is the mediator and distracts them by pointing out how hot Dan, the harbour service guy, is. Harris enlists Ed to get rid of the party boat. Ed tells Carrie, who teases him and they engage in PDA, which annoys Bess. Over the next few days, the Sinclairs have fun, swimming and playing tennis. Gat is super attentive and thoughtful, and Cady realises that she likes him. She asks him out to see the meteor shower and he is excited. Johnny notices how cosy they are and indirectly warns them. He reveals that he hooked up with his tennis partner which made things weird and ruined the team. Gat is still excited about the date when Ed offhandedly comments that if one falls in love with a Sinclair, they have to keep up with their messy family. Right on cue, Johnny drags Gat away to get an invite to the party boat. Cady waits alone, only for Gat to show up with Johnny and Mirren so they can all head to the party boat. Gat looks apologetic while Cady is hurt. He keeps looking at her and Johnny and Mirren tease them. To shut them down, Gat joins the two in drinking and dancing. Cady sulks and then leaves. Back on the island, Penny and Bess' usual rivalry turns nasty. Their mom, Tipper, scolds them about decorum and Penny blames her for not letting them talk about their feelings normally. She ends up revealing that her ex has hired a PI to squeeze out every penny. Everyone heads out to watch the meteor shower and Cady joins them. She suddenly spots Gat swimming back to the island to be with her. They are interrupted by Johnny and Mirren who drag them for a swim. Later, Johnny confesses that he was hurt that Cady ditched them instead of telling them the truth. They patch up and after Johnny and Mirren leave, Gat apologises as well. He confesses that he was nervous and that he likes Cady as well. They kiss. Bess is waiting for Brody who never shows up. She ends up ranting to Dan. While heading in, Mirren spots her mother hooking up with Dan. Penny goes on a run and cries. Carrie throws out some wine. Harris is on the terrace and watches everyone. 2 months later, an injured Cady washes up on the beach. On her hands it is written – 'Never surrender to the devil you know best.' The Episode Review We Were Liars Episode 1 is an interesting start to the adaptation of an iconic psychological thriller of the 2010s. While we were mostly obsessed with dystopian books or John Green romances, E. Lockhart snuck onto us out of nowhere with her jaw-dropping thriller, We Were Liars. And while it may have taken a decade to get an adaptation, the wait seems to have been worth it. While the nostalgia remains for us book readers, it is sure to be intriguing for new fans of the Amazon Prime show. The first chapter is essentially Cady narrating all that she can remember about her loving family. But as the other characters start getting their POVs, we see that the Sinclairs are far from perfect. While the kids enjoy their summers, Bess and Penny's rivalry over who is the better sister spills onto Carrie to keep them in check. She has her own problems as she keeps avoiding heavy topics with Ed, even though she seems to love him. Harris sees Ed as his assistant and in return, Ed is forced to keep him happy as his footing in the family seems to be precarious. How will all of this affect Cady and The Liars? Next Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
We Were Liars, review: This po-faced YA drama makes me yearn for the fun teen comedies of the 1980s
Suspicions that teenage dramas aren't what they used to be are confirmed near the end of We Were Liars, Amazon Prime Video's glossy adaptation of E Lockhart's bestselling YA novel. One of the characters strips to his shirt, underpants and socks and dances around the house to Old Time Rock'n'Roll by Bob Seger. It's an homage to Tom Cruise in Risky Business, and an unfortunate reminder that dramas aimed at teenagers were once fun but are now a humour-free zone. Risky Business, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Footloose – in the 1980s, all of these took seriously the business of being young and overwhelmed by feelings, but they also made you laugh. We Were Liars, on the other hand, is a po-faced thriller about characters who are privileged and bland, soundtracked by the kind of acoustic dirges that used to blight John Lewis Christmas adverts. The Risky Business scene is so out of place that I had to rewatch just to check I hadn't imagined it being there. The central mystery concerns Cadence Sinclair, who hails from a super-wealthy family and is suffering from amnesia after being found half-drowned on the beach. Oddly, her family knows what traumatic event caused this, but refuses to tell her. The setting has promise: the Sinclairs are 'American royalty' who summer at their Kennedy-style compound, a private island near Martha's Vineyard, where they vie for the attention – and largesse – of Cadence's domineering