Read an Excerpt
Pretty Little Liars #4: Unbelievable
Chapter One
The Zen is Mightier Than the Sword
Aria Montgomery woke up mid-snore. It was Sunday morning, and she was curled up on a blue vinyl chair in the Rosewood Memorial Hospital waiting room. Everyone—Hanna Marin's parents, Officer Wilden, Hanna's best friend Mona Vanderwaal, and Lucas Beattie, a boy in her class at Rosewood Day who looked like he'd just arrived—was staring at her.
"Did I miss something?" Aria croaked. Her head felt like it was stuffed with marshmallow Peeps. When she checked the Zoloft clock hanging over the waiting room entrance, she saw it was only eight thirty. She'd been out for just fifteen minutes.
Lucas sat down next to her and picked up a copy of Medical Supplies Today magazine. According to the cover, the issue featured all the latest colostomy bag models. Who puts a medical supplies magazine in a hospital waiting room? "I just got here," he answered. "I heard about the accident on the morning news. Have you seen Hanna yet?"
Aria shook her head. "They still won't let us."
The two of them fell gravely silent. Aria surveyed the others. Ms. Marin wore a rumpled gray cashmere sweater and a pair of great-fitting distressed jeans. She was barking into her little Motorola earpiece, even though the nurses had said they couldn't use cell phones in here. Officer Wilden sat next to her, his Rosewood PD jacket unbuttoned to his mid-chest and showing a frayed white T-shirt beneath it. Hanna's father was slumped in the chair closest to the intensive care unit's two giant double doors, jiggling his left foot. In a pale pink Juicysweat suit and flip-flops, Mona Vanderwaal looked uncharacteristically disheveled, her face puffy from crying. When Mona looked up and saw Lucas, she gave him an annoyed stare, as if to say, This is for close friends and family only. What are you doing here? Aria couldn't blame everyone for feeling testy. She had been here since 3 a.m., after the ambulance came to the Rosewood Day Elementary School parking lot and swept Hanna off to the hospital. Mona and the others had arrived at various points in the morning, when the news had begun to circulate. The last update the doctors had given them was that Hanna had been moved to intensive care. But that was three hours ago.
Aria reviewed the previous night's horrific details. Hanna had called to tell her that she knew the identity of A, the diabolical messenger who had been taunting Hanna, Aria, Emily, and Spencer for the past month. Hanna hadn't wanted to reveal any details over the phone, so she'd asked Aria and Emily to meet her at the Rosewood Day swings, their old special spot. Emily and Aria had arrived just in time to see a black SUV mow Hanna down and speed away. As the paramedics rushed to the scene, put a cervical collar around Hanna's neck, and carefully lifted her onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, Aria had felt numb. When she pinched herself hard, it didn't hurt.
Hanna was still alive . . . but barely. She had internal injuries, a broken arm, and bruises everywhere. The accident had caused head trauma, and now she was in a coma.
Aria shut her eyes, ready to burst into tears again. The most inconceivable thing about all of this was the text Aria and Emily had received after Hanna's accident. She knew too much. It was from A. Which meant . . . A knew what Hanna knew. Just like A knew everything else—all their secrets, the fact that it had been Ali, Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna who'd blinded Jenna Cavanaugh, not Jenna's stepbrother, Toby. A probably even knew the truth about who killed Ali.
Lucas tapped Aria on the arm. "You were there when that car hit Hanna, right? Did you get a look at the person who did it?"
Aria didn't know Lucas very well. He was one of those kids who loved school activities and clubs, whereas Aria was the type to stay far, far away from all things involving her Rosewood Day peers. She didn't know what connection he had to Hanna, but it seemed sweet that he was here. "It was too dark," she mumbled.
"And you have no idea who it could have been?"
Aria bit down hard on her bottom lip. Wilden and a couple other Rosewood cops had shown up the night before just after the girls received their note from A. When Wilden asked the girls what happened, they all insisted that they hadn't seen the driver's face or the make of the SUV. And they swore over and over that this must have been an accident—they didn't know why anyone would do this on purpose. Maybe it was wrong to withhold this information from the police, but they were all terrified of what A had in store for the rest of them if they told the truth.
A had threatened them about not telling before, and Aria and Emily both had been punished once already for ignoring those threats. A had sent Aria's mother, Ella, a letter telling her that Aria's father was having an affair with one of his university students, and revealed that Aria had kept her dad's secret. Then A had told the entire school that Emily was dating Maya, the girl who had moved into Ali's old house. Aria glanced at Lucas and silently shook her head no.
