Reading The Perfectionists has been much like my experience with Halloween candy; it's probably terrible for me but too delicious to put down. So, was this a revamped and repackaged Pretty Little Liars? Definitely. Do I care? Nope. From Sara Shepard's trusty "How to Write a Novel" recipe, ingredients include but are not limited to the following: 
 Mysterious deaths 
 Teenage pranks turned tragedy 
 Scandalous relations (of the student/teacher variety, obvs) 
 Girls from different cliques forming bonds in the wake of criminal activity 
 And my favorite...Problems that could be avoided if anyone would ever just tell the truth. 
 This is what chocolate covered dreams are made of, people. 
 I can't say exactly what it is that makes me love whatever Sara Shepard throws down, but opening one of her books is like binge watching my favorite CW shows while eating an endless bowl of popcorn. The best kind of entertainment. 
 And though a summary seems unnecessary and there are too many twists and turns to count, I must MUST give the teeniest tiniest theory that has been bugging me since closing the book... 
 PARKER DOES NOT EXIST. PARKER DIED. PARKER ONLY EXISTS IN JULIE'S MIND BECAUSE SHE FEELS GUILTY. Call it PTSD, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder, whatever. No one ever addresses Parker in conversation, when pulled into the detective's office everyone's motives were called out except for hers, when she was sitting on her front porch her mother demanded to know why she was there and locked her out BECAUSE SHE IS JULIE. Julie takes on the personality of Parker to cope. Oh, AND her therapist's comments/actions support this prediction...he says she has no scars BECAUSE SHE IS JULIE, he takes "Parker" to the cemetery and she has some kind of breakdown BECAUSE SHE IS JULIE and Parker's gravestone is there BECAUSE SHE ACTUALLY DIED. See? SEE? Ugh. The bane of my existence will be waiting for the sequel so I can wave it in the faces of my fellow readers claiming how I totally guessed one twist of a million in this series. 
 So, Sara Shepard, if you could just email me and confirm this theory I would greatly appreciate it.