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| Pretty Little Liars #2: Flawless (Pretty Little Liars) | 
 enlarge | Author: Sara Shepard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $6.99
You Save: $10.00 (59%)
New (6) Used (10) from $6.72
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 10817
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.3
ASIN: B0013L2E1I
Publication Date: March 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
In the exclusive town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, where the sweetest smiles hide the darkest secrets, four pretty little liars—Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna—have been very bad girls. . . . Spencer stole her sister's boyfriend. Aria is brokenhearted over her English teacher. Emily likes her new friend Maya . . . as much more than a friend. And Hanna's obsession with looking flawless is literally making her sick. But the most horrible secret of all is something so scandalous it could destroy their perfect little lives. And someone named "A" is threatening to do just that. At first they thought A was Alison, their friend who vanished three years ago . . . but then Alison turned up dead. So could A be Melissa, Spencer's ultracompetitive sister? Or Maya, who wants Emily all to herself? What about Toby, the mysterious guy who left town right after Alison went missing? One thing's for certain: A's got the dirt to bury them all alive, and with every crumpled note, wicked IM, and vindictive text message A sends, the girls get a little closer to losing it all.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Riddled with suspense, and a captivating cast of characters - a 'flawless' sequel April 27, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Alison "Ali" DiLaurentis had the four B's of popularity: beauty, brains, body, and boys. She also had four amazing best friends - Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields. As if their friendship weren't enough, she also knew secrets about all of them. Secrets that no one else even suspected, from bulimia to unfaithful parents, and everywhere in between. Then, one day, just as the summer was beginning, Ali disappeared, leaving four friends weeping in her wake. While their sorrow was strong, Ali's sudden disappearance was also a bit of a relief. After all, now their secrets would never be revealed. But the fact that Ali's body had never been uncovered always left a slight hesitation in their mind. That is, until she was found under a pile of cement, proving that their secrets would stay dead and buried. But maybe they spoke too soon. After four long years, Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily are brought back together to mourn at the funeral of their long lost best friend. But things hit a sour note when the mysterious "A" contacts all of them once more, threatening to reveal their secrets and pin the blame on them for "The Jenna Thing." As if the eerie note isn't horrifying enough, each girl is shocked to see that the police have re-opened Alison's case. Only this time it's being treated as a murder, leaving the four former friends open for police questioning at any time. To make matters worse, Toby Cavanaugh - Jenna's reform school brother - has returned to the quiet town of Rosewood, attending nearby Tate Academy. And, while the former geek turned hottie seems harmless enough this time around, there's a mischievous glimmer in his eye that's leaving everyone on edge. It doesn't help that, since Toby's sudden arrival, "A" has been sending more and more notes. Making threats, demanding them to perform certain acts, and even spying on their every move. While the girls know that they should confide in one another regarding "A's" sudden attacks, they can't bring themselves to reveal such intimate, and oft-times embarrassing, details to one another. It doesn't help that a sense of mistrust has grown between all of them over the years, pushing them more into the acquaintance category, as opposed to the friend category; or that they're all facing certain dramas in their lives right now. Dramas that could tear them apart, and ruin their lives in a heartbeat. From the arrival of a deadbeat dad, to the rekindling of a forbidden romance, and even moving into trusting a former enemy territory. Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Aria think that they'll be able to handle the newest drama on their own. But, as "A" moves closer in their direction, they begin to realize that if they're not careful, they may just be buried alive by their many scandalous secrets.
While Sara Shepard's debut, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, gave readers a character sketch, a surface look, if you will, at Hanna, Spencer, Emily, Aria, and even the missing Ali; FLAWLESS brings us back to where the first installment left off, the day of Ali's funeral, and instantly moves in to dissecting each of the aforementioned characters, giving readers the chance to get to know them better. Shepard has a talent for making the reader sympathize with, yet, at the same time, dislike certain people introduced. Her ability to make secondary characters memorable is amazing, and truly makes for a delightful read. While I find Aria and Hanna to be the most enchanting characters, simply because I can relate to both of them in various ways, I must admit that both Emily and Spencer are captivating in their own ways. The vulnerability that Hanna shows as she comes to terms with, and attempts to defeat bulimia, while giving into the pressures of anorexia nervosa, are addicting; while Spencer's inability to resist her older sister, Melissa's, boyfriends is jaw-dropping. Emily, like Hanna, is attempting to come to terms with the "real" her, which many readers will relate to quite well; while Aria is wacky and wonderful, and just working to keep her family together. Combined, each girls story presents a wonderful topping to the underlying truth: Ali's mysterious disappearance. With "A" moving in closer on every page, it's obvious that Shepard is working on revealing his or her identity sometime soon - or so we can hope. Riddled with suspense, and a captivating cast of characters - a 'flawless' sequel.
Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer
'Flawless' story May 23, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
To start off with, this series is much better than what I've read of the Gossip Girl series. It's more indepth, the characters have each a conscience, their actions have direct consequences, and they inspired pathos. Four privileged young women hide a deep secret. They are just fine going about their lives until they started receiving strange text messages from a mysterious person who only refers to themself as "A". "A" seems to know way too much about each girl- private, personal stuff, as it happens.
