Pretty Little Liars
Encyclopedia
Pretty Little Liars is a series of more than 10 young adult novels by Sara Shepard
, from 1981–present, which have been made into a television show (same name). The series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer
, Hanna, Aria
, and Emily — whose clique
falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. Three years later, when the girls are juniors in high school, Alison's body is found, and they begin receiving various messages from someone using the alias "A" who threatens to expose their secrets. The first 10 episodes introduce many other characters, and new boyfriends or girlfriends, as the plot events unfold.
The first novel, Pretty Little Liars, was released in August 21, 2007. It was followed by eight other books: Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable, Wicked, Killer, Heartless, Wanted, and Twisted. The tenth book in the series, Ruthless is set to be published on December 6, 2011. There are plans to publish two more books after Ruthless. The 11th book has been recently titled Stunning and is planned to be released on June 1, 2012. The 12th and final book has not been titled yet. No release date known either.
A television series
based on the books currently airs on ABC Family
. The series stars Troian Bellisario
as Spencer, Ashley Benson
as Hanna, Lucy Hale
as Aria, and Shay Mitchell
as Emily.
The novels are described, below, using in-universe tone.
Emily meets Toby out of school and they begin to have a relationship. Aria follows a tip from A and meets Meredith, Byrons lover, at a yoga workout. She tries to convince her to break up with her father, but she refuses, saying they're in love. Hanna is sentenced to help out at Sean's fathers burn clinic, and visits V Club hoping to rekindle her relationship with Sean. But Arias discoveries drive her into Sean's arms, and they start a relationship instead. Spencer, infuriated by her parents cancelling her cards for seeing Wren, continues seeing him. But the stress of recent developments is causing Spencer's grades to fall, and she follows A's suggestion to plagiarize one of Melissa's Econ papers.
Things come to a head at the Foxy, the school dance. Hanna sneaks out from her disappointing family gathering after getting a message that Sean is there with another girl. Emily gets a tarot reading that makes her face her sexuality and leaves with Toby, feeling upset. Spencer goes with Andrew, only to fool her family and meets Wren there, upsetting Andrew and making Spencer feel guilty. And Aria goes with Sean.
Hanna is pissed when she finds the two together and pukes from stress. But Spencer has figured out that the messages mean A is at the dance, and thinks A is Toby. She gets Hanna and Aria and try to find Toby, but he left with Emily. Toby and Emily drive to a cornfield near Emily's house, and Emily admits she's gay. But some comments from Toby make her think he killed Alison, and she runs home. Toby tries to come in, but Emily says she knows what he did, and he panics and leaves. The next day, Hanna gets busted for giving a Percocet to Kate, and Spencer gets dumped by Wren, who wants to go back to Melissa, but Melissa doesn't want him and is planning to dump him later. The news of police cars at Emily's house gets the three out, but its Toby who's dead, a suicide. Jenna delivers a note that prompts Spencer to reveal the reason Alison caused Jenna's blindness: Toby molested Jenna, and the sight made Alison misfire. But Toby isn't A, since Emily gets one last message: It isn't over until A says it is!
