Pretty Little Liars (Arc 2)
(Contains spoilers)
Wicked — No bad deed goes unpunished
The fifth book of the Pretty Little Liars series, Wicked, was published in 2008, and is the first book of the second arc. Court proceedings of Ali’s murder continue, and the majority of the residents of Rosewood believe that Ian is guilty. He gets released on bail after his mother suffers from health related issues, and immediately after, the Liars start getting texts from “A” again.
“In idyllic Rosewood, Pennsylvania, four very pretty girls just can’t help but be bad. Hanna will do anything to be Rosewood’s queen bee. Spencer’s digging up her family’s secrets. Emily can’t stop thinking about her new boyfriend. And Aria approves a little too strongly of her mom’s taste in men. The girls think they’re in the clear now that Ali’s killer is finally behind bars. But someone new is mimicking “A’s” blackmailing ways with wicked and mysterious messages. And it’s only a matter of time before they let some secrets slip.” (Back cover summary of Wicked)
After the events on Unbelievable, Hanna’s still struggling to accept the murder of Ali, but now she’s also grieving another friend, Mona, who had bad intentions during their whole friendship, and even tried to kill her. Since her mother moved to Singapore, she lives with her father Tom, Isabel and Kate. Only facilitator in this situation is her new boyfriend, Lucas, who lets her get a break from her family at his place. Their relationship starts to suffer when Hanna and Kate decide to burry the axe, and form their own Queen Bee- posse with Ali’s ex-best friends, Naomi and Riley. Now Hanna has little time to Lucas, she gets annoyed at everything he does or says, doesn’t answer his calls, and cancels their plans. The trauma from Mona’s betrayal starts to manifest itself, and Hanna becomes paranoid about the authenticity of her and Kate’s new friendship. She thinks that Kate and Mona were working together prior Mona’s death. She decides to make her move before Kate can, and sabotages her in front of their friends. Lucas ends the already rocky relationship with Hanna, because he doesn’t want to deal with her obsession over popularity anymore. And that’s how he became “the one that got away”, which was good for him, because he deserves way better.
Meanwhile Ella welcomes Aria back home, but as expected, their relationship is not the same, and Aria is (again) taking the responsibility on fixing everything. She attends an art function, since Ella couldn’t make it, and meets one of the artists, Xavier, there. She begins to have feelings for him, but as soon as she learns that Ella has been talking to him on online dating site, she changes her attitude towards him. Aria wants to tell her mother about the awkward situation that she’s in, but is afraid how she would react. Ella has done an extraordinarily bad job at parenting if her own daughter doubts if she’s believed over a new boyfriend. An awkward situation changes quickly to a disturbing one when Xavier tries to come on to Aria, and convinces her that telling Ella the truth would only harm her and the whole family. Aria leaves her home once again, and moves to Byron and Meredith’s apartment. They have put an offer over a house where their soon-to-be-born child, and Aria would have their own rooms.
As for Emily, things are looking brighter. Her parents and siblings have approved her sexuality, buying her all the seasons of L-Word as a Christmas present as a form of acceptance. However, she experiences another identity crisis when she meets Isaac, a lead singer of a Christian rock band, at her local church, and realizes that she’s interested in him despite his gender. They eventually start dating, but she’s too terrified to tell him about her sexuality, which happens to be a perfect target for “A’s” blackmailing. Isaac ends up accepting her, but according to Emily’s own explanation of her sexuality, she seems to be describing pansexuality rather than bisexuality as, for example, Pretty Little Liars Wiki claims. She elaborates that the romantic and sexual desires are based on one’s personality, not the gender they identify as.
Hi, Em! Doesn't the Bible say good Christian boys shouldn't kiss girls like you? So WWAD- What Would A Do? I won't confess your sins if you don't confess mine. XX, AAt the end of Unbelievable, Spencer decided to come clean about the plagiarism of Melissa’s old essay, which resulted in disqualification on the Golden Orchid competition. Her parents claim to not have been aware of the situation. They start to ignore and neglect Spencer, because to them, she tainted the carefully made reputation of the family. The conditions at home and the strict supervision she’s under in school reflect to her ability to learn and do school work. She was asked to step down as a vice president of the student board, and resign from the position of year book editor. She asks a top student, Andrew, if he’s willing to tutor her even though they don’t have the best relationship at the time. In one of the tutor session, Spencer mentions that she’s been left out of her grandmother’s will with the explanation that all the “biological Hastings” get a share. Andrew tells her about a website, ILoveYou.com, which reunites biological parents to their children who they have given for adoption, and Spencer becomes determined to find her birth mother.