The last novel was an introduction to each of the characters. Aria continues to shoulders the burden of the secret of the last novel, Spencer continues to carry on a love affair with her sister's ex-boyfriend, Emily meets a boy that she sort of likes despite her sexual identity issues, and Hanna tries to turn over a new leaf, but, as usual, "A" threatens all that.
I'm begining to suspect Spencer. She witnessed Toby's response to The Jenna Thing, and she discussed what happened while all the other girls were asleep at the slumber party with Ali.
In the last book, I hardly sympathized at all with Hanna, but in this book, we're getting deeper into her psyche and relationship with her parents and how it affects all the other relationships in her life. I began to totally identify with her- can't please her parents, they're angry with her, but don't know the whole story and they won't listen to her side of the story, she can't do anything right. The portion of Spencer's story left me shaking my head at the end. A portion of Aria's story arc is done, but the original one, the one with her teacher, is promised to spice up. Emily's problems with her ex-boyfriend are going to explode in the next book, I'm sure.
Each character is very unique and has their own voice and problems. I think Sara Sheperd is doing a great job with the writing on this. It's like Harry Potter suspense- I can't wait to see how it ends!!
 Will Keep You Up All Night Reading! May 6, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was very eager for this book to be released, especially since I loved the first one so much. The Pretty Little Liars series has so far been very suspenseful with plenty of bad behavior and uncertainty to keep everyone guessing as to what will happen next. Flawless was not quite as good as the first novel in my opinion, but it still kept me up all night reading.
In order to fully understand both this review and the book itself, you should read the first novel in the series. Flawless starts us off by first taking us into the past where we learn about the "The Jenna Thing". Then it immediately picks up exactly where book #1 dropped us off - at Alison's funeral right after everyone gets a text message from "A" stating that she/he is still here and still knows everything. It's been determined that Alison is dead, so she can't be sending them messages. So who is it, exactly?
In this novel, the four girls get themselves into even more trouble. Aria, who still pines for her teacher, gets mixed up in her father's affair with Meredith. Spencer decides to see her sister's ex-boyfriend again. After all, her family and sister are extremely mad at her, plus she gets cut off from her credit cards, so she figures she has little left to lose. Hanna becomes even more obsessed with her weight and appearance and also gets in trouble for the stunt she pulled in the last novel. Lastly, Emily has a crush on her new best friend, but is too confused and scared to do anything about it. To top it all off, one of the people that the girls all suspect to be "A" dies.
But the "A" person continues to harass, threaten and embarrass them with emails and text-messages, driving all of the girls to the point of near insanity. Instead of confiding in each other about them, they are unfortunately driven apart because they each have a dirty secret that "A" apparently knows, but nobody else does. Will they ever find out who "A" is and be forced to reveal their secrets?
I enjoyed this book immensely, but not as much as the first simply because I started to wonder why the girls didn't try harder to find out who "A" is. I mean, texts and emails are pretty traceable. Also, the books are a little unrealistic. How is it possible that this "A" person be present everywhere all the time without being spotted?
Other than those things, however, this was a great read and I am eagerly awaiting the third book in the series. I recommend this book to fans of the first - just don't start it late before going to bed or you will be up all night!
Courtesy of Teens Read Too March 27, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
FLAWLESS, the second book in the PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series, creates some serious questions for readers. But like many books in a series, you should only read this second book if you've read the first, to get the full effect! You wouldn't want to ruin a good book!
In FLAWLESS, an unexpected person dies, and the girls continue to get more notes from someone named "A." The identity of "A" is still the big, looming question in this book! Some unanswered questions about Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Spencer are answered. Some of the things that we all wondered from the first Pretty Little Liars book are also answered. But there are definitely still things that I wanted--and needed--to know!
After I read PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, I knew I had to read the sequel! But now, with FLAWLESS, there are still so many unanswered questions at the end that we'll have to read the entire series, including book three (Pretty Little Liars #3: Perfect (Pretty Little Liars)), to find the answers!
Reviewed by: Taylor Rector
Suspenseful New Installment In A Great Series June 21, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
FLAWLESS is a great guilty-pleasure novel, full of suspense and intrigue hidden behind the perfect masks worn by the inhabitants of the perfect town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania. It is also surprisingly deep.
In this continuation of the story begun in PRETTY LITTLE LIARS (DO read PLL first), Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily are still trying to keep their secrets hidden, even from each other, and discover the identity of "A." The page-turning suspense continues, and the mystery only deepens in this book.
The four girls are realistic enough characters, though they don't exactly jump off the page. The writing itself is not breathtaking, but not bad enough to distract from the heart-pounding suspense. In short, the actual writing of this book is mediocre, but the suspense is enough to keep readers hooked.
Book Two is at least as much fun as Book One.
Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce
06/22/2007
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