Author: Sara Shepard
Genre: Mystery
Number of Pages: 336
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: October 7, 2014
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Summary:
In Beacon Heights, Washington, five girls—Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker—know that you don’t have to be good to be perfect. At first the girls think they have nothing in common, until they realize that they all hate Nolan Hotchkiss, who’s done terrible things to each of them. They come up with the perfect way to kill him—a hypothetical murder, of course. It’s just a joke...until Nolan turns up dead, in exactly the way they planned. Only, they didn’t do it. And unless they find the real killer, their perfect lives will come crashing down around them.
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Let's be honest. I wasn't planning on reading this. I saw the cover, saw the author, and read the summary and backed off. I like Sara's writing, but her books are all the same. Rich girls who make stupid mistakes and now are being tormented about it. I read about it for fifteen books in her Pretty Little Liars series, I wasn't planning on it again. But of course I put myself through the torture because though I wasn't a fan of this one, I want to know what is going to happen.
Sara's writing is great, she sucks her readers in with no problem. The story flows and it keeps your attention. That isn't the problem. I have already said it but this is so similar to Pretty Little Liars. Sara Shepard is a commonly known author now, since both of her books (Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game) had become TV shows, but she always sticks with the same murder mysteries, with rich girls who break the law and try to get out of it. It is boring now. I'm over it.
The characters were well developed, I understood the girls and what was going on in their lives. Some had tragic backgrounds, another was cheating on her boyfriend. Same old. The one thing I hated most about all of them is that, they planned a fake murder in the middle of class, exactly how they would do it, what they would use, ect. and expecting no body to hear them? Really? Then they are so shocked when Nolan is murdered the same way. It really didn't shock me. Sometimes there were clues right in front of their faces and they didn't even notice. Huh? It just frustrated me a lot.
Like Pretty Little Liars there are little subplots too. Who is hooking up with their friend's boyfriend, who is trying to get with the new guy, who is being blackmailed into something. All five girls have something else going on that really doesn't relate to the actually murder. I honestly think this is what kept my attention the most. I'm pretty sure I know who the killer is, all the evidence is pointed right at them. You never know though.
RATING: ★★★
Is this another series? I read the first ten books in the PLL series before I gave up, I just can't deal with series that have more than about eight or nine books (and even that's pushing it). Even though I agree that this book does sound like more of the same, I am still curious about it and might read it... Someday.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is another series. But it is so similar. I just finished the whole PLL series and the conclusion was just meh. It was predicated from the very beginning of it
DeleteI read the PLL books for the first eight because they are addictive and I wanted to know what was going on, but then I just gave up on the books... and I don't plan on picking them up again or picking this one...
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for reading it Amber!
I don't blame you! They were so drawn out. This book is so much of the same, I won't be suprised if she mentions the PLL news in this book
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