The Hastings throw a fundraiser event at the end of the book, where Spencer and Andrew share a kiss, and Andrew confesses that he’s been crushing on her for a long time. At the same evening, “A” lures Spencer into in the woods behind Hastings’ house, and she and the other Liars who have come to find her come across Ian’s lifeless body.
Killer — A little beauty can be a dangerous thing
Killer is the sixth book of the series and the second addition to the second arc. It was published in 2009. Killer proceeds immediately after the final events from Wicked, where the Liars found Ian’s body from the woods, but as they return to the scene with Wilden, the body’s gone. What they thought would start an immediate police investigation, turned out to be the complete opposite. The claims of the Liars were simply not believed, and Wilden and the rest of the police force return to the scene not until the next day. They don’t find any evidence, and the media starts to ridicule the Liars. Someone claiming to be Ian Thomas starts to text Spencer, and the Liars start to suspect if he really could be alive.
“Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily have been lying ever since they became friends with beautiful Alison DiLaurentis. And their bad-girl ways didn’t die with her. Hanna’s on a mission to corrupt Rosewood’s youth, starting with a very attractive sophomore. Aria’s snooping into her boyfriend’s past. Spencer’s stealing — from her family. And pure little Emily’s abstaining from abstinence. The girls should be careful, though. There’s a new A in town turning up the heat. And this time Rosewood is going to burn.” (Back cover summary of Killer)
After Hanna tries to sabotage Kate at the fundraiser event, her father grounds her, and orders Hanna to spend every moment outside the house with Kate — she’s not allowed to be with her friends at school, café, or mall without Kate. She’s starting to notice that Naomi and Riley often choose Kate over her, and she starts to compete with Kate over everything. Kate expresses her interest on Aria’s brother, Mike, hence Hanna also starts flirting with him. Mike is one (if not the) of my least favorite characters. He’s arrogant, rude, sexist, and characterized as “funny”, but his jokes consist nothing but fetishizing lesbians and sexualizing women. He’s the perfect frat boy already in high school. Mike finds out that Hanna has been seeing him in order to win against Kate, and as it turns out, Mike himself had a bet with his friends about whether Hanna asks him to the prom or not. However, along the way they both developed feelings for each other, and decide to start officially dating. Hanna and Mike share similar qualities, like the obsession over popularity and looks, which, I guess, makes them the perfect couple.
Speaking of a perfect couple, Emily is rapidly falling for her new boyfriend, Isaac. They decide to have sex, and unknowingly get caught to Isaac’s mother. She doesn’t confront them directly, but throws unnecessary comments to Emily, and even cuts her head out of a photo. She later forbids Emily from coming to their home anymore, and when Emily tells this to Isaac, he takes his mother’s side. They break up, and after Isaac finds out the truth and begs for Emily’s forgiveness, they don’t get back together.
In Wicked, Spencer became determined to find her birth mother. She gets a match in ILoveYou.com with a young woman named Olivia, and Olivia arranges for the two of them to meet in New York where she lives. Spencer immediately starts to see the similarities between Olivia and her — the way they smile, the color of their eyes, and even the slim fingers they both have. Olivia was born in the city, and went to college there as well. She had just moved to West Village with her husband, and works as an art director in a magazine that focuses on the night life in New York City.
Spencer tells Olivia about her life at home, and admits that she doesn’t want to live in Rosewood anymore. She could start NYU the next fall, as she was already planning to do, if she moved to the city. Olivia promises that her real estate agent, Michael, would find her the perfect apartment if she was serious about moving. As it turns out, there’s a studio apartment available near the subway, Marc Jacobs, and more importantly, Olivia. The apartment has high ceilings, wooden floors, porch area in the back, dining room attached to the kitchen, and a bathtub. Michael ensures Spencer that these kinds of apartments in West Village go fast. She doesn’t want to waste her opportunity, and transfers Michael the money for first month’s rent, security deposit, and broker’s fee from a bank account where her parents had kept her college money. When she later goes to see her new apartment, she realizes that “223 Perry Street” isn’t even a real address in West Village, and the building where Olivia said she had just moved into, doesn’t recall anyone of that name. She was scammed.