for cheating on her boyfriend. "A" reveals Emily's secret which leads the Fieldses to oblige their daughter to solve her "problem" either way she will be sent to Iowa at her aunt's farm. Emily realizes she cannot change who she is and what she feels for Maya and the situation is soon discovered by her parents. Spencer is nominated at the Golden Orchids Awards for the essay she supposedly wrote and that actually belonged to her elder sister, Melissa and "A" threatens to reveal it if Spencer doesn't. Spencer finds out she has had a blackout when she was a kid and soon discovers she may have had one the night Alison disappeared. Hanna's friendship with Mona Vanderwaal is about to end as Mona believe she spends more time with her former seventh grade friends. Hanna gets comforted by Lucas, a boy who had had a crush on her in sixth grade before becoming unpopular. After getting humiliated at Mona's birthday party, Hanna receives a text from "A" and recognizes the number. She soon calls Aria, Emily and Spencer and asks them to meet her at the Rosewood Day playground in order to reveal who "A" is. After getting busted with Ezra by the police (who was sent by Sean after he received a text from "A" revealing Aria's secret), Aria watches her homemade videos from seventh grade and suddenly realizes Ian, Melissa's then boyfriend, and Alison might have been more than just acquaintances and that Spencer, by jealousy, could have killed Alison for that reason. On the playground, as Hanna tries to reach out to Aria and Emily, she is hit by a car before she can tell them who "A" is. As they are calling the emergencies, Aria and Emily notice Spencer looking the scene from the woods and quickly running away. The girls receive a text from A stating "She knew too much. -A"
Aria is forced to move in with her father and his former student and fling, Meredith. Meredith announces that she's pregnant and that she and Byron are to be married. While at a Hollis College art class, Aria befriends Jenna. Jenna reveals the real truth behind "The Jenna Thing", telling Aria that she and Alison had plotted together to get rid of Toby. Spencer's family discovers she cheated on her Golden Orchid essay, but keep it quiet to protect their reputation. Spencer confesses to Melissa about kissing Ian, as well as Ian's affair with Alison. She also admits that she's afraid she may have killed Alison. Mona tells the girls that she has also gotten a text from "A" on her phone.
The other girls suspect Melissa as Ali's killer. Spencer and Mona decide to go to the police station to tell them about Melissa. Hanna, recovering from the car accident, suddenly remembers "A"'s identity: Mona. Emily texts Spencer to warn her, but Mona prevents Spencer from escaping. Mona reveals that she and Jenna used to be friends and knows the truth about "The Jenna Thing". She found Alison's diary and used the secrets inside it to taunt the girls as "A". Spencer accuses Mona of killing Alison, but Mona refutes her accusation, stating that Ian must have been the killer, as he was afraid Alison would reveal their relationship to Melissa. Spencer and Mona then get into a physical fight as Spencer once more attempts to escape; during the struggle, Spencer accidentally kills Mona.
The girls go to Ian's court hearing, where he pleads not-guilty.
Emily realizes she is actually bisexual (or homo-flexible) when she falls for Isaac, a boy she met at church, but keeps it a secret because she doesn't think anyone will understand. She is afraid of revealing her past to Isaac, but "A" eventually forces her to come out to him; Isaac accepts her for who she is. Hanna, desperate to be Queen Bee once more, forms a new "it" clique with her stepsister Kate Randall, Riley, and Naomi. Hanna and Lucas break up after Hanna tells a lie about Kate on "A"'s advice.
Aria has feelings for a man, Xavier, who she met at an art show; however, he ends up dating her mother, putting her and Ella's shaky relationship at risk. Neglected by her family and feeling like an outsider, Spencer comes to believe that she is adopted when she is excluded from her grandmother's will, which bequeathed money to her "natural-born grandchildren".
Ian continues to deny killing Alison, and eventually the girls discover his body in the woods, and learn that he was murdered by "A".
At the opening party for Radley, a former so-called "haven for troubled youth", Emily finds proof that Jason DiLaurentis had been a patient there, and soon Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily all come to believe that Jason and Darren Wilden had something to do with Ali's murder. Before Ian's death, he had confirmed their suspicions about Jason and Wilden. Someone sets the woods behind Spencer's house on fire. The girls see someone who they believe to be Alison, actually alive, running away from the fire.
Thinking that Ali's ghost is trying to tell her something, Aria goes to a séance; she learns nothing, but meets Noel Kahn. She initially does not trust him but later changes her mind, kissing him after he comes to her defense at a party. Aria sees another medium, who produces a message in Ali's handwriting that says "Ali killed Ali".
