Randa's E-book Life

The cover:

This is my favorite cover in the series. I like that the four girls are on one cover :).

 

The storyline:

It might include minor spoilers for the book itself and not the other books in the series.

Unlike the other books in the series, which have each chapter with a different point of view from each of the girls, in this book we have four parts for the four girls and each part has chapters from that girl’s point of view. It is more organized in a way. 
So for this review, I’ll do ratings for each part separately and then I’ll make the big conclusion.

1st: Hanna: 2.5/5 stars:

To me, Hanna’s story was the worst one. I couldn’t sympathize with her or feel sorry for her.

In this book, Hanna’s father, his wife Isabel and her daughter Kate are staying with Hanna' in her house.

And as usual, Hanna struggles to be on good terms with her Dad and with herself. She feels weak, alone and not loved after what Mona did and how her father treats her now that he has a new family including a new daughter. Also Lucas goes on vacation with an old family friend which, to her, make things only worse.

So, she decides to join a fitness club afraid to get chubby again and to get her mind off “A”, and while she’s not sure whether she has to or not, the fitness trainer definitely gets her attention and she decides to join in for him. And that’s when the disasters start.

She suddenly decides that what she wants is a new romance with an older guy and she does everything  to get him, only she’s pushing him away.

All this is happening while she’s still with Lucas, her boyfriend.

You can imagine the end yourself and you might not get it right, that’s why I’m not spoiling the book for you anymore.

2nd: Emily: 5/5 stars!

Emily’s story was the best in the book. It is about friendship, family, loyalty and kindness.

In her part of the book, Emily is still mourning Ali’s death and she’s trying so hard to be brave for herself and her family now that they’re all gathered and trying to make her feel welcomed and loved.

Just in time for Christmas, while everyone is getting ready, things start to disappear getting stolen by a group of girls who call themselves the Merry Elves, and Emily’s mother gets a thing of hers stolen too, so what happens is that she asks for Emily for help (catching the girls in the act).

Emily gets into a lot of different situations with different aspects and begins to question what she’s really doing while trying to please her mom and yet still true to herself.

The end is epic!

3rd: Aria: 3/5 stars:

I usually hate Aria (not Lucy Hale!) the most out of the four girls. She’s too sensitive, too emotional, always trying to find love and most importantly, sometimes she’s just too stupid to endure.

In her story, the family reunion she’s been waiting for for so long is ruined by the coming of Meredith. Yes, she just gets angry and acts with nonsense but I somehow understand her anger. Anyways, she’s back in Rosewood and an old crush from Iceland is there looking for her! 
She feels like it’s finally getting better and maybe she’s finally going to be happy again. Until that crush of hers crushes her down along with the law…

The end? Just ok. Could’ve been worse.

4th: Spencer: 4/5 stars:

Spencer’s story was actually intriguing. With the family drama, her being the one who told on Ian and her sister hating her, her life couldn’t get any worse. Well, think again!

The Hastings are staying at Nana’s house for their vacation and Spencer decides she needs to relax and have a relationship (she says: “a ling”) to get her mind off of things. Thinks start to look very promising, the guy notices her then he’s into her, her sister is talking to her and even her mom seems to be noticing her again. Oh well, things are about to flip upside down! 
Spencer gets stabbed in the back, betrayed and discovers a really bad and nasty truth. Just when things start to look very bad (even I thought she’s going to get the bad end again), she gets help from the last person she thought would help her ever. And then what an end, the second best one in this book after Emily’s (although it could easily be the opposite ;)).

In general:

What I loved:

- Emily’s character.

- The writing is as always really good.

- The family drama, the relationships and how real they were.

- “A” ‘s point of view at the end of each part. I just love it!

What I hated:

- The girls desperate tries to fall in love.

- How all the girls’ vacations (except for Emily’s) are about finding a guy. I find this completely nonsense.

- There motives, behaviors and decisions were mostly made at an angry moment without giving it second thought.

