Review: Pretty Little Secrets by Sara Shepard.
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.