Hanna's father sends her to a clinic to prevent her eating disorder from reappearing due to stress from the Ali situation, and to cure her Post traumatic stress disorder. Hanna befriends another patient named Iris, who later abandons her after another patient reveals Hanna's scandalous past to everyone at the clinic. Hanna has more dreams about Ali that are similar to the ones she was having while in her coma and later on, who leads her to suspect that Iris had something to do with Ali's death.
"A" sends Spencer messages which make her suspicious of her mother; Spencer learns that at one point her father had been having an affair with Ali's mother. Spencer realizes the possibility that Ali and Jason are her half-siblings, and is led to believe that her mother may have killed Ali because of it. Spencer confronts her parents, but her mother is shocked to hear about the affair for the first time.
Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna are all arrested for Ali's murder; together in a jail cell, they realize that "A" has tricked each of them into believing someone else killed Ali. Wilden releases the girls and tells them that Billy Ford killed Ali; Emily recognizes him as one of the men working on Ali's gazebo. Billy is also charged for Jenna Cavanaugh's murder, and the reader is left wondering whether Billy was "A" or not.
Meanwhile, Spencer had begun to believe that her sister is Alison's killer and brother, but Ali is revealed to be the real killer, here. The girl they were friends with years ago was actually Courtney, and the real Ali was stuck in an institution. Alison killed Courtney, attempted to kill the girls in the forest fire, killed Jenna, and now plans to kill them by setting the house on fire. It says in the confession-letter she gave them that she tried to make them go crazy, like sending Hanna fake tickets to a fashion show, kissing Aria's boyfriend, letting Emily believe that they would have a relationship, and not revealing what Spencer's surprise was. The girls discover that Alison also murdered Ian and kidnapped Melissa - which was the surprise for Spencer - who they free before escaping the burning house. Trapped inside the house, Alison is assumed dead, although her body is never found.
At the cemetery, when Emily is finally letting the memory of both Ali and Courtney go, she hears a giggle. At the very end of the book, a girl has joined a new school, with a name very similar to Alison DiLaurentis.
A year later, the girls have parted ways once again. Aria has trouble dealing with the Kahn's new foreign exchange student, Klaudia, who creates rifts in Aria's relationship with Noel, wanting to steal him from Aria. In a fit of anger, Aria pushes Klaudia off a ski-lift, injuring her. Emily befriends a new girl, Chloe, and reveals that she'd gotten pregnant from having sex with Isaac and secretly gave birth to a baby girl in Philadelphia over the summer, which she gave up for adoption. Emily is now panicked about getting a swimming scholarship, her only option for college; Chloe's dad offers to help, but makes sexual advances towards Emily, which ruins her friendship with Chloe.
Patrick, a photographer, offers Hanna a modeling job, however he turns out to be a liar who blackmails Hanna with a racy photo of her and him having sex.and her naked in the picture! Hanna steals money from her dad's campaign fund to pay Patrick and frames Jeremiah, one of her father's campaign workers. Mrs. Hastings becomes engaged to Nicholas Pennythistle and Spencer discovers that Zach, his son, is gay. She promises to keep his secret, but accidentally blurts it out after Mr. Pennythistle misunderstands a situation and accuses Zach of sleeping with Spencer. It revealed that Spencer also ruined the life of a girl she went to an academic summer program with in order to get into Princeton.
Throughout the book, the girls are tormented with notes from a new "A" who knows what happened in Jamaica, as well as all their other new secrets. The body of the girl they pushed off the roof is found, and the girls realize that she wasn't Alison, and that they killed an innocent person.
Aria's love life is on the fritz. Emily is exploring her wild side. Hanna is kissing the enemy. And someone from Spencer's past — someone she never thought she'd see again — is back to haunt her. But none of that compares to what happened last spring break, on the rooftop in Jamaica. It is their darkest secret yet, and guess who found out? Now "A" is determined to make them pay for their crime, and the only thing scarier than "A" is the fear that maybe, just maybe, they deserve what is coming.
said of the first novel, "This is clique lit with a mystery twist: the author has spun a plethora of possibilities sure to make readers reach for the next installment in this planned four-book series and beyond." "breathes new life into the tired genre of high society chick lit." Commonsensemedia.org rated it 3 out of 5 stars, saying "This is fluffy guilty-pleasure fare, with few surprises among either the character types or the plotting. Gossip Girl
fans probably will enjoy this one -- but parents who read along will find plenty to cringe over."
