Pretty Little Liars Books 1 - 8 - Opinion and Review

I already reviewed the first book, appropriately titled Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard, but for the sake of consistency, I'm going to share my thoughts on the first 8 books of the series in one, excited post.

Book 1: Pretty Little Liars

Book 2: Flawless

Book 3: Perfect

Book 4: Unbelievable

Book 5: Wicked

Book 6: Killer

Book 7: Heartless

Book 8: Wanted

To say I had fun reading the series would be an understatement. I had so much fun reading the first 8 books of the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. I went into this having loved the series when I was younger. At 34, I figured that it would be a fun escape from the world to travel back to my college years and read the books. My first goal was to read the first 4, that I had gotten for my birthday. Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, Perfect, and Unbelievable were so much fun to read, and I flew through them in just under 5 days. I was hooked. I just had to find out if the series continued, and how to get my hands on them, and fast. Come to find out, these 4 were just the beginning.

I ran to 2nd and Charles which is my all time favorite store (and I've only been twice)! To my delight, not only did I find the next 4 books, but I found them as a box set in PERFECT condition. I devoured the next 4 books, Wicked, Killer, Heartless, and Wanted in a matter of 5 days.

For those of you that don't know what the series is about, here's a crash course in all things Pretty Little Liars, and how A has been terrorizing the small town.

The town of Rosewood was rocked with scandal one summer, when Queen Bee, Alison DiLaurentis, goes missing. It happens at the beginning of summer, during a sleepover with her 4 best friends. Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields. Each girl handles Ali's disappearance differently, as they all had very strong and unique ties to Ali herself. After falling out of touch with one another following that night Ali went missing.

Aria and her family have spent a year in Iceland. They went after Ali went missing to get a change of scenery. Aria and her parents, Byron and Ella, and her younger brother, Mike, all return after a year to find that Roseville was still being rocked by the scandal from the year before. But it's not just Ali's disappearance that's bothering Aria, but the looming reminder of her father's affair with one of his students, Meredith.

Throughout the series, Aria holds a number of different relationships, and struggles with her parent's separation and trying to cope with moving forward.

Spencer is a role model student who lives at home with her parents, Veronica and Peter, and deals with her older sister who's she's never gotten along with, Melissa. The family is constantly trying to one-up each other which

essentially causes Spencer to have multiple break downs. She even tries to steal her sister's Economics paper, which in turn nominates her for a prestigious award. This doesn't sit right with Spencer, and her decision to "embarrass" the Hastings family sets in motion very difficult for Spencer as time goes on. She starts to realize the truth about who she is, and little - miss - perfect has her world rocked over and over again.

Hanna is a former fat girl, turned popular to take Ali's place after she goes missing. She befriends Mona Vanderwaal, a former loser herself, and the two of them rule the school. She lives at home with her mom, Ashley, and her dad, Tom, is off making a new family with Isabel and her perfect daughter, Kate. They end up moving in with Hanna after her mom gets a job in Singapore, and her best friend, Mona, turns out to

be the first in a series of A's that have been terrorizing the Pretty Little Lairs. Hanna has multiple relationships, including Aria's younger brother, Mike, while trying to keep her self esteem in a spot that won't bring back her eating disorder. Hannah even spends time in a center to help with her problems, all tying together to find out what really happened to Ali. Hannah became stronger as the series went on and

she became my favorite character of the series.

Emily lives at home with her mom and dad, Pam and Wayne, and her sister, Carole. Emily is a swimmer, and with a new girl, Maya St. Germain, moving into Ali's old bedroom, her feelings come back to the surface. With Ali being her first love, and now struggling with her feelings for the new girl, Emily tries to find herself and not lose

the respect and love of her family. They have trouble accepting the fact that Emily liked other girls, and end up sending her away. As the series progressed, Emily becomes more comfortable with who she is, but I found her character very whiny and needy the entire time. She is not my favorite on paper, but she was pretty bad-ass on the television series. (But that's not what I'm here to discuss).

The things that the girls go through in the books are horrifying at times, and I had trouble remembering that these books were essentially written for kids. I would've been terrified of these books when I was younger. So many characters die, so many are tortured, and none of them had homes in which they felt safe, loved, or wanted. The things the girls go through are insane.

We do find out what happens to Ali, and some of who are torturing the liars, but to spoil that here would be a disservice to all my readers (I hope there's a few of you).

I cannot wait to read the rest of the books, and I hope to also venture to Sara Shepard's The Lying Game series too. I rated each book 4 out of 5 stars!

Dates read - April 9, 2021 - April 25, 2021

Pretty Little Liars - April 9, 2021 - April 10, 2021

Flawless - April 11, 2021 - April 12, 2021

Perfect - April 12, 2021 - April 12, 2021

Unbelievable - April 12, 2021 - April 14, 2021

Wicked - April 21, 2021 - April 22, 2021

Killer - April 23, 2021 - April 24, 2021

Heartless - April 24, 2021 - April 25, 2021

Wanted - April 25, 2021 - April 25, 2021