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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Riddled with suspense, and a captivating cast of characters - a 'flawless' sequel, April 27, 2007
This review is from: Pretty Little Liars #2: Flawless (Hardcover)
Alison "Ali" DiLaurentis had the four B's of popularity: beauty, brains, body, and boys. She also had four amazing best friends - Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields. As if their friendship weren't enough, she also knew secrets about all of them. Secrets that no one else even suspected, from bulimia to unfaithful parents, and everywhere in between. Then, one day, just as the summer was beginning, Ali disappeared, leaving four friends weeping in her wake. While their sorrow was strong, Ali's sudden disappearance was also a bit of a relief. After all, now their secrets would never be revealed. But the fact that Ali's body had never been uncovered always left a slight hesitation in their mind. That is, until she was found under a pile of cement, proving that their secrets would stay dead and buried. But maybe they spoke too soon. After four long years, Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily are brought back together to mourn at the funeral of their long lost best friend. But things hit a sour note when the mysterious "A" contacts all of them once more, threatening to reveal their secrets and pin the blame on them for "The Jenna Thing." As if the eerie note isn't horrifying enough, each girl is shocked to see that the police have re-opened Alison's case. Only this time it's being treated as a murder, leaving the four former friends open for police questioning at any time. To make matters worse, Toby Cavanaugh - Jenna's reform school brother - has returned to the quiet town of Rosewood, attending nearby Tate Academy. And, while the former geek turned hottie seems harmless enough this time around, there's a mischievous glimmer in his eye that's leaving everyone on edge. It doesn't help that, since Toby's sudden arrival, "A" has been sending more and more notes. Making threats, demanding them to perform certain acts, and even spying on their every move. While the girls know that they should confide in one another regarding "A's" sudden attacks, they can't bring themselves to reveal such intimate, and oft-times embarrassing, details to one another. It doesn't help that a sense of mistrust has grown between all of them over the years, pushing them more into the acquaintance category, as opposed to the friend category; or that they're all facing certain dramas in their lives right now. Dramas that could tear them apart, and ruin their lives in a heartbeat. From the arrival of a deadbeat dad, to the rekindling of a forbidden romance, and even moving into trusting a former enemy territory. Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Aria think that they'll be able to handle the newest drama on their own. But, as "A" moves closer in their direction, they begin to realize that if they're not careful, they may just be buried alive by their many scandalous secrets.
While Sara Shepard's debut, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, gave readers a character sketch, a surface look, if you will, at Hanna, Spencer, Emily, Aria, and even the missing Ali; FLAWLESS brings us back to where the first installment left off, the day of Ali's funeral, and instantly moves in to dissecting each of the aforementioned characters, giving readers the chance to get to know them better. Shepard has a talent for making the reader sympathize with, yet, at the same time, dislike certain people introduced. Her ability to make secondary characters memorable is amazing, and truly makes for a delightful read. While I find Aria and Hanna to be the most enchanting characters, simply because I can relate to both of them in various ways, I must admit that both Emily and Spencer are captivating in their own ways. The vulnerability that Hanna shows as she comes to terms with, and attempts to defeat bulimia, while giving into the pressures of anorexia nervosa, are addicting; while Spencer's inability to resist her older sister, Melissa's, boyfriends is jaw-dropping. Emily, like Hanna, is attempting to come to terms with the "real" her, which many readers will relate to quite well; while Aria is wacky and wonderful, and just working to keep her family together. Combined, each girls story presents a wonderful topping to the underlying truth: Ali's mysterious disappearance. With "A" moving in closer on every page, it's obvious that Shepard is working on revealing his or her identity sometime soon - or so we can hope. Riddled with suspense, and a captivating cast of characters - a 'flawless' sequel.
Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Flawless' story, May 23, 2007
This review is from: Pretty Little Liars #2: Flawless (Hardcover)
To start off with, this series is much better than what I've read of the Gossip Girl series. It's more indepth, the characters have each a conscience, their actions have direct consequences, and they inspired pathos. Four privileged young women hide a deep secret. They are just fine going about their lives until they started receiving strange text messages from a mysterious person who only refers to themself as "A". "A" seems to know way too much about each girl- private, personal stuff, as it happens.
The last novel was an introduction to each of the characters. Aria continues to shoulders the burden of the secret of the last novel, Spencer continues to carry on a love affair with her sister's ex-boyfriend, Emily meets a boy that she sort of likes despite her sexual identity issues, and Hanna tries to turn over a new leaf, but, as usual, "A" threatens all that.
I'm begining to suspect Spencer. She witnessed Toby's response to The Jenna Thing, and she discussed what happened while all the other girls were asleep at the slumber party with Ali.
In the last book, I hardly sympathized at all with Hanna, but in this book, we're getting deeper into her psyche and relationship with her parents and how it affects all the other relationships in her life. I began to totally identify with her- can't please her parents, they're angry with her, but don't know the whole story and they won't listen to her side of the story, she can't do anything right. The portion of Spencer's story left me shaking my head at the end. A portion of Aria's story arc is done, but the original one, the one with her teacher, is promised to spice up. Emily's problems with her ex-boyfriend are going to explode in the next book, I'm sure.
Each character is very unique and has their own voice and problems. I think Sara Sheperd is doing a great job with the writing on this. It's like Harry Potter suspense- I can't wait to see how it ends!!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't put this book down, November 17, 2009
This book picks up right where the first book leaves off. You can understand Aria's relationship wih the men in her life. Hannah's relationship with her father and her absentminded mother are the source of all her problems with food and how she sees herself. Mommy buys her whatever she wants so she doesn't have to bother with her. Spencer's parents are always comparing her to her sister. They think her sister walks on water, even though there really isn't anything special about her. Her parents' reaction to Spencer's incident with Wren was a bit over the top. No wonder she goes after all that's Melissa's. And as for Emily's racist mother, who has every second of the rest of her life planned out for her. She needs to actually sit down and hear what her daughter has to say. The story continues to unfold, and you get more in depth with the secrets (very very disturbing secrets). The story is alot of fun. There are alot of twists and turns, and you really start to wonder who A is. Just when you think you may have figured it out, YOU'RE WRONG. As I said in my review of the first book, I wouldn't recommend this book to the younger crowd, but certainly the older crowds. There is still all of the same age-inapropriate things that were in the first book. This book talks about rape and drug use as well as the sex, smoking and drinking.
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