The door to the ICU swept open, and Dr. Geist strode into the waiting room. With his piercing gray eyes, sloped nose, and shock of white hair, he looked a little like Helmut, the German landlord of the old row house Aria's family had rented in Reykjavík, Iceland. Dr. Geist gave everyone the same judging stare Helmut had given Aria's brother, Mike, when he discovered that Mike had been keeping Diddy, his pet tarantula, in an empty terra-cotta pot Helmut used to grow tulips.
Pretty Little Liars #4: Unbelievable. Copyright © by Sara Shepard. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
Unbelievable finally reveals "A's" identity and the motive behind the threats and texts. As each girl begins to remember their past friendship with Ali, each slowly realizes that Ali just wasn't the sweet, innocent girl everyone loved. Ali kept secrets of her own. . . secrets that could have killed her.
I figured out "A's" identity after reading book 2: Flawless, however after reading the last chapter in Unbelievable, I just can't help but to wonder is there more to "A" and these four former best friends. I mean, the series isn't finished yet. . .
Spencer finally remembers what happened the night of Ali's death and what she remembers isn't good. Could she really have killed Ali? Not only does she have to deal with the thought that she could have really killed her best friend, but she's got to reason with the guilt of stealing her sister's AP Economics paper, which got Spencer nominated for an award her sister should have won. With the feeling that A is constantly breathing down her back, will Spencer be able to keep her cool composure, or will she finally pop?
After A let it leak that Emily likes girls, Emily's been living on the edge of sanity. Her parents don't know what to do with her, so they send her off to her ultra-conservative relatives in Middle of Nowhere, Iowa. When she arrives, Emily knows she won't last long -- then she meets Trista, an interesting girl who seems to understand Emily and doesn't mind talking to her. Will Emily last, or will she flee back to Rosewood and hope that she is accepted by those who love her most?
Aria's been kicked out of her mother's house after her mom found out she had been keeping the fact of her father's affair a secret for the past three years. Once again, we have A to thank for unveiling this bit of information. With nowhere else to go, Aria moves in with her father and his horrifyingly peppy girlfriend, Meredith. All Aria wants is for her life to go back to normal. When she starts an art class over at the neighborhood college her partner is none other than Jenna Cavanaugh, the girl who was the terrible victim of a nasty prank that Aria was a part of. Can Aria ever escape her past or will it keep catching up with her?
Then there's Hanna, who really is hanging on for dear life. She can't remember anything from the night of the accident, especially the identity of A. The rest of the group doesn't want to pressure her too much, but they really want to know who A is. If this isn't enough, Hanna has to deal with her feelings for Lucas. She remembers hanging out with him a couple of times, but that's it. It seems, though, that a lot more happened. Will Hanna be able to get her memory back and solve the mystery of who A really is?
PRETTY LITTLE LIARS has always been a favorite series of mine. I mean, who can resist the scandalous secrets of others, especially of those who live in Rosewood? UNBELIAVALBLE completely blew all three of the previous books out of the water. It could almost be a stand-alone book if all the information we learn in the preceding books wasn't crucial to the plot...
Read the full review at www.teensreadtoo.com
When we last left Rosewood Hanna had a deadly encounter with `A¿ (Rosewood¿s Stalker) that nearly cost her everything. Now she¿s left hanging on for dear life, and isn¿t able to remember anything from the night of the accident, including the identity of A. Spencer, on the other hand finally remembers what happened the night of Ali's death and fears she could have killed Ali. After A let it leak that Emily is homosexual, she is sent to live with her conservative relatives in Middle of Nowhere Iowa. Just when she thinks things can¿t get any worse, she meets Trista. Aria has been kicked out of her mother's house after keeping the secret of her father's affair, and now with nowhere else to go Aria moves in with her father and his peppy girlfriend Meredith. In the end, the Rosewood Stalker and Allison¿s murderer are revealed, but just when you think it¿s the end, there will be more.
I started reading the Pretty Little Liars series last year in my free time and it quickly became a favorite of mine! Then when I had a class assignment to read a book of my choice, I knew just the one to pick. After reading the first book, I was hooked; I just couldn¿t put it down. Who can resist scandalous secrets and crazy drama? Unbelievable was by far the best of the three books.
There are several things about this book that I loved, including the characters and their conflict both with each other and themselves. Each girl had her own secrets and drama. They felt like real people with real issues, and that made them easier to relate to. The plot was also great. It was full of suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. I kept turning the pages trying to find more secrets and uncover more answers. Shepard did a great job of hiding the identity of `A¿ through the final chapters. As many questions were answered, more would come up, leaving the book to end open-ended.
In conclusion, I loved this book and was super excited to hear that the Pretty Little Liars drama isn¿t over yet! The next book, Wicked, will come tomorrow! So in the meantime; I would definitely suggest beginning the series, while we wait on the arrival of the next book.