Vicious [Pretty Little Liars #16]

In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, reporters are lined up outside the historic courthouse, typing furiously at their iPhones with freshly manicured nails. Because the trial of the century is happening right here in Rosewood: the four pretty little liars have been accused of killing Alison DiLaurentis. Only Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily know that they've been framed. Ali is still out there, laughing as she watches the girls go down for her murder. But when your nickname includes the word "liar," no one believes you're telling the truth. . . . Aria tries to run away from it all but finds that life on the lam is even harder than life as a liar. Spencer gets in touch with someone who can help her disappear--but when a guy from her past reemerges, Spencer no longer knows what she wants. Hanna decides that she'll hear wedding bells chime before she serves time. And in the face of prison, Emily does something truly drastic--something that will change her friends' lives forever. As the trial goes on and the outcome looks grim, the girls are in their darkest hour yet. But maybe they can finally figure out how to beat Ali at her own game. Because once upon a time, she was just a pretty little liar too

Vicious takes place not that far after Toxic ended. We get a glimpse of a triumphant if not slightly...changed Ali (Apparently, she's gained some weight, dyed her hair and fucked up her skin all in the name of hiding who she really is) gloating over the success of her plan. she watches in the news in her hideaway with someone whose identity isn't revealed til the end of the book. But it's also pretty damn obvious. Ali recalls the same details we all already know about her previous crime and her fake diary and what not (P.S. what the fuck kind of captor lets their kidnappee write in a journal? That makes no damn sense. Gone Girl much?)

The first scene of the novel opens with the hopelessness of the Liar's case. They have lost everything. Hanna lost her movie deal and invitation to go to the Fashion Institute in New York. Spencer's bully blog as become a wasteland and her acceptance to Princeton revolved, Aria is no longer a sought after artist. They have gone through a feat of lawyers and none of them believe that Ali is alive or setting them up. Even the guy they have now who got mafia bosses out of murder charges doesn't think he can help them.

Emily can't take it. The girl has officially gone coo-coo for cocoa puffs.

She is seeing and hearing Ali everywhere, she has officially gone off her rocker. She suggests to everyone that they don't give up the search to find Ali because at this point,bringing back the dead girl is the only way of saving their asses from frying.

With jail never looking as real as now, Spencer starts taking How to Survive in Jail lessons from a tutor who tells her the only way someone like her is going to survive is if she avoid jail time. And if she can't do that in the jail system then she has a way to buy a new identity and help her get out town...for a high price. As rich as her family is, Spencer doesn't have that kind of change. So she and her friends decide to visit Ali's crazy, dissed and not really missed, ex boyfriend, Nick.

That trip quickly becomes a waste of time. The only thing Nick really says is that he doesn't think Ali's dead, he isn't sure if she's using more of his families property to hide out, however he does get mighty bull-hurt when Emily lies and says Ali told her he meant nothing to her, and she really loved her all along. Using the information Nick gave them, Emily finds one of his families places that no one has checked out in Cape May. Emily convinces her friends to go off to the coast to check it out. But of course the place turns out to be a dead in.

Heartbroken and finally giving in to their fate, the girls decide to stay for the night not realizing that something is wrong with Emily. And something is wrong indeed. After all it was only the last book that the girl tried to kill herself. And it doesn't take long for her to return to her roots. She scribbles a note to her friends then takes to the sea.

While Spencer and the others catch on, but by the time they arrive, it's too late, Emily gives her self to the sea as the hurricane reaches land. Spencer stupidly tries to dive in after her but she is no match for them waves. She quickly passes out as Emily's head disappears under the waves.

When Spencer comes to, she's in the hospital getting yelled at by an officer and no one is answering her questions about Emily. Finally she finds out that Emily's body hasn't been recovered, her doctor is the guy she gave her virginity to and Emily has been deemed Lost At Sea.

Next thing we know, we're at Emily's funeral where her family is subtly blaming the rest of her friends for leading her on the wrong path and refusing to let her speak. This leads to a huge fight between the remaining Liars as Hanna and Spencer duke it out as Hanna blames Emily's death on her.

