Killer by Sara Shepard

(Pretty Little Liars series, book 6)

In picture-perfect Rosewood, Pennsylvania, ash-blond highlights gleam in the winter sun and frozen lakes sparkle like Swarovski crystals. But pictures often lie – and so do Rosewood’s four prettiest girls. Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily have been lying ever since they became friends with beautiful Alison DiLaurentis. Ali made them do terrible things – things they had to keep secret for years. And even though Ali was killed at the end of seventh grade, their bad-girl ways didn’t die with her. Hanna’s on a mission to corrupt Rosewood’s youth, starting with a very attractive sophomore. Aria’s snooping into her boyfriend’s past. Spencer’s stealing – from her family. And pure little Emily’s abstaining from abstinence.

The girls should be careful, though. They thought they were safe when Ali’s killer was arrested and A’s true identity was finally revealed. But now there’s a new A in town turning up the heat. And this time Rosewood is going to burn.

While this isn’t my least favorite book of the series so far, it’s not my favorite either. I found myself getting a little annoyed with the girls in this book, mainly because I feel like there is a lot of repetition. The main factors that kept this from plunging to a 2 star were…well, I’ll tell you later. Let’s start from the beginning.

Killer picks up with the girls finding Ian Thomas’s dead body in the woods behind Spencer’s house, only when they bring Officer Wilden to the scene of the crime…his body is gone. There is no trace that he was ever there. Was he not really dead? Was it a dummy? If he wasn’t dead, where did he go? The police are convinced the girls were simply crying wolf to get attention and a manhunt ensues to find Ian, who is still being charged with Alison’s murder. On top of the town of Rosewood branding them all liars, they are also dealing with their own issues.

Hanna is battling her conniving soon-to-be stepsister, Kate, for the role of “Queen Bee” at Rosewood Day…which is what she was doing basically the entire last book as well. Her whole attitude in this book was a little annoying, which sucks because Hanna is my favorite character. Now I feel like she doesn’t care about anyone else but herself, and if something doesn’t involve one-upping Kate, she isn’t interested. Lame. I do actually like her romantic interest in Mike, even though it’s once again just a competition with Kate to see who can win him over. I hope they stay together, but I’m not holding my breath.

Aria finally decides to do something about her crush on Ali’s older brother, Jason. Her storyline seems to get a little repetitive too; she is always dating/wanting to date the wrong guy. First it was Ezra, then Xavier, and now Jason. The issue of her living with her dad and his new fiancée wasn’t really brought up, and the Xavier/Aria awkwardness was barely touched on.

Spencer is now convinced she was adopted, and signed up for an online site where kids can find their biological parents. As expected, she finds someone claiming to be her birth mother who “just can’t wait to meet her!” This turn of events with the birth mother was extremely predictable, in my opinion. I didn’t necessarily foresee what issue would be presented, but I knew the whole situation was just too good to be true. Meanwhile, her parents are pretty much downright awful to her. I mean, they sold her car back to the dealership without even warning her…yeah…sold her freaking car and didn’t tell her. A-holes.

Emily and Isaac turned up the heat in their relationship, but it turns out someone has a fire extinguisher ready…his mother. I actually feel really bad for Emily, because his mom is a reeeeal piece of work.  

With Ian swearing he’s not the one who killed Ali, the girls begin to think that he just might be telling the truth and turn their attention to a couple of guys in Rosewood who have been acting a big out of the ordinary. Is it possible they had it wrong all along with Ian? Are the police really covering something up? There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end of this book and holy shiitake mushrooms, the cliffhanger is something fierce!

The last three or four chapters and the crazy cliffhanger are what really saved the book from being a 2 star in my opinion. (See, I told you I’d tell you about it later!) The mystery aspect is great and it constantly keeps me on my toes, but I just wish it would lose some of the repetitiveness with the girls’ individual issues. Oh…and the whole thing with the Time Capsule flag? I’m over it. I think I have read the exact same scene with the girls in Ali’s backyard and Jason storming out of the house about 5 or 6 times within the past two books. (Once again, repetitiveness.) That being said, it’s still a good read and I’m ready to dive right into Heartless.

