Perfect is the third novel in the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard.
Finished on: 20.1.2026
[Here are my reviews of the other books in the series.]

Content Note: homomisia, conversion therapy (mentioned/threatened), queermisic slur (herm****ite), grooming

Plot:
Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields believe that they have finally left A and their creepy messages behind. The silence should be great but trouble is still brewing. Spence got nominated for a Golden Orchid for a paper she stole from her sister. Hanna is fighting with her best friend Mona. Aria is still out with her family, and Sean is a cute boyfriend, but she can’t get Ezra out of her head. Emily is trying to steal time with her girlfriend Maya, but there is always the risk of her family finding out. And of course, A isn’t actually all that done with them.

Perfect was about as good as the two books before it, that is: not terribly, but still entertaining and very addictive to read.

I think I’m starting to get the first signs of fatigue with the books – something that also hit me with the TV show. You can only dangle a mystery in front of people’s faces for so long, always snatching it away at the last second, before it gets a little tiresome. I did think that I would have a little longer with the series before this happened, but maybe because I saw the TV show already, it all feels a little more familiar.

That being said, I’m not quite there yet, and I am sure to read the fourth novel (that I still have at home) but I don’t know if I’ll spend any more money on the 12 more books that follow after that. Anyway, back to the book at hand. Perfect brings our (anti?) heroines into more distressing situations, each in their own ways quite horrible, some with more blame to be assigned than others. While Spencer is just factually in the wrong, as understandable as it is how she ended up there, Emily really has nothing to blame herself for.

But time and again, it is really the adults all around them that are completely fucked up. Be it Aria’s mother who blames her for her father’s infidelity, or Emily’s homomisic parents, or Spencer’s entire adult family, or Hanna’s parents who just … noped out of her life. Even Spencer’s therapist is Problematic with a Capital P. Take it from me, an actual goddamn therapist, THERE SHOULD BE NO SHARING OF THERAPISTS BETWEEN FAMILY MEMBERS. Everybody gets their own, unless it’s family therapy and everybody is there at the same time. If you find a therapist who says that it is no problem: run.

Okay, professional rant aside, the way the plot develops is a bit, no a lot, tropey. One girl having some big revelation and being silenced before sharing it – although she could have shared it earlier easily. One girl “descending into madness” – and in just the most convenient way to keep the plot mysterious. And so on. But Shepard knows how to use the tropes to keep you turning the page, and to keep you hooked.

I have to say that the books made me a lot more uncomfortable than the TV show did about Aria and Ezra (at least at first). With the TV show, the way their relationship starts was like the perfect set-up to not make me want to call the cops IMMEDIATELY on Ezra. But here, oh boy, he plies her with alcohol, and pulls her back when she is ready to leave? I’m arresting him myfuckingself.

In short, this series is not particularly good, but it really does keep you engaged and empathizing with the girls, even when they make terrible decisions. And it’s fun.

Summarizing: great entertainment.