 

Favorite quotes:

The four girls continued to glare. Emily was sure they could hear her galloping heart. She was about to apologize again, but then Cassie burst out laughing, lunged forward, and wrapped Emily in a huge hug. Heather circled her arms around Emily, and then Lola and Sophie joined in, too. Emily remained stiff for a few moments, and then tentatively squeezed back. --- Emily’s Pretty Little Secret: Chapter 16: The Whole World was at Peace.

 

Just after they’d professed their affection for one another, A had exposed their relationship. Ezra had resigned from his teaching position immediately and taken off to Rhode Island. Since he’d been gone, Aria felt like she had PTED—Post-Traumatic Ezra Disorder. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. --- Aria’s Pretty Little Secret: Chapter 1: The More the Merrier at Solstice Time.

 

Colin took a few steps toward her. “Are you a new member of my cheering section?” Spencer cocked her head. “I don’t really do cheering sections—unless I’m the athlete being cheered on. But maybe I could make an exception.” --- Spencer’s Pretty Little Secret: Chapter 2: Cute Boys Make Everything Better.

 

Conclusion:

One advice first: read this book in its order! After you read Unbelievable. If you don’t read it in the order and leave it for later, you might get confused and things start to get messed up in your mind.

This book was a fun quick read (although I took almost 2 months to get it done thanks to my reading slump…). To me, it wasn’t a necessary read, you can read the rest of the books without it, you’re not missing anything important. It is just nice to know while the new “A” was getting ready, what were the girls doing.

The cover:

This new set of covers is cool. I probably wouldn’t like it as much if it were a real model on the cover ;).

 

The storyline:

This story was great, I did love it but it had some things that just ruined everything.

Summary:

So basically, things are almost back to normal. Until the Liars start getting crazy new “A” messages. Hanna is supposed to be helping her Dad with his campaign but instead she almost wrecks it with her search for true love.

Aria is happy that her old teacher (and romance) is back but doesn’t realize that maybe she doesn’t want both.

Spencer is crazier than ever especially when an expected person she framed is back I Rosewood. Her actions might just make her alone again.

Finally, Emily, is experiencing a new side in her. The wild side, which in turn introduces her to a new friend who also might be an enemy to all of them.

What I loved:

- The plot. It is new and unexpected.

- The writing is awesome.

- Emily’s struggle to find the truth.

- The suspense and mystery of who “A” is.

- Unlike the previous books, in this one “A” sends a message at the end of the book to all of them <3.

What I hated:

- Mostly the characters. Especially Spencer’s character. She was reckless, loosening in her studies, obsessed and almost crazy! It was unbearable for me.

- These girls are acting like they have absolutely nothing to worry about besides their love lives and “A”. Hello? You’re seniors and you have school stuff to worry about too! It’s not supposed to be an easy year!

 

The characters:

Aria: I liked her character this time. She acted more rationally and sounded more mature than usual.

Hanna: I don’t know what’s wrong with her jumping from one boy to another. However, this time she tries from her heart to help her Dad and get along with his family.

Spencer: Is ridiculous in this book. She’s struggling with her guilt for what she did in their trip to Jamaica (which all of them can’t get over yet) and with what she did to an old friend too. She’s starting to act a little bit meaner, crazier and almost gets herself arrested for assault. Yep. No comment.

Emily: She’s gone wild! Well, for some chapters only, actually. I appreciated her character. She’s friendly, nice, sweet and protective about those she cares about.

Other characters worth mentioning are: Kelsey: I still have no idea what her deal is. Kate: Hanna’s stepsister, she surprised me at the end although we don’t see a lot of her in the book. That transfer student (I can’t remember her name and I won’t try to look it up): I just hate her. She acts like she came for the sole purpose of messing with Aria. Noel Khan: I actually really like him. His nice in the books.

 

Favorite quotes:

Attached was a photograph of a blond girl in a goldenrod-colored sundress lying on her stomach on a beach at night. Her head was turned to the side, and there was a huge gash at her temple. Blood trickled down her chin and onto the sand. The waves crashed ominously near her head, ready to wash her away.--- Chapter 30: Kill Her Before She Kills You.