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Wicked by Sara Shepard

(Pretty Little Liars series, book 5)

In idyllic Rosewood, Pennsylvania, four very pretty girls just can’t help but be bad…

Hanna will do anything to be Rosewood’s queen bee. Spencer’s digging up her family’s secrets. Emily can’t stop thinking about her new boyfriend. And Aria approves a little too strongly of her mom’s taste in men.

Now that Ali’s killer is finally behind bars, the girls think they’re safe. But those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. And they should know by now that I’m always watching…

This was my favorite book of the series so far and I’m a lot more amped to read the rest of the series than I was the first four books. Why, you ask? Well, because I watch the show which so far has followed the first five books. The first four books were good, but the mystery wasn’t really there for me since I knew what was going to happen; now I’m finally at the place where I can try and figure out who the new “-A” is and not already know! Bomb dotcom.

The girls are still coping with two major things concerning Mona: 1) she was “-A” and 2) she’s dead. Hanna has not only lost her best friend, but she is trying to decipher why Mona would torture her for months and threaten to reveal all her secrets. Was she never really her friend at all? As if that’s not enough on Hanna’s plate, her father, and soon-to-be stepmother and stepsister are now living with her while her mom is away in Singapore. Kate tells Hanna a deep secret of her own, which leads Hanna to believe maybe she really does want to be friends with her after all. Ohh, Hanna…you’re so gullible.

Spencer has uncovered a family secret that has the potential to turn her entire world upside down, Aria is just a little too close to her mom’s new boyfriend, and Emily has a new boyfriend. Yep, that’s right…a boyfriend. I guess maybe she’s bi? Who knows; regardless, I like Isaac way more than I do Maya so go get you some, girl! Oh, and Spencer finally has some sparks fly with Andrew Campbell. It was a little predictable, but it’s about time that girl had a love interest!

Sure, they all still have issues to work through, but with the death of Mona and Ian Thomas locked up in jail awaiting trial for the murder of Alison, the girls finally feel safe. No more “-A”, no more Rosewood stalker, no more killer wandering the streets of Rosewood. But when Ian is released on bail to visit his dying mother, the mysterious texts start up again…and this time, they’re even worse. The new “-A” doesn’t just send threatening text messages; they have incriminating pictures that could tear some of the girls’ families apart. Just when the girls are so sure that Ian is behind the texts, they discover something. Something that means there is no possible way Ian is the new “-A.” Now they are back at square one, trying to figure out who wants to make sure Mona’s torture of them continues…and that means they also have to figure out who else in Rosewood knows all their secrets.

I liked the first four books in the series, but this is the first one that I really found myself enthralled with. I know a lot of that has to do with the fact that I knew who the original “-A” was, but now I’m in the dark just as much as the girls. Sara Shepard does a fantastic job of making you think you have finally caught on enough to figure out the mystery, then she pulls the rug out from under you and makes you realize you have no idea who “-A” is…or if Ian is really Alison’s killer. Wicked ends with a wicked huge cliffhanger (see what I did there..?) so I would recommend having the next book, Killer, ready to rock. Sh*t is about to get real…

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Out of Breath Release Date Announcement

I have been eagerly anticipating the release...or even just knowing the freaking release date...for the final book in the Breathing series. Well, it looks like I don't have to wait much longer. Rebecca Donovan posted the following picture to the Barely Breathing Facebook page today!! Fuck. Yes. 

Check out Barely Breathing's Facebook page here but first...while you're moseying around on my blog, you can check out my reviews for Reason to Breathe and Barely Breathing, the first two books in the Breathing series. 

The countdown until October officially begins...

