Pretty Little Liars (PLL #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 one in their circle? Worse yet: Is Alison back? A strong launch for a suspenseful series.

I’ve always heard that this tv series was good. I used to have a friend who was completely obsessed. But it didn’t seem like my sort of thing.
Oh, how wrong I was.
I fell in love with this book from the first chapter. How did Ali die? That’s the big question. I’m not a big fan of murder mysteries usually, I’m just too impatient. Luckily, the girl’s stories in this were interesting enough to keep me intrigued. Hanna was probably my favourite, even though she was definitely the most fake. Back in the Ali days, she was the loser one. Now, she’s freaking fabulous. Her and Mona made their comeback together, vowing things like to never cry in public to help them rise to fame. Hanna managed to get her long-time love, Sean, as her boyfriend. So you’d think she’d be happy, right? Wrong! Thank goodness, really. Shepard didn’t write her as someone who had it all so was perfect. Hanna had more than her fair share of flaws. She shop lifted for goodness’ sake! And she, unsurprisingly, had a quite a few mental problems.
Aria was the next best. Icelandic Aria, to be precise. Her story was the weirdest though. She was the one who had a thing with her teacher. As soon as he said at the bar that he was an English teacher, I knew. So, say you kissed a man, then found out he was your teacher. What would you do? I’d end it. It’s too weird. But no, not in the eyes of our Aria. She spent the book being utterly weird with Ezra. Ugh.
Emily needs to get her life together. I mean, hello, her and Maya are clearly made for each other. Maya is SO COOL. But Emily is very determined in being straight. Maya flirts basically consistently with her, and Emily gets all swoony when she does. However, being a lesbian (or bi) is a huge thing to admit. So, I do understand where she’s coming from. But that’s all I really hope for in book 2. For Emily to admit her true feelings to Maya.
Oh, and for Spencer to get a personality! I know, I forgot about her too. She’s so… Bland. Her “thing” is being overshadowed by her older sister. Bo-ring. Every younger sister goes through that. I know a seven year old who feels like that with her ten year old sister. It’s not overly original. Melissa is quite insane, and Spencer’s way of getting back at her is pretty clever. But to be honest, the book would have been just as good with only three characters.
The last thing I want, I know I won’t get. WHO. IS. A?!? And who killed Alison?? I want to have my guesses, but this series is 12 books long. We have a long way to go before we come even close to finding out who’s who. Maybe we could find out what The Jenna Thing is? That seems to be the reason everyone suspects Ali was killed, but we’re never told what it is… So that’d be handy to know before I start making my guesses.
I wish I was rich. Then I’d buy this whole series, and all the novellas, and binge read this until my eyes bled. Then binge watch the show. Seriously, it’s that good. I very much recommend it!