Customer Reviews

Pretty Little Liars #3: Perfect

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There was a time, back in the seventh grade, when Alison "Ali" DiLaurentis, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields ruled Rosewood Day school. Together, these five girls determined what, and who, was hot, and what, and who, were so yesterday. They were the girls everyone wanted to be - especially Ali - and the ones every guy wanted to date. Even Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily felt jealousy towards the perfect Ali. Still, the five girls spent every waking moment together, trading secrets, gossiping about their classmates, and hanging at the mall where they shopped 'til they dropped, their parents credit cards in tow. But then, everything changed. At the end of seventh grade, Ali suddenly up and disappeared without a trace, and each of the girls slowly went their own ways. That is, until "A" came into the picture, threatening to reveal each of their deepest, darkest secrets; and an unlikely discovery was made, that of Ali's body, buried under the cement in her old backyard. Suddenly, it became evident, that secrets don't always stay buried.

After Ali disappeared, Hanna Marin dropped Spencer, Aria, and Emily, and picked up a new friend in the dorky Mona Vanderwaal. Together, they vowed to drop the extra weight, and become the most beautiful girls in school. Now, at the age of sixteen, they have both accomplished just that. But they want more. With Mona's Sweet Seventeen quickly approaching, there's no doubt in their minds that this won't be the bash of the century. But thanks to "A," there's trouble a-brewing between the two besties. Trouble that could set them at odds with each other forever. Spencer Hastings knew that it was wrong to steal her sister, Melissa's, essay for economics class. But it was so perfect, and there's no harm in a little fib now and then. Unfortunately, the essay has been entered into the Golden Orchid competition, throwing Spencer into the midst of semi-fame. Spencer just wants to ignore the congratulations surrounding her, but "A" is making that difficult with the constant threats of revealing her wrong-doing. Emily Fields knows that being gay would make her family hate her for life. She also knows that, if she doesn't report "A" to the police, she, or one of her old friends, could end up dead. She just never realized that coming forward with information would make her the target of "outing" her to the whole town. Aria Montgomery thought that her troubles were over when her family moved to Iceland for three years. But, upon return, her father, Byron, continued the affair he had left behind with his student, Meredith; and, due to the fact that Aria knew all about it, her mother wants nothing to do with her. Luckily, she has Ezra to run to. Unfortunately, with "A" around, he may not be able to claim the title as her "knight in shining armor" for much longer. As if dealing with "A" weren't enough, of course, there's some peeping tom-like nutcase running around the pretentious Philadelphia town of Rosewood peering into windows, and creeping everyone out; and the girls think that the newfound stalker may somehow be related to "A."

Not many book series get better with each installment. However, with Sara Shepard's PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, the series can be comparable to a fine wine - it only gets better with age. Or, in this case, with each new addition to the collection. PERFECT is no exception. From page one, I was hooked, and found myself incapable of putting down this amazing new novel. Hanna is still my favorite character. Her struggles with an eating disorder, and feelings of loneliness, as she finds herself on the outs with her superficial best friend, Mona, truly make you feel emotional towards her; while Aria's current situation regarding her tumultuous relationship with her mother, Ella, her difficulties with her father, Byron, and her growing feelings for her English teacher, Ezra, only work to invoke the same feelings. While Spencer isn't necessarily stealing Melissa's boyfriends, as she was in the previous installments, the new insight she gains into her childhood and current lifestyle thanks to a few sessions from her new therapist, Dr. Evans, are extremely gripping, and hard to ignore. And Emily...well, the fact that she's suddenly faced with kissing Maya goodbye, or just plain kissing her, is enough to throw her off her game. While PRETTY LITTLE LIARS and FLAWLESS were slightly more light and fluffy; PERFECT brings in an extremely emotionally charged storyline that leaves you on the edge of your seat from start to finish, contemplating what will happen in the fourth, and final chapter of the saga. The PERFECT blend of mystery and scandal.

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

it's difficult to write this review without making any spoilers. i will just say, please read books 1 and 2 first, in order, because if you don't, you will miss out on what's going on and all the interpersonal relationships/drama between the characters. And let me just say, there is LOTS OF JUICY DRAMA in this book!!! All 4 of the girls have really good scenes, I like how Sara Sheppard doesn't play favorites and gives proper attention to all her characters so that it's mot like you're skimming past the filler chapters of the 3 other characters to get to the chapter with the character that actually matters, in Pretty Little Liars, there are no filler chapters and all the characters matter!

*** TEENY TINY SEMI-SPOILER ***
In this book we MAYBE find out who Ali's killer possibly might be, but we aren't sure because as it turns out.......... LOL I'm not gonna tell you! go read the book!!!

The third Pretty Little Liars is shocking. Practically every part will stun you. A is even more sneaky and evil in this book- and has several mistakes, and flops, up her sleeve. Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily really begin to see who A really is. The mystery surrounding Ali's actions before her death are slowly being revealed as is her killer. This is typical, wonderful PLL, but even better. The girls are even more real in this book. It's hard to put into words how much I really loved this book without telling what happened!!!! It still seems a little early to yell about everything that happened, and everything that A did to all of them!!!! We've been warned for two books what might happen if the girls didn't do what A said. In Perfect, we find out exactly what she has in store for all them. Can Emily and Maya's secret be kept safely in the closet? Can Spencer recall the night Ali disappeared in full detail? What about Aria and Ezra? The mystery of A is not solved, but something else very important is. Some people have said the books have no depth to them, but I don't understand how anyone can say that anymore after Perfect. Perfect is incredibly suspenseful, and if you're prone to paranoia, be warned. Your curtains and blinds are going to bo closed for a while.