Unbelievable by Sara Shepard

(Pretty Little Liars series, book 4)

Behind Rosewood’s grand facades, where the air smells like apples and Chanel No. 5 and infinity pools sparkle in landscaped backyards, nothing is as it seems. It was here, back in seventh grade, that five best friends shared everything – Seven jeans, MAC makeup, and their deepest darkest secrets. For Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily, it was a dream come true…until Alison, the most beautiful of them all, suddenly vanished.

Now someone named A has turned their charmed lives into a living nightmare. Emily has been shipped off to her hyper-conservative cousins in Iowa. Aria is stuck living with her dad and his home-wrecker girlfriend. And Spencer fears she had something to do with Alison’s murder. But Hanna’s fate is far worse than all of that – she’s clinging to life in the hospital, because “she knew too much.”

With A’s threats turning dangerous and Ali’s killer still on the loose, the girls must uncover the truth – about A, about Ali, and about what happened to Hanna – before they become A’s next victims. But as they unravel Rosewood’s mysteries and secrets, will it bring an end to the horror…or is this just the beginning?

While this book was fairly predictable, I did still enjoy it. It sounds bad, but I’m actually glad I’m done with the first four books, only because seasons 1 & 2 of Pretty Little Liars follow books 1-4, and the beginning of season 3 does as well. I’m ready to read without knowing what’s coming! Granted, the show follows the books loosely, but the main issues are consistent…the major one being the revealing of “-A,” which is finally done in this book.

Let’s see what the girls have gotten themselves into now:

We were left with the cliffhanger of Hanna realizing who “-A” is…and when she’s running across the parking lot to tell her friends, she gets mowed down by an SUV. Awesome. After coming out of a coma, she can’t remember the night of the accident. At all. She has no recollection of who “-A” is or how she even figured it out in the first place. She has also managed to forget how Mona humiliated her at her birthday party, which Mona takes full advantage of…because she sucks a big one. I’ve never been a fan of Mona and after what she did to Hanna at her birthday party, I pretty much despised her. Oh, and Hanna is also in a tug-of-war with her feelings towards Lucas; he’s a sweet guy but he’s not popular and Mona constantly rags on him…once again, because she sucks a big one.

Spencer is still hiding the fact that she plagiarized her sister’s paper for her econ class, which consequently was nominated for a Golden Orchid award and she just so happens to be one of the finalists. Rather than deal with the public humiliation of their daughter being known as a cheater, her parents have decided to bury her secret and have her go along with the notion that she actually did write paper. Superb parenting, by the way. While keeping this secret from everyone outside her family, she is also still trying to wrap her head around her blackouts, and remember anything from the night Ali went missing that will convince her she wasn’t the one who killed Ali.

Emily was shipped off to Iowa after she refused to complete Tree Top, the “reform” program that “fixes” homosexuality. Her first night, she sneaks out with her cousins and meets, Trisha, a bisexual girl who I actually really liked. She was kind of carefree and fun, which seems like the opposite of Maya (I’ve never been a big Maya fan, either.) When her aunt & uncle find out they snuck out, the cousins all blame Emily and she gets shipped back to Rosewood. I kind of saw this coming…

Lastly, Aria just got her world rocked. Her mom kicked her out, her boyfriend found out she was messing around with Ezra, and called the cops resulting in Ezra’s arrest, and she’s now living with her dad and his new girlfriend, Meredith. She also finds out some interesting information about the night Jenna Cavanaugh was blinded that makes her and the other girls see how much Ali was really hiding from them. Now…the most important question: With Ezra out of jail and no one pressing charges, can he and Aria finally make their relationship work?

Okay, take a second to breathe. On top of all that mess, we finally find out who “-A” is and the police take a suspect into custody for the murder of Alison. I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. Most of the storylines were rather predictable and would have been even if I didn’t have knowledge from watching the show. As much as I like this series so far, I can’t say that I love it. I actually prefer the TV show, which is probably a first. I wish Toby was still around and had the storyline he does in the show, and I wish Caleb and Hanna were together…or that he was in the books at all, which maybe he is later. Correction: I hope he is later. That being said, I’m anxious to continue the series since I’m getting to the point in the books that hasn’t been covered in the show yet. Bring it.