Sara Shepard
Sara Shepard is an American author known for the bestselling Pretty Little Liars series of young-adult novels.-Biography:Shepard graduated from Downingtown West High School in Downingtown, Pennsylvania in 1995, and got her undergraduate degree from New York University. She later received an MFA...
, from 1981–present, which have been made into a television show (same name). The series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer
Spencer Hastings
Spencer Hastings is a fictional character in the Pretty Little Liars book series. She is portrayed by Troian Bellisario in the ABC Family television adaption.-Characterization:...
, Hanna, Aria
Aria Montgomery
Aria Marie Montgomery is a fictional character in the Pretty Little Liars series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard. She is portrayed by Lucy Hale in the television adaptation, which premiered on ABC Family in June 2010...
, and Emily — whose clique
Clique
A clique is an exclusive group of people who share common interests, views, purposes, patterns of behavior, or ethnicity. A clique as a reference group can be either normative or comparative. Membership in a clique is typically exclusive, and qualifications for membership may be social or...
falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. Three years later, when the girls are juniors in high school, Alison's body is found, and they begin receiving various messages from someone using the alias "A" who threatens to expose their secrets. The first 10 episodes introduce many other characters, and new boyfriends or girlfriends, as the plot events unfold.
The first novel, Pretty Little Liars, was released in August 21, 2007. It was followed by eight other books: Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable, Wicked, Killer, Heartless, Wanted, and Twisted. The tenth book in the series, Ruthless is set to be published on December 6, 2011. There are plans to publish two more books after Ruthless. The 11th book has been recently titled Stunning and is planned to be released on June 1, 2012. The 12th and final book has not been titled yet. No release date known either.
A television series
Pretty Little Liars (TV series)
Pretty Little Liars is an American mystery-thriller teen drama television series created by Marlene King. Based on the popular series of novels written by Sara Shepard, the show premiered on June 8, 2010 on ABC Family...
based on the books currently airs on ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
. The series stars Troian Bellisario
Troian Bellisario
Troian Avery Bellisario is an American actress. She currently stars as Spencer Hastings in the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars.-Career:Bellisario made her acting debut in the 1988 film Last Rites at the age of 3...
as Spencer, Ashley Benson
Ashley Benson
Ashley Victoria Benson is an American film and television actress, and model. She is known for her role as Abigail Deveraux on Days Of Our Lives , Carson in Bring It On: In It to Win It, and Hanna Marin on Pretty Little Liars.Benson was born and raised in Anaheim Hills, California...
as Hanna, Lucy Hale
Lucy Hale
Karen Lucille "Lucy" Hale is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Becca Sommers in Bionic Woman, Rose Baker in Privileged, Sherrie in the horror film Scream 4, and as Aria Montgomery on the hit ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars...
as Aria, and Shay Mitchell
Shay Mitchell
Shannon Ashley "Shay" Mitchell is a Canadian actress and model. She stars in the ABC Family original series, Pretty Little Liars as Emily Fields.-Early life:...
as Emily.
The novels are described, below, using in-universe tone.
