Saturday, February 8, 2014

Review ~ Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard #PLL

TITLE: Pretty Little Liars
AUTHOR: Sara Shepard
COPYRIGHT: 2006
TYPE: trade paperback
PAGES: 286
SERIES:  
Yep 1st one in a series
1. Pretty Little Liars
2. Flawless
3. Perfect
4. Unbelievable
5. Wicked
6. Killer
7. Heartless
8. Wanted
9. Twisted

REASON FOR READ:
Love the show had to read the books.

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):
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

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
I'm a little mixed on my thoughts so I will try to hammer them out a little bit. First off I'm a total nerd for the show. I think it is exciting, engrossing, and in it's own way heart wrenching. The books not so much they are almost what I would deem pure evil... They show such an ugly side of the girls that I have grown to love. They are rich, pampered, spoiled, beyond pretty, unloved by parents, hated by each other and other kids, and MY GOD THEY DESERVE everything they get so far. I did not feel this way about the show. For some reason I connected more with the girls on the show b/c they showed me their softer side and boy am I glad cause otherwise this would've been one sick show.
Second I feel kind of dirty reading these books. I mean on the show of course you learn their "deep dark secrets" but in the books the secrets are deep and dark and very similar and yet the girls react differently in the books. Almost like they are cleaned up for TV?! You read that right the girls are nicer, sweeter, innocent and decent on TV put them in the books and DAMN there were a few times I was like "well if you screw every boy that is nice to you or buys you a drink when your underage and then screws you in the bathroom you can't be surprised when he wants nothing to do with you later." "Well if you screw your sisters boyfriend don't be surprised that after you spread your legs he's done with you"... my goodness. WORSE Part are the parents. Hating their own children for not being perfect robots. It's weird almost like Gossip Girl without the love from the parents...

THINGS I LIKED:
I do like being in their heads more. There is only so far that a TV show can tell you wants going on in the thinking processes. Here the books actually allow you to see what the thoughts are behind it. 
Love seeing how the girls are so protective of their thoughts because of stuff that happened with Ali
I do enjoy seeing more of the evil family life and the different take on school. The girls aren't sympathetic at all so having horrible families makes me actually want to feel bad for them. 
The school is WAY cooler in the books then in the TV show and the books help to show us why $ and prestige is so important in this neighborhood. I don't really get that from the TV show
It is just different enough from the show it keeps me interested. 

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
I kind of mentioned them above: The girls are down right evil at times
They kind of deserve what is happening which in the long run I guess makes more sense
There is absolutely no support for the girls
There are a HECK of a lot more siblings in Emily's family then the TV show

Are you keeping it or passing it on? 
I am going to give it away. Reading it once was good enough for me. Now that being said I would recommend it to higher aged school girls like 17 or so but not really for the age group I wanted to suggest it to.

Reviewing Next: Sadly even though I complained a lot about it Ms. Shepard got me hooked so I will be reviewing and reading Flawless next.


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2 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed reading this review. Honestly, I'm a huge fan of the show too and after reading your review, I kind of want to start reading the books too (just to see the difference!). There are so many instances where I just wanna smack some sense into the characters in the show, so the book will probably be worse lol Oh, and I hopped over this post from your FF post because i saw PLL :) I don't have bloglovin, so I followed you via twitter instead!

    My FF: Isabelle's Book Reviews

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    1. The books were different a little eye opening if you ask me. I've had more time to reflect on it and I have to say while I was harsh I still feel a little dirty about it yet I can't help but dive into Flawless LOL. Who knows I do suggest you give it a go though if you are a big fan of the show like I was!!

      Thanks for the follow!

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