Ruthless

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7 * Book 8 * Book 9**

So, continuing the new story arc of what happened in Jamaica (the really big screw up that none of them want to talk about), we have Ruthless.

Now, in this book we have a lot of problems.

Aria is now single. Noel has dumped her for the foreign exchange student Klaudia. This bothers her to the point that she reaches out to Ezra, the teacher/lover from earlier in the series. But, well, Ezra isn't all hearts and flowers anymore. And he does something kind of abhorrent by the end of the book that made me take back every positive feeling I had for him early on.

Part of Spencer's summer is revealed. Seems perfectionist Spencer had a little problem with a study drug. Like addicted. And, after getting caught buying from a dealer, she blames someone who was supposed to be a friend for the deal and the drugs. Not only that, but this friend pops back up and her role as Lady Macbeth is starting to pull out the guilt for everything she's done.

Emily goes a little wild in this book. It's definitely not the Emily of previous books. She's partying and kissing strangers. She finally makes another romantic connection though, in the form of Kay, who turns out to not be the most trustworthy person. But after Maya and Alison/Courtney and Isaac (I think), I was happy to see that Emily found someone to let into her heart again.

Now, Hanna. Oh poor Hanna. She finds a new beau too. Only he turns out to be the son of her father's competition for Senate. He has some other secrets that end up revealed which end up really hurting Hanna. But, somehow, it brings Hanna and Kate together as true sisters for the first time, so that's kind of sweet. I'm hoping that it stays that way, but we know Kate and she's not exactly a nice girl.

This book was still enjoyable. I keep expecting the rug to be pulled out from under me with this series. I'm waiting for that moment when it's just too much and I'm tired of it. That hasn't happened yet, so for now I'm just hanging in there with the series and enjoying it.

Twisted

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7 * Book 8**

Right. So, after being lead to believe that Wanted was going to be the final book in the Pretty Little Liars series, here we are with more books.

Now, this book mostly takes place a year after the conclusion of Wanted. Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna go to Jamaica for spring break and something terrible happens. Like most events that occur in these books, it takes way too long to figure out what this terrible thing is. And naturally, after the event, the four girls suddenly drift really far apart.

Aria is dating Noel Kahn. But their relationship gets strained after a new exchange student moves into Noel's house. A female exchange student. Aria acts jealous, Noel acts oblivious. It's a lot of chaos and just sort of a mess.

Spencer's parents divorce sometime in the year between Wanted and Twisted. Her mom is now dating/engaged to someone. Spencer starts getting really close to her soon-to-be-stepbrother. As in bordering on a relationship close. Except he has some secret of his own (and she ends up blabbing it to his father).

Emily is trying to get a swim scholarship, but she's lying about what happened to her over the summer that made her take time off from swimming. It's the reason she spends all spring break sick. Quite an interesting story there.

Hanna is just going to cause some amount of trouble. Her dad is running for Senate. She's accepted as his daughter more now because the public responds better to her than to her stepsister Kate. However, she does a photo shoot that doesn't end quite the way she expects and it could jeopardize everything.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this continuation. I expected it to be one of those books that an author writes simply because their story has become a TV series. But this wasn't like that at all. These characters are still the same ones that Sara Shepard has been writing about for the previous 8 books. It also leaves open some questions about what happened, not only in Jamaica, but in the Poconos a year earlier. I quite enjoyed it.

Wanted

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7**

This book was kind of a fun adventure. Which is unusual with some of the other books in this series. But this one reveals a huge twist that I didn't really see coming.

Ali had a twin!

After Billy Ford is arrested and charged in the murders of both Ali and Jenna, the Dilaurentis family reveals that they have another child. A twin to Ali named Courtney. Naturally, Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily are thrown for a serious loop. Nobody expected this. I know I didn't.

But what's even weirder is when Courtney reveals that she's actually Ali. That crazy Courtney had been killed that night at the end of seventh grade. So all the girls have their best friend back. Right?

Their story gets wild as they try to rebuild their friendship with the girl they thought lost all those years ago. Only Aria seems suspicious that things are too good to be true. Maybe they are. Or maybe Aria needs to just relax and accept that her best friend is back from the dead.

I thought this book had a great conclusion, both to the book and to the series, so I'm a little confused about why this series continues after this book, but I guess I'll see what happens in the next book.

Heartless

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6**

Wow. This book. I'm still reeling a little bit from it.

It starts right where Killer leaves off. The girls have seen Ali during the burning of the woods behind Spencer's house. Or have they? All four of them have memories of seeing her, but they've all been told that she wasn't there, she was a hallucination. But, because they told the cops that they saw her, all their credibility has gone out the window.

Their lives are ok. They don't have as much of the terrible drama that has been happening over the last several books, so things are a little calmer. Even if New A is sending them on what seem to be a bunch of wild goose chases.

Aria is trying to figure out what happened to Ali when her father suggests she might be seeing Ali's ghost and that Ali might be trying to tell the girls something. So she goes to a seance and talks to a medium. The message that she gets from Ali's ghost towards the end of the book is a game changer. I was a little shocked by it (remember, I haven't seen the show yet, which I consider a blessing right now).