Pretty Little Liars
Alison DiLaurentis' clique was formed of five girls she had consciously picked: Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields and herself. The night before seventh grade summer holidays, Alison vanishes into the night. Three years after Alison DiLaurentis' disappearance, Aria comes back in Rosewood after living in Iceland. She meets a mysterious and seductive man named Ezra Fitz in a bar and makes out with him. It turns out he is her new AP teacher in high school which makes the situation awkward for both of them. Hanna Marin who used to be fat and uncool is now the new Rosewood it girl along with former loser and now best friend Mona Vanderwaal. The two have fun while stealing from the mall and Hanna gets caught. To avoid social dishonor, her mother solves the problem but has to pay the price of making the mall drop the charges. Spencer Hastings gets introduced to her sister Melissa's new boyfriend, Wren. She finds herself very attracted to him and the two soon become more than family. Emily Fields greets the new neighbor living in Alison's house, Maya St. Germain, and explores a side of her personality she had buried since Alison had disappeared: Maya becomes more than a friend to Emily as she tries to repress her feelings toward her new friend. In the middle of what just seems to be the story of random teenage girls' lives, a mysterious person appears, "A". "A" sends text messages, e-mails and notes to Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily threatening to reveal their darkest secrets, some secrets that only Alison knew about and some secrets they have developed after her disappearance and that they haven't told anyone. Everything points out to Alison being the mysterious "A" and that she is alive and back for good. However, the St. Germains make a gruesome discovery in their yards: the corpse of Alison DiLaurentis. During her funeral, Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily are shocked to see Toby and Jenna Cavanaugh attending too. This brings back memories of "The Jenna Thing", the darkest secret the girls - including Alison - have shared and have sworn to take to their graves. Before leaving the funeral, the four girls receive a text message from "A" that states "I'm still here bitches. And I know everything. -A"Flawless
"A" taunts Emily about her sexuality and her growing feelings for Maya. Hanna is also pressured by "A" to tell Naomi and Riley, her rivals, that Sean dumped her and that she suffers from bulimia. Hanna is shocked when "A" also reveals that Sean is now interested in pursuing a relationship with Aria, who is still hiding her affair with Ezra. "A" tells Aria to either get rid of Meredith or to tell her mom the truth about Aria's father having an affair. "A" also reveals to Melissa that Spencer has been secretly dating Wren, Melissa's ex-boyfriend.Emily meets Toby out of school and they begin to have a relationship. Aria follows a tip from A and meets Meredith, Byrons lover, at a yoga workout. She tries to convince her to break up with her father, but she refuses, saying they're in love. Hanna is sentenced to help out at Sean's fathers burn clinic, and visits V Club hoping to rekindle her relationship with Sean. But Arias discoveries drive her into Sean's arms, and they start a relationship instead. Spencer, infuriated by her parents cancelling her cards for seeing Wren, continues seeing him. But the stress of recent developments is causing Spencer's grades to fall, and she follows A's suggestion to plagiarize one of Melissa's Econ papers.
Things come to a head at the Foxy, the school dance. Hanna sneaks out from her disappointing family gathering after getting a message that Sean is there with another girl. Emily gets a tarot reading that makes her face her sexuality and leaves with Toby, feeling upset. Spencer goes with Andrew, only to fool her family and meets Wren there, upsetting Andrew and making Spencer feel guilty. And Aria goes with Sean.
Hanna is pissed when she finds the two together and pukes from stress. But Spencer has figured out that the messages mean A is at the dance, and thinks A is Toby. She gets Hanna and Aria and try to find Toby, but he left with Emily. Toby and Emily drive to a cornfield near Emily's house, and Emily admits she's gay. But some comments from Toby make her think he killed Alison, and she runs home. Toby tries to come in, but Emily says she knows what he did, and he panics and leaves. The next day, Hanna gets busted for giving a Percocet to Kate, and Spencer gets dumped by Wren, who wants to go back to Melissa, but Melissa doesn't want him and is planning to dump him later. The news of police cars at Emily's house gets the three out, but its Toby who's dead, a suicide. Jenna delivers a note that prompts Spencer to reveal the reason Alison caused Jenna's blindness: Toby molested Jenna, and the sight made Alison misfire. But Toby isn't A, since Emily gets one last message: It isn't over until A says it is!