Meanwhile Aria is having a tough time adjusting to all the media attention they’re getting. She has been seeing Ali’s brother, Jason, since the DiLaurentis family moved closer to Rosewood for the duration of the court proceedings. Aria had a major crush on him when she was still friends with Ali, and now the feelings are creeping in again. Emily warns Aria about Jason, since earlier she had seen him act very threatening towards her, and not long after, saw him having a heated conversation with Jenna. Aria is sure that Emily just likes to villainize Jason, since Emily wants to believe that Ali was telling the truth about the “sibling problems” that she claimed to have in order to get Jenna tell her about Toby. Aria’s shocked how love could blind Emily to not look things objectively, when she herself believes in Jason’s goodness without any indicators from it. Talk about hypocrisy.
Enjoy your gimlets? Well, sorry, darling, but the fantasy's over. Big brother is hiding something from you. And trust me... you don't want to know what it is. - AAt the end of the book, the Liars attend the opening party for Radley’s hotel, previously known as the “haven for troubled youth”. Emily finds medical records from one of the rooms that prove that Jason had been patient in Radley for many years before Ali’s murder. She shares this information with the other Liars, and they come to the conclusion that Jason and suspiciously behaving Wilden had something to do with Ali’s murder. Ian also confirms their strategy before someone sets the woods behind Hastings’ house to fire. Aria finds someone pleading for help in the woods, and saves them. After returning to the other Liars, they realize that the person is Ali.
Heartless —Nobody believes a liar…even if she’s telling the truth
Heartless was published in 2010, and is the seventh book of the series. After the Liars rescue, who seems to be, Ali from the fire, they pass out, and woke up to find her missing once again. Law enforcement, rescue workers, and media come to the scene to capture the visible shock that the girls are in. Media soon starts to call them the “Pretty Little Liars” hence their claims on seeing Ali don’t have any backup. They are believed to keep on making lies in order to salvage the most of their 15-minutes of fame.
“Rosewood’s four prettiest little liars are back, but this time they swear they’re telling the truth. Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily found a body in the woods, but when they take the cops back it’s vanished without a trace. And after those same woods go up in flames, the girls all see someone who looks exactly like Ali emerge — but that’s just not possible. With everyone convinced these four are simply out for attention, will anyone believe it when the real killer comes after them?” (Back cover summary of Heartless)
After the fire, the Liars are rushed to the hospital, and told that the amount of smoke they inhaled caused them to group hallucinate Ali being there. Aria, Spencer, and Hanna slowly accepts this, while Emily is still claiming that Ali is alive and needs their help. She starts to believe that “A” is actually helping her to find Ali, and sends her to Lancaster to an Amish community. She impersonates as Emily Stoltzfus from another Amish community from Ohio who was send to the Zook’s farm by pastor Adam to help with wedding arrangements. She gets to know the daughter of the family, Lucy, and finds out that her sister, Leah, left the community many years ago, and is now presumed dead by the rest of the family. Leah apparently ran away with her abusive boyfriend, who also left his Amish roots to the past. Lucy tells Emily that the boyfriend was Darren Wilden, the former troublemaker at Rosewood Day, and the current police officer of Rosewood. Since Wilden was lost all trust in the Liars’ eyes, Emily comes to the conclusion that Wilden killed Leah and the body that was found from the DiLaurentis’ backyard was actually hers. This would mean that Ali’s still alive.
Poor little Emily - you and I both know she's alive. The question is: What would you do to find her? - AMeanwhile Emily’s on her adventure to the Zook’s farm, Hanna gets send to Addison-Stevens Safe Haven -rehabilitation center. Hanna’s father got a letter from Rosewood Day’s psychologist who claimed to have been observing Hanna’s behavior at school. He believes that she’s suffering from PTSD from Ali’s murder and the car accident. In the rehabilitation center she befriends her roommate, Iris, who seems to be surprisingly similar to Hanna, having the same interests and manners as her. Hanna learns that Iris’ previous roommate, Courtney, was also very similar to the two of them. As if she was the whole inspiration behind the Queen Bee -attitude. Hanna finds out that Iris has been aware of who Hanna is the whole time, knows about Ali, Mona and the Liars, and has been feeding media stories about Hanna while in the rehabilitation center. Hanna starts to believe that Iris had something to do with Ali’s murder.
Aria begins to find answers of her own to the peculiar group hallucinations they experienced. Her father mentions that people who still had unfinished business prior to their death could come to haunt the ones closest to them. The fire started at the same forest where Ali was last seen, and near where her body was found. Aria decides to test the strategy, and visits a small shop that specializes in witchcraft and life after death. She happens to meet Noel there, whose also looking for answers since his brother committed suicide when he was only 6 years old. Noel finds Aria a real psychic, Esmeralda, who hands Aria a note during their sessions that says “Ali killed Ali”. This leads Aria to believe that Ali committed a suicide. She and Noel start dating.
