I’m going to try my hand at book reviews. But I sort of hate book reviews so let’s call these book opinions:
You already know I prefer YA fiction, so let’s start off with the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. I once professed my love for a particular ABC Family show, but when I started seeing promos for the new series I scoffed. Seriously? Some girls killed their friend? Aren’t there like fifty teenage horror movies about this? How can this be a series? But then they threw in the song "Secrets" by One Republic and my opinion was swayed from “awful” to “perhaps promising”. Then I watched the pilot and... well... I sorta, kinda liked it. And then I watched every episode that aired after that. Well when the “summer season” ended with a killer cliffhanger, I was really torn. Do I read the books and potentially ruin the series? Or do I wait in agony for however long until the show returns (January!) as well as how many seasons it could possibly last? Obviously I opted for the former.
And lucky for me, good old Borders was capitalizing on the success of the show and offering Buy One, Get One 50% off. So I maybe purchased four at once. Which I realize was a risk in the event I didn’t like the first book, but oh it was worth it (and later, I kicked myself for not buying all eight since I got the last four at full price).
Synopsis thanks to Wikipedia: The series follows the lives of four girls -Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer-whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison. One year later, they begin receiving various messages from someone using the name "A" who threatens to expose their secrets — including long-hidden ones they thought only Alison knew.
Pros:
-Shepard is amazing at cliffhangers. Even if you thought that particular book was only so-so, the ending (or perhaps lack of) would force you pick up the next one because you just had to know what happens next.
-I thought she did a good job at fleshing out each girl and making her distinct and unique. Sure some of them fell into stereotypical roles but isn’t that expected in high school?
- She also succeeded at making each girl likable. Even though I thought Emily was insufferable throughout the series since she was so wishy-washy at least she usually had good (if not slightly moronic) intentions. But I was Team Aria, Spencer, and Hanna at different points during the series.
Cons:
-I found it hilarious that these girls all chain-smoked in the first four books but she clearly started getting more popular and some parents groups were on her case about it. So evidently the girls apparently all got the patch or some gum cause the frequent mentions disappeared by the fourth or fifth book.
-These girls are all rich. I get it. You don’t have to tell me every designer they are wearing or carrying. She would even tell you who made the coffee table, sofa, even a lamp. Boring.
-Every single outfit a girl wore in the last two books was a “sheath”. Seriously, just say dress!
-It sucked that characters that were HUGE in the first two books (Wren and Mr. Fitts particularly) just disappeared into thin air after the second or third book. I’m guessing she didn’t realize she was going to be able to crank 8 books out of this idea but really, why include them at all? I thought maybe they’d pop up in the last book but nope. She totally Waaaaaaaaaalt-ed them (that’s LOST speak for you noobs).
All in all: B+ for the series. The last book sort of sucked just because the conclusion was something that seemed invented/convenient as opposed to something that actually made sense or had been hinted at all along. However; was it addicting? Yes. Did I stay up til 4 am when I had work the next day to finish a book? Yes. Did I choose to read as opposed to watch TV or YouTube? Yes. And these are great indicators of a good book. And at the very least, watch the show on ABC Family!
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