Perfect
Aria becomes homeless after humiliating Meredith, her father's new girlfriend, and goes live with her new boyfriend, Sean Ackard. Although their romance came to terms in Flawless, she starts seeing her AP teacher again, Ezra Fitz, which makes her feel bad as she identifies to the main character in The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
for cheating on her boyfriend. "A" reveals Emily's secret which leads the Fieldses to oblige their daughter to solve her "problem" either way she will be sent to Iowa at her aunt's farm. Emily realizes she cannot change who she is and what she feels for Maya and the situation is soon discovered by her parents. Spencer is nominated at the Golden Orchids Awards for the essay she supposedly wrote and that actually belonged to her elder sister, Melissa and "A" threatens to reveal it if Spencer doesn't. Spencer finds out she has had a blackout when she was a kid and soon discovers she may have had one the night Alison disappeared. Hanna's friendship with Mona Vanderwaal is about to end as Mona believe she spends more time with her former seventh grade friends. Hanna gets comforted by Lucas, a boy who had had a crush on her in sixth grade before becoming unpopular. After getting humiliated at Mona's birthday party, Hanna receives a text from "A" and recognizes the number. She soon calls Aria, Emily and Spencer and asks them to meet her at the Rosewood Day playground in order to reveal who "A" is. After getting busted with Ezra by the police (who was sent by Sean after he received a text from "A" revealing Aria's secret), Aria watches her homemade videos from seventh grade and suddenly realizes Ian, Melissa's then boyfriend, and Alison might have been more than just acquaintances and that Spencer, by jealousy, could have killed Alison for that reason. On the playground, as Hanna tries to reach out to Aria and Emily, she is hit by a car before she can tell them who "A" is. As they are calling the emergencies, Aria and Emily notice Spencer looking the scene from the woods and quickly running away. The girls receive a text from A stating "She knew too much. -A"
Unbelievable
Hanna survives getting rundown by "A" (in the previous novel) but has no memory of who "A" is. After Emily's parents catch her with Maya at a party, they send her to live with relatives in Iowa. Depressed, Emily runs away, only coming back home when her parents tell her they accept her sexuality. Emily breaks up with Maya when Maya sees her about to kiss Trista, a girl from Iowa who came to visit.Aria is forced to move in with her father and his former student and fling, Meredith. Meredith announces that she's pregnant and that she and Byron are to be married. While at a Hollis College art class, Aria befriends Jenna. Jenna reveals the real truth behind "The Jenna Thing", telling Aria that she and Alison had plotted together to get rid of Toby. Spencer's family discovers she cheated on her Golden Orchid essay, but keep it quiet to protect their reputation. Spencer confesses to Melissa about kissing Ian, as well as Ian's affair with Alison. She also admits that she's afraid she may have killed Alison. Mona tells the girls that she has also gotten a text from "A" on her phone.
The other girls suspect Melissa as Ali's killer. Spencer and Mona decide to go to the police station to tell them about Melissa. Hanna, recovering from the car accident, suddenly remembers "A"'s identity: Mona. Emily texts Spencer to warn her, but Mona prevents Spencer from escaping. Mona reveals that she and Jenna used to be friends and knows the truth about "The Jenna Thing". She found Alison's diary and used the secrets inside it to taunt the girls as "A". Spencer accuses Mona of killing Alison, but Mona refutes her accusation, stating that Ian must have been the killer, as he was afraid Alison would reveal their relationship to Melissa. Spencer and Mona then get into a physical fight as Spencer once more attempts to escape; during the struggle, Spencer accidentally kills Mona.
The girls go to Ian's court hearing, where he pleads not-guilty.
Wicked
A new "A" appears and begins threatening the girls with more text messages.Emily realizes she is actually bisexual (or homo-flexible) when she falls for Isaac, a boy she met at church, but keeps it a secret because she doesn't think anyone will understand. She is afraid of revealing her past to Isaac, but "A" eventually forces her to come out to him; Isaac accepts her for who she is. Hanna, desperate to be Queen Bee once more, forms a new "it" clique with her stepsister Kate Randall, Riley, and Naomi. Hanna and Lucas break up after Hanna tells a lie about Kate on "A"'s advice.
