Friday, August 2, 2013

Pretty Little Liars and Book Blogger Challenge Part 9

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge


Why do I blog about Books?

I blog about books because books are always in my head.  The characters and plots follow me around and I spend so much time reading it's just always so fun to share with the world!

Review for
Pretty Little Liars 
by Sara Shepard


Blurb:

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.

Writing:

I found that Shepard's writing was very detailed, and she knew her characters.  However, the plot of the  book was not fully resolved (to be continued over the series) and that is not something that I like to read in mysteries.  Well, I wouldn't have minded if there was an ongoing mystery and the book had it's own plot, which I didn't find here.

Characters:

Spencer:

Spencer to me seemed shallow.  She regretted her actions after thinking of them from another persons viewpoint, which I think she should have done in the first place.  Her desire to beat her sister, while typical in a sister-sister relationship, seemed a bit not realistic in this setting.

Emily:

Emily is my favorite character.  She is also the only one that goes through any noticeable growth or serious internal confusion.  She seemed to be the most realistic girl in the book.

Aria:

Aria came off as cocky, and instead of working on personal growth, she was convinced that when coming back from Iceland she could be a "new Aria" which is entirely immature.  While the things she did may have seemed grownup, I found that Aria was very childish at heart.

Hanna:

Hanna is probably my least favorite character.  She was entirely pissed off at her dead best friend for not being able to see how awesome she was now?  Hanna was prissy and girly, had a new mean best friend, and wasn't very nice herself.  Her relationship in the book was awkward and felt so planned; of course it just happened to be the boy that she'd always crushed on.  She was cliché.

Final Findings:

While I'm always in for a good mystery, whether the books or the T.V. show, this first book was more of a soap opera than anything else.  I was entirely not impressed.

✎✎✎✎

~Rem





4 comments:

  1. So this isn't worth reading? I've been debating with myself on whether or not to pick it up. Part of me thinks there must be a reason why so many people like it. But the other part thinks that maybe it's just the TV show they like, and I'm not so sure that this is my type of book anyway.

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    1. I think it's worth reading just to get a sense of what it's like. I do think that some people might like it more than I did because they like books with less literary depth, but I also agree that the T. V. show is most of the fandom and a guarantee the girls in my class that like the show haven't read the books. I'm not sure if it'd be your type of book, but I'd recommend that you read it for reference, anyway, even if it's not the best.

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    2. Okay. That seems like a plausible enough reason. :) I'll try it out, and if I don't like it it's not like I have to continue with the series (which seems ongoing, don't you agree?). It'll make Elizabeth really happy, though--she loves them. :)

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    3. Elizabeth does love them! I think that they're good for some people, but the characters were really bugging me! :)

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