Pretty Little Liars is the first novel in the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard.
Finished on: 23.9.2025

Plot:
Three years ago, Alison DiLaurentis disappeared during a sleepover with her best friends, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields and Hanna Marin. Alison had always been the central point of the friend group and after her disappearance, the girls went their separate ways and are no longer speaking to each other. That’s when they all start to receive messages from „A“ who knows all of their secrets. Secrets only Alison knew.

Pretty Little Liars is a quick, engaging read that brings just the right amount of drama to its vivid characters to hook you into the story fast.

I really enjoyed the Pretty Little Liars TV show and watched it until the end (even though later seasons weren’t quite as good anymore). At some point, I got myself the first four novels of the books the show is based on – and then never read them. Now, 15 years after the first episodes came out, I figured I’d give the first novel a read and decide whether I should keep the novels or not. I admit, I fully expected having outgrown the series (I was already too old for it when I watched it back then) but reading it now felt more like meeitng an old friend again.

There are 16 books in the series (4 arcs with 4 books each), and yet I was surprised by how little plot PLL actually covers. It is all set-up, introducing the characters and giving us enough mystery to make us curious about what happens next. But there isn’t really anything happening just yet in this one.

But I actually don’t need for that much to happen, because for me the best thing about the TV show has always been the girls and their relationships with each other. And the book gives us more than enough of that to keep me happy. Surprisingly, the knowledge of the TV show was an actual plus for me. Contrary to many other adaptations, it didn’t get in the way, but the book refreshed my memory, and my memory made the characters feel more real.

It is very noticeably a young adult book, and reading level-wise more on the younger side. Meaning it took me only a couple of hours of waiting at the doctors office and riding on public transport to finish it off in its entirety. If the books are all like this, I am happy to read all 16 in a heady mix of nostalgia and soap opera.

Summarizing: Fun.