The Pretty Little Liars series, by Sarah Shepard, is mysterious and has a new conflict or drama on every page. It keeps you turning the pages to find what the truth about Ali’s murder really is. Ali was the most beautiful and most popular girl in the 7th grade. She got all the guys and pressured her 4 best friends, Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily into doing anything she wanted them to do. On the outside, she may have looked amazing, but on the inside she was really mean, and everyone knew it. After Ali mysteriously disappeared in the summer going into 8th grade, Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily broke up and didn’t really talk anymore at all. Aria moved to Iceland for 2 years with her family. She made new friends and became a new person without any of her old friends to comment. Hanna transformed from what used to be a chubby girl who was labeled as Ali’s side kick, to the most popular girl in the school. Spencer was a more grown up version of herself, she aced all the tests and was always studying. Emily was focused on swimming and her boyfriend, who she met on the swim team. When 10th grade came, Aria moved back into the neighborhood and all the girls would reunite, but not in a good way. When each one of the girls started getting mysterious texts from an anonymous person labeled “A”, things started to take a turn for the worst. The subjects of the texts were things that the 4 girls told Ali, and only Ali. They all had the same thoughts in their minds: could Ali be alive and back? Why would anyone blackmail us like this? “A” used her texts against them. It threatened them to do embarrassing things to keep their secrets safe with them. The 4 girls reunited because of the texts. They wanted to get to the bottom of it and find out if this was Ali or not. The girls started hanging out a lot more and were becoming friends again. When things got weirder though, they all decided not to tell each other what the texts were about. The girls were always being watched by “A”. “A” saw things that the girls did that no one else had a clue about. The girls felt like they had to watch their back with whatever they did. They were scared that their precious little secrets would soon be all around the school, or in the ears of their families.
When Ali showed up dead in the ground of her old house, the girls were horrified, but finally relived that “A” might be gone for good. They all started to relax and felt safe with what they did. It wasn’t till Ali’s memorial service when everything took a turn for the worst. “A” was back. She got crueler and knew so much more than anyone else. “A” was spreading rumors about the girls and torturing them with their own life. There lives outside of school were horrible because of “A” and many people in school knew the rumors that were going around.
Every other chapter of this book is another one of the girls and more torture from “A”. The series is intense and mysterious and there is never a boring page. It teaches you that rumors get around fast and start massive amounts of anger and drama. These books are a really good read for any girl or boy to read. The mystery to find “A” keeps the pages turning and always leaving you to want to read more and more.