 

They eyed each other cagily. Then someone tugged Hanna’s arm. Hanna turned and saw Aria and Spencer standing next to her. Both of them looked frazzled and pale. --- Chapter 32: Not Your Usual Flyer On The Dashboard.

 

With shaking hands, Emily pressed READ .

And then she shut her eyes, realizing this wasn’t over. Not even close.

Dig all you want, bitches.

But you’ll NEVER find me. —A

--- Chapter 38: Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Conclusion:

I still adore this series. Although it’s different from the TV show, I find them better in some aspects.

I can’t wait to finish my current reading pile so I could jump to the next one, Stunning.

Agh! Things are not as cool as before X/

Almost as sad as before if not more!! I cried again, but thank God it has a somewhat happy ending :').

Soo sad and good :'-C ♥

Really different from the TV show. I love the writing style and the different PoVs in each chapter. I'm a fan :-).

I loved it!

It is perfect!!! OMG! And the ending 0_0

I loved it ^_^

I hated it.I'm sorry. The story line was too slow for me and I didn't like it overall. I guess I'm officially not a zombie fan :s.

I loved it! Now I want yo start the Galagher series XD.

way better. loved it :-)

Ah, it got really confusing at the end :-",",,,,,0,,,,, 16286808,The Missings"

it was wicked!

It was amazing. A full review will come later.

