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Image Credit: Freeform/Allyson Riggs
By Zakiya Jamal
We loved Pretty Little Liars and can’t wait to see the new spin-off series, The Perfectionists, which is set to premiere sometime this year. Similar to Pretty Little Liars, The Perfectionists is set in a seemingly perfect town that’s turned upside down when a murder takes place. The new series is sure to be filled with twists and turns and we can’t wait to dive in. Unfortunately, there’s no official release date just yet so while we wait we’ve put together the perfect list of books to read in the meantime.
The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons
The Perfectionists is centered around a school filled with students who will do anything to succeed. Vale Hall, in The Deceivers, is pretty similar. The school is for aspiring con artists, and when Brynn Hilder is recruited to attend the elite academy she jumps at the chance to start over. However, when she’s given the mission to rid the city of corrupt officials and her mark, a senator’s son, she soon discovers the school’s headmaster has secrets he’ll stop at nothing to protect. Brynn quickly learns that the lines between right and wrong are blurred and she may be in over her head.
The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
Before you watch the TV series, grab the book that it’s based on. Set in Beacon Heights, Washington, the book follows five girls Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker who, for different reasons, all hate Nolan Hotchkiss. As a joke, they come up with a plan to kill him, except then Nolan’s actually murdered exactly as they’d planned. Now they’re the prime suspects. The only problem is they didn’t do it; but who did?
One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
By the end of the first episode of The Perfectionists someone will be dead, jumping off a murder mystery. In One of Us is Lying, readers will attempt to discover who killed Simon, the outcast and creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app who had planned to post juicy secrets about all four of his classmates who were in detention with him. Was it one of his classmates, or someone else?
Dare You to Lie by Amber Lynn Natusch
Keeping with the murder theme, in Dare You to Lie Kylene’s FBI agent father is framed for murder and she’s forced to live with her grandfather in the small town that once turned its back on her and the boy who betrayed her. All Ky wants is to clear her father’s name, but someone won’t let Ky forget the photo scandal that drove her away two years ago.
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
Just like Beacon Heights, Sunnybrook is a town that’s been marred by tragedy. Five years ago the cheerleading squad at Sunnybrook High was disbanded after seemingly unrelated events left five cheerleaders dead, including Monica’s sister. Now Monica’s world is beginning to unravel as she discovers letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, and a strange new friend at school. Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over and some people in town know more than they’re saying.
Like Never and Always by Ann Aguirre
In The Perfectionists, the characters quickly learn their friends and classmates aren’t exactly the people they thought they were, something Liv in Like Never and Always can relate to. After a car accident causes Liv to wake up in her best friend, Morgan’s, body she attempts to fit herself into Morgan’s world and discovers endlessly disturbing secrets of the criminal and murderous variety.
People Like Us by Dana Mele
Though People Like Us is set at a high school and The Perfectionists takes place at a college, the stories are pretty similar. After a girl’s body is found in the lake at her private school, Kay Donovan is pulled into a computer-coded scavenger hunt, set up by the dead girl. Soon the hunt leads to suspect after suspect being implicated, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of a murder investigation.
