majesdane

You know, it's weird, when I read the books (about a week before the show started), I could only see Shay, Troian, Lucy, and Ashley in my head, since I'd seen the promos a billion times. But now when I re-read the books or when I read 9 and 10, I saw a weird combination of the book descriptions and how the actresses look on the show. Like, a blonde Troian. A brunnette Ashley. Aria looks basically the same, except a bit taller.

But Emily! Now when I read the books, Emily in my head looks almost exactly like her book description. But she has Shay's voice. Idk why this is, since I LOVE Shay as Emily, but there you go. /cool story bro

(All the side characters look like in the show, though.)

Yep!

No, it wasn't, which I always thought was a shame, because it gave Maya some nice depth.

I really enjoy book!EM. They have a more interesting dynamic than in the show, I think. And Maya's a little ... MORE of a character in the books. And a little bitchy, too.

You sort of like, slowly get back into it and as the books continue, you get more and more friendship stuff. I like how it progresses, personally, because it's not like after 3-4 years of not talking to each other that suddenly you'd all just be BFFs again because of A. It's nice how the girls first are like, 'Uh, we're not really friends and Idk if we ever were,' and then they get to this point where they realize, no, they ARE friends, and no one else gets them like they do.

ripe to fall

That's what I've tried too. But I can never picture Emily differently. And yea, I always hear their voices as I'm reading.

I agree. Also, I found the aspect of Emily's mum being kinda racist shocking but interesting in a way, although it was mentioned briefly in the books. Dunno if it gets brought up later in the next books.

IDK what it is about show!EM and Maya that makes me resent them. They're pretty similar in both, save for some things they excluded from the books. Maybe it's Maya's casting, I really have no idea. And I like how there's EA in like, every Emily chapter.

Now that you mention it like this, it does make sense. Cause 3 years of being drifted apart isn't a little period of time at all to be brought closer again so instantly after realizing they're all getting mysterious messages. The buildup should be nice.

Static Waves

omg forgot about Emily's mom in the books. Emily's storyline is nicely fleshed out imo.

My dislike for EM definately comes from the casting for Maya on the show. It just... wasn't right imo.

majesdane

The racism thing doesn't really come up all that much, but Maya is ~THAT GIRL~.

I think it's a combination between Maya's casting (not a lot of chemistry there) and in the show she just doesn't come off as being ~cool and ~outgoing. She's supposed to have some Ali qualities in her, which show!Maya just doesn't have.

Static Waves

I didn't even really like Maya in the books either

carol14

So I'm just about finished with book #1 and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though most of the "mystery" aspect of the book was ruined by my having seen the show. They stayed pretty true to the book in that respect. And I love the swearing and drinking. I know they're limited on what they can do on ABC Family, but it does make them seem more like real teenagers.

There were some things that were hard to get used to. Everytime Spencer is refered to as a blonde or Hanna as a brunette is just seems wrong. I see the girls from the show. And Emily is described completely different than what Shay looks like. Also, Emily has a sister? And I really like Emily and Maya. The scene in the photobooth was really hot and sweet at the same time. I loved being inside of Emily's head during that moment. It all rang true, for me anyway.

I even found the Ezria parts interesting. They cuddled in bed together naked! Wow.

Mona being high and going on a drunken ride with Hanna in Sean's car. Awesome. lol Except drunk driving is not cool. I wish they'd delve more into Hanna's eating disorder on the show. And also, there was no mention on the show of Maya's cutting. Maybe a little too much for ABC fam?

So the books are fun and I'm going to keep going.

Static Waves

the storyline I've always been most invested in, so I wish they would

majesdane

Emily doesn't just have one older sister, she has two, plus an older brother. I always kind of liked this, because it made Emily the baby of the family, which I found adorable. I really, really love book!Emily.

And, YES, the photobooth scene. Reading it was a flashback of my early teen years. FEELINGS EVERYWHERE.

carol14

Yeah, that is pretty adorable. I'm loving Book!Emily as well. The thing about books that I just love is that you get to know the characters in a way that you can't when you watch tv or movies. You get inside of their heads and understand them in a deeper, more meaningful way.


Yes. I have a few of these kind of moments when I was younger as well. The excitement and the fear and all of the FEELINGS!

majesdane

Yes, absolutely. That's one reason why I love the books so much -- especially when it comes to like, Aria and Emily, I think their motivations for doing things are a lot more subtle and complex and it's hard to get this across in the show.

I will forever support book!EM. Really well done, IMHO.

Static Waves

Aria in particular is a character that needs the book to understand her motivations, imo.

carol14

Another thing I wanted to say about this book is that I was pretty surprised at how awful Spencer's parents were about the whole Wren thing. I mean, yeah she was at fault, but they were really terrible to her.

All of the parents are pretty awful, actually. I'm on book 2, actually almost finished with it, so I'm gonna go search that thread out and read through it. These books are helping with this haitus. So much fun!

majesdane

Agreed.

Yeah, Spencer's parents are pretty awful in the books. Aria's parents aren't THAT bad, but Ella gets understandably upset, obviously. I think Aria ends up having the best parents over all.

Emily's parents are pretty awful, but then they get better from book 4 onward. They have to be the least understanding of the parents though, IMHO, when it comes to Alison/A/the mysteries. They're always just like, 'whatever, get over it.' Harsh, man.

Hanna's parents aren't TOO bad. There are some dick moves, but I can see how they would seem like good choices at the time.

Christian'sKimberDoll

Just a general question... Are the books similar to the series? I watch the series but haven't read the books. Is it worth from your point of view?

fox24

Yeah the parents could be terrible at times.The mystery is almost like the books but romances and character descriptions are different