The cover:This is by far my favorite cover :). I love the colors and the doll ^_^. The storyline:Okay. So this book is my favorite in the series so far. It had more action, more mystery, more twists and I swear I have no idea not even the tiniest bit who “A” is or what’s wrong with Spencer and I love it!!Summary:Unlike the previous book, this sequel picks up three weeks after Toby’s suicide (Yes, in these books, Toby is dead…), and the girls drifted apart again, especially since they thought “A” is gone along with Toby and the texts stopped coming. So they continued their lives as if nothing happened.Spencer is now seeing a therapist who’s helping her cope with what’s happening in the family (between her and Melissa) and deal with Ali’s death. She’s back at her usual self, studying and playing nice, hoping her family would not know about her essay and what she did. Then she’s on the papers for being one of the finalists and suddenly, things start to crumble and crash and the bitter truth hits her.Aria is acting freely and following her heart in this book. She realizes she’s not over Ezra, her crush and also her AP English teacher, and tries to deal with everything around her. She tries so hard to deal with her family issues until she makes them worse and gets Ezra arrested (although she didn’t do the last one intentionally.).Emily is trying so hard to hide and escape her true feelings for Maya and the fact that she is gay. She swims, does her homework, has fun with Carolynn, until everything spills out and things go from bad to worse and she has to make a serious decision.And, last but not least, Hanna, I left her for the end because her parts in the book are my favorite. Hanna has a lot of problems, issues, complications and twists in her life that there could be a whole new book just about her! First, her dad is not talking to her at all and he won’t even respond to her calls. Second, she feels betrayed by Sean for going out with her ex-best friend Aria. Third, and most importantly, she needs to stop her craving for food and throwing up. She has big plans for her and Mona and nothing else matters. Until everything with Mona goes real bad and everything she touches dies.Somewhere in the middle of the story, a private homemade video of Ali, made by Aria and the girls, before she went missing gets leaked to the media. And clues start to gather.The girls think that Toby is “A”, and now that Toby is dead, “A” is dead, right? No. After a while, they start getting the most horrifying texts, threats and then “A” starts playing for real.What I loved:- The storyline is so different from the others and also, at the same time somewhat familiar (since I watched the episodes to the mid season finale…*_*). It had some intriguing details and storylines for each girl.- The twists, mystery and thriller! I kept looking and wondering and trying to solve each new puzzle, SMS and chapter’s title!- This book could be scary if you read it at night (or actually listened to it at night).- I don’t know if I just realized it or if it has been this way since book one. But I think the writing is much much better than before.- I loved both the main and secondary characters and how they had different personalities that added to the storyline. Each character in this book had something to do and it had a long lasting effect.- Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna are finally a tiny bit close. They try to talk to each other discuss everything “A” related. It a huge accomplishment, if you read the previous two books you know what I mean!- And then there was the ending!! I had no idea it was going to happen like that in the book and also it left me asking a billion questions!!What I disliked:Nothing really. The audiobook: The audiobook was amazing! The narrator did a great job of impersonating each characters, especially the girls, and the way she spoke in those scary moments, it made me feel like I’m being watched too!!!If you’re not sure whether you should read the books or you don’t have the time, I highly suggest you get the audiobook version. It’s amazing!The characters:Aria: Always the nice, friendly and unique girl who does an excellent job in her AP English class and tries to fix things by making them worse whether intentionally or not. She tries to help her mom get over her dad and what he’d done and she ends up getting kicked of the house and disliked by both her mom and Mike, her younger brother. When she tries to make the right thing and goes to Ezra’s house, she ends up… Well, making bad choices again.Emily: I really like her. She’s shy, friendly and never hurts anyone. She also struggles with who she is and what she really wants but can’t say or do anything to change things. Until her sexuality goes to the public in the middle of school and she has to stand up for what she wants.Hanna: Ah, she has the most interesting side of the story, but she’s not my favorite character, I’ll tell you why. She acts as if no one is better than her, and she keeps gossiping about other people, calling them with bad names and making fun of them like she wasn’t once one of those people. Oh, but fear not, the table turns real fast and she soon enough finds herself with nothing but her shame and loneliness, thanks to “A” and Mona.Spencer: Seriously? I have no idea why she thought she could get away with plagiarizing her sister’s essay. Spencer seems to be trying to be better than Melissa harder than she thought, but she doesn’t acknowledge her tries until she meets the therapist again. But by going their, she doesn’t only understand her relationship with her sister better, she also uncovers dark, deep and scary truths about herself. Truths that could get her in jail.Other characters worth mentioning: Sean, Aria’s boyfriend. He’s a really nice, modest and athletic guy. He’s fascinated by Aria and really likes her, until “A” spoils the beans about her “errands” and the nice Sean turns out to have a dark side. Ezra, Aria’s crush and also AP English teacher. Since they first met in a bar before he knew he was going to be her teacher, Ezra loved Aria and thought, later when he found out she’s his student, that it would be better if they stayed separated. But, he obviously couldn’t hold on for much longer. He should have, though, because now he’s in jail. Ian, Melissa’s boyfriend then and now. He’s a very handsome and nice guy who Ali and Spencer used to have a crush on. But even this Angel could have some tricks up his sleeve. Ali, even in her death, she still haunts the girls and their lives. It looked like everyone loved Ali and envied her for everything she had. But the gorgeous blonde had secrets too, ones she hadn’t told the girls about, ones that could be the reason behind her death. Maya, Em’s love interest. She’s a very smart and courageous person. Maya encourages Emily to be who she is and not be afraid of what the others might think of her. Favorite quotes:Her sister froze. The little gremlin that Spencer was certain lived inside Melissa’s head was confused. Clearly it hadn’t expected Spencer to say something nice. --- Chapter 6: SIBLING RIVALRY’S A HARD HABIT TO BREAK.SARAH WHITTIER, with that Milton quote, DEATH IS THE GOLDEN KEY THAT OPENS THE PALACE OF ETERNITY. Over the hill, Aria knew, were the graves of a dog named Puff, a cat named Rover, and a parakeet named Lily. --- Chapter 17: BECAUSE ALL CHEESY RELATIONSHIP MOMENTS HAPPEN IN CEMETERIES.It’s not like it’ll be hard: everyone in this town has something to hide. In fact, there’s something even juicier than the identity of moi bubbling beneath Rosewood’s glistening surface. Something so shocking, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. So I won’t even bother. HA. You know, I kind of love being me…. Buckle up, girlies. Nothing is as it seems. Mwah! —A--- What Happens Next…Conclusion:Finally, I’m at peace, even for sometimes, in my brain that I could read and enjoy this book :).This book is that good! I’m really excited to continue reading ^_^.Now to continue with the series ;).