Pretty Little Liars

So I *think* this may be the modern equivalent of a Sweet Valley Twins book. These girls are seventh-graders, at least at the beginning of the story. But boy have the themes changed from what I recall! Alongside the familiar petty squabbling, social bullying, and intermittent backstabbing that seem to be the hallmarks of feminine adolescence, there are: student/teacher affairs (oddly the legal implications of a high school teacher having an intimate relationship with an underage girl are never addressed), extramarital affairs (of parents, witnessed by children), murder, incest (well, if you consider stepbrother/stepsister to be incest... otherwise it's just molestation), bulimia, and lesbianism. It's soap opera all the way, in book show more form, but with disturbingly young characters. However, the hint of mystery is very well done (I seriously can NOT figure out how the author is going to explain it) and the book ends on something of a cliffhanger, which unfortunately sent me immediately in search of the next installation. I'm a little ashamed of myself, but this is book was like a potato chip -- once you have one, you're going to keep eating them regardless of how bad they are for you. show less

It wouldn’t be fair for me to rate this book. I’m not only not the correct target demographic — clearly tweens and teens — but I fall into the reviled substrata of the novel: earnest smart girl. I don’t know how much I would have liked the book at 15, much less at 55. If you hated — just hated — high school, chances are that mean girls like these were the reason why.

The novel begins with an alliance amongst five seventh-grade students who become the mean girls clique of Rosewood Day School, located in a thinly veiled Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The leader of the pack, Allison DiLaurentis, the meanest of the girls, disappears suddenly, and the clique dissolves. But the four remaining girls — Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, show more Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields — continue as shallow as ever; indeed, no hermit was ever as devoted to God as these girls are to Abercrombie & Fitch. They’re self-centered to the point of narcissism with a breath-taking sense of entitlement, and haven’t a clue as to the lives of the average American. They’re virtually a parody of the progeny of the 1 percent. Occupy Wall Street couldn’t come up with cruder poster children for the evils of economic inequality.

Soon after the girls embark on their junior year, Allison’s corpse turns up, but the quartet begin receiving threatening text messages from “A.” Has Allison’s ghost returned for revenge? Emily, Hanna, Aria and Spencer — especially Emily — have terrible secrets that would ruin their lives. Is there an “A” who hates Allison and her former posse enough to reveal their secrets? Or is “A” one of the girls themselves? After all, who but the five of them knew these secrets?

To tell the truth, I just couldn’t make myself care. The premise — texts from beyond the grave, so to speak — seemed quite intriguing. With a more likeable group of girls, I know I could well have enjoyed this book. But the eponymous Pretty Little Liars had more in common with the usual cruel villains of a novel than the protagonists.

You know who you are: As my friend Emily Erkan used to say, If you like this kind of thing, this is just the kind of thing you’d like. Just count me out. show less

Oh wow. Okay. Where to start with THIS book.

I guess I’ll start by extending Shepard the benefit of the doubt. I think she was trying to write the most sensational, over-the-top, unrealistic and ridiculous teenagers ever. I think. I think this was on purpose and not bad writing. Right?

The next thing I’ll do it give Emily some props. Of all the characters in this nightmare of a novel, I think that Emily was the most… human? Her character is the only one here who I think could have had an actual, interesting, “doesn’t make me groan aloud and roll my eyes a lot” story. I more or less enjoyed the pieces from Emily’s POV, but she was not enough to save this book as a whole.

That aside. Wow. Pretty Little Liars is an absolute show more train wreck.

Lets make a list of some NOPEs, shall we?

