Book Review: Perfect (Pretty Little Liars #3) by Sara Shepard

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, four perfect-looking girls aren't nearly as perfect as they seem.

Aria can't resist her forbidden ex. Hanna is on the verge of losing her BFF. Emily is freaking out over a simple kiss. And Spencer can't keep her hands off anything that belongs to her sister.

Lucky me. I know these pretty little liars better than they know themselves. But it's hard keeping all of their secrets to myself. They better do as I say . . . or else!  

My Thoughts:

My daughter and I watch the TV show and my daughter just recently devoured all 16 books so I decided I better read them too.  I read the first two last fall and just remembered I should actually finish the series.

I love that these books are on the shorter side, easy to read and so entertaining.  They don't require a lot of thought but it's easy to read one in a day or two and for both my daughter and me, they keep our attention through the whole book.

In the third book of the series, Aria is living with her boyfriend, Sean, because her mom has kicked her out after a little incident she had with her father's new girlfriend.  Aria still has feelings for Ezra though so things are quite complicated for her.

Spencer has started seeing her sister's psychiatrist and is remembering events from the last night that she saw Ali alive.  Spence also gets nominated for the Golden Orchid, a very prestigious award based on an economics report that she wrote....or did she?  Poor Spencer has to try to decide if she comes clean about the report but she is enjoying the attention so much.

Hanna and Mona have a little tiff and now Hanna is worried that Mona is going to move on without her.  She is trying her hardest to keep Mona in her good graces but finds it so stressful that she starts to eat a lot of junk food again.  When she starts chatting with Lucas, things get even harder for poor Hanna.

Emily is in all sorts of trouble after her parents find out that she has kissed a girl.  Now Emily has to decide is she can try to change for her parents or stand firm in who she is.

While these books are fun and easy to read, I find that they are sometimes a little over dramatic.   As a mother, I find it hard to believe that Aria's mother would kick her out of the house over something so dumb.  What Aria did was wrong but there is no way I would tell my teen to leave my house over it.  I would make her call and apologize but really...leave the house and not even worry about her or give her a call or anything?  Yeah, I'm not buying it.  

Emily's parents were over the top as well.  Okay, so you are shocked that your daughter is kissing another girl but to threaten her with reform or send her to her ultra religious aunt and uncle in Iowa?  These relatives supposedly make their sons run in the morning to get out any sexual tensions and keeping a list of sins daily is ridiculous...although I am sure there are those people out there.  

I am excited that we have all the books so I can finish up the series.  I haven't figured out who A is right now but my daughter says I won't be surprised so we will see!