Post by Charlynn on Dec 2, 2010 18:36:19 GMT -5
Pretty Little Liars
I'm sure at this point, we've all heard of this book series. It's a best selling series, and it has been turned into an ABC Family television show. Despite the success, I never would have read the novel if it had not been recommended to me by another avid reader. Because of the network on which the show airs, I assumed that it would be bubble gum happy with just a lame dash of mystery thrown in to flavor it. Boy was I wrong!
Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard starts when five young girls are at the end of their seventh grade year. They're pretty, and smart, and talented, and they all come from, at least, moderately wealthy families. They attend private school, and they're definitely stuck up. Plus, they have their secrets. But then one of their group - the leader - disappears, and their group falls apart as the girls try to distance themselves from both the tragedy and the things in their past that could potentially get them into trouble.
And that's just the introduction.
Chapter one picks up three years later. Though the girls are no longer friends, they still keep their secrets, and they're still creating more. Spencer feels as though she is trapped behind her older sister's shadow, that her parents never notice her, but then her sister's boyfriend does, and the two of them start a very dangerous game. Aria, who has been away in Iceland since that tragic summer, returns to Pennsylvania and immediately hooks up with an older guy she meets in a bar (and, yes, she's only a junior in high school)... only to find out he's her new English teacher. Swim star and overall good girl Emily starts to recall her less-than-friend-like feelings for her missing childhood chum when a new girl moves into town, and she starts to have those same kind of feelings for her as well. And Hanna, whose self-esteem, despite her beauty, is at an all-time low, resorts to devious and harmful tricks to keep her appearance and reputation intact. They're a mess... and that's before someone starts sending them notes, taunting them with both their current and their past secrets. As the tension gets to the girls, their lives begin to spin out of control, especially when they start to fear that the very person who is sending the notes - signed 'A -' to them is the friend they all lost so mysteriously years before.
This book thoroughly surprised me. It was great! Though the girls are all flawed, they still manage to be likable. You can see why they have their issues, so you can sympathize with them... even when you want to smack them upside the head for their stupid mistakes. While there are some typical teen cliches, such as eating disorders, underage partying, and an intense obsession with what others think of them, there is a reason why those are teen cliches: because, unfortunately, they (and others) can be found in every single high school. Surprisingly, despite my doubts, this book was much darker than I thought, too, which I liked. Two cautions: if you don't like to read about rich, sheltered girls who live in gated communities and attend private school, this book isn't for you. (I, however, enjoy these stories if they are done the right way, and I thought this one was.) Secondly, if you want the mystery to be wrapped up neatly with a pink bow to boot by the time you finish this book, you're going to be disappointed, because the mystery is really just starting to kick into high gear. For me, this just made me decide to read the other books as well... which I took as a good omen towards the author's abilities. So, thankfully, Pretty Little Liars was one of the books I read this semester that I bought for myself instead of borrowing, because it's definitely one I want to keep in my collection.
I'm sure at this point, we've all heard of this book series. It's a best selling series, and it has been turned into an ABC Family television show. Despite the success, I never would have read the novel if it had not been recommended to me by another avid reader. Because of the network on which the show airs, I assumed that it would be bubble gum happy with just a lame dash of mystery thrown in to flavor it. Boy was I wrong!
Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard starts when five young girls are at the end of their seventh grade year. They're pretty, and smart, and talented, and they all come from, at least, moderately wealthy families. They attend private school, and they're definitely stuck up. Plus, they have their secrets. But then one of their group - the leader - disappears, and their group falls apart as the girls try to distance themselves from both the tragedy and the things in their past that could potentially get them into trouble.
And that's just the introduction.
Chapter one picks up three years later. Though the girls are no longer friends, they still keep their secrets, and they're still creating more. Spencer feels as though she is trapped behind her older sister's shadow, that her parents never notice her, but then her sister's boyfriend does, and the two of them start a very dangerous game. Aria, who has been away in Iceland since that tragic summer, returns to Pennsylvania and immediately hooks up with an older guy she meets in a bar (and, yes, she's only a junior in high school)... only to find out he's her new English teacher. Swim star and overall good girl Emily starts to recall her less-than-friend-like feelings for her missing childhood chum when a new girl moves into town, and she starts to have those same kind of feelings for her as well. And Hanna, whose self-esteem, despite her beauty, is at an all-time low, resorts to devious and harmful tricks to keep her appearance and reputation intact. They're a mess... and that's before someone starts sending them notes, taunting them with both their current and their past secrets. As the tension gets to the girls, their lives begin to spin out of control, especially when they start to fear that the very person who is sending the notes - signed 'A -' to them is the friend they all lost so mysteriously years before.
This book thoroughly surprised me. It was great! Though the girls are all flawed, they still manage to be likable. You can see why they have their issues, so you can sympathize with them... even when you want to smack them upside the head for their stupid mistakes. While there are some typical teen cliches, such as eating disorders, underage partying, and an intense obsession with what others think of them, there is a reason why those are teen cliches: because, unfortunately, they (and others) can be found in every single high school. Surprisingly, despite my doubts, this book was much darker than I thought, too, which I liked. Two cautions: if you don't like to read about rich, sheltered girls who live in gated communities and attend private school, this book isn't for you. (I, however, enjoy these stories if they are done the right way, and I thought this one was.) Secondly, if you want the mystery to be wrapped up neatly with a pink bow to boot by the time you finish this book, you're going to be disappointed, because the mystery is really just starting to kick into high gear. For me, this just made me decide to read the other books as well... which I took as a good omen towards the author's abilities. So, thankfully, Pretty Little Liars was one of the books I read this semester that I bought for myself instead of borrowing, because it's definitely one I want to keep in my collection.