Elitism
Fatphobia
Bullying
Adult/minor relationships
Infidelity
Homophobia
Just… really terrible parents? And friends. And boyfriends. And characters in general.
I am almost 100% sure I missed something there, but those are some of the things that made me want to hurl the book across the room… only this was an audiobook and my phone is expensive. Pretty Little Liars came out when I was in high school, near the age of these girls, and I’m so grateful I didn’t pick it up at the time because I was impressionable and already really really conscious about my weight, and the Hannah storyline was hugely problematic and probably would have been impressionable on 16 y/o me. So many of the characters in this novel make the most dramatic, unkind, unhealthy decisions possible. It was more disturbing than “thrilling”, I guess, with particular emphasis toward Aria/Ezra being a big fat NOPE, Emily’s boyfriend’s behavior bringing me SO MUCH rage, and of course, Hannah’s storyline.

Okay that’s the characters. Lets talk about some other things.

The pacing on this book was slow. It feels like it should be quick, but between the four POVs, I honestly felt like nothing was happening. We went through each of the POVs once and each of the girls did A Thing. Then went went through them again, and the girls did more or less the same thing again. Then through again, seeing the discovery. Again, reacting. End of book. Nothing happened, and it took forever to get there.

I have issues with the realism of everything, but again, that falls into the arena of giving Shepard the benefit of the doubt on her choices here.

The writing as well was just… sort of icky. There’s this scene early in the book where Spencer decides to strip down to her sports bra, underwear, and knee-high field hockey socks and go into the hot tub. And for some reason that scene bothered me an extra lot. Like it had it’s own problematic bits, but I honestly just couldn’t get past the fact Spencer went into the hot tub with knee-high socks. Why? Socks are the best thing to take off at the end of the day, especially after practice. I’m pretty sure Shepard did it just to allow Spencer to be mortified at her lack of glamour when A BOY OMG OMG OMG OMG sees her. For whatever reason, it was this scene that stuck with me as an example of the overall drama and ridiculousness that was this book.

There was a point as I was listening to it when I realised, Oh no. I’m going to have to read a bunch to find out who A is. Because the underlying story was intriguing. It was just everything else about the book that I disliked. Then I remembered – the series was over and I could Google the answer. Thanks Internet, you beautiful spoiler machine! Now I know the end of this series and don’t have to read any more… and wow was it anti-climatic. I would have been annoyed to read sixteen books and have it end there. Goodbye and good riddance, Pretty Little Liars! show less

Pretty Little Liars was such a wild, addictive ride! I picked it up expecting some high school drama and a little mystery, but Sara Shepard completely pulled me in with her mix of secrets, lies, and cliffhangers that had me saying “just one more chapter” until I realized I’d blown through the whole book.

Right from the beginning, I was hooked by the setup: four girls bound together by secrets, haunted by the disappearance of their friend Alison, and suddenly tormented by someone who seems to know everything. It’s juicy, it’s dramatic, and it’s the kind of guilty-pleasure read that makes you want to grab popcorn and dive in.

The characters were messy in the best way. Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily all felt distinct, and I show more liked how the book gave each of them their own storylines while weaving them together with Alison’s shadow looming over everything. They’re not always likable (in fact, half the time I wanted to yell at them), but that’s part of what made it fun—it felt like peeking behind the curtain into the lives of people who are trying so hard to look perfect while everything is falling apart underneath.

Shepard did a great job building the mystery too. The “A” notes were chilling, and I loved how each reveal made me question who could possibly be behind them. The tension ramped up steadily, and by the end, I was completely hooked and already reaching for the next book. It had that soap-opera-meets-thriller vibe that makes it so compulsively readable.

That said, the reason I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is that some parts felt a little repetitive, and the writing leaned heavily into drama without always digging deep into the emotions behind it. At times, I wanted more nuance—especially with certain relationships and conflicts. Still, it’s hard to be too critical when I tore through the pages as quickly as I did.

Overall, Pretty Little Liars was exactly the binge-worthy, twisty teen drama I was craving. It’s dramatic, addictive, and just the right mix of shocking and fun. If you love messy characters, juicy secrets, and a mystery that keeps you guessing, this is the perfect start to a series. Four solid stars, and I can already tell I’ll be devouring the sequels. show less

The writing itself isn't bad, and the characters are even realistic and relatable to a degree - but the amount of name-brand-dropping and the emphasis on money is repulsive. Every time a new character enters the scene, there's a description of what s/he is wearing, with brands included. (Do these companies pay the author product placement fees?? They should, considering how many young girls read this book.) I have no inclination whatsoever to read any more of the books in the series, but I did get a friend to tell me what happens and who "A" is.

