Pretty Little Liars

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Pretty Little Liars is a series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard. The series follows the lives of four girls – Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields – 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 and get revenge.

The first novel, Pretty Little Liars, was released in August 21, 2007.^[1] It was followed by ten other books: Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable, Wicked, Killer, Heartless, Wanted, Twisted, and Ruthless. Stunning, the next book in the series, has a release date of June 5, 2012.^{[citation needed]} A twelfth and final book, Burned, is scheduled to be released December 4, 2012.^{[citation needed]}

Pretty Little Liars was on The New York Times Best Seller list for 62 weeks ending in 2012,^[2] eleven weeks in 2009,^[3] and eight weeks in 2008.^[4]

A "companion" book, Pretty Little Secrets, was released on January 3, 2012. The book is set during the winter holidays between books Unbelievable and Wicked.

A television series based on the books currently^[when?] airs on ABC Family.

Characters

"A" is the main antagonist of the series. A is an anonymous extortionist who is privy to the Liars' deepest and darkest secrets and uses these secrets to exact revenge on the Liars for (often) perceived wrongdoings. There are three different "A" characters throughout the series. The first "A", Mona Vanderwaal, was able to discover the Liars' secrets by reading Alison's old journal. During a physical confrontation with Spencer Hastings, Mona was pushed over the edge of a quarry and fell to her death. The second "A" was Alison DiLaurentis, who killed Courtney DiLaurentis, Jenna Cavanaugh, and Ian Thomas. She also attempted to kill the Liars and Spencer's sister, Melissa. Alison is presumed dead after being caught in a house fire. After the Liars hide a secret in Jamaica, a new "A" appears.

Alison DiLaurentis was an extremely popular and cruel girl, who was Emily's, Aria's, Spencer's, and Hannah's best friend who knew all their secrets. Ali went missing three years prior to the beginning of the series. Although Alison appeared to be innocently kind and loving, she was a very flirtatious and playful young woman who possessed a wicked streak of deceit and manipulation within her, often handing secrets over the other girls. Her body was finally discovered buried under the gazebo on her family's former property, launching a murder investigation.

Emily Fields is a semi-popular jock who is dedicated to swimming. A shy girl with a sweet personality, she is bisexual, a fact which she takes great pains to hide until she is outed by the first "A". Although at first her parents make attempts to "de-gay" her, they eventually come to accept her. Best friends with Alison, Emily was also in love with her, which caused her great anguish and continuously affects her judgement in the present. Emily took a hiatus from swimming when she accidentally became pregnant; unbeknownst to most of her family, she secretly gave birth to the baby and gave it up for adoption. Despite this, she received a swimming scholarship to attend UNC.

Spencer Hastings is an extremely competitive girl who strives for perfection in everything she does. A high-strung over-achiever, Spencer is willing to do whatever it takes to win, often to the detriment of herself and others. She is often quick to jump to conclusions and suffers from IED. Spencer is half-siblings with Alison and Courtney, her father having had an affair around the time of Spencer's conception; her parents divorce when the affair comes to light. When she attends a summer program at Penn to improve her GPA, she becomes addicted to speed, leading her to frame a friend for possession in order to get admitted to Princeton. In Ruthless, she suffers from hallucinations and paranoia while suffering from withdrawal and guilt over her actions.

Hanna Marin is a popular, fashionable girl who "transformed" herself from being a chubby "loser" after Alison's disappearance. She struggles with both bulimia and anorexia due to insecurities about her appearance. Flighty and occasionally air-headed, Hanna often acts purely on impulse. In Alison's absence, she became best friends with Mona, not knowing that Mona was "A". Hanna's parents divorced when she was younger, after her father had an affair. Hanna dislikes her father's new wife, Isabel, and her daughter, Kate, who she forms a rivalry with. For a short time Hanna is sent to a mental institution, her father believing her eating disorders will resurface due to stress.

Aria Montgomery is an artistic, independent girl whose family moved back to Rosewood after her father took a three year sabbatical in Iceland. Prior to Alison's disappearance, Aria became aware that her father was having an affair with a student of his; having promised to keep it a secret, she is kicked out of the house after the first "A" reveals the affair to her mother. Her parents divorce and Aria's father marries his former student. Aria often feels out of place in Rosewood and tends to be attracted to older, more worldly men, which frequently causes conflicts for her. During a confrontation between the Liars and Tabitha in Jamaica, Aria killed Tabitha after pushing her off the roof of their hotel.

