Customer Reviews

Pretty Little Liars

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The summer after seventh grade started out fine, but when Alison "Ali," one of Rosewood, Pennsylvania's most popular girls vanished, things changed. While her closest friends (Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily) have all moved on, and are now juniors in high school, she was never seen again. The girls, wanting to move away from the secrets Ali took with her, broke apart, and made new friends. Putting the scandalous past behind them. Spencer began competing non-stop with her older sister, Melissa, for her parents affections, but one little slip-up, and her good girl image is shattered; Aria moved away to Iceland, but has returned, only to find that everyone she used to know (including the guy she was always crushing on) has stayed the same, stagnant, stuck in one place; Emily has tried to move on, and forget about the feelings she held for Ali, but when a new girl moves into Ali's old room, she must come to terms with the truth; and Hanna, who went from "little piggy" to Paris Hilton-wannabe, has found herself in deep water, being questioned by the police on an almost weekly basis. But now, they must confront their old secrets, and join forces once again, for someone known only as "A" is onto them. Someone who knows things about them that only Ali knew. Someone who gets off on sending them threatening messages. Now the girls are confused, since Ali was never found, how on earth could she be contacting them. She should be dead. She should be on some other plane, millions of miles from them. But maybe...she's not.

I have one guilty pleasure. No, it's not chocolate, or sweets. In fact, it has nothing to do with food. It's books about the rich. Their scandalous lives, and the constant shopping they spend most of their time doing. But no YA book has come even close to the amount of scandal found within the pages of Sara Shepard's PRETTY LITTLE LIARS. From page one I was intrigued by the secrets that these four (or should I say five?) girls shared. From blow-ups to make-ups, and everything in between. The characters found within these pages are beyond young and beautiful. There's an evil that lurks around them. An evil that is unexplainable and addicting. Each girl possesses her very own unique personality. Personalities that will draw readers in, in droves, and keep them reading long into the night. From Spencer's wandering eyes; to Aria's fondness for older men; and Hanna's thirst for attention; to Emily's constant confusion regarding her relationships; every reader will find the ability to mesh with one of these...scandalous characters. As satisfying as a pint of Ben & Jerry's...without the calories.

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

Okay, I found out about this book from one of my freshmen. She brought it in one day and asked me if I could please read it, because she absolutely LOVED the book and needed someone to talk to about it....and said that her friends weren't really "into reading." I took the book home, thinking that I'd get around to it later.....maybe next week. Maybe not. I was wrong. I started reading when I got home and couldn't put the book down. You won't want to put it down either. It really IS that good.

Other reviews have basically told the story here: five friends are bound by a secret, referred to as "the Jenna thing," until one of the girls, Alison, goes missing at the end of their seventh grade year. Skip ahead to eleventh grade, when the remaining four girls begin receiving alarming text messages. It's a mystery that grabs you and won't let go.

I've seen several copies of this book (and #2 Flawless) floating around our school lately, thanks to word of mouth advertising. I'm 30something and LOVED the book...my students are 14-18 years old and also love it. Friendship, mystery, boys, all of the big topics pop up in this book. Grab a copy and get hooked!

Imagine you are BFF with the most popular girl in school. Everyone else wants to be you. Of course you love the power you have that so many people are envious of you, but secretly you truly wonder if being her BFF is a blessing or a curse. Now imagine it's the start of the summer between seventh and eighth grade and you and your BFF are celebrating by having your annual summer sleepover. Things don't go quite as planned and the two of you end up fighting and she walks out of your house. The very next morning you hear from her mom and you just know something terrible has happened. Suddenly days turn into weeks and before you know it the summer has ended, school has started and still no word from your BFF. She just simply disappeared off the face of the earth. Although you do not wish her any harm, you have to admit, there's a part of you that's relieved that she's gone. You start to feel freer and less burdened because all the secrets she knows about you, have vanished along with her. Horrible to think, some might say, but if they knew what she knew about you, they might feel exactly the same.