grandfather. Unfortunately, it takes itself far too seriously, and reaching The Big Twist at the end will require you to sit through hours of angst and switching timelines. We are introduced to the characters through a pretentious voiceover, and I've no idea if the lines are taken from the original book or are the work of scriptwriter Scarlett Curtis (daughter of Richard), but they're pass-the-sick-bucket awful: 'My name is Cadence Sinclair Eastman. I was once strength and promise and spun gold.' Cousin Mirren is 'sugar, effort and constant curiosity'. The romantic hero starts out as 'fireflies, mischief and old books' but grows into 'contemplation, enthusiasm, ambition and strong coffee'. Argh, make it stop! References to King Lear and fairytales are laid on thick. At least it's pleasant to look at, like a Duchess of Sussex moodboard come to life. At one point, I'm pretty sure I saw a rainbow vegetable platter. The details of their Succession -lite lifestyle are the only enjoyable aspect. The family pose for colour-coordinated photoshoots wearing 'ocean hues and neutrals' from Ralph Lauren. They organise lemon hunts – like Easter Egg hunts, but the adults and kids look for hidden lemons, and whoever collects the most wins a multi-million dollar house. Harris Sinclair (David Morse) tests the loyalty of his three daughters, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy clones who are variously planning a 'divorce cleanse', recovering from drug addiction through meditation, and sleeping with Salty Dan, the local boathand. As everyone in the Sinclair family is sun-kissed and blonde, it may take you a couple of episodes to differentiate between these people, although one of the actresses, Mamie Gummer, is better than the others; perhaps it's genetic, because Gummer is the daughter of Meryl Streep. The focus is not on these three but on their offspring. The novel was a hit when it was published a decade ago but has found a new fanbase on TikTok, where readers swoon over the love affair between Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind, a dead ringer for The White Lotus's Aimee Lou Wood), and Gat Patil (Shubham Maheshwari), an outsider who has been holidaying with the family since he was eight. The romance between them is sweet and intense, and you can see why a young audience would get swept up in it. But here's how po-faced it is: Gat is short for 'Gatwick' yet there isn't a single joke about airports.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
We Were Liars is about to drop on Prime Video – and it features a popular Vampire Diaries actor
E. Lockhart's young adult novel, We Were Liars, was one of the most popular books of 2014. Now, the psychological horror has been adapted into a TV series by Amazon Prime. Arriving on the streaming platform this week, the eight-episode series is the latest addition to the canon of rich-people-behaving-badly TV. The series will join the ranks among HBO's The White Lotus and Netflix's recent Sirens, as well as now-perennial classics like Succession and Gossip Girl. Just like the book, it centres around 17-year-old Cadence Sinclair, who is the eldest grandchild in the wealthy Sinclair family. Spending her summers on a private island at the family holiday home, she suffers from chronic migraines and memory loss after a serious head injury a few years before. Part love story and part amnesia thriller, the series follows Cadence's inner circle – dubbed the liars – as they try and piece together what happened that fateful summer. The show stars Gossip Girl's Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping' s Joseph Zada and Esther McGregor as her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and Shubham Maheshwari as her friend, Gat. Fans of the cult series The Vampire Diaries will also recognise Candace King, who stars as Bess Sinclair. Here's everything you need to know about We Were Liars on Amazon Prime, and where to read the bestselling novel on which it is based. How to watch We Were Liars All eight episodes of We Were Liars will be available on Amazon Prime Video from tomorrow (Wednesday 18 June). If you're not already a member, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial. After that, a Prime membership costs £8.99 per month or £95 per year. Alternatively, you can subscribe to Prime Video alone for £5.99 per month. Where to read E. Lockhart's We Were Liars We Were Liars became an instant New York Times bestseller upon its release in 2014. A story of mystery and deception, Cadence Sinclair is grappling with a fractured memory two years on from a serious head injury. Back on her wealthy family's private island for summer, Cadence and her confidants – otherwise known as 'liars' – spend the season trying to recall the events. In doing so, family secrets are unearthed, the consequences of actions laid bare and relationships reach a boiling point.