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Perfect by Sara Shepard

(Pretty Little Liars series, book 3)

In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, four perfect-looking girls aren’t nearly as perfect as they seem. Aria can’t resist her forbidden ex. Hanna is on the verge of losing her BFF. Emily is freaking out over a simple kiss. And Spencer can’t keep her hands off anything that belongs to her sister.

Lucky me. I know these pretty little liars better than they know themselves. But it’s hard keeping all of their secrets to myself. They better do as I say…or else!

After finishing the third book in this series, I think it’s safe to say that each book gets a little better, a little creepier, and a lot more destructive. Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily thought they had it figured out when all signs pointed to Toby Cavanaugh being Ali’s killer and the mysterious, all-knowing “-A.” Well, that is until he turns up dead from an apparent pill overdose and leaves behind a suicide note; a note that explains his secret that he was so ashamed of…and it had nothing to do with Ali’s murder. They are now back at square one trying to figure out who could have wanted Alison dead, and there is now a Rosewood Stalker lurking around their town. With all that going on, it does seem the girls have one positive thing going for them: they haven’t heard from “-A” in weeks, and they start to think that maybe they can finally breathe again knowing their secrets are safe…but are they really?

Aria is dealing with the fallout of her mom finding out that her dad was cheating on her before they moved to Iceland…and then resumed the affair when they moved back to Rosewood. So, her mom has every right to be pissed. Cheating isn’t cool and adultery is way less cool. HOWEVER, her mom’s attitude towards Aria is incredibly uncalled for. Granted, Aria knew about her father’s infidelity but a child should never be put in the middle of that kind of situation. Her dad should have never asked her to keep the secret in the first place, but her mom shouldn’t be a raging bitch to her for not telling her either. It’s not her place to tell her mom that…she’s not the one cheating! For real y’all…her mom blows this sh*t way out of proportion and after Aria tells her mom what she did to Meredith in an attempt to get her out of her dad’s life, her mom kicks her out of the house. SHE KICKS HER DAUGHTER OUT OF THE HOUSE! B*tch is unstable. It made me really dislike her mom…even more so than her dad and he’s the one that cheated! As if that isn’t enough to deal with, Aria is getting heat from Hanna for dating her ex-boyfriend and she still has serious feelings for her English teacher, Ezra. I’ll say this…you will never expect how that whole sitch ends. Sh*t gets real.

Emily’s family finds out she is a lesbian and I’m fairly certain her mom almost has a mental breakdown. They try to rectify the situation by sending her to Tree Tops, a “reform” program that will “fix” her homosexual feelings. If she doesn’t complete the program successfully, they’re shipping her off to live on a farm with her aunt and uncle in Iowa. Yeah…this is going to work out wonderfully… *eye roll*

Hanna is probably my favorite of all four girls, and she just can’t seem to catch a break. I just really feel for her because I think she really is a good person, she just let herself get caught up in looking perfect and maintaining her huge popularity. Unfortunately, it looks like she’s taking a huge fall from grace. She has lost her boyfriend to Aria, she lost her father to his new fiancé and soon-to-be stepdaughter, and now she’s losing her best friend Mona to a new group of girls. I actually got a little teary-eyed during Hanna’s whole fiasco at Mona’s birthday party…I just felt awful for her.

Lastly, Spencer; she stole more than just her sister’s fiancé and when her parents and sister find out what she did, sh*t hits the fan. Or hits the stairs…hard. She is also trying to remember the night of Alison’s disappearance because she is starting to feel like there are chunks of memory completely gone from that night…which all makes sense when her mom reveals something about Spencer that even she wasn’t aware of.

“-A” comes storming back into the girls’ lives and stirs up some serious sh*t…that is until “-A” gets sloppy. Instead of texting with an unknown number, they screw up and text from a local Rosewood phone number…and Hanna thinks the number looks a little too familiar. The other three girls come to their own conclusions and end up pointing the finger at one of the four of them…but could one of girls really be capable of killing Alison?