This is how it is for Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily. Alison, Ali, disappears during their slumber party. After her disappearance, the four friends gradually drift apart until no one can even recall they were once friends. It's now three years later and the teens are about to start their junior year. Spencer is very anal, in competition with her older sister about everything (and a certain someone); Hanna is now the new "it" girl, but carries a terrible secret about her drastic makeover; Aria is back from Iceland with her family and has a crush on a new boy, unfortunately she just found out he's her new English teacher; and Emily is the all-american good girl doing what she can to please her parents, that is until she meets Maya...

All four have secrets, secrets that they want to stay buried. Secrets that only one other person knows about: Ali. During the first week of school, each start to receive texts about their secrets, threatening to expose them. Each text is simply signed "A" and naturally the girls think Ali is back. But is she? Not only does "A" haunt them with their past, "A" knows what they are hiding now. It's as though each girl is being watched.

I really enjoyed this first book of the series and devoured it in one sitting. It's fast-paced, with short chapters and you just want to keep reading to learn more about what each girl is hiding. The story goes back and forth between past and present, but it's not confusing at all. After each girl receives a text, the author will go back to the past to explain its relevancy. Actually, I thought it added to the suspense.

Although this is a young adult novel, I have reservations about preteens reading it. There are mature themes discussed in the book and if younger children read it, I suggest the parents read it as well and have a conversation about these topics.

Pretty Little Liars HarperCollins Publisher, 2006, 286 pp., $8.99
Sara Shepard ISBN 978-0-06-0887320-2

Ever receive a message from someone, have no idea who sent it, then find out they had the wrong number? Hannah Marin, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields wish that was the case, but unfortunately, it's not. For them they are receiving messages from someone named "A," but it's not the wrong number. Know how they can tell? "A" is reminding them of all the secrets they try so hard to hide. Most of these secrets have been ones their former best friends, Ali DiLaurentis, knew. But Ali is dead, right?
Hannah, Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Ali were best friends; they have been since the summer before seventh grade when all of their parents volunteered them to work Saturday afternoons at Rosewood Day School's charity drive (except Spencer who volunteered herself.) The girls quickly bonded and soon became best friends. At the end of seventh grade everything was going great for all of them; they were just about to have their end-of-the-school sleepover. But when Spencer and Ali get into a fight, suddenly things take a turn for the worse. Ali leaves and doesn't return. By the next evening the police are called, and Ali is reported missing. The girls all appear worried, but secretly they are all relived. Ali knew all of their secrets. The things you never want to get out. The life changing secrets. And if Ali is dead, then she can't tell anyone, right? Wrong! Three years later, the girls are getting text messages from "A" -and "A" knows everything, and is taking ever chance to make these girls paranoid and scared. Every creak, every sound, makes these girls jump, wondering if "A's" around; because "A" would have to be to know not only all their seventh grade secrets but their new secrets too.
Who is "A"? Where's Ali? Is she dead or just missing? Is "A" Ali? Is "A" Ali's murderer? Is "A" going to tell everyone their secrets? These are the questions running though each of the girl's minds.
Read the exciting series: Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, Perfect, and Unbelievable (coming out May 27, 2008) to figure out all these questions. After Unbelievable, Shepard plans on writing four novels. Pretty Little Liars is one of the best books I've read; it's breathtaking -- the things these girls will do or how far "A" is willing to go. The book will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat and is unbelievably hard to put down. Pretty Little Liars was inspired by Shepard's upbringing in Philadelphia's main line.

-Lindsay Wowkowych, 13
Rush-Henrietta, NY
Roth Middle School

Title: The Pretty Little Liars Series (Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable, and Wicked)

Author: Sara Shepard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Edition: First HarperTeen Paperback Edition: 2007
Back Cover Summary: Everyone has something to hide--especially high school Juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna. Spencer covets her sister's boyfriend. Aria's fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily's crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful. But they've all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished.
How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and all the dirty secrets they've kept. And guess what? I'm telling. -A


*******


Disclaimer #1: The Pretty Little Liars Series has 8 books out so far. I have only read the first 5. So, this book review will only cover the first 5 books. I'll cover the last 3 when I read them.


