Pretty Little Liars
Work can be such a drag sometimes. You get all of your tasks done. You get future tasks done before deadline, so you may be left twiddling your thumbs, just dying for the phone to ring. Or you may end up surfing the internets, if you have an office job like me. Enter the geniuses at Harper Teen who have a few of their books in ebook format online with free full access for a limited time. Friends, I devoured Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepherd in that post-lunch until 5 p.m. time frame.
Although not great works of literature, Pretty Little Liars is like crack. Oh my god, I could not stop reading. Pretty Little Liars is like a soap opera, but for teenagers, so it’s not like oh, Chadwick is not the father of the baby, it’s more catty. I LOVE IT. I am a glutton for this stuff. Right, so the story starts in the summer between eighth and seventh grade. Five girls are the best of friends, bound together by the secrets. One of the girls goes missing. Consequently the group falls apart. Flash forward a few years in the future, the girls are in high school, I think they are juniors at this point. They’re all carrying their secrets. These ladies start to get crazy text messages about their secrets from a mysterious person named A. Dramz ensue.
Honestly, I had fun reading PLL. I didn’t know what to expect, but I could guess at some of the secrets. I grew to care about the characters even though they live a life I would never be able to relate to (they are very privileged). One character is an overachiever because her parents love her perfect sister more. One girl is a lesbian (now that is not a negative thing at all, but she is not out). One girl has low self-confidence. One girl has a penchant for older men. These girls combine to be a train wreck. I could not stop reading. I wanted to know what would happen and who A was. However, not all of the answers are provided in the first book, which is unfortunate, but I suppose that is how series work, the author does not give you every answer, instead they try to keep you reading.
I do recommend PLL when you are between books or bored out of your skull at 1:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon.
Disclosure: Book on publisher website, open to everyone.
Other Reviews:
Cover to Cover
Pop Culture Junkie
Tin Heart Tomes
You can read PLL #1 on the Harper Teen Website for a limited time.
This post was written by...
April (Books&Wine) – who has written 1074 posts on Good Books And Good Wine.
April is 24 years old. She is an educator. In her free time she can be found reading, working out, or eating junk food. She often wears her sunglasses at night.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
That's so cool about the free full access to some books. Thanks for the heads up.
+JMJ+
Hmmmm. I don't know about this one. =S It sounds like an edgier, more cynical, more amoral Gossip Girl to me–and as you can tell, I don't like Gossip Girl very much.
But thanks for the review, anyway, April. =) Would you believe this is the first review of Pretty Little Liars I've read?
Like crack definitely sums it up! These books are addictive. I've only read the first two but I probably read each one in a couple of hours too. As I recall, things got a whole lot twistier in book two. Great fun.
I love the Pretty Little Liars series.
I recently got hooked on the tv show and was wondering if the books would be worth a try. Thanks for the review!
I loved reading the PLL series – and it just gets better and more soap-opera-y as the books progress.
Hopefully you will read those as well.
Thanks for the link, I'm gonna check this one out =)
Great review! I think I'll keep my fluff paranormal romance and romantic comedies, but it's amusing reading your feelings on the books.
I couldn't agree more! Started reading these with my 15 year old daughter and we were absolutely addicted! Such a thoroughly enjoyable guilty pleasure : )