Pretty quickly after all this, Aria is like, "Fuck this! I'm out! Peace!"

She kisses her boyfriend goodbye before catching a plane to France leaving Spencer and Hanna to mourn and fend for themselves.

Hanna spends the night with Mike, and in the next morning they have a fight when he claims that he's going to wait for Hanna even if she goes to jail.

Okay, Mike, whatever you need to tell yourself at night. It's a pretty thought but your ass likes ass and sex too much to wait for Hanna for some 20+ years.

But then he surprises me by taking Hanna's very logical questions as ultimatum to prove his love and responds with:

He very obviously doesn't have a ring, so he gives her his lacrosse bracelet, and says they can marry before she goes away to the slammer.

And Hanna...says yes. (Falm palm.)

This is just going to make it so much harder on the both of you when Hanna does go away because now you have to get a divorce. But no one listens to me!

Both Hanna and Mike's parents give the okay and they immediately start planning the Red Carpet Wedding of the Series before they get taken to jail for life. It is somewhere during this mess that it is realized that Aria has flown the coup. You would think this would bring Hanna and Spencer closer together but all the bad words (not blood, words) between them keeps them apart.

Meanwhile, Aria hops across the seas to Paris. On the way there she pitifully thinks she sees Emily, but it's someone else. From there she runs to the place that she and the Nick-she-knew (was it Phineas?) stole that painting all that time ago. And much to her (and my surprise) is is waiting for her but her boyfriend, Noel himself.

They are happy for a while until her old insecurities about Ali come up, her paranoia about being found and a huge fight that ends with them both getting caught by Interpol and their asses being hauled back to the United States.

Back home, Hanna is happily planning her wedding. She invites her stepsister, Katie, but happily calls her dad and tells him that his ass is not invited. Go Hanna!

And Spencer is now contemplating flying the coup as she and Wren reconnect. Now that she and Melissa have a good relationship, she refuses to let him back into her life. However, Wren wants her so bad, he goes and talks to her sister to get her blessing. She gives it and Spencer gives into him.

Noel and Aria arrive back in the States just in time for Hanna's wedding. The remaining three make up then become Hanna's bridesmaids. Also, her dad shows up and begs for her to allow him to walk her down the aisle (I think he only wanted to for a publicity stunt. By this point Hanna and Mike's wedding was sponsored by Us Weekly and literally had a red carpet on it). Hanna forgives him and allows him stay but only lets her mom walk her down the alise. They are happily married with Hooter's girls serving the food at their reception and a nice tropical honeymoon in Hanna's backyard.

Unfortunately, this honeymoon doesn't last long. The verdict comes back and it's not looking good for the Liars. (Don't trials take months?) The jury has decided...

Guilty.

Hanna passes out after sharing a scared-shitless look with her husband because in all their planning they (somehow) never accounted for Hanna really going to jail. Next thing we know, the Liars are in their orange suits in thrown in prision where there are enough Ali-Cats and just Ali-admirers to make them crazy.

They've barely spent a night in jail when their lawyer comes to yank them out of jail because they have to go back to court. Why? Because someone is waiting for them...and it's none other then Emily!

...and she's not alone either.

She has Ali with her! 

It turns out Emily purposely faked her death. 

She did find a clue in Nick's house but it was in Florida and knew that the girls wouldn't have a way to investigate it while they were in custody. So she fabricated that suicide letter so no one would come looking for her. I knew it made no sense for her to die in that water. Anyone who knew her, knew she probably had the talents being a swimmer and all, to survive. But it worked in her favor. She was declared dead and took a bus to Florida where she all-too-easily found Ali and...her mother. (During the trial, only Ali's "dad" was at the trial while her mom's excuse was she was tired of all of this. But she wasn't. She was hiding Ali all along.)

