Perfect

Shepard, Sara. Perfect. Book 3 of the Pretty Little Liars series. 2008. 298p. ISBN 0-06-088738-9. Available at FIC SHE on the library shelves.

Toby’s suicide in Flawless did not solve the girls’ problems, as A is still sending them taunting messages. And everything has gone from bad to worse for Spencer, Aria, Emily and Hanna. After attacking her father’s mistress and marking her with a painted A after reading the Scarlet Letter, Aria is kicked out of her house by her mother, who didn’t think this action was the way to go. She now has to stay with her boyfriend Sean, but she remains drawn to Ezra, her English teacher.

Feeling remorseful over Toby’s suicide, Emily decides she will tell the police all about A and what has been happening to the girls. Sure, it will reveal their secrets, but then maybe the harassment will end. Unfortunately, A beats her to the punch and outs Emily and Maya’s relationship to the entire school during a swim meet, much to her parents’ chagrin. She now must go to a church program where her desires will be “normalized.”

In Flawless, Spencer had ran out of time to write a paper, being preoccupied by A and all, so she instead turned in one of Melissa’s old essay. Unfortunately, this essay has been submitted by her teacher for a prestigious prize. Her plagiarism is revealed, but her family agrees to hush the whole thing so Spencer does not disgrace them. However, in a fit of rage Spencer blanks out and hurts Melissa. When she comes to, she realizes that maybe she’s the one who did kill Alison in a fit of rage and simply blanked the event out of her memory.

Hanna, meanwhile, has a falling out with her best friend Mona, and loses her invitation to Mona’s party. Crashing the party with new friend Lucas, she is instead thoroughly humiliated. When her phone receives a message from A, Hanna finally sees her chance to end this torment. A made a mistake and Hanna recognizes the phone number. Eager to tell the other girls, she meets them outside. Unfortunately for all of them, A has not played all of her cards ...

The story continues in Unbelievable.