Product Description

Everyone has something to hide—especially high school juniors spencer, aria, emily, and hanna.

Spencer covets her sister's boyfriend. Aria's fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily's crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful.

But they've all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished.

How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and all the dirty secrets they've kept. And guess what? I'm telling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296873 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-01
• Released on: 2007-08-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060887322
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
In the exclusive Philadelphia suburb of Rosewood, Alison is the Queen Bee of her elite seventh grade hive. BFs Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily vie for her attention, even as each of them hides a hideous secret only Alison knows. So when Alison goes missing after a slumber party, never to be seen again, each girl is heartbroken, but also a little relieved. Now it is three years later, and though the four girls have grown apart, they are each still hiding something. Artsy Aria is carrying on an affair with one of her teachers, fashionista Hanna shoplifts to accessorize her trendy outfits, blue-blood Spencer is sleeping with her older sister’s boyfriend, while straight-A Emily is trying to ignore her attraction to a new female classmate. When the girls begin receiving threatening text messages and emails that from someone known only as "A," they must confront the fact that against all odds, it appears Alison is back. Could Alison still be alive? And if so, why is she so determined to uncover all their dirty little secrets?

Debut author Sara Shepard's shamelessly addictive blend of Desperate Housewives and I Know What You Did Last Summer is absolutely delicious. Her infusion of mystery and murder breathes new life into the tired genre of high society chick lit, and will give fans of Gossip Girl and The A-List something new to dig their French-manicured nails into. A cliff-hanging ending will leave readers craving the second title in the planned four-part series. --Jennifer Hubert

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–Rosewood, PA, is filled with mansions, Mercedes, and fortunate girls like Alison, Spencer, Emily, Aria, and Hanna. These five friends are bound together by a horrible secret–never fully revealed in the book–until the summer after seventh grade, when Alison goes missing. Now high school juniors, each of the remaining girls is going through a trying time and has a new secret. Spencer is falling for her sister's boyfriend, Aria is involved in a relationship with her teacher, Emily has issues with her sexual identity, and Hanna has an eating disorder. They think that no one knows about these things, until all four of them begin to get mysterious notes, e-mails, and text messages from someone by the name of A. They are afraid that Alison is back, and the mocking tone of the messages makes them worry that she could be ready to divulge their hidden past. In the end, her body is found, but they still receive the messages, leaving readers to wonder what happens next. Shepard writes a suspenseful page-turner that will have teens thirsting for more. The plot is quick-moving and encapsulates the feelings of many teens.–Kristen M. Todd, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY
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Review
"Clique lit with a mystery twist.sure to make readers reach for the next installment." (Publishers Weekly )

Customer Reviews

As satisfying as a pint of Ben & Jerry's...without the calories
The summer after seventh grade started out fine, but when Alison "Ali," one of Rosewood, Pennsylvania's most popular girls vanished, things changed. While her closest friends (Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily) have all moved on, and are now juniors in high school, she was never seen again. The girls, wanting to move away from the secrets Ali took with her, broke apart, and made new friends. Putting the scandalous past behind them. Spencer began competing non-stop with her older sister, Melissa, for her parents affections, but one little slip-up, and her good girl image is shattered; Aria moved away to Iceland, but has returned, only to find that everyone she used to know (including the guy she was always crushing on) has stayed the same, stagnant, stuck in one place; Emily has tried to move on, and forget about the feelings she held for Ali, but when a new girl moves into Ali's old room, she must come to terms with the truth; and Hanna, who went from "little piggy" to Paris Hilton-wannabe, has found herself in deep water, being questioned by the police on an almost weekly basis. But now, they must confront their old secrets, and join forces once again, for someone known only as "A" is onto them. Someone who knows things about them that only Ali knew. Someone who gets off on sending them threatening messages. Now the girls are confused, since Ali was never found, how on earth could she be contacting them. She should be dead. She should be on some other plane, millions of miles from them. But maybe...she's not.

I have one guilty pleasure. No, it's not chocolate, or sweets. In fact, it has nothing to do with food. It's books about the rich. Their scandalous lives, and the constant shopping they spend most of their time doing. But no YA book has come even close to the amount of scandal found within the pages of Sara Shepard's PRETTY LITTLE LIARS. From page one I was intrigued by the secrets that these four (or should I say five?) girls shared. From blow-ups to make-ups, and everything in between. The characters found within these pages are beyond young and beautiful. There's an evil that lurks around them. An evil that is unexplainable and addicting. Each girl possesses her very own unique personality. Personalities that will draw readers in, in droves, and keep them reading long into the night. From Spencer's wandering eyes; to Aria's fondness for older men; and Hanna's thirst for attention; to Emily's constant confusion regarding her relationships; every reader will find the ability to mesh with one of these...scandalous characters. As satisfying as a pint of Ben & Jerry's...without the calories.

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

you won't want to put this one down!!!
Okay, I found out about this book from one of my freshmen. She brought it in one day and asked me if I could please read it, because she absolutely LOVED the book and needed someone to talk to about it....and said that her friends weren't really "into reading." I took the book home, thinking that I'd get around to it later.....maybe next week. Maybe not. I was wrong. I started reading when I got home and couldn't put the book down. You won't want to put it down either. It really IS that good.

Other reviews have basically told the story here: five friends are bound by a secret, referred to as "the Jenna thing," until one of the girls, Alison, goes missing at the end of their seventh grade year. Skip ahead to eleventh grade, when the remaining four girls begin receiving alarming text messages. It's a mystery that grabs you and won't let go.

I've seen several copies of this book (and #2 Flawless) floating around our school lately, thanks to word of mouth advertising. I'm 30something and LOVED the book...my students are 14-18 years old and also love it. Friendship, mystery, boys, all of the big topics pop up in this book. Grab a copy and get hooked!

an amazing book for teens
In Pretty Little Liars, the first book in the series, we begin three years ago on the evening of Alison DeLaurentis' disappearance from a sleepover with her four best friends. We are then launched into the not-so-pretty present in which Ali is still missing, her four best friends barely even acknowledge each other, and their lives are falling apart. Spencer struggles to stand out in her family, while Aria is trying to keep her family together and maintain an unlikely romance. Emily is trying to figure out how she feels about everyone, more specifically the new girl at school, and Hanna is facing difficulties with her boyfriend, the law, and remaining as goreous as she's become. But all four girls are facing one major problem: someone who goes by the initial A is threatening to tell their secrets and ruin them for good.
My favorite part occured whenever the girls recieved threats from A and had flashbacks. Everytime, you get a little more insight as to why the girls have become who they are and what they're trying to hide from everybody. You also want more clues as to who this mysterious A is, and why they are so intent on destroying everyone's image of Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna.
The whole time I was reading Pretty Little Liars, I couldn't put it down. Each girl has a totally different personality, ranging from preppy Spencer to athletic Emily.All four girls have a different take on their relationship with Ali and what happened to her. The diversity of the girls makes the book all the more interesting, and everyone can relate to at least one girl, if not all of them. Pretty Little Liars was fantastic, and I recommend it to any teenage girl