Author: Sara Shepard
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Hardcover, 338 Pages
Published December 2014
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Summary: In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, reporters are lined up outside the historic courthouse, typing furiously at their iPhones with freshly manicured nails. Because the trial of the century is happening right here in Rosewood: the four pretty little liars have been accused of killing Alison DiLaurentis. Only Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily know that they've been framed. Ali is still out there, laughing as she watches the girls go down for her murder. But when your nickname includes the word "liar," no one believes you're telling the truth...Aria tries to run away from it all but finds that life on the lam is even harder than life as a liar. Spencer gets in touch with someone who can help her disappear--but when a guy from her past reemerges, Spencer no longer knows what she wants. Hanna decides that she'll hear wedding bells chime before she serves time. And in the face of prison, Emily does something truly drastic--something that will change her friends' lives forever. As the trial goes on and the outcome looks grim, the girls are in their darkest hour yet. But maybe they can finally figure out how to beat Ali at her own game. Because once upon a time, she was just a pretty little liar too.Well, everyone...the day has finally come. I've loved this series from the start, but towards the end I was beginning to get a bit antsy and impatient and couldn't wait for it to be over. It was getting so frustrating knowing that every book leading up to this one would leave you stuck in a cliffhanger. (A little bit of that can be said about this book, too.)
Well, it's happened. The four girls are finally trying to get a hold on Ali and nail her for good. Because if they don't...prison time. Life sentences for murder and also for lying about it. It probably doesn't help that Ali dug up all of the evidence she could to ensure that the girls looked as guilty as possible.
Spencer, Hanna, Emily and Aria are all getting to the very end of their frayed nerves, unable to take any more of the physical and mental abuse from Ali that they've been dealing with for years. Ali caused them to lose friendships, watch people they love die, ruin relationships and become the unloved outcasts of their families. It's sick and they're honestly so done with it.
This book wasn't as great as I was expecting it to be. I was honestly expecting a five star worthy book with fireworks and plot twists and a way to go out of this series once and for all with the biggest bang, Rosewood-style. And when I closed this book, instead of thinking Oh God, this is it, I've finally finished the series, what am I going to do now? I was just more of a shrug and a Meh. Could've ended better, in my opinion.
But that doesn't mean it wasn't good!
I feel like my only problem with this series was that it was just so darn long. There were sooo many opportunities for Sara Shepard to cut the series off and leave it on a satisfied note, but it never happened. Time and time again, another book was announced. It got to the point where it was becoming a running joke. I loved the series, I was hooked on the story, but I just wanted it to end. I mean, seriously. A could only avoid the law for so long before she would get caught. It was becoming so unbelievable that it wasn't holding my interest anymore. Dare I say, it was boring me.
However, as far as conclusion books go, this one was still pretty good. Filled with lots of suspense and mystery, tons of thrills, and quite a few "uh oh" moments that made me widen my eyes and take a few seconds to gather my thoughts. As for predictability, I feel like a part of me knew this was going to be the ending all along, even if I didn't want to expect it.
All in all, Vicious was a satisfying conclusion to the sixteen-book Pretty Little Liars series. (I still feel like the books are ten thousand times better than the show for sure!) The ending wrapped everything up for me, at least for the most part, and I was pretty satisfied with what happened to each of the girls after all was said and done. Very, very interesting. I'm equal parts glad and upset to see this series finally be wrapped up, but Sara Shepard has tons of other awesome books for me to get started on, so I won't be waiting long! :-) (Plot Twist: If a Book #17 is announced for this series, I don't even think I'll be excited this time. Just annoyed.)
Rating:
Question for you: If you read Vicious, what did you think of the ending? (No spoilers!) If you didn't yet, what do you predict the ending is going to be? (And if you see that someone guessed right, don't tell them!)
I'm definitely in agreement with you as far as the ending goes! I thought it could have been better, but also felt that it was appropriate, you know? I also felt like this book was strictly a wrap-up book. Every single character had to have something wrapped up or discussed. Parts of it were TOO neat.
ReplyDeleteI have read the book and the girls end up in jail. Hanna gets married and Noel and Aria get back together. Emilys girlfriend Maya is dead. Spencer won't get to meet her niece. Until Emily goes to the DiLaurentis house where she sees Mrs DiLaurentis and Ali. She calls the cops and then the book switched to the court house where the girls are set free from there sentence.
ReplyDeleteHighly reccomend if you havent read it yet!