Things with Spencer take a turn for the better. She finds out she wasn't adopted, but instead her parents used a surrogate to carry her. Her relationship with her parents starts to get better. Of course, New A starts hinting about a secret that Spencer's father is keeping. And boy, is it a doozy. I couldn't have predicted that one.

Emily is the only one determined to prove that Ali is still alive. She gets sent to the most remote place possible in her hunt for that. New A actually sends her to the Amish for a week. But while she's there, she learns something new and surprising about someone that we all know. At the same time, she helps someone else to heal from their own traumatic experience.

Poor Hanna though. Her dad sends her away to a mental health facility. Granted, it's a really posh one that has it's own spa in it. She's there to deal with both her eating disorder and the PTSD that she is suffering from following the time Mona hit her with the car. She learns a lot of stuff while she's there though. Even though I think some of the information is a bit misleading. We'll see how that gets cleared up.

The biggest game changer comes right at the end of the book, so I won't tell you about that. Suffice it to say that the girls get a lot of things cleared up, but a lot more questions are brought to light. There's also yet another death.

I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying these books.

Killer

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5**

Killer continues to follow the adventures (or misadventures) of Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna. Right off the bat things aren't going well for the girls. They have just discovered Ian's dead body in the woods...or did they? The police search the woods for days but don't find any sign that his body was there, which basically discredits everything the girls will come to the police for in the future.

Spencer is dealing with this discovery that she's (likely) adopted. She gets a match on a website that finds birth mothers and goes to New York City to meet Olivia. It goes well, but things seem just a bit too perfect with Olivia. But Spencer is acting rather foolishly and plans to get an apartment in the city. That doesn't turn out well in the long run.

Aria is living with her dad and his girlfriend (fiancee?) because she can't stand to be around her mom's skeevy boyfriend Xavier. Her life isn't nearly as chaotic as the others', but she does start "dating" Ali's older brother Jason. So many things get revealed about Jason in this book, and so many questions crop up.

Emily is enjoying her new boyfriend Isaac, until she stops enjoying it. This is brought on by Isaac's rather vicious mother who essentially tells Emily to stay away from her son or else. Emily tells Isaac, but he's a bit blinded by being a mommy's boy and, though he admits that his last girlfriend told him the same thing, he thinks she's doing this just for attention.

Hanna is finally free of notes from A. She got a new phone number that she doesn't freely hand out. That doesn't mean she's free from drama by any means. In fact, her life is just as drama filled. She's being forced to spend all her time with Kate, her stepsister. But she feels Kate is being fake about her motives. They start a competition over a boy. It's all kind of petty.

Something huge gets revealed at the end of this book, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. Just know that it is a major game changer. I'm hoping that continuing to read this series will answer more questions. Even if each book poses new ones while answering others.

Wicked

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4**

I went into this book feeling a little skeptical. I mean, Unbelievable ended with A's identity being revealed and Ian being arrested for Ali's murder. What more could there possibly be to the story? So when I started reading this book, I felt like this was going to be a sub-par book.

I was wrong. Ian is in jail awaiting trial for Ali's murder, there's a new A in town who seems even more vicious than Mona was in the first four books. Plus, there are all sorts of new mysteries being revealed.

Hanna is feeling like she's about to lose all the popularity that she worked for three years to gain. Her BFF (or not) is dead, and so she doesn't have a partner for her queen bee status. Well, except for her stepsister Kate. But is Kate who she seems to be? She acts all nice and best friendly, but there has to be something more there. Hanna is definitely struggling in this book with the whole popularity issue.

Spencer is having a terrible time. Her grandmother dies and leaves all of her money to her "naturally-born grandchildren." The only problem is, Spencer isn't listed. Is she adopted? That's the big question in this book (which doesn't actually get answered). Not only that, but she is treated differently everywhere because of her confession of cheating on the Golden Orchid essay. She's the main witness against Ian and her word is being doubted.

Aria has trouble with her mom's new boyfriend. Meaning, mom's new boyfriend has a thing for Aria. She's finally back on good terms with her mom, so she doesn't want to tell about his bad behavior and ruin everything for her family...again. Comparatively speaking, her story isn't as difficult as the other girls go through.

Now Emily, poor Emily. She's so confused in this book. Why? Well, she likes this boy. I know what you're thinking, she was all into girls in the last book, so what's going on? I wish I could tell you, but she's really into this guy, Isaac. He makes her feel what Ali, Maya, and even Trista have made her feel. Maybe it's not about liking boys or liking girls. Maybe Emily just likes who people are. Who knows, but she's definitely struggling with the fact that she has to tell people about this new development.

On top of all of this, New A is threatening them with their secrets, and she's much more vicious than Mona ever was. Someone dies in this book, and it throws the entire idea of what's been happening for a loop.

This was definitely a surprise of a book. It was not what I expected and worried it would be. I hope that more gets revealed in the next book.