Perfect was definitely the best out of the series. 'A' is so much more malicious in this book, which causes many tragedies and predicaments to occur. You find out who Ali's killer MIGHT be, who is someone I really did not expect. The great (but kind of annoying) thing about this book is that my predictions about perfect were never right! I never expected some of the events in Perfect to occur, and I was completely surprised when they did. It took me only two days to read this book because it was so suspenful and chocked full of juicy details and events! The end disapointed me because I thought you know who 'A' was--and I really thought I might find out, but then the book ends and something terrible happens. I was upset that the book ended on such a sour note, and it left me craving for more. I am super excited for the next book and I am sure I will be shocked when I found out who 'A' really is.

The third book in this awesome series by Sara Shepard is the best yet. As soon as we think everything is getting better, it all comes crashing down in a wave of confusion and betrayal. And A is behind it all. She knows everyone's secrets, and she'll use them to get what she wants. Spencer, Emily, Aria, and Hanna have nothing to do but watch their lives fall apart around them.

But now they know who Ali's killer is. Or do they?

I am totally hooked on this series. As you read each chapter, you have no idea who really is A. So I found myself pointing the finger at just about every character in the book. I found some parts of this book to be a little slow. But then the story took off and I couldn't put the book down. I was not expecting the ending that came and couldn't wait to get to book four. The book gets closer to revealing A's identity. Trust me. It's not who you think it is.

Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily are still dealing with Ali's murder investigation. Someone leaked a home video of the five girls together days before Ali went missing and the media can't stop playing it. Repeatedly watching the video makes each girl wonder if they really did know Ali at all. Spencer sums it up by saying:


"Being Ali's friend was great, but we had to make a lot of sacrifices. We went through a lot together, and some of it wasn't good. It was like, 'We go through all this for you, and you repay us by ditching us?'" (p. 153)


As each girl struggles to deal with "A's" threats, "A" begins to up the ante. "A" is now sending texts and leaving messages to the people in their lives exposing their secrets. As each girl is on the verge of losing it all, one of them desperately tries to remember the night Ali went missing. Is it possible she's responsible for Ali's death? "A" makes one little mistake and one of the four friends realizes "A's" identity. Before she can tell the others, she's mysteriously involved in an accident. Will she survive to reveal "A's" identity? Or will "A" have to take drastic measures to fix his/her mistake?

Perfect, so far, is my favorite in the series. The author does a great job of showing how each girl is struggling to maintain her sanity and keep her life intact while dealing with "A's" threats. I didn't see the end coming and I can't wait to start Unbelievable to see what happens next.

After breezing through the previous 2 books in this series I was eager to start the next volume. I ended up finishing it in one night, just like I did with the other two. The books are just that good.

This volume finds all of the girls starting to really feel the negative effects of their actions as well as feeling the true wrath of the mysterious A. Aria's getting kicked out of her house, but luckily her new boyfriend Shaun is there to pick up the pieces. With love like that there's no way she could still be lusting after her teacher beau, right? Then Spencer's starting to panic because not only is she nominated for an award that she doesn't deserve, but now she's discovering that she has a nasty little habit that her parents never told her about. Emily's slowly starting to realize the truth about herself. Too bad that A's intent on kicking her out of the closet projectile-style. Then there's Hanna. Her BFF Mona hates her and her dad still hasn't called her after what her nasty step-sis to be did. She's also a step closer to finding out who A is- too bad that A has no intention on giving up that particular secret just yet.

I love this series. I never thought I'd get into a mean girl series, but I did. The previous books were a little rushed & the families were a little overly mean, but now we're seeing more characters & families that aren't as horrendous as our fab 4's families are. We're still no closer to discovering who A is, although it's fun to guess. My only lament about the book is that the way I'm breezing through them, I'll finish them before the series is finished. (Which means I'll have to wait for the next volume to come out rather than get to read it right away!)

Like in my previous reviews I will warn parents that there is sex and some violence in this series. However this is the 3rd volume, so I would hope that parents would be aware of the content by this point! Still, some parents will still want to read the books with their kids & discuss it afterwards. The books are fun to read & it's a great way to connect with your kids as you talk about the mature themes & puzzle over who A could be.

5/5

It rocked!!!! Best so far but I still got Unbeleivable and whatever she writes. So Spencer ends up with the blame for Ali's murder and Aria, Hanna, and Emily suspect its her. Well Aria and Emily did but Hanna never did get to reveal who A really was and A *** *** **** because "She knew to much" Aria is homless and boyfriendless and was pretty much ****** from her family. She's pretty sure her life sucks. Emily is being sent to a special group for gays but when she catches her coach with her ex... And for Hanna. Poor girl got dumped by her best friend after A totally sabatoged her and when A slipped up, Hanna got her digits and realized it was... This book made me wish Unbelievable would arrive from Amazon.com already. So suspensful and amazing. I sure hope Hanna returns after what A did to her. But as far as I know, A decided to get a new victim along with the pretty little liars. You'll have to see!!!

It seems like sara shepards books keep getting better and better. Perfect comes on strong and there is never a dull moment. A starts taking revenge on the girl and it isn't pretty. The ending is a HUGE cliffhanger, I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book. Will Aria, Spencer, Hannah, and emily ever find out the full truth? Hopefully book 4 will answer that. Oh and *semi spoiler* I don't think what was revealed about Ali's murder is the full story. I think someone else finished her off and I think I have a good idea of who that someone is...