Review : Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
Pages : 286
Genre : YA, Fiction
Series : Pretty Little Liars, Book 1
My Rating : 
From the Back of the Book :
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.
Gee, look at that awful cover!
Anyway. I was pretty much prepared on hating this book. I was very curious about the series – especially with the series coming on TV in June – but I was so scared by the covers that I wouldn’t dare pick them up. Then Meg wrote a good review of it and as we have somewhat similar tastes, I decided to give it a try.
I’m glad I did. Honestly, I didn’t think I would enjoy it this much, but the writing quickly sucks you in. I read and I kept thinking, “okay, just one more chapter… no, just one more…”. The narration, despite what the book’s summary might let you think, is written at the third person singular and follows the four girls in turns. There’s a lot of people surrounding the girls (family, friends, etc.) that we get to know and makes Rosewood feel alive. It’s 90210 meets Desperate Housewives meets paper. The perfect entertainment to relax your brain after a hard day of work!
One aspect I liked of the novel was the interactions between the four girls at the start of the story. They used to be friends, but now they aren’t, and Shepard really portrayed well the awkward distance between them, how even though they don’t speak anymore, they still know personal details of each other’s life. I liked the four of them, but I had a strong preference for Emily and Aria, who felt to me like the nicest of the four. I also appreciated how Shepard wrote Emily as she tries to deal with her sexual orientation. It felt realistic and though this wasn’t something I dealt with, I could relate to her.
So I already mentioned I don’t like the cover, but I feel like I need to say it again. I know it’s just a matter of taste, but I have rarely been so strongly annoyed by a series covers. There is no way I would have been attracted to it in all my life, except maybe when I was six – which would have been quite bad, considering the sex, partying and other issues mentioned in the book.
In the end, Pretty Little Liars was a solid bet for a few hours of easy entertainment. The mystery kept me reading and I am already planning on reading the next books.
Series Reading Order :
- Pretty Little Liars
- Flawless
- Perfect
- Unbelievable
- Wicked
- Killer
- Heartless
- Wanted
This one I hadn’t heard of before but it sounds like it is worth checking out. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it. I have to agree with you on the cover though. It isn’t really grabbing me.
I found this one to be purely escapist fluff, but in a good way! Definitely a way to zone out and lose yourself for a few hours. I have to say, though, that after finishing this one… nothing has really propelled me toward grabbing the second book in the series, or any of the others. It was fun but not earth-shattering. I’ll probably continue the series at some point, though!
I really enjoy this series. I have the last two books to catch up on before the next one comes out this year. She’s actually changed up the book cover for re-releasing the books I gather. I noticed the paperbacks that are coming out have more mature covers.
hahah. i thought the exact same thing when i saw that cover on your blog! it’s definitely not a book i would pick up on my own if i just saw it in the bookstore like that. but if you and meg think its worth it i might just check it out.
I just purchased this book this week. After hearing so much about it and then watching the pilot episode last week, I kind of gave in. Plus, I’m a sucker for anything with secrets haha. I’m really excited to start it. 🙂