Originally, I was attracted to these books because of the "Pretty Little Liars" television series ABC Family aired based off of these books. I honestly haven't enjoyed many shows on ABC Family...ever. And the one show I adored, the hilarious remake of "10 Things I Hate About You," was cancelled after its first season. (Bad move ABC Family!) Anyway, I was in no mood to watch another show based around teenage sex and pregnancy where some stupid girl gets knocked up, then falls in love with another guy, who is really in love with her little sister, who ends up impregnated only days after her older sister gives birth, but not by the guy who knocked up the first sister or who loved the younger sister, but the mysterious foreign exchange student for Switzerland who's really a... I'm getting carried away and that sentence is not grammatically correct, but it doesn't deserved to be fixed. You get the point.

The point is that I was skeptical of the "Pretty Little Liars" television show, but I was willing to give it a go. What I found was clever, funny, and intriguing. So, I continued with the show, watching every single episode, and when it ended (soon to return on January 3rd) I turned to the books to fill the void.

The first book followed the show to a tee and I was quickly getting bored. However, the second book veered off course entirely! Soon, I found that the book and television show were two different entities with only minor similarities and there were things I enjoyed and disliked in both.


High Notes: One of the best things about the book is the number of different perspectives you are able to read. Each chapter focuses on one of the girl's point of view, allowing you a deeper look into their inner thoughts and schemes. The girls definitely develop differing personalities that are more unique than the ones in the show. There is also so much more detail in the books than there is in the show. (Obviously! Books always go into so much more detail.)


Disclaimer #2: Nearly all the low notes have to do with elements I enjoyed in the show that were not present in the books.


Low Notes: It is rare, especially in the first four books, to read about all four of the girls hanging out together. A lot of time, each girl is on her own, dealing with her own problems by herself. However, in the show, they are always together, working things out with each other. There is more ground for camaraderie and you feel like these girls truly were the best of friends at one point in their lives, and are now finding their way back to each other.

Also, the love affairs in the book are more scandalous and less believable in the books, especially the relationship between Aria and her teacher. In the books, their relationship just feels like two people's hormones firing at the same time, but in the show, they meet, find common ground, and then begin to fall in love. It feels less wrong in the show because they knew each other before they knew they were student and teacher.

The final thing that really bugged me was all the brand dropping the book does. I mean, Prada this, Chanel that. It gets old after a while.

Nevertheless, I have enjoyed both avenues, especially since the show and books have begun to differ more and more. It's as though I am getting two different storylines to imagine instead of duplicates.


Disclaimer #3: I know I have mentioned a lot about the television version of "Pretty Little Liars" but my ratings are strictly based on the books.


Ratings:

Character Development: 5/5
Dialogue: 5/5
Prose: 4/5
Believability: 4/5
Style and Grammar: 4/5
Overall Rating: 88% Entertaining!

To see this review: [...]

To see more of my reviews: [...]

Once upon a time, there were five little girls. These little girls were very different, but they still became friends. Best friends forever . . . or so they thought. One night in middle school, after a slumber party, one little girl - Alison, the most manipulative and controlling of the group - disappeared, and the four girls who were left behind - Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer - became Pretty Little Liars.

Three years later, the girls are no longer close. Everyone still knows everyone else's business, of course, that's how their suburb operates, but they don't socialize. Each girl excels at something, be it art, athletics, or fashion. Each girl looks to be leading a happy, healthy life, but she is hiding something from her family - something she thinks no one else knows.

Then messages start appearing on cell phones or computer screens, short notes threatening to spill their precious little secrets. All of the messages are signed by "A." But who is it? Is it one of them, or is Alison back? How does whoever it is know all that's going on behind closed doors?