Emily calls the cops as she spots Mrs. DD then Ali comes out with a gun. But it is too late, the cops are already here. Ali tries to hop a fence and escape, but she's not as fit as she used to be due to her too-good-of-a-disguise. The cop quickly catches her and Emily exposes her as a dead-girl. Ali tries to refute this claim but Mrs. DD hasn't gotten their new ID's yet, so they are all taken into custody then shipped back to Rosewood. 

All the charges against the Liars get dropped, Ali gets thrown into jail and everyone ends up happy. It's a little too wrapped up for my tastes.

Aria and Noel make up and she agrees to leave her Ali-insecurities in the past. They decide to try and travel Europe again, but this time while not being on the run.

Mike and Hanna move to NYC. She gets her movie role back and back into the Fashion Institute while he transfers to a high school in New York while they live in a apartment together.

Emily goes off by herself for a bit and learns how to surf and finds a new flirtation.

Spencer and Wren get back together and she takes a year off from Princeton.

Meanwhile, Ali bides her time. She's made herself seem insane so she can get thrown in a psych ward and learned from her mistakes of the past by counting on other people's help with her plans. She's coming back for the Liars...all she has to do is wait.

*Sigh* and that was the ending we waited so long for. Nothing really happened. It might've been so much more interesting if we had known that Emily was alive and followed her dangerous journey across the country. Otherwise, this entire book was just a filler until the end. I'm really disappointed that the final showdown with Ali literally took like 5 pages and was over just. Like. That. What a waste.

But at least it's over now! It only took 16 books and a re-boot!

Plot Hole: If the DD family lived in a different town before they moved to Rosewood, then when did Mrs. DD and Mr. Hastings meet and have the affair that conceived Ali and Country? If this is answered and I missed it, please let me know because I sure am wondering.

Toxic [Pretty Little Liars #15]

One A has been captured…but the most dangerous A of all is still out there in the penultimate installment in Sara Shepard's #1 New York Times bestselling Pretty Little Liars series. High school seniors Aria, Emily, Spencer, and Hanna barely survived their most recent encounter with A. And it's not over yet…. The police don't believe there's another, deadlier, A out there, but the girls know what-and who-they saw. If they don't track down this final tormentor soon, A will silence them forever. Sara Shepard's fan base continues to grow as ABC Family's hit Pretty Little Liars TV show draws in new readers to the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Full of unexpected twists and shocking revelations, the second-to-last novel ramps up the stakes for the jaw-dropping series conclusion in Pretty Little Liars #16.

And so it continues. The series that stole all of Sara Shepard's creative juices from The Lying Game. 

I'll admit it, it's true. I am. I swear Sara Shepard and P. C. and Kristin Cast need to get together and let their books have babies together. Because these series are getting ridiculously long.

Anyways, a majority of Toxic has a nice feel to it. Things seem to finally be going right in the girl's world. 

Aria got discovered in the art world after a famous art critic collector named Carruthers (I think that's what he was) buys her painting...the only downside is that it's a painting of Ali. (I should've seen it coming from that little detail.) Anyway, this art critic's name is so powerful soon Aria has a showing, her mom (who made the sale at the gallery she works at) has been promoted to assistant director and Aria is giving exclusives to different art magazines and blogs. 

One of them belongs to a guy named Harrison and because she's on the rebound from Noel and her most recent break-up and their love for art, she tries to move on. Noel tells her early in the book that he needs a break and starts dating this blonde Ali-clone bimbo named Scarlet. (Am I the only one who thinks that only girls with red hair should be named Scarlet?). Deep down Aria knows she isn't really feeling Harrison and she's most def. not over Noel. And he...Oh my God, this boy makes me so mad! 

At the climax of the book, Aria sees Noel and Scarlet at the Rosewood Rally's for Underprivileged Kids (How can you have a rally for something that doesn't exist in your area?) and runs away to the bathroom because she can't handle it. However, he bursts through the bathroom 

And they are all:

Then he's all, "I don't know what I want." Shaking my head; so like a guy. I wanted to slap him. Then, he leaves. 

