Review: Wicked by Sara Shepard

Wicked

Author: Sara Shepard
Series: Pretty Little Liars, #5

Summary: IN IDYLLIC ROSEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA, FOUR VERY PRETTY GIRLS JUST CAN'T HELP BUT BE BAD. . . .

Hanna will stop at nothing to be Rosewood's queen bee. Spencer's digging up her family's secrets. Emily can't stop thinking about her new boyfriend. And aria approves a little too strongly of her mom's taste in men.

Now that Ali's killer is finally behind bars, the girls think they're safe. But those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. And they should know by now that I'm always watching. . . . -A

Review

NOTE: This review may contain spoilers of the previous Pretty Little Liars books as well as from Wicked. If you have never read this series I suggest checking out my review of Pretty Little Liars instead. If you have read this series, or you just don't much spoilers, you may proceed! :)

 In Rosewood, things are never as they seem. Especially when it comes to high school juniors Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields and Hanna Marin. Three years ago, their best friend Alison DiLaurentis vanished, no where to be found. Just recently, her body was found, buried underneath a slab of concrete in her own backyard. Three years ago, the girls ruled the school. They were the most popular, especially because they were best friends with Ali. And everyone wanted to be best  friends with Ali. Together, they humiliated people who weren't as cool as them, and always found ways to get into trouble (without getting caught). Three years ago, Ali did something to someone to make them angry enough to kill her. And now, three years after Ali's disappearance, the cops, and the girls, believe they know who did it: Ian Thomas.

Ian Thomas was Rosewood Day's golden boy. He had devilishly handsome looks, a perfect smile and just happened to be Melissa Hastings' boyfriend and Spencer's crush. Little did Spencer know that Ali had her sights set on Ian as well, even offering him an ultimatum: break up with Melissa, or she was telling the world about their secret love affair. Sounds like a motive to kill doesn't it?

"Wouldn't it be nice to know exactly what people are thinking? If everyone's heads were like those clear Marc Jacobs totes, their opinions as visible as a set of car keys or a tube of Hard Candy lip gloss? You wouldn't have to guess whether your best friend was mad that you ditched her for the hot senior with the crinkly-eyed smile at the New Year's Eve party. You'd just peek into their head and know.

Unfortunately, everyone's heads are locked tighter than the Pentagon. Sometimes people give away clues to what's going on inside--like how your friend frostily ignored all your texts on January 1. But more often than not, the most telling signs go unnoticed. In fact, four years ago, a certain Rosewood golden boy dropped a huge hint about something horrible going on inside his nasty little head. But people barely raised an eyebrow. Maybe if someone had, a certain beautiful girl would still be alive." -excerpt from Wicked by Sara Shepard

Ian Thomas has finally been arrested for the murder of Alison DiLaurentis, but is claiming to be completely innocent. But Aria, Emily, Spencer and Hanna are completely convinced that he is the killer. Spencer even remembers seeing him with Ali right before she disappeared. Not only is Ian in jail, but A, or should I say Mona Vanderwaal, is dead after fighting with Spencer near a cliff and falling over the edge. The girls haven't received any A texts since, but are still rather paranoid and shaken up from the whole experience, especially Hanna who considered Mona to be her best friend for the four years after Ali's death. And with Hanna's mom halfway around the world, and her father and soon to be step-mother Isabel and step-sister Kate moving it not helping. But there's always Lucas to help ease the pain...

The girls began seeing a counselor who suggested that they bury personal items that held memories of Ali with them, as if to resemble burying Ali herself and moving on. Not long afterwards, Spencer's Nana passes away, leaving all of her grandchildren (except for Spencer) two-million dollars. After the reading of her Nana's will, her family begins acting a little strange, and Spencer vows to uncover what it is that they're hiding, with a little help from Andrew Campbell.

Aria's father is having a baby with Meredith, the woman he had an affair with, and now her mother is beginning to date again. Oddly enough, her brother approves of the guy very much, but Aria is having a hard time getting used to the idea.

Now that Emily is single once again, she's finding it difficult to find a distraction from Ian and his upcoming trial. That is until she meets the adorably cute Isaac, who's a guy, and Emily finds herself more confused by her feelings than ever.

With all of this, there is one thought looming over their heads: is A really gone? And the answer to that question is no. A isn't gone. But with Mona dead, who could possibly be sending the girls threatening messages about all of their secrets? At first, they speculate it's Ian, messing with their heads. But then something happens to make them wonder, maybe Ian isn't really after them at all.. Maybe it's someone else who holds a grudge over them for what they did back when Ali was around. And with an eery message to Hanna saying: I know that someone sometimes makes herself puke in the girls' bathroom. And I know someone's sad because she isn't daddy's only little girl anymore. And I know someone dearly misses her old BFF, even though she wanted her dead. How do I know so much? Because I grew up in Rosewood, Hannakins. Just like you. -A, suddenly, everyone is a suspect.

And the hits just keep on coming. I'm telling you, these girls just can't get away from their past. Now, not only is their best friend Ali dead, but so is Toby, Mona, and another certain someone that I won't say because of spoilers for this book. People in their lives just keep dying, and they're all afraid they're going to be next. And who knows with this series!? Anything is possible. I'm dying to find out who is behind these threatening A messages now. Just when you think you've got it it figured out, it all comes crashing down and it's not what you expected.

Trust me. You want to read this series.

I rate this book: