The Perfectionists

If you have not read this book yet, YOU SHALL NOT PASS! But seriously, major spoilers from this point on.

First, the backstory: This May my best friend would not shut up about PLL, her favorite TV show. During the summer, I decided I would give it a shot and see if I liked the show. I feel in love and quickly read the first four books to know who A was. After that I marathoned the show until the Season 4 finale and am now waiting for Season 5 to come out on DVD. I slowly read the next four books but after book 8 they became a bit repetitive, so I put them down. (Besides, I was starting to act like this:

Me: Based on the placement of the blood the only logical cause of death is murder. And the prime suspects must be-

Random person: Dude. All I did was spill cranberry juice on the floor.

Me: Arson!)

But anyway I heard Sara Shepard was writing a new YA duology with an interesting concept, and I still liked her writing style. Besides, I was interested to see how she wrote when she was limited to two books instead of having to stretch a plot out for 16 novels. So I picked this book up.

And I was blown away. Was it my favorite book this year? No. But I was expecting just a rehashing of PLL in two books, not this intricate mystery! Does it have flaws? Yes. Were there similar themes, plots, and characters from PLL? Yes. Was it still great? YES!!! To me this felt like a better written PLL, as if she had more experience and less content she had to burn through.

I’ll take this review character by character.

Mac

To me, Shepard’s writing style has always reminded me of a movie I would see on Disney Channel. Is there a slightly darker plot, sure, but at it’s heart it still has that slightly unrealistic and cliche, yet slightly addicting feel. And this style was extremely clear in Mackenzie's story. She is working herself so hard trying to get into Juilliard while secretly swooning over her best friend’s boyfriend. The ending is kinda predictable but I actually didn’t see it coming. And I swear I actually gasped when I found out Claire made it into Juilliard too. *shudders*

Ava

Wow, do I feel bad for this girl! She is the first to be questioned by the police through no fault of her own, and wow did Nolan get revenge on her. And at the end with Mr. Granger I was so creeped out. I kinda saw it coming but I was still shocked he would be so horrible to her. I can’t say I was sad when he died at the end. I knew he didn’t do it, but still that was a jaw-dropper.

Caitlin

This girl had it hard. Out of all of the girls individual plotlines I found hers to be the most enthralling. Jeremy and her are so cute together and god do I feel bad for her poor brother. I wasn’t completely sure Nolan deserved to die until I figured out what he did to Taylor. The rest just became background noise to what he put Caitlin and Taylor (and Jeremy) through.

Julie

I knew Ashley would be the one to give away her secret. I swear Ashley creeped me out. It really felt like Single White Female... I felt bad for Julie and her mom, especially the scene where the mom’s cats were evicted. I love cat’s even though I’m allergic. Well that was random. I really like Julie’s friendship with Parker. They felt very true to themselves.

Parker

Parker reminded me quite a bit of Jenna Cavanaugh from PLL the same way Nolan reminded me of Alison. They were both scarred for something someone else did. I felt bad for Parker and I hope she is happy at the end of The Good Girls. Again I liked her bond with Julie. I’ve got to say, I found the therapist guy really creepy, stalker or not.

The overall verdict is four stars and I can’t wait to see The Good Girls on my shelf. Who do you think the killer is?