Aria has feelings for a man, Xavier, who she met at an art show; however, he ends up dating her mother, putting her and Ella's shaky relationship at risk. Neglected by her family and feeling like an outsider, Spencer comes to believe that she is adopted when she is excluded from her grandmother's will, which bequeathed money to her "natural-born grandchildren".
Ian continues to deny killing Alison, and eventually the girls discover his body in the woods, and learn that he was murdered by "A".
Killer
The girls discover that the person they thought was Alison's murderer, Ian, has actually been framed. Emily has sex with her boyfriend, Isaac; his mother finds out and threatens Emily, leading to their breakup. Aria falls in love with Jason DiLaurentis, until he becomes cold and distant. Spencer meets a woman named Olivia Caldwell who she thinks is her real mother, and attempts to move to New York. However, it turns out to be a scam, and Spencer loses all her college money after giving it to Olivia.At the opening party for Radley, a former so-called "haven for troubled youth", Emily finds proof that Jason DiLaurentis had been a patient there, and soon Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily all come to believe that Jason and Darren Wilden had something to do with Ali's murder. Before Ian's death, he had confirmed their suspicions about Jason and Wilden. Someone sets the woods behind Spencer's house on fire. The girls see someone who they believe to be Alison, actually alive, running away from the fire.
Heartless
After the fire, no one believes the girls when they insist that they saw Alison, and they start to believe it was all a hallucination due to the smoke. "A" sends Emily to Lancaster, where she discovers that an Amish girl named Leah disappeared around the time of Ali's death. Emily also discovers that Darren Wilden had been Amish and left the community, and she soon comes to believe that he killed Leah.Thinking that Ali's ghost is trying to tell her something, Aria goes to a séance; she learns nothing, but meets Noel Kahn. She initially does not trust him but later changes her mind, kissing him after he comes to her defense at a party. Aria sees another medium, who produces a message in Ali's handwriting that says "Ali killed Ali".
Hanna's father sends her to a clinic to prevent her eating disorder from reappearing due to stress from the Ali situation, and to cure her Post traumatic stress disorder. Hanna befriends another patient named Iris, who later abandons her after another patient reveals Hanna's scandalous past to everyone at the clinic. Hanna has more dreams about Ali that are similar to the ones she was having while in her coma and later on, who leads her to suspect that Iris had something to do with Ali's death.
"A" sends Spencer messages which make her suspicious of her mother; Spencer learns that at one point her father had been having an affair with Ali's mother. Spencer realizes the possibility that Ali and Jason are her half-siblings, and is led to believe that her mother may have killed Ali because of it. Spencer confronts her parents, but her mother is shocked to hear about the affair for the first time.
Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna are all arrested for Ali's murder; together in a jail cell, they realize that "A" has tricked each of them into believing someone else killed Ali. Wilden releases the girls and tells them that Billy Ford killed Ali; Emily recognizes him as one of the men working on Ali's gazebo. Billy is also charged for Jenna Cavanaugh's murder, and the reader is left wondering whether Billy was "A" or not.
Wanted
Now that Alison's killer is on trial, the Pretty Little Liars think they can rest. However, Hanna, Aria, Emily, and Spencer are shocked to learn of the existence of Alison's twin, Courtney, when she's introduced at a press conference. Courtney had spent her life in institutions (due to "health issues"), and her existence was kept secret by her family. Newly released, she attempts to resume her sister's life and begins tentative friendships with Ali's old friends, even striking up a romantic relationship with Emily, who is overjoyed. Courtney later reveals proof that she is actually Ali (still alive); that the real Courtney had pretended to be her on the night of Ali's disappearance, and Courtney was the one who was killed. One by one, the Pretty Little Liars begin to trust Ali.Meanwhile, Spencer had begun to believe that her sister is Alison's killer and brother, but Ali is revealed to be the real killer, here. The girl they were friends with years ago was actually Courtney, and the real Ali was stuck in an institution. Alison killed Courtney, attempted to kill the girls in the forest fire, killed Jenna, and now plans to kill them by setting the house on fire. It says in the confession-letter she gave them that she tried to make them go crazy, like sending Hanna fake tickets to a fashion show, kissing Aria's boyfriend, letting Emily believe that they would have a relationship, and not revealing what Spencer's surprise was. The girls discover that Alison also murdered Ian and kidnapped Melissa - which was the surprise for Spencer - who they free before escaping the burning house. Trapped inside the house, Alison is assumed dead, although her body is never found.