Newsweek
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
OPINION: 10 Series You Need To Stream in Summer 2025
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Summer has finally arrived, and networks are working overtime to deliver our summer watchlist, bringing us new seasons of some hit television series while also offering brand-new stories for us to get stuck into. There's going to be something for everyone to stream this summer. Whether you like young adult novel adaptations, period dramas, reality shows, or superhero stories, one of the top streaming services has got your back. We've trawled the schedule for some of the best series streaming in summer 2025, kicking off this month and wading all the way through to August. Read on below to get some inspiration for your summer watchlist. The Best TV Series To Stream Summer 2025 Love Island USA Release Date: June 3 June 3 Where to Stream: Peacock Reality television lovers, we're serving you first. A brand new season of Love Island USA just kicked off on Peacock, and you're now going to want to miss the drama. READ: Love Island UK Season 12 – Release Date, Schedule, How To Watch We Were Liars Release Date: June 18 June 18 Where to Stream: Prime Video Emily Alyn Lind stars as Cadence Sinclair in this adaptation of E. Lockhart's Goodreads Choice Award-winning book, We Were Liars. Following a terrible accident, Cadence struggles to remember the events of her past, and the series sets about piecing those memories together. America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Season 2) Release Date: June 18 June 18 Where to Stream: Netflix America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Season 2. America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Season 2. Courtesy of Netflix Giddy up! We return to Dallas, Texas, this summer when a new pool of hopefuls try out for the most notable cheer squad in the NFL. Following the success of last summer's first season, America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is back with even more drama. The Buccaneers (Season 2) Release Date: June 18 June 18 Where to Stream: Apple TV+ Another series returning for its second season is The Buccaneers, which follows a group of young American girls who burst onto the scene in 1870s London. Now they've made themselves at home, and Apple TV+ says this season will feature the girls as they "wrestle with romance, lust, jealousy, births and death." The Gilded Age (Season 3) Release Date: June 22 June 22 Where to Stream: Max Period drama fans are being served well this summer, as season three of The Gilded Age returns to HBO and Max on June 22. This season chronicles the societal shifts in 1880s New York, where old money clashes with new money, with our fan-favorite characters returning. The Bear (Season 4) Release Date: June 25 June 25 Where to Stream: Hulu Talking of fan-favorites, The Bear has been a hit over the three years it's been on air, and it returns this summer with what many expect to be the final season. Led by Jeremy Allen White as Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto, The Bear follows a young fine-dining chef who returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop. The Summer I Turned Pretty (Season 3) Release Date: July 16 July 16 Where to Stream: Prime Video Belly (Lola Tung) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) in THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY. Belly (Lola Tung) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) in THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY. Erika Doss/Prime The highly anticipated third and final season lands on Prime Video this summer, and everyone wants to know: will Belly pick Jeremiah or Conrad? Eyes of Wakanda Release Date: August 6 August 6 Where to Stream: Disney+ Marvel fans, you've got a brand new series to get stuck into this summer with Eyes of Wakanda, which follows the warriors who travel the world to retrieve dangerous vibranium artifacts. Landing on Disney+ on August 6, the Eyes of Wakanda features a stellar voice cast including Gary Anthony Williams, Anika Noni Rose, Cress Williams, Lynn Whitfield, Steve Toussaint, Zeke Alton, Winnie Harlow, and Jona Xiao. Alien: Earth Release Date: August 12 August 12 Where to Stream: Hulu More franchise fun is coming in August as the long-awaited series from Noah Hawley, Alien: Earth, lands on FX and Hulu. Following the crash-landing of a mysterious space vessel on Earth, a group of soldiers discover something that puts them face-to-face with the greatest threat to the planet. Peacemaker (Season 2) Release Date: August 21 August 21 Where to Stream: Max After a three-year wait, DC Studios delivers the second season of James Gunn's Peacemaker. Starring John Cena in the titular role, Peacemaker follows the superhero as he struggles to reconcile his past with his newfound sense of purpose. Thursday Murder Club Release Date: August 28 August 28 Where to Stream: Netflix Celia Imrie, Sir Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan in The Thursday Murder Club. Celia Imrie, Sir Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan in The Thursday Murder Club. Giles Keyte/Netflix To close out the summer, we have the book-to-screen adaptation of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. Directed by Harry Potter's Chris Columbus and written by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote, The Thursday Murder Club starsHelen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, and Naomi Ackie.