After Aria's left in the bathroom alone, someone from the New York Post calls and tells her that the art collector who bought her painting, didn't really buy it. He's was in Africa during all of this and someone used his name. Aria starts freaking out as the tabloid reporter starts asking if she set up the whole scandal herself, which she denies. She asks him who the name of Carruther's assistant was and he tells her, Maxine Preptwill, (however you spell it) AKA the name Noel and Ali use to use to communicate. Ali set her up. 

However, this actually backfired. Instead of Aria leaving the art world in disgrace, it only made people more interested in her art. There were more people buying her painting and her mom knew she wasn't lying about setting her own-self up. Which I loved. Usually the parents in this series piss me the fuck off. Also, Noel showed up and told her he dumped the Ali-look alike I mean, Scarlet, and tells Aria he wants her back. She agrees.

Hanna's nice new life is due to a movie that she's been invited to join. Someone is re-doing the movie of the Liars lives. Instead of that terrible Lifetime-esqe movie Pretty Little Killers, there is now movie that will be played in theaters called Burn It Down. (I hated how the movie script matched the dialogue of the books word for word.) Although, she's been invited to play Naomi instead of her self, who is being played by a celebrity named Hailey Blake. She's just another typical friend-until-she's-not character. She's all buddy-buddy with Hanna and takes her out to a movie premiere. It's there that Hanna meets the guy playing her real life boyfriend, Mike. Who (of course) kisses her. And Hailey gets the whole thing on her camera. 

Everything's going fine until Hailey's bad portrayal of Hanna's character and her partying gets to her and she and the director get into it Megan Foxx style. With Hailey no longer playing Movie-Hanna, Movie-Mike tells her that she should go after the part. So she does, but Hailey is betrayed since Hanna did nothing but encourage her to leave the movie. To get her back she sends the picture of Hanna and Movie-Mike kissing to the real Mike, who, is understandably butt-hurt. 

Hanna is so stupid, she should've told Mike about the kiss as soon as possible. You would think by now, she and the other's would have learned that if you tell all your secrets, there's nothing anyone can hold over anyone's head. But of course, none of the Liars thinks like this. 

Mike and Hanna are temporarily in a fight until Hailey decides to be on Team Hanna again after she sees film of her acting for Burn It Down. She gives Hanna her blessing for the part and fixes things with her and Mike. I liked that her mom was actually trying in her relationship and it was kind of nice that Kate was Tweet-supporting Hanna's movie role. However, I was wondering about her dad and why he didn't try to reach out to her after her murder charges were dropped. Haha...well, seeing the end of Toxic this is probably a good thing for his career. But more about that later.

Spencer's story-line pissed me off because it pointed out a flaw in this books. I swear these girls be kissing-and-dissing boys (and girls) from one book to the next. I wish I could meet guys as fast as they do. Shoot, I'd never be single. Spencer starts a bullying forum website for people who are or have been bullied to share their stories. This is her claim to fame. She goes on TV shows and gets all this coverage for her site. We also learn that in Alison's wake a bunch of fans called Ali Cats have risen. This a cult of Ali-crazed, Ali-loving fanatics who believe she is brave, misunderstood and strong for enduring everything she has. Basically they're crazy.

One of the alleged Ali Cats named Dominick sends Spencer e-mails telling her she ain't shit and she doesn't know what she's talking about. At the same time, this other guy, Greg is sending Spencer messages telling her that he is thankful for everything she has done for him and the others and blah-blah-blah. When Spencer goes on TV, he shows up-and so does Dominick, who makes a scene at the bully shoot video. After, Spencer and Greg hang out and start liking each other. In the middle of their almost-first-kiss, Ali (or is it) shows up and messes it up. Spencer and Greg spend more time together and finally kiss. She finally gets to the point where she confesses that Ali is alive and no one believes her and literally everything they knew.

Like, Spencer, you just met this boy! It's not like you've known him for years or lived in the same town as him like Noel or Mike. And even some of those people aren't trustworthy! Let alone some damn stranger! At the Rosewood Rally's event, Aria tells Spencer about Ali setting up her art career just so she can fall. She's so upset that Greg notices and keeps pressing the issue so Spencer tells him what's up. Of course, Greg turned out to also be Dominck, meaning he was sending both e-mails to Spencer. The Dominick Spencer thought she had seen, was just a friend of his doing a favor. Greg turns out to be a Ali Cat employed by Ali himself. 

