Pretty Little Liars

By Sarah Shepard

Flawless
Perfect
Unbelievable

These are not the books to take with you for the waiting room of your admissions interview!

I thought I knew our audience very well. Our teen girls are cool, smart, stylish and nice. So why were these nasty little books flying off the shelves at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, CA? I just had to investigate . . . . And so I discovered these viciously fun books whose characters break every rule of what a nice girl does with the style and secrecy of those famous and Desperate Housewives Moms like to watch.

Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna have secrets, and their best friend and clique leader Alison was mysteriously murdered three years ago. Now suddenly in their Junior year their wicked past and present bad behavior is used as a weapon against them by a mysterious emailing, text-messaging, blackmailing, humiliating, disappearing person who signs her/his (?) missives with the letter “A”. So many secrets; such a good time.

Ok, Ok, this is not ”high literature,” but the characters and plot are masterfully fleshed out with well-written, nasty wit. We suspect that many of our customers who are perhaps pure of action, if not entirely pure of heart, will find a guilty pleasure in watching these girls behaving badly, getting their just deserts and once in a while getting away with, well, anything.

I confess.

Reviewed by Vivian