I absolutely love Sara Shepard! She is the Queen of mystery. These books are such a guilty pleasure. The book is very different from the T.V. series, for which I am pleased. I liked Emma as a character, she was well developed. Obviously Sutton was a very bad girl but the book is written in a way that you feel for her as well. 
 The author must have either had a very bad experience in High School or was naughty herself. Her characters of Sutton (TLG) or Alison (PLL) are very mean girls and she writes them well. LOL