Heartless: A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard

**SPOILER WARNING** This is book seven in the Pretty Little Liars series and will reference information from previous books. I won't give away too much from this novel, but the others might be spoiled. Read on with caution...

At the end of the last novel, a fire nearly kills all four girls and in the twist ending of that novel, the girls saw Ali alive! In this novel, when Emily admits this to the police, everyone gets fed up with the drama these girls are creating. Finally deemed in the press as the "Pretty Little Liars," Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily are slowly becoming the prime suspects in Ali's murder. Fearing for Hanna's sanity, her father ships her off to a spa/rehab/mental institute. There she befriends her roommate who isn't as trustworthy as she seems. Aria, on the other hand, might be the one who needs to be committed as she tries to get in contact with the dead, thinking Ali might be trying to communicate with them from beyond. Emily, under "A"'s advice, dresses up as an Amish girl and heads to Lancaster where she meets a girl whose family has a mysterious past to Darren Wilden - whom they all at one point thought killed Ali. Things begin looking up for Spencer as her family apologizes for treating her like dirt, but that only lasts so long as she begins digging into her family's past and her parent's connections to Ali's family. All of this drama climaxes to the point the girls are all arrested and Ali's killer is identified.

Of course this isn't the last novel in the series as at least one more book remains. A huge part of me hopes the next book is the last. The series has run it's course and I think the story is just being dragged out. Why do the girls keep falling for A's tricks? You'd think by now they'd learn but no, each new text lead to a whole new soap opera storyline. True, the story does draw you in as you're eager to find out where it all leads but it's getting a little old. I think some of it has to do with the time between when books are released. I would almost recommend waiting until all of the books are out and reading them all together. That way your excitement for the story doesn't dwindle.

For what the story is, the novel is good. There are some interesting new leads and twists which makes you wonder what's really going on. But, overall, this storyline needs to come to a close. How much more can realistically be done to the girls before even the readers lose trust in them?
MMK