Pretty Little Liars door Sara Shepard

Book report by Claire van L.

Book title:
Perfect, a pretty little liars novel

Author:
Sara Shepard

Start date:
22nd of May 2009

End date:
24th of May 2009

The story starts with a fragment of 5 BFFs (Best Friends Forever) making a little film with their video camera. They all live in Rosewood, a town where gossip is the main thing the inhabitants are busy with.

Three years ago, Spencer, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and their best friend Alison (also named Ali) were the girls at Rosewood Day School. They were good-looking, wore designer clothes and went to the coolest parties. They were the girls everyone loved but secretly hated—especially Alison. She was just like the definition of perfection and everybody was sure she would have some great things ahead of her.
The other 4 girls never wanted to challenge Ali—afraid of Ali ditching them. Because, of course, they didn’t want to lose her.

But for a while Ali had been acting very vague, with mysterious text messages and new (older) friends she hung out with. The girls’ worst nightmare looked like going to become reality. It looked like they weren’t so interesting for Ali anymore.

So when Alison mysteriously vanished one night, Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna's grief was tinged with . . . relief. And when Alison's body was later discovered in her own backyard, the girls were forced to unearth some ugly memories of their old friend, too. They wonder who could have wanted to kill Ali and for what reason.
However, after Alison’s death the four remaining best friends all seem to have grown apart.
Hanna has picked op Ali’s role being a perfect, popular girl everybody looks up to. She has a best friend called Mona.
Aria has the perfect boyfriend ‘Sean’, a typical Rosewood-boy: rich, popular and (can you believe it) very kind and loving as well. But somehow, she just isn’t really in love with him. She is getting more and more aware that she is very attracted to Ezra, her English teacher. Behind Sean’s back, she meets Ezra in secret.
Emily has become a lesbian, she has a girlfriend called Maya. They meet each other in secret because Emily still hasn’t told her parents about her being a lesbian. She is very sure that if her parents knew, she would have to end her relationship with Maya.
Spencer has been nominated for a Golden Orchid award, a very vexed award for
But there is a small problem— it isn’t hers, it’s her sister’s. She stole it from her sister Melissa, so Melissa doesn’t know that actually she has been nominated and not Spencer. Melissa gets jealous of Spencer because Spencer always steals her boyfriends and now she has also been nominated for a Golden Orchid award!
Spencer also goes to a therapist, where she tries to remember what happened the night Ali disappeared. Under hypnotizing she gets some flashbacks of her having a big quarrel with Ali.

Now a stalker named A, someone who seems to know everything, is pointing the finger at one of them for Ali's murder. As their own individual secrets get darker and their scandals turn deadly, A is certain to expose them all and to ruin their perfect little lives forever.


Later Spencer has a fight with her sister because she found out that Spencer’s nominated paper was actually hers. Melissa got very angry on Spencer and said some things that really upset Spencer. Spencer couldn’t control herself and pushed Melissa of the stairs. Melissa and Spencer both passed out and Melissa has been brought to the hospital. Therefore Spencer is locked in her own room because her parents think she might be dangerous. In her room, she still is passed out and she gets another flashback of the night Ali disappeared. Now she finally gets to see the whole flashback but it isn’t what she was hoping for— she sees herself pushing Ali. Because of that Ali lands on a rock with her head. So Spencer is Ali’s killer..

The same day, Hanna gets a text message from A. But A made one big mistake— his number was visible. It looks very familiar to Hanna and she tries to remember whose number it was. And then suddenly she knows who A is. She calls Aria to meet her at a parking lot.
But Hanna doesn’t know that at the same moment Hanna had discovered who A was, Aria had observed their old videotape (the fragment at the beginning of the book) for a clue that could solve Ali’s murder. She notices something what makes her suspect that Spencer is Ali’s killer.
Aria calls Emily to come with her to meet Hanna at the parking lot. But Hanna calls Spencer, not knowing that Aria thinks Spencer could be the murderer.

Hanna waits for the girls to meet her at the parking lot. Suddenly, she sees a big black SUV. She shocks but the SUV passes by.
Somewhat later, Aria and Emily arrive at the parking lot. Hanna runs towards Aria’s car to tell her who A is but then the SUV appears again, heading to Hanna with great speed. The SUV crashes into Hanna and drives on. Hanna’s body is completely contorted.
Aria and Emily can’t believe what they just saw; in panic they call 911, trying to help Hanna. While Aria is on the phone, Emily looks into the forest where she sees Spencer looking at them. And that’s where the book ends.

I found this book really thrilling and really nice to read. It really is a book for (adolescent) girls with a twist of excitement. Once I started to read this book I couldn’t stop. (I’ve read it in 2 days!)
The book ends when it starts to get really thrilling. It thinks it’s a pity that the book ends so abruptly, without solving who A is and who Ali’s murderer is. The truth still remains a mystery. Although I think that Ali isn’t even dead. I think Ali could be A. because, in the book, Aria one time looks up to the schoolbuildings’s roof and she sees someone watching her with binoculars— someone looking exact like Ali..
This book is already the third in the ‘Pretty little liars’ cycle. So I think, that if I want to know how this story ends (I do), I’ll have to read the fourth as well!