Reviews

Ali's Pretty Little Lies by Sara Shepard

dianavinogradova's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

birdlawyer's review against another edition

3.0

This book was okay, just pretty much what we already knew. I'm sure Sara Shapard just wrote this for the money though, I mean really.

surpriseitem's review against another edition

5.0

I don't even know how to formulate this review. I don't even know how to rate it. This book was interesting. It's not one of my favorite PLL books, but it was pretty epic. It was nice to get into "Ali's" head. I really enjoyed learning more about her, her family, and the weeks leading up to her death.
Now, Ali was really...let's go with mean. I knew that coming into this book that she was going to be snippy and rude and, just...yeah. But it was also nice to know why she did everything and how she was spiraling out of control, and how she was so sweet on the inside.
I understand why Ali was so spooked about opening the blinds in PLL, which I had never understood before.
Now, I really enjoyed Nick. About half way through the book though, I knew it was too good to be true. Something "Courtney" said earlier sparked my interest. It was about Tripp, her Boyfriend. I think Nick is Tripp, and I think he helped Ali kill "Ali."

earth_2_raven's review against another edition

4.0

I know I just started reading PLL, but I wanted to see Ali's side of the story. It's a good book, right from the start - from Courtney's switcheroo to Jason to the four girls. While I get why Courtney and Ali did what they did, it was still wrong. The family's kinda messed up, but I get all the pressure and drama in the family. I would recommend this to anyone who's read the PLL series.

nyphondora's review

fast-paced

2.0

geofroggatt's review against another edition

3.0

This is a prequel book to the Pretty Little Liars book series. Although it is chronologically the first book in the series, it is meant to be read after the eighth book, as reading it first would spoil the first eight books of the series. It's the end of seventh grade, and Alison DiLaurentis and her friends are the it girls of Rosewood Day. Ali runs her clique with an iron fist, and she's got enough dirt on Hanna, Emily, Aria, and Spencer to keep them in line. But Ali's hiding a dark secret of her own, something so huge it would destroy everything if it ever got out. She's desperate to keep the perfect life she's worked so hard to build, but in Rosewood deadly secrets have deadly consequences. The book is told from Courtney’s point of view, not Spencer’s, Aria’s, Hanna’s, or Emily’s, so it gives us a better look inside her brain and what Courtney was thinking during the events before and leading up to her death. This book also gives us more insight on the night Courtney died and what she thought of the Liars. It also gives more insight to all the things that have happened to the Liars and Rosewood itself. The first eight Pretty Little Liars books were my favourite in the entire franchise, and it surpassed the television show storyline for me. While I want to continue onto the ninth book and the final book story arc eventually, whenever I had tried reading it, it felt like a disingenuous cash grab to profit off of the television show’s success. One of my favourite things about this book series is that it portrays high school politics and social hierarchies well, especially from a teenage girl’s point of view, and this prequel book does a good job at depicting all of this as well. I loved the further exploration of Courtney’s character. She’s bold, daring and manipulative. I loved seeing Courtney use her cunning in order to slip into Alison’s life and how she adapted into becoming her own version of Alison with the foundations the real Alison had left behind. I liked seeing Courtney lose herself in Alison’s identity. I sometimes felt bad for the real Alison, I can’t imagine what it would be like to be forcibly institutionalized and replaced by your own twin sister, with no one in her life noticing that she was gone. However, Alison got Courtney forcibly institutionalized first, which initiated all of this. I loved Courtney’s internal thoughts and the insights that it gave to her character. I liked seeing how she had traumatic memories involving her time at Radley. Seeing the real Alison adapt to her life at the mental institution and begin to befriend the people around her showed the real Alison’s true character and foreshadows her becoming “A”. I liked that Alison gave up trying to convince her parents that she wasn’t Courtney. Had she struggled and resisted, Alison would have been given increased medications that would have dulled her sense and unsharpened her mind. Alison deciding to play along with the twin switch was the smartest move she could have made in her position, and it showed she was just as cunning as her twin sister (if not more). I have also read The Lying Game book series by the same author, and while that book features a different kind of twin switch plot line, I much prefer the twin switch storyline in this book (and series). I loved that Alison is shown to be the “bad” twin here, which goes against everything the real Alison said in her letter to the Liars in Wanted. Although one could argue that there is no “good” twin, and that Courtney is the “bad” twin while Alison is the worse twin. While this book had potential to be a cheap prequel cash grab, I felt like this book does a great job at exploring and fleshing out Courtney and Alison’s characters in the past while incorporating characters and plot lines from the first eight books and future books in the series. While I did not finish the ninth book in the series, this book has reignited my interest in this world and these characters enough to give it a second chance. I highly recommend this prequel book for fans of the first eight books in the series.

lestaslettering's review against another edition

4.0

Creepy.

poppycasgabs's review against another edition

5.0

Wow, Ali/Caitlyn, your life is so screwed up I don't even know where to begin. I liked it. She's not a total idiot like her 4 best friends and her problems are actually important. best book in the series so far.

my_circe4's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Enjoyable but doesn't have much substance.

blyttgh's review against another edition

4.0

So finally, all sixteen books make sense. All you really need to read is the first two books and this one. I don't regret reading all the books but I wouldn't do it again.
01/19/2020 definitely not 5 stars lol. I didn’t believe it sometimes like it just didn’t work
- Ali and Courtney are twins
- Ali starts manipulating Courtney and gets her sent away
- Courtney comes back and makes people believe she’s Ali and Ali gets sent away
- New Ali is still the same bitch as old Ali
- she meets Nick who her sister supposedly met at summer camp and starts dating him (not Ian)
- Old Ali talks about a boyfriend named Tripp
- New Ali and Nick break up after he sees Ian kiss her
- Her family talks about bringing Old Ali home and freaks New Ali out
- Old Ali pretends to be New Ali to her friends (scene from the fourth book)
- fast forward to the end of year sleepover: Ali goes outside and Spencer follows
- Spencer pushes her twice and then leaves
- Ian never shows up even though Ali and him agreed to meet
- Old and new Ali see their mother with Mr Hastings
- Old Ali drags new Ali and shoves her in the hole
- New Ali dies and Old Ali and a ~secret accomplice~ whose voice New Ali ~recognizes~ covers her up with dirt
- Old Ali tries to be Ali again but her parents don’t believe her and they send her away again while concrete is being poured on New Ali
- Old Ali promises revenge on the four girls that helped her sister escape

EDIT 02/11/20 Libby stats: picked up 17 times and read for 4 hours and 20 minutes