Similarities & Differences: Pretty Little Liars Book&TV series

WARNING: Spoilers for the ABC Family show and the book series by Sara Shepard

Pretty Little Liars has become a global phenomenon. I myself am a fan of the show. I jumped in on season 3, and worked my way through both ends, watching the first two seasons, which I shamefully admit to not watching while they were still airing, and followed the rest of the show through. While I am a fervent supporter of the show, I began reading the books by Sara Shepard, of which the TV show is based on, and to my surprise, I actually like the books better than the TV show. Don't get me wrong, the TV show is brilliant on it's own way, it tackles some great social issues within it's episodes, particularly anything that has to do with Emily, but I just think the books are done much better.

Similarities

Both TV show and Book series have the same premise. Four girls, Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily, drift apart after their best friend and leader of their clique, Alison Dilaurentis, goes missing. On their Junior year of High School, they begin receiving personal messages from a character known as 'A', all of which had something to do with their missing friend. at first, they think it's Ali herself, playing a practical joke on them before making a big comeback, but things only get worse when Alison's corpse is discovered. Suspicions are raised. Who is A? How does he/she know their secrets? And what does he/she know about Ali's death?

The TV show and Book series had a lot of similarities in the first three seasons. The first being the personalities of the four main characters. Spencer is an overachiever who just can't seem to step out of her sister's shadow, Aria is the artistic individual who feels she doesn't belong in perfect, typical Rosewood, Emily is the sporty girl who's struggling to come to terms with her sexuality, and Hanna is the extremely pretty popular girl who has a low self-esteem. The Villain 'A' is also very similar in books and TV series, as he/she is described as A hooded figure dressed in black. 'A' doesn't show up in physical form in the book series until Wicked. Hanna described it as looking like "The Grim Reaper" 

Several plot lines are also very identical between the show. Somewhere in season one, Spencer decides to plagiarize Melissa's paper from High School to help her depleting grades. This was done in the books too, but had a bigger consequence. Ultimately "Spencer's" paper is nominated for a Golden Orchid, which is described as the "High School Essay equivalent of an Oscar." The reveal of the first 'A' is almost identical to the events of the books, only with minor differences. Mona was revealed to be 'A' in the books and TV series, only except the show sympathizes with Mona a little more, and extends her story line, revealing that she actually had a mental illness that caused her to do what she did, whereas in the books, she is killed off immediately after it's revealed that she's 'A'. In the books, Mona is just an evil bitch with one motive- Revenge.

Probably the most similar in character and appearance in both medium is the dead bitch herself, Alison Dilaurentis. In both books and show, Ali is described as the most popular girl in school. She has wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and a heart shaped face. The only real difference is the redemption of Ali in the show. In the show, she's actually alive and becomes a decent person. In the books, she's dead. She died the night of the sleepover and really was the body found under the Gazebo.

Both TV show and Books have a clear doll obsession. The cover of the books are actually barbies dressed as the main characters. In the show, dolls are an important aspect of the show.

Differences

See The Difference?

For every similarity between the books and TV show, there are 10 more deviations. Where do I even begin. I've already mentioned how the show got the personalities of the four leading ladies spot on with the book characters, but that's about it. The actresses who play the Liars bear little or no similarity with the descriptions of the girls in the books, as well as the models in the covers of the books. The closest one in physical appearance is probably Aria, but even she's not completely similar to the book character's appearance.  Aria in the TV show has dark hair, similar to the Aria in the book series, but in the books, Aria is described as being really tall, having a Ballerina frame, unlike the TV show, which has made a recurring joke about Aria's short height. The girls in the books go to a private school called Rosewood Day, while the ones in the show go to Rosewood High, a public school.

Toby dies in the second book...Spoiler alert!

Aria and Noel, arguably the book series' IT couple, aren't even a thing in the show. Sure, Aria and Noel dated for a while in the beginning of season one, but then they break up after she realizes that Noel is actually a douche, which he isn't in the books. In the books, Noel is probably the most consistent boyfriend character, aside from Mike, who is Hanna's love interest. And remember that thing in the show where Ezra is suspected of being A when it's revealed that he and Ali had a secret relationship, and Aria has a serious meltdown over this, and then Ezra almost gets killed by A and has to go to the hospital, but in the end gets back together with Aria? That happens in the books, too, but only with Noel instead of Ezra, who is actually similar to what Noel is in the show, which is very different for their characters. In fact, a lot of the characters in the show have way different personalities than their counterparts in the books. For example, Jenna in the show is very despicable, but in the books, you really feel bad for her. All she wanted to do was to get Toby away from her. Oh, we'll get to that little twist in a moment. Another character that's drastically different is Darren Wilden, who in the show, acts as a secondary antagonist, is actually someone who helps the girls out most of the time in the books. He's the first person the girls go to when they're in trouble. Perhaps the mot different character in the show from the books is hands down Toby. Who doesn't love Toby in the show? #Spoby. But if you're a hardcore Toby fan who only knows the show, and nothing about the books, then I suggest turning your head the other way if you don't want you're Toby love to be tainted. So, in the show, Jenna forces herself on Toby, and is wrongfully judged by the town of Rosewood as a freak. In the books, all the judgement Toby gets from the town is highly justified, because in the books, he was a freak and a pervert. In the books, Toby is described as being very creepy and he was actually forcing himself on Jenna, not the other way around. And you know how in the show, where Ali thinks that Toby was watching her and her friends through the window as they were trying on clothes, when it was actually Ian? In the books, It was Toby, and not only does Ali clearly see him, but the other four girls see him as well. He does eventually reform, becoming a swimmer and even becomes quite handsome. But by the time that happens, the damage was already done, and when he thinks that Emily knows about what he did to Jenna, he kills himself in the woods. And that's the end of Toby. There's no hooking up with Spencer, no trying to find out what happened to his mom and no joining the police force.

This was a MAJOR thing in the books

There are also a handful of characters the show made up (Caleb, Paige, Liam) and another handful of characters from the books that don't exist in the show. (Iris, Nick, Tabitha and Isaac). Naomi and Riley, Hanna's rivals throughout the whole book series, only show up once in the show.

The Identity of 'A' is a mixed bag. Both book and TV show have the same first 'A'. It was Mona, but for the second 'A' is when things get tricky. In the books, it's actually Ali's revenge-crazy twin sister, but in the show, it was misunderstood Charlotte Dilaurentis, a secret Dilaurentis child who, like Courtney, spent a good chunk of life in a mental hospital. The show sympathizes with their Charlotte a little more, as it had with many characters. She's a misunderstood girl who really loves her sister, while in the books, Courtney(Who is actually the real Alison) is just a straight up villain who's only mission is to kill the four girls.

Ali & Courtney