Once again, I feel like the books each get a little better than the last one. The mystery steps it up a notch, relationships fall apart and new love blossoms, and “-A” will clearly do anything to keep the girls from finding out who is behind the mysterious texts and emails. Oh, oh, oh!! And I can’t freaking wait to find out what happens to Ezra and Aria!!! Can’t. Freaking. Wait!! In the words of Jay-Z: “On to the next one…”

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Flawless by Sara Shepard

(Pretty Little Liars series, book 2)

In the exclusive town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, where the sweetest smiles hide the darkest secrets, four pretty little liars – Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna – have been very bad girls…

Spencer stole her sister’s boyfriend. Aria is brokenhearted over her English teacher. Emily likes her new friend Maya…as much more than a friend. And Hanna’s obsession with looking flawless is literally making her sick. But the most horrible secret of all is something so scandalous it could destroy their perfect little lives.

And someone named “A” is threatening to do just that.

At first they thought A was Alison, their friend who vanished three years ago…but then Alison turned up dead. So could A be Melissa, Spencer’s ultracompetitive sister? Or Maya, who wants Emily all to herself? What about Toby, the mysterious guy who left town right after Alison went missing?

One thing’s for certain: A’s got the dirt to bury them all alive, and with every crumpled note, wicked IM, and vindictive text message A sends, the girls get a little closer to losing it all.

“Don’t get too comfortable. It’s not over until I say it is.” –A

Well, let’s catch up with the liars real quick, shall we? We’re picking up where we left off with Pretty Little Liars; it’s been three years since Alison went missing, but after receiving texts from “-A” that threatened to reveal secrets that only Alison knew about, Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily were beginning to wonder if maybe Ali was finally back. Well, that is until her body is found buried in her backyard. Now the girls are left wondering who killed Ali…and if Alison isn’t “-A”, then who else knows all their secrets and why are they hell bent on exposing the girls’ dirty laundry?

Alison’s funeral, along with the texts from the mysterious “-A”, has seemed to bring the four girls back together but they still find themselves unwilling to share their dirty little secrets with each other. Emily is dealing with the realization that she may have romantic feelings towards her new friend, Maya, but then begins to doubt herself when she meets hot, mysterious Toby Cavanaugh, who also happens to be Jenna’s stepbrother and has quite the reputation around Rosewood. Aria is trying to get over her English teacher, Ezra, after her broke it off with her thinking she was telling everyone about their relationship…all thanks to “-A”. Don’t worry though, Hanna’s ex-boyfriend has his eye on Aria and she doesn’t seem to be pushing him away. (Come on girl, you know better than to date your friend’s ex-boyfriend!) Spencer gets caught making out with her sister’s fiancé, Wren, and as if her family telling her she was never allowed to see him wasn’t enough, they have completely shut her out. Does she listen? Of course not…but just how long can they make their secret relationship last? Now onto Hanna; I feel so bad for this freakin’ girl. She wrecked her boyfriend’s car drunk driving after he refused to have sex with her and now has to work at a burn clinic for her community service punishment. Her boyfriend, Sean, broke up with her and she later finds out he and Aria are somewhat of an item, and “-A” forces her to humiliate herself by admitting to people what really happened between her and Sean…and just how she really manages to stay so perfectly thin. As if all that wasn’t enough…her perfect soon-to-be stepsister gains her trust and uses it against her in f*cked up way. She just can’t catch a damn break!

While the girls all seem to be pointing the finger at the same person for Ali’s death and the “-A” text messages, their theory begins to crumble when another body turns up in the woods behind Emily’s house. Just when they thought they had it all figured out, they realize they aren’t even close to putting the pieces together, and they all start to see just how manipulative Alison really was…and Spencer reveals a secret that she's been keeping from the girls since the night of The Jenna Thing.