Spencer has paid a high price — literally and figuratively — when searching for her birth mother. She lost all of her college money, and well as her relationship with Andrew. However, they do reunite in this book. Veronica and Peter were seriously frightened when they learned that Spencer was caught in a fire, and was lying in a hospital bed. They apologized to her, and Spencer felt secure enough to tell them about the mistake she made with Olivia. Olivia truly gave birth to Spencer, but she was the surrogate mother for Hastings, since Veronica’s last pregnancy with Melissa was difficult. All seems to fine in Hastings household once again until “A” reveals that Peter had an affair with Ali’s mother, Jessica, and is actually the biological father of the DiLaurentis’ children. “A” makes Spencer believe that Veronica truly hated Ali, because she knew that Peter was her father, and murdered her. When asking an explanation to the whole issue, Spencer learns that Veronica didn’t even know about the affair since Peter always denied it. They decide to take time apart and Peter moves out.
At the end of the book, the Liars are arrested for the murder of Ali. When they wait for the detectives to come, they realize that “A” has been just toying with them — giving them clues about the possible “murderers” of Ali and rather making themselves look suspicions with their insane strategies. Wilden releases the Liars and tells them that a man named Billy Ford was just arrested for the murder of Ali. They found pictures of the girls and Ali, and a computer that was used to chat with Spencer as Ian, from his car. When the police takes Spencer home, there is total chaos on her home street — Jenna was found dead from her own backyard, same as Ali.
Wanted — The truth hurts
Wanted is the 2010 released, eighth book of the series, and ends the second arc. After the arrest of Billy Ford for the murder of Alison DiLaurentis and Jenna Cavanaugh, the Liars as well as the readers are left to wonder if Ford is really “A”. Jessica DiLaurentis holds a press conference in front of their new house, where she personally invites the girls to attend. When all the curious neighbors, and media settles down, Jessica reveals that they have another child who has had “health problems”, and kept hidden for security purposes. The medical records that Emily found from Radley were actually a guest log, since Jason visited her sister at the institution. A girl with long, blonde hair, porcelain thin skin, and heart-shaped face appears to the porch — “Let me introduce Courtney. Alison’s twin sister.”
“Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily have been through a lot together — childhood pranks gone horribly wrong, not one, but two stalkers — blackmailers who know all their dirty secrets, not to mention their best friend’s murder investigation. Now these pretty little liars are finally going to uncover all the answers they’ve been searching for, and they can finally put this awful chapter of their lives behind them. Or so they think.” (Back cover summary of Wanted)
Courtney DiLaurentis starts school at Rosewood Day. All the liars are at first hesitant to speak to her, because she resembles Ali so much. Soon Courtney befriends Hanna’s ex-best friends, Kate, Naomi, and Riley. She also gets closer to Emily, who’s still desperately in love with Ali, and would do anything to get some of her back — even if it’s only the looks. How different could identical twins actually be? Courtney and Emily share a passionate kiss, and Courtney confesses that she’s been dying to “do that again” after she returned. Emily’s shocked since she’s never even met Courtney. Courtney reveals that she’s actually Ali, and had been shipped away to an institution during the murder of the real Courtney. Courtney had been suffering mentally her whole childhood, and was a patient in different institutions. One day she spent some time home between the change of institutions, and her parents mistook Ali as Courtney. Because Courtney had the habit of pretending to be Ali, they didn’t believe Ali, and checked her inside in Courtney’s place. She still can’t tell her parents the truth, because they would send her back thinking that she’s lost touch on the reality again.
Hanna returns to Rosewood Day from the rehabilitation center, but since her classmates have learnt the truth behind her absence, her popular clique has abandoned her. Mike also happens to became a social outcast, gaining an embarrassing nickname “Skidz” from a prank. Hanna selfishly decides to break up with him in order to get her previous Queen Bee -status back. Her mother sends her six tickets to New York’s fashion week, where she takes “Courtney”, Kate, Naomi, and Riley to regain her popularity. At the entry gate, a security guard laughs at Hanna’s “tickets” and tells her that they’re fake. Kate, Naomi, and Riley immediately turn on Hanna again, but “Courtney” stays, and tells Hanna that she’s Ali. Together they begin to plan the downfall of the three girls.