Books

Novels

Pretty Little Liars

The story introduces an exclusive group of friends: Alison DiLaurentis, the perfect yet manipulative queen bee; Aria Montgomery an independent girl who is considered to be the oddball; Emily Fields, a swimmer who holds secret feelings for Alison; Hanna Marin, who strives to be thin and popular like Alison; and Spencer Hastings, an overachiever who is brave enough to stand up against Alison's manipulative ways. Alison mysteriously disappears during a sleepover with the girls in the summer before 8th grade. The story then jumps 3 years later, when the girls are living their own lives and don't speak to each other. Aria returns to Rosewood from a 3 year trip to Iceland with her family and she meets and kisses a guy in a local bar who is revealed to be her English teacher, Ezra Fitz. Emily befriends the new girl in town, Maya, and soon develops romantic feelings for her. Hanna is the new popular girl in town alongside the former nerd, Mona. However, she and Mona sometimes shoplift though both can clearly afford their steals. Hanna battles the urge to turn back to bulimia, and struggles to manage the stress of keeping her queen bee status. Spencer continues to struggle in her long-standing rivalry with Melissa, her perfect older sister. Problems occur when she begins to feel attracted to Melissa's new boyfriend, Wren Kim, when he is introduced to the family. Throughout the story, the liars get messages threatening to reveal their secrets of the present and past, including a terrifying incident the girls refer to as "The Jenna Thing". They automatically believe it is their missing friend, Alison, because she is the only one each of them confided in regarding their darkest secrets. However, they are shocked when the police find her corpse buried in the backyard of her former house. The book ends with the liars receiving a text at Alison's funeral saying, "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. Aria's 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 Foxy, a benefit targeted at students their age. Hanna sneaks away from her family gathering in Philadelphia 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 so that her parents will not suspect anything and meets Wren there, upsetting Andrew and making Spencer feel guilty. Aria goes with Sean. Hanna is upset when she finds the two together and vomits from stress. Meanwhile, Spencer has figured out that the messages they are receiving 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. 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. On the side, she starts seeing her AP teacher again, which makes her feel bad as she starts to identify with the main character in The Scarlet Letter. A reveals Emily's secret, which leads the Fieldses to force their daughter into a "gay-away" program to solve her "problem". They tell her that she must comply or she will be sent to Iowa to live on 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 for a Golden Orchid Award 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 also finds out she had a week-long blackout when she was a kid and thinks 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 old friends. Hanna gets comforted by Lucas, a boy who had had a crush on her in sixth grade before becoming popular. 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 were 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, but she is hit by a car before she can tell them who A is. As they are calling 911, Aria and Emily notice Spencer looking the scene from the woods and quickly running away. The girls receive a mass text from A that says that Hanna knew too much, and that is why she got hit by the car.

Unbelievable

Hanna survives getting run down by A but has no memory of the night after the party and has completely forgotten who A is. After Emily's parents catch her with Maya at the same party and 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 when Ella and Byron's divorce is finalized. 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.

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 and finally out of a coma, 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 in the box of Ali's stuff that was left on the street 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 accidently pushes Mona off the cliff to her death.

Ian is arrested and the girls go to his court hearing, where he pleads not guilty. As they leave, the girls are relieved that they can move on with their lives and forget about "A", but Emily catches a glimpse someone that resembles Alison, but is unsure if what she saw was true.

Wicked

A new "A" appears and begins threatening the girls with more text messages.

Emily realizes she is actually bisexual when she falls for Isaac, a boy she met at church, but keeps it a secret because she doesn't think anyone will understand. Hanna still feels threatened by her new stepsister, Kate, and schemes to put herself back on top.

Aria has feelings for a man, Xavier, whom she met at an art show; however, he ends up dating her mother, putting her and Ella's already 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" and left Spencer out.

Meanwhile, Ian continues to deny killing Alison, and eventually the girls discover his body in the woods, having been murdered by A.

Killer

The Liars discover that Ian has been murdered when they discover his body in the wood. However, the corpse goes missing, leading the cops to believe that the girls are lying to protect Ian. Emily and Isaac's relationship deteriorates after they sleep together. Aria falls in love with Jason DiLaurentis, until he becomes cold and distant. Spencer tracks down a woman who claims to be her real birth mother, but ends up the victim of fraud. Hanna and Kate compete over Mike, Aria's younger brother, with Hanna eventually winning his affections.

At the opening party for Radley, a former mental institution, Emily finds proof that Jason DiLaurentis had been a patient there; the Liars come to believe that Jason and Darren Wilden had something to do with Ali's murder. Someone sets the woods behind Spencer's house on fire, almost killing the Liars. The girls see someone who they believe to be Alison running away from the fire.

Heartless

After the fire, no one believes the girls when they insist that they saw Alison. "A" sends Emily to Lancaster, where Emily comes to believe Wilden is Alison's murderer. Aria begins a relationship with Noel Kahn, after he defends her at a party. She visits a medium, who produces a message in Ali's handwriting that states that "Ali killed Ali."