At the cemetery, when Emily is finally letting the memory of both Ali and Courtney go, she hears a giggle. At the very end of the book, a girl has joined a new school, with a name very similar to Alison DiLaurentis.
Twisted
Spring break of junior year, the girls go on vacation in Jamaica, where they encounter a girl who they believe is Alison, thinking she survived the fire. The girls are attacked by "Ali" on top of the hotel in Jamaica, and in an attempt to save Hanna, Aria shoves Ali off the roof, seemingly killing her.A year later, the girls have parted ways once again. Aria has trouble dealing with the Kahn's new foreign exchange student, Klaudia, who creates rifts in Aria's relationship with Noel, wanting to steal him from Aria. In a fit of anger, Aria pushes Klaudia off a ski-lift, injuring her. Emily befriends a new girl, Chloe, and reveals that she'd gotten pregnant from having sex with Isaac and secretly gave birth to a baby girl in Philadelphia over the summer, which she gave up for adoption. Emily is now panicked about getting a swimming scholarship, her only option for college; Chloe's dad offers to help, but makes sexual advances towards Emily, which ruins her friendship with Chloe.
Patrick, a photographer, offers Hanna a modeling job, however he turns out to be a liar who blackmails Hanna with a racy photo of her and him having sex.and her naked in the picture! Hanna steals money from her dad's campaign fund to pay Patrick and frames Jeremiah, one of her father's campaign workers. Mrs. Hastings becomes engaged to Nicholas Pennythistle and Spencer discovers that Zach, his son, is gay. She promises to keep his secret, but accidentally blurts it out after Mr. Pennythistle misunderstands a situation and accuses Zach of sleeping with Spencer. It revealed that Spencer also ruined the life of a girl she went to an academic summer program with in order to get into Princeton.
Throughout the book, the girls are tormented with notes from a new "A" who knows what happened in Jamaica, as well as all their other new secrets. The body of the girl they pushed off the roof is found, and the girls realize that she wasn't Alison, and that they killed an innocent person.
Ruthless
For years, scandal has rocked Rosewood, Pennsylvania — and high school seniors Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer have always been at the center of the drama. They have lost friends, been targeted by a ruthless stalker named "A" and narrowly escaped death. And it is not over yet.Aria's love life is on the fritz. Emily is exploring her wild side. Hanna is kissing the enemy. And someone from Spencer's past — someone she never thought she'd see again — is back to haunt her. But none of that compares to what happened last spring break, on the rooftop in Jamaica. It is their darkest secret yet, and guess who found out? Now "A" is determined to make them pay for their crime, and the only thing scarier than "A" is the fear that maybe, just maybe, they deserve what is coming.
Stunning
The Pretty Little Liars website shows a photo of the 11th book. It also states that the book is planned to be released on June 1, 2012. Emily is on the front cover implying that the main mystery surrounds her.Reception
Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
said of the first novel, "This is clique lit with a mystery twist: the author has spun a plethora of possibilities sure to make readers reach for the next installment in this planned four-book series and beyond." "breathes new life into the tired genre of high society chick lit." Commonsensemedia.org rated it 3 out of 5 stars, saying "This is fluffy guilty-pleasure fare, with few surprises among either the character types or the plotting. Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
fans probably will enjoy this one -- but parents who read along will find plenty to cringe over."