Hastings’ family dynamics have changed once again, and Spencer’s mother and Melissa seem to be upset with her with unraveling the truth behind her father’s affair. She has all the intentions to get along and close with “Courtney”, since she found out that she and Ali shared the same biological father, and that’s obviously the same case with her and “Courtney”. She (kind of) got her long-lost sister back, and is not going to waist the opportunity to get to know her. Spencer goes clubbing with her and Emily, where “Courtney” reveals her true identity. At first Spencer’s angry that Ali has not been in contact with them even though she’s alive, but after Ali apologizes to her, she moves past it.
Aria is the most suspicious of “Courtney”, and doesn’t want to get to know her. She notices that Noel and “Courtney” are spending a lot of time together, and her jealousy kicks off, as she remembers that Ali dated Noel for a bit just because she knew that Aria had crush on him. Aria is the last to know about “Courtney’s” identity, and to join their reunited friend group. The school throws together a Valentine’s Day party, where Aria attends with Noel, and Spencer with Andrew. Hanna and Ali arrive to the party together, but Emily expects the party to be hers and Ali’s first appearance as a couple. Ali shares her doubts about the timing, but kisses Emily and ensures her that she’s serious with her. Emily, Hanna, Spencer, and Ali had planned a trip to DiLaurentis’ Poconos house following the party, and after Aria sees that Noel tries to kiss Ali, she decides to skip the rest of the party, and join the girls.
At the Poconos house, the girls start drinking and having a good time, but notice that Ali’s acting strange. Ali suggests that if they finally want to get over “A” and the murder of Courtney, they should recreate the night that she went missing. She wants to hypnotize the girls, and leads them to upstairs bedroom. They wake up minutes after, and found themselves locked in the room. Ali’s nowhere to be found, but she has left them a finale letter that explains the whole mystery (parts of it below).
"Once upon a time, there were two beautiful girls named Ali and Courtney - but one of them was crazy. And as you know, with a few magical twist of fate, Ali became Courtney for a while. But what you don't know is that Courtney became Ali too. --Remember when you stalked me in my backyard for the Time Capsule Flag? And remember that girl who trotted out to the lawn and talked to you? That wasn’t me. As you so astutely figured out, Courtney was home switching from the Radley to the Preserve that weekend. And oh, how poor widdle Courtney didn’t want to go. She had her neat, crazy little life at Radley… and she didn’t want to start over in a hospital. --One minute she and I were arguing — I was so happy she was on her way out — and the next she was out in the yard, pretending to be me, talking to you guys like you were BFF’s. And how was I supposed to know that everyone — my mom, my dad, even my brother — would think it was me out there and Courtney inside? How was I supposed to know my mom would grab me and say it’s time to go, Courtney? I pleaded with her that I was Ali, but my mom didn’t believe me, all because Courtney took my A-is-for-Ali ring when I wasn’t looking. --Off we went. Courtney got my perfect life, and I got her wrecked one. Just like that."
It was true that “Courtney” had been Ali the whole time, but the Ali that the Liars knew was the real Courtney. Courtney befriended them, and let them join her exclusive club. Ali killed their Courtney, and Jenna Cavanaugh because they both were threats to her plan. She gave them pointless glues about “A”, got them arrested, sent the fake tickets to Hanna, and kissed Noel and twisted the situation so that Aria would break up with him. She and Mona were the original “A’s”, and used Courtney’s detailed diaries to harass the girls. As the girls are registering all the information, they start to smell smoke. Ali has set the house on fire, and tries to burn the Liars within. As they start to search for a getaway, they find Ian’s body from the closet, and Melissa kidnapped and tied behind him. The girls manage to get out before the house collapses, and the Liars are left to wonder if Ali stayed inside or not.
At the end of the book, Hanna’s mother returns to Rosewood and kicks Tom, Isabel, and Kate out of her house. She makes sure to add some boundaries to her parenting style, and not let things just fly by. Hanna finally understands that popularity doesn’t make her fabulous, but she herself. She apologizes to Mike, and they get back together. Meredith and Byron have their daughter, and Aria makes peace with her scattered family. She reunites with her mother as she finally tells her the truth about Xavier, and she immediately breaks up with him. Aria and Noel talk things through, and decide to get back together. The peace finally settles to the Hastings’ household too. Veronica and Peter have arranged a plan that they eat dinner as a family at least once a week. They have inhibited the toxic, competitive mindset that they have passed on to their children, and Spencer and Melissa’s relationship starts to heal. Emily accepts the lost of her Ali (Courtney), visits her grave, and finally moves on.
