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Ali's Pretty Little Lies
by Sara Shepard
Ali's Pretty Little Lies was honestly the best novel of the entire series. I give it a 4.5/5 stars, because it was that flawless. If Shepard had written the other books like she wrote this one, I think I would have liked them a lot more.
The story tells the tale of two beautiful twins, Courtney and Ali. Ali, a bit on the mental side, has Courtney sent away to a mental hospital for years, until it eventually closes. At home while she waits to go to another hospital, Courtney hatches a plan and watches it unfold: she steals Ali's life and has Real Ali sent to the hospital instead. Courtney-as-Ali drops Ali's old best friends and picks up the Liars, forming a clique with them and ruling the school.
I think what Shepard has here is really, really great, and it's a shame the rest of the series didn't turn out as good as this one.
The emotions she gives Courtney-as-Ali is stunning. You can actually see the internal struggle "Ali" has, between her old self and this new role she's taken on. You can see her struggle between wanting to be nice and wanting power. You can see how much she wants to keep control on this new life she has, because she fears in an instant, it could be gone. She even goes so far as to say she'd rather die than be the person she was before, and that if she was caught and went back to the mental hospital, she would kill herself.
Being honest, Courtney made a better Ali than Real Ali did. I find Courtney-as-Ali the most fascinating of all the characters, and it's a shame that Shepard killed her off. I think had she kept Courtney-as-Ali alive, the series would've really taken off. But really, I'm not all that sad about; that just leaves one more character Shepard can never ruin for me.
What I most loved in that Shepard added in all the things the girls mentioned about Ali in the original series. Such as Emily and Ali kissing in Ali's tree house, the girls all finding Real Ali reading through Courtney's diary and the four of them mistaking the twins, etc.
Some other things I really enjoyed was the mention of Ravenswood (which would later become a spin off of the television show, sadly lasting only one season) and that Courtney-as-Ali mentioned a secret hand signal to Jenna, the only person in Rosewood who really knew about the twins.
Getting to read everything from the point of view of Courtney-as-Ali was really such a treat. If Shepard does write more, I really hope it's more novels like this, where the twins are actually included.
As much as I hate Shepard, I really love this book.
The story tells the tale of two beautiful twins, Courtney and Ali. Ali, a bit on the mental side, has Courtney sent away to a mental hospital for years, until it eventually closes. At home while she waits to go to another hospital, Courtney hatches a plan and watches it unfold: she steals Ali's life and has Real Ali sent to the hospital instead. Courtney-as-Ali drops Ali's old best friends and picks up the Liars, forming a clique with them and ruling the school.
I think what Shepard has here is really, really great, and it's a shame the rest of the series didn't turn out as good as this one.
The emotions she gives Courtney-as-Ali is stunning. You can actually see the internal struggle "Ali" has, between her old self and this new role she's taken on. You can see her struggle between wanting to be nice and wanting power. You can see how much she wants to keep control on this new life she has, because she fears in an instant, it could be gone. She even goes so far as to say she'd rather die than be the person she was before, and that if she was caught and went back to the mental hospital, she would kill herself.
Being honest, Courtney made a better Ali than Real Ali did. I find Courtney-as-Ali the most fascinating of all the characters, and it's a shame that Shepard killed her off. I think had she kept Courtney-as-Ali alive, the series would've really taken off. But really, I'm not all that sad about; that just leaves one more character Shepard can never ruin for me.
What I most loved in that Shepard added in all the things the girls mentioned about Ali in the original series. Such as Emily and Ali kissing in Ali's tree house, the girls all finding Real Ali reading through Courtney's diary and the four of them mistaking the twins, etc.
Some other things I really enjoyed was the mention of Ravenswood (which would later become a spin off of the television show, sadly lasting only one season) and that Courtney-as-Ali mentioned a secret hand signal to Jenna, the only person in Rosewood who really knew about the twins.
Getting to read everything from the point of view of Courtney-as-Ali was really such a treat. If Shepard does write more, I really hope it's more novels like this, where the twins are actually included.
As much as I hate Shepard, I really love this book.