Book Review: Lovers and Liars | Amanda Eyre Ward

I grabbed this book without even reading what it’s about based on the sunny yellow cover and trio of redheads. It ended up being such a cute book! In New York Times bestselling author Amanda Eyre Ward’s Lovers and Liars, three sisters reunite for a destination wedding at an English Castle.

What is Lovers and Liars about?

Once upon a time, the Peacock sisters were little girls who combed each other’s tangled hair. But decades of secrets have led them to separate lives—and to telling lies, to themselves and to one another.

Sylvie is getting married. Again. A librarian and widow who soothes her grief by escaping into books (and shelving them perfectly), Sylvie has caught the attention of an unlikely match: Simon Rampling, a mysterious, wealthy man from Northern England. Sylvie allows herself to imagine a life beside him—one filled with the written word, kindness, and companionship. She’s ready to love again . . . or is she?

Cleo is the golden child. A successful criminal defense lawyer with the perfect boyfriend, she is immediately suspicious of Simon. Is he really who he says he is? Cleo heads to Mumberton Castle with a case of investigative files, telling herself she will expose Simon and save her sister from more heartbreak… but who is she really trying to save?

Emma is living a lie. She can’t afford this fancy trip—and she definitely can’t tell her husband and sons why. She once dreamt of a line of her own perfumes. Fragrances allowed her to speak in silence. Now, that tendency for silence only worsens her situation. Will she emerge with her dignity and family intact?

When their toxic mother shows up, the sisters assume the roles they fell into to survive their childhood . . . but they just might find the courage to make new choices.

Set over a spectacularly dramatic weekend, in the grand halls of a sprawling castle estate—amidst floor-to-ceiling libraries, falconry lessons, and medieval meals—Lovers and Liars is the unforgettable story of a family’s ability to forgive and to find joy in one another once again.

What did I think?

The book centers around three sisters, their parents, and the men in their lives. It’s the night before Sylvie Peacock’s wedding when the book opens, and she can’t sleep. Sylvie is an introverted librarian who has been widowed for ten years. Her first wedding was simple—she’d worn a sundress and sandals and carried a bouquet of wildflowers. It was also perfect. Now, she’s getting married to a wealthy British photographer named Simon at his family’s ancestral castle in the English countryside. She can’t help thinking of her sisters and her late husband. And so she writes a note:

I’m sorry. Simon. I’m going home. It’s over.

The story moves back in time two months as Sylvie is preparing to tell her sisters Cleo and Emma about her wedding. The sisters used to be so close, but they aren’t anymore. Emma still lives in Montana where they grew up. Cleo lives in Brooklyn and never has time to talk. When she can’t reach either sister, Sylvie debates calling her mother, Donna, though conversations with her mother always leave her feeling unhappy.

Cleo is married to a criminal defense attorney and she certainly has her own share of relationship issues. In the wake of Sylvie’s news, Cleo decides to look into Simon’s past and make sure Sylvie has thought through her decision to marry someone she’s only known a short time. Emma is deeply in debt, and she’s been doing her best to hide the situation from her own husband. Cleo and Emma may care about Sylvie, but they aren’t exactly beacons of healthy relationships themselves.

The changing perspectives from each of the three sisters kept the pace lively. I never got bored with any particular storyline because they all interwove together and I got to know all three sisters well. This may be a book about a wedding on the very surface, but it’s really a story about a family—every dysfunctional part of it. And did I mention the lies? There are so many secrets and lies going around in this book just waiting to be exposed.

Though the sisters have their own flaws, a lot of their issues as adults seem to be in part due to growing up with their narcissistic mother, Donna. Each sister took on a different role. Cleo is the protector, shielding her sisters from everything she can and going overboard to make sure they are ok. Emma is desperate to be loved, needed, and accepted. She’s terrified of someone turning away on her, which leads to many of her challenges in her relationship. Sylvie has learned to disassociate as a form of self-protection. This has it’s advantages in the moment, but causes all sorts of problems long term.

Though the issues sound heavy, this was overall a light and fun read full of heart. It can be an emotional roller coaster at times, but trust me when I say that you will be happy with the ride and where you’ll end up. This is a book about women and for women. I won’t spoil the ending but the theme rounded out perfectly with the final chapters. None of the sisters are perfect, but by the end you’ll love them—flaws and all.

Thank you to Ballantine Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.

If you liked Lovers and Liars, what should you read next?

About the Author

Amanda Eyre Ward was born in New York City in 1972. Her family mved to Rye, New York when she was four. Amanda attended Kent School in Kent, CT, where she wrote for the Kent News.

Amanda majored in English and American Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She studied fiction writing with Jim Shepard and spent her junior fall in coastal Kenya. She worked part-time at the Williamstown Public Library. After graduation, Amanda taught at Athens College in Greece for a year, and then moved to Missoula, Montana.

Amanda studied fiction writing at the University of Montana with Bill Kittredge, Dierdre McNamer, Debra Earling, and Kevin Canty, receiving her MFA. After traveling to Egypt, she took a job at the University of Montana Mansfield Library, working in Inter Library Loan.

In 1998, Amanda moved to Austin, Texas where she began working on Sleep Toward Heaven. Amanda finished Sleep Toward Heaven, which was published in 2003. Sleep Toward Heaven won the Violet Crown Book Award and was optioned for film by Sandra Bullock and Fox Searchlight. To promote Sleep Toward Heaven, Amanda, her baby, and her mother Mary-Anne Westley traveled to London and Paris.

Amanda moved to Waterville, Maine, where she wrote in an attic filled with books. Amanda’s second novel, How to Be Lost, was published in 2004. How to Be Lost was selected as a Target Bookmarked pick, and has been published in fifteen countries.

After one year in Maine and two years on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Amanda and her family returned to Austin, Texas.

To research her third novel, Forgive Me, Amanda traveled with her sister, Liza Ward Bennigson, to Cape Town, South Africa. Forgive Me was published in 2007.

Amanda’s short story collection, Love Stories in This Town, was published in April, 2009.

Her fourth novel, Close Your Eyes, published in July, 2011, received a four-star reiew in People Magazine, won the Elle Lettres Readers’ Prize for September, and inspired the Dallas Morning News to write, “With Close Your Eyes, Austin novelist Amanda Eyre Ward puts another jewel in her crown as the reigning doyenne of ‘dark secrets’ literary fiction.”

Close Your Eyes was named in Kirkus’ Best Books of 2011, and won the Elle Magazine Fiction Book of the Year. It was released in paperback in August, 2012.

Amanda’s fifth novel, The Same Sky, was published on January 20, 2015. It was named one of the most anticipated books for 2015 by BookPeople and Book of the Week by People Magazine. Dallas Morning News writes, “Ward has written a novel that brilliantly attaches us to broader perspectives. It is a needed respite from the angry politics surrounding border issues that, instead of dividing us, connects us to our humanity.”

The Same Sky was chosen as a Target Bookmarked pick.

Amanda’s new novel, The Nearness of You, was published on Valentine’s Day, 2017.

Amanda’s new novel, The Jetsetters, was chosen by Reese’s Book Club and Hello Sunshine and became a New York Times bestseller. Her novel The Lifeguards was published in 2022.