Pretty Little Liars and Hit: Echoes

Pretty Little Liars and Hit, Plot Echoes by lorieanngrover on Polyvore

As I traveled the country for the #hitwithgratitude project with author Justina Chen, I met so many teens who told me my novel Hit was similar to the TV series Pretty Little Liars. The first couple of mentions I thought were a bit unusual, but as it kept happening, I needed to investigate.

A month or so back, I sat down in front of Netflix and entered the world of Rosewood. What I discovered was an echoed plot strand, exactly as my readers described. The parallels between my Sarah and Haddings with Pretty Little Liars' Aria and Ezra were incredible. It was as if I watched the show and wrote my work. THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED! 

So this is my blog post to set the story straight. I began the novel in 2005, after the real Sarah was struck in a crosswalk in 2004. Originally a verse novel told in six viewpoints, the novel grew and changed for ten years. In 2009, I fictionalized and added Haddings. In 2014 Hit hit the stores. And now I can sit down and see the scenes play out on screen in Pretty Little Liars. Even to the brother's participation at the climax. I won't say more to avoid spoilers. :) But, are you kidding me? 

Sometimes creative ideas cross and birth at the same time. Stories are all ultimately echoes of each other. I've lost sales in the past, because another writer, at the same publishing house, with the same editor, had the same idea at the same moment. Yes, each story is told differently. Yes, each will present in a different light, theme, motive, and truth. But sometimes, wires cross, and the spark hits two people at the exact same moment. 

I thought If I Stay by Gayle Forman was Hit's echo. Pretty Little Liars rings even more loudly. One take-away is that there is a a story to tell. Look at us doing so, similarly and differently. Each can be appreciated; each will reach different people; each was developed independently. That alone is fascinating! Isn't it? 

Enjoy!

"Hit by Lorie Ann Grover is a powerful book about tragedy and recovery which shows you both sides of the story, for better or worse." Hypable

Rgz Street Team: Olivia reviews Pretty Little Liars #6: Killer, by Sara Shepard

The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.

Today, Olivia reviews Killer, the sixth book in the Pretty Little Liars series, by Sara Shepard *Spoiler alert: secrets of other books in the series are revealed in this review!*:

"In the sixth installment of the Pretty Little Liars series: Killer, relationships are strained and nothing is as it seems in picturesque Rosewood, Pennsylvania. The nightmare continues for high school juniors Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily, after their best friend Alison DiLaurentis was found murdered in her own backyard years after she went missing at the end of the seventh grade. Spencer's sister's boyfriend, Ian, is arrested for the murder after evidence is found that links him to a clandestine meeting in the woods with Ali the night that she died. At first, Rosewood considers the tragic case closed. But after Ian mysteriously disappears before his trial after somehow escaping his house arrest and telling Spencer that he's innocent, the girls don't know what to think- especially after finding his dead body in the woods, which later disappears before the police can find it at the end of the fifth novel, Wicked.

"But the secrets behind Ali's death aren't the only things haunting them. 'New A,' the mystery person who seems to know all their secrets, is still sending the girls threatening text messages: even though they thought they were done with A when Hanna's former best friend and the 'original A,' Mona Vanderwaal, is killed at the end of book four, Unbelievable, when she falls off a cliff into Floating Man's Quarry. This new A, however, might actually be helping the girls piece together the puzzle- seeing as she keeps sending them cryptic clues and pictures that relate to Ali and her murder.

"Meanwhile, Aria has decided to move in with her father and his now-pregnant girlfriend, Meredith. Even when they transition to a house frighteningly close to the woods where Ali died, Aria decides that it's better than staying with her mother, Ella and having to deal with Ella's new boyfriend, Xavier, who seems to be interested in her. After running into Ali's older brother Jason, she starts spending more time with him- though judging by her messages, A believes this is a perilous mistake.

"Spencer is busy making her own mistakes after she believes she is adopted and agrees to meet with her possible birth mother, Olivia. After immediately connecting with her young, stylish, look-alike in New York City, Spencer is all too ready to move into the city to be with her- ignoring A's advice to stay away from Olivia or else.

"Hanna is still locked in a power struggle to be Rosewood's queen bee with her stepsister, Kate, who moved to Rosewood in Wicked to be closer to Hanna's dad. Newly single and bitter that Kate has won over her father's heart, Hanna fights Kate for the affections of a not-so-unsuspecting Rosewood Day boy- with surprising results.

"Emily is also having some boy trouble with her new boyfriend, Issac. She's been nothing but nice to his mother, who is sending hardly subtle messages telling Emily to stay away from her son. At first, she dismisses her fears as ridiculous, but when she finds a picture of her and Issac in which Emily's head is cut out, she has to decide between letting Issac go or telling him the truth.

"Killer is focused on the girls' futile attempts to resume their normal lives while getting sucked deeper into the mystery of Ali's death and coming closer and closer to finding the real killer. With the captivating plot twists and cliffhanger that have now become typical for the series, Killer is a good read for any young adult mystery lovers--or anyone who wants a variation from the typical private school clique story with a little more weight."