Somewhere a new student named Laura St. DeLions starts her senior year.
Final thoughts about the series so far…
For me the series was over after the eighth book. Based on the acknowledgment at the end of the book, I believe that the plan was to end the series, but for some reason, Shepard decided to continue for eight more books. I already thought that some of the twists in the story were repetitive, and completely pointless. The main relationships were mostly on-off, which removes the suspense for the future. Almost all of the parents were really horrible, no wonder that their daughters ran into problems.
I preferred the plot in the books much more than in the show, because at least it was consistent (although, it’s hard to believe that a size 2, teenage girl could kill a grown man and move his body around the forest). However, one thing that bothered me was that the Liars didn’t spent any time together because they felt like they were friends, but instead came together at times when it was necessary — court proceedings, press releases, incidents that involve “A” or Ali’s murder. They even said it themselves that it feels weird for them to be with each other. The only fun activities that they shared together were in Wanted when Ali, Spencer, and Emily went dancing, and when all the girls went to Poconos. Both times they were with Ali, which says a lot about the Liars’ dynamics. They need someone to form a group for them, and it’s a shame, because I really loved their friendships at the show.
One major issue that the tv-show had was the pairings of young girls and older men. I really hoped that after Ezra was written out in Perfect, the books wouldn’t romanticize or even introduce the same kind of relationships. Well, I was wrong… Ali (Courtney) and Spencer had a competition on who would hook up most with older men. That’s the reason why Spencer flirts with Ian and Wren, and why Ali had a relationship with Ian. Hanna also viewed Ian as one of the most handsome “boys” she’d ever seen. Then there’s the obvious relationship between Ezra and Aria, but also the attraction (at first) to the 30-year-old Xavier, and later to Jason who was in collage at the time. One of the biggest disappointments for me was the aftermath of Ezra and Aria. Ella briefly mentions their relationship, and shows little concern for her underaged daughter. She asks if there were any signs of exploitations, but how can you assume that a literal child can holistically view the situation as what it was. Of course Aria denies it.
What comes to the characters, I really liked some, and really hated some. Emily literally ran away from all of her problems — two times in the charity event, in Radley’s opening party, from Maya and Isaac’s mother in the café, and many times more. She didn’t face any consequences, which got annoying, and not to mention the obsession that she had over Ali. I understand that love can be a double ended sword, but it shouldn’t make people that stupid that they can’t see the truth when it’s laid in front of you. Even after Ali herself confessed being the original “A”, Emily still had hope that this would be just some mistake. Her character was annoying and clueless, but overall durable. The one character that I kind of disliked at the beginning, but at the end liked the most, was Spencer. She had a lot of problems in her family, and acted sometimes childish in her arguments with Melissa, but came through it. She learned from her mistakes, and truly found out what’s important in life.
Aria was really the classic case of “not like the other girls”. She fears that people will judge her based on her looks, but will absolutely do that to others. She categorizes fellow classmates as “typical Rosewood girls and boys” who are snobby, Cartier wearing, fashionistas, and presents herself as “different” and “weird”. It’s even more ironic when to me, Aria was one of the most boring characters in the books. Her only personality traits were being vegan, liking books, knitting, and Scandinavian music, and having a hippie-bohemian style in clothes. I thought that her storyline with Xavier was quite interesting, but it was kind of forgotten when she moved out. Other than that, she dates Ezra, Sean, Jason, and Noel, and has overly dramatic relationship with Ella. That’s it.
Hanna is a shallow, judgmental, and self-obsessed character, and acts just like Ali was before. She actually became Ali since she disappeared, and doesn’t have much of her own personality. She’s maybe not tormenting people about their weight like Ali was, but she humiliates Kate, Naomi, and Riley multiple times, judges Lucas for not being “cool” and popular socialite, and dumps Mike over a rumor since it would ruin her reputation also. It’s not just her Rosewood Day -personality that she puts on at school, because she acts exactly the same in home and Safe Haven. In Safe Haven she calls people freaks and losers just because a girl who appeared to be popular and put together told her to. At the end, I loved the realization that popularity doesn’t make you beautiful or cool, but instead confidence does, which is inherently within one or can be learned. Sadly, in my eyes, her character wasn’t salvageable anymore.
Even though Wanted introduced the possibility of Ali being alive, the story itself tied all the red threads together. There’s really no need for eight more books, but I’m still going to gradually continue the series, and see what’s going to happen along the way…