These books are addictive. Really addictive. After the original book, every following book in the line has had a one-word title, but they could also be titled I Know What You Did Last Summer, Gossip Girl. Seriously. Lying, cheating, murder, shoplifting, eating disorders - these books have it all. Each of the girls has a distinct look and personality (and it should be noted the books' covers fit them perfectly) but they are not cookie-cutter rich girls. Author Sara Shepard has taken what could be yet another story about superficial girls and twisted it, making it into a darker story, a mystery saturated with guilty pleasures that will intrigue older teens and adult readers.

This product is extremely misleading. This book is not a "TV-tie-in", at all, aside from the fact that they put the girls from the show on the cover. This is the same exact book as the first book in the Pretty Little Liars series, with a different cover slapped on it. :-

I recently read the original book, and got the "TV-tie-in" in hopes of reading something a little more like the show (which I like much better). But, as soon as I opened the book, I could tell that it was the same version that I'd just read. And, upon further inspection of it, I could tell that it is not amended to reflect the contents of the show.
If this was a TV-tie-in, they would have changed details like the girls' ages (making the time that Alison disappeared when they were in early high school, not mid-way through Jr. High), and changing the physical descriptions of the characters to fit who's who on the show (as they do not fit the particulars laid out for their respective characters in the book).
Being that I didn't want to read the whole book over, I could be wrong about it being EXACTLY the same, but I don't think that I am. This is marketing greed at some of its worst, and truly disappointing! :-(
If you haven't read the first Pretty Little Liars book, and want this edition because you prefer the cover, then you can get it...But, if you've already read it/own it in its original form, the only thing this version is good for is a collectible if you like the cover because you're a big fan of the show. I only paid $3.60 for this book, and I'm mad...I'm glad that I didn't pay more!!!

There are a few kinds of "TV-tie-ins"...Sometimes, books are written about episodes of shows, sometimes, tangential stories are written that fall 'between the episodes' (further adventures of characters from the TV world [that could, also, be done, after a show ends <though, that often seems to just happen online with "fan fiction"]), and (to my knowledge) pre-existing stories that were later turned into shows (or movies) are sometimes adapted to reflect the contents of the show. To call this a "TV-tie-in" is a lie.

~*Kristin Star*

I enjoy the tv show a lot, but the books are so much better! When I started reading them I thought they would be childish like the show, but they are actually much more adult.. and surprising! If you like the show you will love the books, and once you read this one you will want to buy the next right away. I read the first 3 in about 2 weeks, and that's only because I had to balance it will my 5 week summer college class. Definitely worth reading!

I read alot. I have read MANY great books and series, but none of them have EVER compared to the PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series. It is the absolute best in the world!!!! Full of detail, excitment, mystery, murder, love, and the game of life, these girls will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of this lie. Please read this amazing series, you will be pulled in by Sarah Shepards amazing ability to write.
-A ;)

I wasn't quite sure how many stars to give this book. It certainly isn't a great piece of literature so I didn't want to give it 5 stars. Then again, I'm sure most people didn't expect the book to be considered as such. Being a teenager, I'm always interested in quick reads and "trashy" teen series. I certainly don't limit myself to these types of books, but, honestly, YA is probably my favourite genre. I've read everything from Gossip Girl to Twilight. Series books are either hit or miss with me. I don't want to waste my time or money on a series that isn't going to keep my attention throughout all the books. Having a series made into a TV show is usually a turn-off for me. I stopped reading the Gossip Girl series a little bit after the show aired. It just lost some of its appeal.

That being said, I completely love this book. The TV series has been one of my summer must-see shows and I can't wait a new episode each week. Once after an episode aired, I couldn't wait another week to find out what happens. I went out a bought the first three books. I couldn't put down Pretty Little Liars once I started reading. The characters differ enough to where almost anyone can relate to one of them. It's like Desperate Housewives for teens. The fact that the group of girls are connected by someone who didn't have their best interest at heart is what really interested me. It certainly is a series that will keep your attention past the first couple books.