Unbelievable

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3**

I have to admit, I was a little torn on whether I would read this book. I wasn't in love with the last book, and I was getting tired of the mystery of A. But I went for this book and I read it anyway. I'm glad I did.

This book starts with complete turmoil for our four girls.

Hanna is in a coma after being hit by A at the end of the last book. She had been going to tell the others about who A really was, since she had figured it out. Of course, when she wakes up, she doesn't remember that day at all. Well, that sucks. She'll eventually remember, and then things get interesting. Not only that, but her best friend Mona is starting to be nice to her again and her dad is actually taking an interest in spending time with her.

Aria is miserable. Ezra lost his job because of their relationship. Aria is still not allowed back to her home. To top it off, she's stuck living with her dad and his new girlfriend - the one who ruined her parents' marriage. She starts taking an art class and talks to Jenna, the girl they blinded. In these conversations, she learns something very important about The Jenna Thing.

Emily is shipped off to Iowa because she's gay. Totally harsh in my opinion, since she's being sent to probably the worst people ever. Emily's aunt and uncle are so repressive that they don't realize their children have been rebelling for months. She doesn't stay there for long, but while she's there, she meets a new girl who ends up appearing in Rosewood after Emily returns home. Her parents do become more accepting - sort of.

Spencer's life is, well, confusing. Her family knows that she cheated and stole her sister's essay, which has earned her a Golden Orchid nomination. Her mother insists that she shouldn't tell anyone that she cheated and that she will win this award. It's confusing and she's remembering things about Ali's last night, things that scare her.

The good thing about this book is that we finally discover who A is and why she's been blackmailing the girls. That was an exciting part of the book. There's also someone who ends up arrested for Ali's murder. I'm not entirely sure this person did it, but I'm sure that will be clarified in a coming book.

Perfect

**Book 1 * Book 2**

I didn't love Perfect as much as I enjoyed the first two books. It seemed a little bit forced comparatively.

It's the same basic premise. The four former best friends are still being messaged by the mysterious A. And A is still a mystery. But this time it's worse. A has started spilling secrets about them.

Emily is starting to feel like she might actually be gay. Her feelings towards Maya are growing. Because of how Emily feels her parents would react if they found out, she makes their relationship a secret. Until the secret gets out. The chaos of this will be horrible.

Aria has been kicked out of her house. Her mother can't stand the sight of her because Aria knew about her father's affair. Not only that, but she still has feelings for Ezra, her AP English teacher. When that secret gets out, it's really bad. I'm sure that in the next book the consequences of it will be explained more.

Spencer gets nominated for a prestigious award for an essay she stole from her older sister. She's finally getting attention from her parents while her sister is being pushed to the side. But she should have known that the plagiarized paper wouldn't be secret for long. She is in so much trouble.

Hanna's life seems to have started deteriorating. Her best friend, Mona, is starting to distance herself. So Hanna is going back to old habits of binge eating her feelings. Her father won't talk to her, either. Hanna ends up humiliated because of A's cruelty. Her fate is actually the cliffhanger of this book.

I'm still patiently waiting for A's identity to be revealed. I'm sure it has to be at some point, right?

Flawless

**Book 1**

So much intrigue! I'm still trying to figure out who the mysterious "A" is. I thought it was going to be Toby, the boy who took the blame for The Jenna Thing. But, yeah, no.

Things in this book go completely crazy. Spencer is with her sister's ex-boyfriend, and things are getting serious. But her family has basically shunned her for it. She doesn't even have access to her parents' money anymore. Not only that, but A is threatening to spill about what Spencer knows regarding The Jenna Thing that the other three girls don't know.

Hanna's life is spiraling out of control after her brushes with the law. Her father is back in her life! But it comes at a major price. Not only that, but she's seeing herself as the chubby ugly girl she was in seventh grade.

Aria's family is officially falling apart. A is going to tell about her father's affair if Aria doesn't do something about it first. This causes all sorts of stress and drama for Aria.

Emily's issues are of the sexuality type. She's starting to seriously question whether or not she's gay, and A is threatening to spread pictures of her kissing Maya. Emily's ex-boyfriend starts attempting to sexually assault her every chance he gets in order to get her to prove she's not a lesbian.

There is just so much drama in this book and the big mystery isn't solved. A few of the ones that were brought up in the first book are solved, but you still don't know who A is, and what reason she really has for being this vindictive.

Pretty Little Liars

I know, this is a huge show on ABC Family and everyone knows the story. I've seen the first episode of that show, and this book is really that first episode.

Alison DiLaurentis goes missing at the beginning of the summer between seventh and eighth grade. Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily do not know where she is, even though they're best friends. There are a bunch of secrets that each shares with Ali, along with one big one that they all share - The Jenna Thing. And no, you don't find out what The Jenna Thing is in this book.

After Ali goes missing, the friends fall out. The book starts three years after Ali's disappearance. The four girls are not friends, but then, they each start getting messages from a mystery person who signs their texts, notes, emails with "A". They all assume it's Ali and that she'll share all of the secrets that none of them want revealed.

I absorbed this book really fast, and I'm excited to see what the second book holds.