Review: Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
Publisher: Harper Teen (2006)
Format:  e-book | 286 pages
Genre(s): Young Adult, Mystery
Description: "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 must say I started watching the TV series before reading this book (before even knowing there was a book), so I already had a good idea about how the story was going to play out.
"Pretty Little Liars" is a quick, easy read about four 16 year old girls who, like every other teenager in the world made mistakes and keep secrets from any adult in their vicinity. The story revolves around these secrets and the consequences of them being discovered.

When Spencer, Aria, Hannah and Emily were 13, they used to be best friends; and there was a fifth girl in their group: Alison DiLaurentis. Alison was the unquestionable leader, the one who was cool and hanged out with older girls. Alison was popular. And Alison knew all their secrets.

So when one night Alison disappears without a trace, the fours girls feel grief... but also some unconfessed relief. Three years later, they have grown apart and barely speak anymore... until they start receiving strange messages from "-A", who seems to know all their secrets, old and new. Could "-A" be Alison? If so, why doesn't she show herself?

This book reminded me of Gossip Girl (at least from what little I watched from the TV series), with the rich people, the scandalous secrets and the mysterious individual who seems to know all said secrets without valid reason. "-A" is the four girls' private Gossip Girl (or boy?) except he/she isn't benevolent and causes a few problems for our heroines.

"Pretty Little Liars" is very obviously the first in a series as not much happens in this book, story-wise; we get to meet the girls, learn about Alison's disappearance and how they grow apart. Messages from "-A" begin to appear but they are very spaced and basically what you get in this book is the setup for the others: you get to meet the protagonists, you have some character development and a cliff-hanger ending.

It was a nice book, overall, but I felt the tone was sometimes a little juvenile and the girls didn't really think like 16-year-olds, they seemed younger. Other than that and the fact that very little actually happened, it was an agreeable read. I'll possibly be reading the other books as I am curious about "-A", the only character that I thought was truly interesting, in a "genius criminal" kind of way.

Comentários

Acompanho a série e à muito tempo que quero ler os livros mas nunca os encontrei à venda:(

Boas leituras!
slayra disse…
Penso que no The Book Depository têm... :)