Maddie's Books

Earlier this year, I started reading the PLL series and finally got up to date right as Stunning came out. So, this was the first actual gap I've had to sit through between two of the books. It was an interesting experience. But, picking up another Pretty Little Liars book after not reading one for about six months is kind of like going back to an old friend's house, sitting in front of their fire place, and having a homemade snack. It's really nice and I wish I could convey to some of my friends how good these books are. They are kind of petty and sometimes unbelievable, but still light, addicting, and fun. I'm a lot more tolerant with the plot holes in this series than with anything else, actually. No matter what, the books are interesting.

Burned was not a let down. After reading a lot of the Pretty Little Liars books, you can start to predict the way the characters think and how the action will happen. That was definitely evident for me in this book and it was really my only complaint. The girls spent a lot of time suspecting people of A, but having gone through this same scenario many times with previous books, I knew from the beginning that they were going to be wrong. This is kind of the case with each novel in the series, but I felt they spent a little more time than normal accusing people of being the stalker. Maybe that's just me, but whatever. Either way, for every twist I DID expect, there was another one that I couldn't predict. It was enough to keep me on the edge of my seat and really surprise me from time to time.

I'm really excited with the direction that the series is going in. It's a little different than the early books, but it has to be- they can't tell the police about A, because no one would believe them. So, they're forced to take some matters into their own hands. Each character is a lot more paranoid than they used to be and you can start to see how the events that have taken place over the past couple of years have affected them. In the end though, it's still the same old series that you're used to if you've been following the books until now. But it's reaching that high point again where A is becoming more violent and I'm wondering if this time one of the Liars will actually be hurt by him or her. A lot of the clues at the end of this novel got me curious too and alluded to Ali still being alive, which I think would be the most plausible and interesting direction for the plot to go. With the PLL books in the past, you've always found out who A was in every fourth novel (#4 & #8), but this time we didn't. Sara Shepard has said that there will only be two more books, so I'm thinking it's going to be one crazy ending, if it has to be extended for more books. We'll see.

Either way, this is another great edition to the PLL series! I'm really aggravated that we have to wait until June for the next installment, but at least Ali's Pretty Little Lies will be out soon- I'm definitely looking forward to that. If you've read these books in the past, I would highly suggest you pick up Burned. For me, the series is still interesting and hasn't gotten old, which is hard for a series spanning over twelve books to do. Props to the author.