Pretty Little Liars: Killer

In Rosewood, Pennsylvania four pretty little liars are falling deeper into their web of secrets and lies. The new "A" is manipulating their every move and sabotaging their relationships with their families, boys, and each other. It seems the girls aren't the only ones with something to hide though. As they begin to uncover shocking truths about those they thought they could trust, the four friends don't know who or what to believe, including their own eyes.

Pretty Little Liars: Wicked

The fifth book in the Pretty Little Liars series starts off with Alison's killer behind bars. Mona, who sent Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily threatening messages as "A", is dead. The girls can finally move on and start living their lives again. But of course the truth is never so simple. In Wicked, suddenly the four friends have new secrets, receive messages from a new A, and are forced to acknowledge that there may be a new killer.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

We all know the stories about Jesus, the Son of God. but Levi, or Biff, is here to tell us what happened during the majority of Christ's life that was left out of the New Testament. Christopher Moore's amusing speculation describes the childhood and young adulthood of Jesus. Biff provides comic relief as he accompanies Jesus through his trials and travels. Christopher Moore portrays the Messiah as a regular guy who also happens to be our savior, and who travels the world dutifully studying Hinduism, Buddhism, and martial arts. Biff is hilarious and the complete opposite of his best friend, but loyal to a fault, and I love that he takes credit for things like sarcasm, lattes, and pencils. The crucifixion is a given, but it was especially devastating to see it from the perspective of someone who loved Jesus so dearly. I have been a Catholic my entire life and I know Lamb is purely fiction, but I found it extremely entertaining and it helped me identify a little more with Christ.

Maximum Ride: Max

The fifth book in the Maximum Ride series left me itching for more. Max's mother has been kidnapped and it's up to Max and the flock, with the help of the US Navy, to rescue her. The series gets a little more far-fetched when the bird kids develop gills and discover a new mutant species in the depths of the ocean. But Max finally gets over herself and expresses her true feelings for Fang, giving me the love story I'm such a sucker for.

Maximum Ride: The Final Warning

In The Final Warning, Max and the flock are recruited to help study the effects of global warming in Antarctica and be spokespersons for a worldwide mission to save the planet. The group finally has a safe place to stay, plenty of food, and nothing to worry about. Then they are abducted and delivered to a horrifying captor they know nothing about. The inevitable escape is pretty much accidental and has nothing to do with the group's survival skills, and the book quickly comes to a close. For me, the fourth book in the series was anticlimactic and disappointing compared to the first three books, but it was educational and stressed the importance of saving our planet now, not later.

Sweet Little Lies

If I ever think about picking up Lauren Conrad's third book, remind me to not. The former reality television star seems to be using her writing to express her feelings about former friends and lovers from The Hills in L.A. Candy and Sweet Little Lies. The incidents and characters are weakly masked. The wardrobe descriptions on every page take away from what little plot the story actually has. The main character is weak and insecure, and uninteresting to read about. My urge to find out how the series ends is not strong enough to endure more tedious descriptions of the same outfits over and over. To sum up, it's very sad that just about anyone can get published if they're famous enough, and L.C.'s efforts would be better applied somewhere else.

Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

It's been days since Max and her friends have been ambushed by Erasers, and the tentative sense of security is making them uneasy. Until Max's Voice informs them that all the Erasers and other genetic projects have been exterminated and the bird kids are the last ones remaining. Then the flock is captured by what has replaced the Erasers - flying robots with Eraser skin that are harder to get rid of. Plus, one of their own may be a traitor. The flock discovers that Intex, the company in control of the School and the Institute, and pretty much the world, has started phase 1 of the By-Half Plan to reduce the world's population by half. After escaping, Max and Fang divide the group in two, each having their own ideas of how the world should be saved. The girls head to Germany to take down the Itex World Headquarters, while the boys use Fang's blog to enlist activist children all over the world. In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Max's questions about her family are answered and she faces the tragic death of a key player in her life.

Maximum Ride: School's Out - Forever

The second book in the Maximum Ride series is even more exciting than the first. Max and her flock of human-bird hybrid children narrowly escape countless run-ins with Jeb, the scientist who helped them escape, but later abandoned them to return to the School. They are still on the run from the relentless Erasers, led by Ari, who is Jeb's son and holds a major grudge against Max for, um, killing him. The group is still trying to track down their missing parents, with mixed results. To top it of, Max has a shiny new voice in her head (that isn't her own), insisting that she was created to save the world. Whatever that means. School's Out - Forever is an emotional ride that has me officially hooked on these bird kids.

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

James Patterson's Maximum Ride series is about a group of genetically-altered hybrid children with human and bird dna, resulting in wings and other bird characteristics. Maximum, or Max, is the oldest, and takes it upon herself to lead the "flock", which consists of Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and little Angel. The group escaped from the lab called the "School" where they were created and have been hiding out ever since. When Angel is abducted by the vicious Erasers, a human-wolf hybrid also created in the School, Max vows to rescue her, no matter the cost. The bird kids face the unfamiliar outside world to free Angel and infiltrate the mysterious Institute, while trying to keep a low profile and outrun the relentless Erasers that seem to materialize around every corner. The Angel Experiment is a suspenseful, action packed thriller that lives up to its promise to take the reader on the maximum ride.

Pretty Little Liars, Books 1-4

The first four books in Sara Shepards young adult series are Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, Perfect, and Unbelievable. The books are about five best friends who think they rule their small town; Alison, Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hannah. When Alison disappears one night, the remaining friends quickly grow apart. Three years later, Alison is still missing and the other girls have moved on with their lives. Until they all receive ominous messages from someone who calls themself "A". A knows secrets that only Alison knew, so they all assume she is back and playing a prank on them. Then her body is found. The lives of the four remaining friends spiral out of control as they struggle to discover the identity of A, prevent A from spilling their darkest secrets, find out who killed Alison, and uncover Alison's own shocking secrets. The four girls fight for survival as they solve all the mysteries in Unbelievable. But with four books left in the series, one can only imagine what is in store for these pretty little liars. For a young adult series about rich high-schoolers, these books have a lot of depth. The twists are well thought out and the reader is lead to suspect everyone else before the actual killer and stalker. Sara Shepard has created a thrilling suspense series that I love, and I look forward to the next four books.