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard is about 4 girls who are connected by their old BFF, Alison (Ali) DiLaurentis. Their names are Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna. For 7th graders they have pretty big secrets, all of which Ali knows. They are all having a sleepover when Ali disappeared. Ali was a manipulative queen bee, but they all loved her.
Fast forward to three years later when Ali is still missing. Aria moved to Iceland after Ali vanished, and Hanna became popular. Spencer and Emily matured. Aria moves back to Rosewood. (Where they are)
The girls (minus Ali, who is presumed dead) start getting threatening messages sent by someone named A . They all assume it’s Ali. They do not tell each other (because they are not friends anymore) show more A reveals their secrets and ruins their lives. Their secrets, by the way, are: Emily is lesbian. She kissed Ali once, and was secretly dating Maya St. Germain.
Aria kisses a guy at a bar, and he turns out to be her teacher. They are secretly illegally dating. She also knows about her Dad’s affair with one of his students.
Hanna was bulimic. She used to be fat but when Ali left she changed. She and her also popular new BFF Mona Vanderwaal shoplift often.
Spencer… Oh Spence. She kisses her perfect older sisters (Melissa) boyfriend in 7th and then has a crush on her current boyfriend Wren.
A also dangles over them all a terrifying group incident called The Jenna Thing, which is revealed in the second book. It was a great read! It’s mature though, and can be pretty violent.

I gave this book a 4 ½ star rating because it was everything I love in a book. It had romance, mystery, and had me unable to put this book down. I took half off because I didn’t know what the Jenna Thing secret was the whole book. At least the author, Sara Shepard, spilled the beans pretty quickly in the second book. You should read this book because it is very suspenseful and cliff hanger-y, which I usually hate but these books were so good I didn’t mind. The book is mature, and if it were a movie I would rate it PG-13. Read it- you won’t regret it! -A
(Jk it's Jayna. Meow ) show less

Work can be such a drag sometimes. You get all of your tasks done. You get future tasks done before deadline, so you may be left twiddling your thumbs, just dying for the phone to ring. Or you may end up surfing the internets, if you have an office job like me. Enter the geniuses at Harper Teen who have a few of their books in ebook format online with free full access for a limited time. Friends, I devoured Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepherd in that post-lunch until 5 p.m. time frame. Although not great works of literature, Pretty Little Liars is like crack. Oh my god, I could not stop reading. Pretty Little Liars is like a soap opera, but for teenagers, so it's not like oh, Chadwick is not the father of the baby, it's more catty. I show more LOVE IT. I am a glutton for this stuff. Right, so the story starts in the summer between eighth and seventh grade. Five girls are the best of friends, bound together by the secrets. One of the girls goes missing. Consequently the group falls apart. Flash forward a few years in the future, the girls are in high school, I think they are juniors at this point. They're all carrying their secrets. These ladies start to get crazy text messages about their secrets from a mysterious person named A. Dramz ensue.Honestly, I had fun reading PLL. I didn't know what to expect, but I could guess at some of the secrets. I grew to care about the characters even though they live a life I would never be able to relate to (they are very privileged). One character is an overachiever because her parents love her perfect sister more. One girl is a lesbian (now that is not a negative thing at all, but she is not out). One girl has low self-confidence. One girl has a penchant for older men. These girls combine to be a train wreck. I could not stop reading. I wanted to know what would happen and who A was. However, not all of the answers are provided in the first book, which is unfortunate, but I suppose that is how series work, the author does not give you every answer, instead they try to keep you reading.I do recommend PLL when you are between books or bored out of your skull at 1:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon. show less