Being stuck inside has been nothing new for me at all. I am not a fan of people and doing things unless it is going to the library. The last few months I have been buying books I have wanted on eBay, Amazon, and Facebook Marketplace. My best find was the entire Pretty Little Liars book series for five dollars. It was missing one book, but I was able to find that used on Amazon for just around 3 dollars. All in all, I spent around 8 dollars for the entire series. When I looked it up on Amazon, someone was selling it for around 300 dollars. I think I got a good deal. The PLL series breaks down like this:

So far, I have finished the prequel book and am reading Pretty Little Liars. I was super into these in high school, and then I gave up when there were so many books I thought I would never be able to catch up. Seems like fate wanted me to read them, and they are just as good as I recall.
The first book Ali’s Pretty Little Secrets is so good. I could not put it down, and I completed it in one day. Since this book sets the scene before the first one, I did remember some of the details from when I read the series forever ago. But it was also a great refresher as well. I didn’t expect to be drawn into the series so easily again, but I have always enjoyed books like this. I would read Gossip Girl books like crack when I was a teenager. I think I wanted to live that super glam life when I was just a bored kid with second hand clothes.
Finished:
Currently reading:
These are some of my thoughts so far about reading the whole series and what I have read so far:
- There are so many books, what am I doing?
- I cannot wait to watch the television series to compare.
- These books are so addictive 15 years later.
- Why am I so invested in a series people sometimes make fun of?
- How can I binge these faster than I am?
- WHY DID I NOT READ THESE SOONER?
My plan is to read and review these based on the arcs. When I finish Unbelievable, I will do a review of that arc and so on and so forth. I hope you will be sticking around to see my thoughts on each arc because I think it is going to be a lot of fun.
I will also be watching the series when HBO Max launches and then be doing a comparison of that as well. If you are interested in a long term review and examination of PLL, you have found the right place. I will probably be reading all of the books Sara Shepard has written in YA mystery for the rest of 2020. It seems like a good goal to have for the year along with some of the other reading things I have been doing.
Just a quick recap:
- I am still at the start of the series
- The prequel book gives great insight into Ali and her role in the series
- I have not watched the show yet, hence I cannot make a comparison as of yet.

I hope you will follow along with me for this journey and see what happens. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun!

I believe the reason a lot of people make fun of the series is mainly due to the TV series adaptation. I watched the show and the plot gets so convoluted and there are so many plot twists that it’s just ridiculous.
I haven’t read the book but have seen people say that they are very different from the TV adaptation, so I trust that is for the best?
I would assume that is correct, but I don’t understand why people need to make fun of stuff that is not even hurting them. I am someone who loves cheesy shows, so I think I could get behind the whole melodramatic thing. But that is just me.
The books are different so far, and I really like them a lot. Thank you for commenting!
This sounds like fun! I used to watch the TV series and loved it but then it got a little silly for me towards the end.