There is quite a bit to take in in this book, but I actually liked it better than the first book, Pretty Little Liars. “-A” is really starting to shake things up for the girls in Flawless, and they start to delve into the mystery of who killed Alison…and why? The “who-done-it” factor in these books will get you hooked, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll blaze through a book a day! One other reason I like these books (and the TV show) so much is because Sara Shepard weaves real issues in with the suspense and mystery; confused sexuality, eating disorders, divorce, drug abuse, etc. Those are the things that make you really attach to these characters because maybe you can relate to them and the issues they are going through…or have gone through in the past. That being said, there is one aspect that I didn’t like: the Toby storyline. I like his storyline in the TV show a thousand times more than in the book, but that’s all I’m going to say because I don’t to give anything away! (Hey…I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it!) In short: if you liked Pretty Little Liars, you’ll dig Flawless.

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Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

(Pretty Little Liars series, book 1)

Three years ago, Alison disappeared after a slumber party, not to be seen since. Her friends at the elite Pennsylvania school mourned her, but they also breathed secret sighs of relief. Each of them guarded a secret that only Alison had known. Now they have other dirty little secrets, secrets that could sink them in their gossip-hungry world. When each of them begins receiving anonymous emails and text messages, panic sets in. Are they being betrayed by some on in their circle? Worse yet: Is Alison back?

“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” – Benjamin Franklin

Here’s the lowdown: I have been watching Pretty Little Liars since the first episode, and am hooked on the show. I knew it stemmed from a book series, but I hadn’t read them yet and after I watched the show, I didn’t really have any intentions of reading the series. I have a hard time reading a book after I’ve already seen the movie or started watching the TV show. It takes away some of the imagination. I don’t picture the characters how I want; I picture them as they were on screen. Any who, a friend read the books and said they were really good so I decided to cave and read the damn books. Fortunately so far (I’m only on the second book), it hasn’t been a bad decision. 

The majority of this book is to introduce us to the five best friends – Alison, Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily. Alison is the queen bee; she’s pretty, popular, and devious. All the girls want to be her, and all the guys want to date her. Aria is the “kooky” friend; she has pink highlights in her dark hair, knits her own bras, and is dealing with keeping a secret regarding her father. Spencer is the overachiever; she strives for perfection in everything from academics to field hockey. Hanna is the chubby friend; she is given the nickname ‘Hefty Hanna’ by Alison, and has had a crush on Sean Ackard, one of the most popular guys in school, for years. Lastly, Emily is…the confused friend; she’s athletic and senses that maybe she cares more for Alison than just on a friendship level. One night while they are all having a slumber party, Alison storms off and is never seen again…

Cut to three years later: the girls are juniors in high school, Alison is still missing, and the four remaining friends have drifted apart. Aria has just moved back from Iceland, and is having some secret student-teacher conferences with her English teacher; Spencer is harboring a crush on her sister’s fiancé; Hanna lost weight, got a new wardrobe, started dating Sean Ackard, and is now known as Rosewood’s “It Girl”, and Emily is still struggling with her sexuality as she discovers a new friendship with Maya. So what finally brings the four friends back together? Text messages and emails from the mysterious –A, who threatens them with the notion of exposing their past and present secrets. The four of them start to think that there is only one person who could know about their past secrets, like The Jenna Thing, and that person is Alison. So does this mean Alison is back? If so, why she is doing this to them? And the scarier question…if Alison isn’t back, who else knows their secrets?

If I hadn’t already started watching the show, I would have enjoyed the book a little more. Emily, Hanna, and Mona are all described so differently in the books than they are in the show that I had to just skip over any parts that referenced their looks. Aside from that (and the fact that they all seem to be avid smokers) there wasn’t much difference from the show. Even though I already know who –A is it doesn’t completely ruin the story because I like reliving the mystery all over again. I believe this is considered a teen series, but I enjoyed the first book and I’m clearly not a teenager. It’s a fast read, and with my knowledge from the show, I can assume that the following books will continue to get even better!

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