The Pretty Little Liars series is a good teen/young adult series.  It deals with more grown-up issues and trying to solve them without getting publically humiliated.  In it, a group of four friends must rely on each other while trying to figure out what happened to their best friend one year ago. 

I liked this series, however I thought it was a bit long.  It could have ended after four books for me.  The first four books tell a story and wrap up the mystery nicely at the conclusion of the forth book.  However, four additional books were released that only complicate and stretch the realism a bit too far for me.  Events and circumstances in books 5-8 really had me laughing at the possibility and the ability of “A” to keep this going for this long and in the manner that he/she does.  I think Shepard should have ended the series at four books, but she didn’t ask me!  I did read the additional four books, and while they did stay true to the story line and plot, they seemed a bit forced and I did not look forward to the next one like I did with the first half of the series.  I also just found online that two additional books will be released, one in July of 2011, and one in December of 2011. (Why?)

The series (at least the first eight books) deals with teenaged girls in high school.  It follows four friends (Emily, Spencer, Hannah, and Aria) as they become the target of a cruel joke played on them by someone simply known as “A”.  They suspect it is their best friend Allison, except she went missing a year ago and is presumed dead.  As each clue comes closer to exposing their deepest, darkest secrets, the girls must somehow learn to rely on each other again and figure out what is going on before one of them ends up dead.

The books in the series, in order, are (1) Pretty Little Liars, (2) Flawless, (3) Perfect, (4) Unbelievable, (5) Wicked, (6) Killer, (7) Heartless, (8) Wanted, (9) Twisted {due to be released July 5^th, 2011}, and (10) Ruthless {due to be released December 6^th, 2011}. 

Ruthless : Not available for order yet, due to be released December 6^th, 2011