Wanted
Author: Sara Shepard
ISBN: 9780061566172

*Spoilers ahead if you haven’t read any of the books in the Pretty Little Liars series

Wanted by Sara Shepard is the final book in the Pretty Little Liars series. And oh man, after reading these eight books for the past three months, I was so ready to finally have an end to the mystery.

In the previous book, Heartless, we learn who has killed Ali…and Jenna. Billy is a random man with seemingly no connection to anyone in Rosewood and our four Pretty Little Liars are extremely confused. But now that Billy is in jail, they are breathing easy. That is, until Ali’s mom calls them and asks them to come to her house for a press conference. At the press conference, she drops a bomb. She introduces a girl, who she says is her daughter. This girl has the same heart shaped face and stunning blue eyes as Ali, but her name is Courtney, and Mrs. DiLaurentis explains that Ali and Courtney are twins and that Courtney was hidden away for years because of medical issues.

Needless to say, Hanna, Emily, Aria and Spencer are shocked. Something about Courtney seems a little off and as each girl spends more time with her, Courtney admits that she is indeed Ali. She has an elaborate story about the night when Ali disappeared and our Pretty Little Liars fall right into her pretty arms, happy to have their best friend back.

When Ali invites them to her house in the Poconos for a night of fun and reacquainting themselves with each other, our Pretty Little Liars gleefully accept. However, they don’t realize they are being led into the most dangerous trap of all.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. That is all I have to say about the finale to this amazingly spooky series. The whole series was full of twists and turns, but none more scary or shocking than in this final installment.

I’ll admit, I was a little annoyed when it was revealed that Ali had a twin. It almost seemed like a cop out. But, as I continued reading, I grew to appreciate the plot twist and when I finally finished the book, I was amazed at the web that Shepard expertly weaved leading up to the conclusion.

Is it just me or did this final book seem a lot more morbid than the others? Towards the end I was gasping out loud, covering my mouth, getting chills and jumping at every sound I heard in my house. The descriptions toward the end of the book of the fire, and what the girls found in the closet had me trembling at my very core.

While I’m not COMPLETELY satisfied with the very end of the book, I’ll take it. Shepard wrapped the book up for the most part, but of course left us with a little cliffhanger that was placed there more as food for thought, and less to torture readers into wondering what would happen next (if there ever were to be another book in the series).

One of my favorite things about this series is that at one point, I thought EVERYONE in the book was guilty, even our four main characters. Shepard does a great job pinning the blame onto different characters throughout the series to take your mind off of something else that may have happened. I had so many ideas about who killed Ali, and in the end, I never could have guessed what really happened.

I am SO excited to have finished this series. It provided a lot of entertainment and lots of thinking. I’m looking forward to the second season of the TV show on ABC Family.

5/5