On second thought, maybe they should be together. So they can be stupid together. Ali doesn't let people who go blabbing her secrets live. Which is why Ali kills him at the end. 

Emily is the only one who had a terrible story-line. Like, her's was gut-wrenching. I'm starting to think that Sara and Pretty Little Liars the TV show are starting to play off each other. (If you want to see these TV spoilers, highlight the lines below. First, Noel knew Ali's secret in the books and he knew she was alive in the TV show. Maya gets killed off on the TV show and now Jordan is killed too.) Emily's notorious thief girlfriend and her lawyer have figured out a way to get her out a jail. Somehow, both times she was arrested, she conveniently wasn't read her Miranda rights and a bunch of other stuff. If everything goes as planned, Jordan will get out on parole, although she and Emily can't run away together. Either way, she and Emily make plans together. Just before this happens though, Emily has a run in with a Crazy Ali. Before this all of the Liars have been having great lives. No one's been getting any texts and even though they knew Ali is still out there, no one's had any runs with her.But then when Emily is doing laps at the pool when Ali shows up and is all, 

And Emily is all, Bitch, please. Ali gets mad and nearly drowns her by holding her down in the water. She makes some ominous threat then takes off. But Emily's not about to have it. She snatches Ali's hoodie off of her and inside is a receipt to a grocery store. 

Soon after this though, Emily tries to use Jordan's lawyer to patch her through to the prison and the lawyer callously gives her some bad news: Jordan's dead. One of her inmates killed her and escaped. The first thing Emily thinks is Ali. She refused to tell her she loved her because she had finally moved on with Jordan and in response, Ali killed her not her inmate. However, everyone thinks she's crazy. I'm not even sure how I felt about this until the inmate's body turns up too.

She is heartbroken and although her parents keep asking what's wrong, she doesn't tell them because she knows they won't care as much because Jordan was a criminal. She lies and claims that the bruises from her nearly death-by-Ali experience were self-inflicted and starts sleeping in the closet. Her mom tries to make her feel better by trying to set her up at the Rosewood Rally. Which I thought was a very nice gesture coming from the parents who sent her away because of her sexuality. But she also thought something very important. How many times does she have to get disowned by her parents before tragedy brings them back together? A compelling (and slightly convenient) question.

Emily and the others track down the store that the receipt came from. One of the cashiers drops this accidental hint about Ali which later gets her killed. The girls figure out that Nick, Ali's ex-boyfriend, and his family had a house in the area that's been vacant for a while. They go search in the area, but Ali is nowhere to be found although they smell her perfume. They decide to set up cameras in the area and take turns watching them. Emily goes on a secret rampage one day and destroys the house although she cleans up after herself but the cameras catch everything. Spencer sees who she thinks is Dominick checking out the area one day and tries to catch up, but he runs. She later finds out it was Greg who, specially wanted to know if there were cameras.

During the Rally, the girls get together and go back to the house. There they find blood everywhere and a sweater that they stupidly take with them (removing evidence? I kind of get it but at the same time it makes me so mad!) and a hastily cleaned up crime scene. They call the cops then leave and all spend the night at Emily's. The next morning, Agent Fuji shows up suddenly believing them that Ali is alive. Or rather was. They found Ali's blood, torture devices and her tooth at the house. They know about the cameras and several witnesses have seen them in the area. The Liars are accused of keeping and torturing Ali to death. They are all arrested.

Ha, I wonder how she feels since each of the girl's success ties back to her. The first painting Aria sold was of Ali. The movie that's putting Hanna on the map is about Ali. Spencer's bullying website is due to her experiences with Ali. I swear if the next book isn't the last I'm gonna scream! It can only end like Obsessed. It's the only way this can ever truly be over. 

Ali has to die.