Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Liars Liars One



Pretty Little Liars

Written by: Sara Shepard

Released: October 1, 2006 by HarperTeen


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.





I originally wanted to read these books after watching the trailer for the T.V. show that is being based on it, airing in ABC Family this summer. I then was looking around the internet and, since the trailer intrigued me, when I read that the author thought that the pilot was very close to the first book, I figured ‘why not try it’. Then, I remembered that I had seen a lot of the books on the bargain book shelf at Chapters, so I figured why not just buy them since the library didn’t have them. I think that, after reading this book, that it was a very good idea. I just wish that I had gotten the first two in hardcover but they were only available in paperback.

I was worried that this book wouldn’t be that good. Meaning that it would be a more mature version of The Clique books and really not all that interesting to read. I was then very happy to be proved wrong. If anything, this has a small dash of The Clique books, mixed with a little Gossip Girl, then mixed with a whole lot of amazing mystery, romance, and betrayal. I was so enraptured with the first book that I quickly breezed through it (in a good way) and was on to the second within a day. I couldn’t put the book down because I wanted to know who A was, what the Jenna Thing was, and what Tony had done. Admittedly, I guessed some things, but the rest still has me completely guessing. In fact, it’s driving me crazy trying to figure out who A is and what they want.

Normally, I’m not a fan of the altering perspectives and the changing narrators, but with this book it adds to the drama and the story. Plus, it makes a big difference that it’s written in third-person perspective and not alternating first-person. One complaint that I do have is the abundance of characters; it’s sometimes hard to keep them all straight.

The characters are very different and work well together, yet they are never really together. I suppose that that will change as the series develops and they get closer to who A is. It’s interesting to see just how their lives intersect without their knowing.

Overall, I am in love with this series and I can’t wait to see how much better it gets, though it’s fantastic right now. I’m giving this book an 8/10.

1 comment:

Amanda said...

Great review, I too have wanted to read this since I saw the preview for the show! I should probably get on that, because I hate watching a show/movie based on a book BEFORE I read the book.

Happy readings. :D