Hanna's father sends her to a clinic to prevent her eating disorder from reappearing due to stress, where she befriends a troubled girl named Iris. Hanna has more dreams about Ali, which causes her to suspect that Iris had something to do with Ali's death. "A" reveals to Spencer that her father had an affair (and that Alison is Spencer's half-sister), making her suspicious of her mother.

The Liars are arrested for Ali's murder. They realize that "A" has tricked each of them into believing someone else killed Ali. However, a man named Billy Ford, is soon arrested for murdering Alison and Jenna Cavanaugh.

Wanted

With Alison's killer on trial, the girls think they can relax. They're shocked to learn of the existence of Alison's twin, Courtney, when she's introduced at a press conference. 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. Courtney later reveals proof that she is the real Alison, explaining that her twin, Courtney, pretended to be her on the night of the murder. Although skeptical at first, the girls slowly begin to trust Alison.

Ali invites the girls to her house in the Poconos after the dance, where she tricks them and locks them in an upstairs bedroom. In a letter, she reveals that she is the second "A" and is responsible for the deaths of Courtney, Ian, and Jenna. Alison explains that the Alison girl they'd been friends with years ago was actually Courtney. She blames the Liars for "stealing" her life and sets the house on fire, in an attempt to kill them (and Melissa, who Alison had kidnapped and tied up in the house).

The Liars and Melissa escape, but Alison is trapped inside the house and later presumed dead, although her body is never found. At the end of the book, in an unnamed high school somewhere in America, a girl whose name is an anagram of Alison DiLaurentis starts her first day of senior year.

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 are tormented with notes from a new "A" who knows what happened in Jamaica, as well as all their other new secrets.

Aria has trouble dealing with the Kahn's new foreign exchange student, Klaudia, who creates rifts in Aria and Noel's relationship. Emily befriends a new girl, Chloe, whose father dad offers to help get her a swimming scholarship, but makes unwanted sexual advances. Hanna is forced to steal money from her father's campaign after she is blackmailed. Spencer falls for the son Mr. Pennythistle, her mother's new fiancé, with disastrous results.

The body of the girl they pushed off the roof is found; the Liars learn her name is Tabitha and realize that they killed an innocent person.

Ruthless

While taking summer courses at Penn, Spencer becomes addicted to speed in order to perform well on her exams. When she's arrested for possession, she convinces Hanna to help her frame her friend, Kelsey, in order to get the charges dropped. After winning the role of Lady Macbeth in the school play, Spencer begins to suffer from paranoia and hallucinations due to withdrawal and her guilt over what happened to Kelsey and Tabitha.

Emily accidentally meets Kelsey at a party and befriends her, despite Spencer's warnings that Kelsey might be A. Emily and Kelsey's relationship turns romantic, but is shattered when Kelsey attempts suicide after learning the truth about Spencer's betrayal. She is sent to the Preserve for treatment, where the girls learn Tabitha was a patient there along with Alison.

Hanna attempts to undermine A by confessing to stealing her father's campaign money. However, she gets caught up in a secret romance with the son of her father's political rival. Aria, reeling from her breakup with Noel, looks to rekindle her relationship with Ezra, but isn't as happy as she thought she'd be.

Stunning

In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, four stunningly beautiful girls are haunted by a very ugly past. Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily want nothing more than to forget Alison DiLaurentis, their former best friend who tried to ruin their lives. But someone refuses to let her memory die. A is still out there, lurking in the shadows and digging up the pretty little liars' newest secrets.

Emily's reconnecting with an old flame, one baby step at a time. But is she headed toward true love or another bundle of heartache? Spencer's learning about the highs and lows of campus life on a trip to Princeton. Aria's seeing a whole new side to Noel's dad—and it could drive a wedge between her and Noel. And, for better or worse, Hanna's getting in touch with her inner A.

Secret by secret, lie by lie, the girls get tangled in A's dangerous web. A knows about everything, from their tiniest transgressions to the awful incident in Jamaica. Soon A will have enough ammunition to pull the trigger and end the pretty little liars, once and for all . . .

Burned

The 12th and the last book in the series to be released December 4, 2012. Aria is seen on the cover of the book.^[5]

Companion Novel

Pretty Little Secrets

Aria is reunited with her boyfriend from Iceland, Halbjörn, who tells her he is on the run from the police after participating in an animal rights demonstration in Iceland; Aria proposes the idea of marriage as a way to keep him safe, but later comes to regret it. Hanna joins a boot camp after thinking she gained too much weight at a holiday party, and develops feelings for the instructor, Vince. Emily is coerced into spying on a group of girls working at the Rosewood Mall who are suspected to be behind a recent rash of thefts and vandalism, however, she begins to sympathize with them. Spencer and Melissa compete for the affections of a guy, but later team up to get back at him.

See also

• Pretty Little Liars (TV series)
• Sara Shepard

References

External links

• Official website
• Pretty Little Liars: HarperTeen
• Sara Shepard official site