This super special takes place in the winter break between Unbelievable and Wicked, allowing the Pretty Little Liars to have some holiday fun. As this is four novellas in one, it is a surprisingly wholesome with happy endings for all. Well. . . as happy as things could be in Rosewood with the new A watching. Just watching, A is allowing them their holiday hijinks because it allows them time to gather blackmail for all the naughty things they got up to.

First off is Hanna’s story. Poor Hanna having to adjust to her mom flying out to Singapore for the foreseeable future and staying with her step-family and their Christmas that her dad seems to love so much more than her.

At least she has Lucas, oh wait Lucas is off to Mexico with his hot childhood friend. Hot and skinnier than her. So Hanna goes off to a boot camp to get back to her usual size four weight, and flirt a bit with the the cute trainer. It all seems light and popular girl-esque as expected of Hanna but it is a bit more than that. All this fear of losing her boyfriend and obsession with weight is because she is desperate to shed the sadness of Mona’s death. Her best friend who tried to kill her, that it all was a lie. It really speaks to hanna’s utter insecurities and lonliness that she fears the seventh grade loser in her will return. Plus seeing her bond with someone else as potential friend even though it ends with backstabbing consequences was sweet for a bit.

But don’t worry, Hanna did her share of bad behavior too, as well as Kate so we’ll just see how A utilizes it against them.

Spencer is also on the look out for new friends and she finds them unexpectedly when her mom enlists her to infiltrate the Merry Elves, a group of thieves stealing Christmas decorations including Mrs. Field’s ceramic Baby Jesus!

So with an itchy Santa Claus costume, Emily attempts to find some Christmas cheer to bond with the bitchy elves whose cooler than thou attitude reminds her of how she was always cast aside by Ali when they went to high school parties. Plus we meet a familiar face in the form of Cassie, Ali’s old JV friend who has radically changed from blonde all American athlete to pierced and blue haired delinquent.

Surprisingly, Emily has found she moved a bit past her shy self and begins to see past the elves’ tough exterior. She is able to see how lonely and messed up their home lives are and begins to believe in their anti Christmas commercialism agenda and aids their biggest prank. So Emily indulges in some legally ambiguious actions to help her new friends which A is so ready to use to her advantage. As A notes Emily’s biggest weakness isn’t the secrets she can be blackmailed for, but how far she is willing to go for her friends. So what rules will Emily break if she believes Ali is alive? A wants to put that to that to the test.

Aria, the most out there girl of the group is out of here when it comes to the family’s Christmas vacation. Ahem- Winter Solstice celebration. She’s not doing it this year, not with pregnant Meredith in tow so she plans to stay home alone. Until her ex boyfriend, Halbjorn from Iceland shows up!

Their first love is quickly rekindled, bringing Aria the best Christmas ever and just what she needs to get over Ezra. But that romance goes to rapid speed when Haljorn reveals the real reason he’s in the US. He’s hiding from the police in Iceland for his enviromental activism and he has to leave soon. But Aria has a better idea, to keep him in the US, he should get married to her. That way he gets a green card and Aria gets the true love of her life.

As for their I do. . . well that’s a secret for you to read if they make it down the aisle. But it A does make a good point about how Aria is an artsy girl who flits from guy to guy, persona to persona as everything is a blank canvass to erase her mistakes and experience no conequences. But oh the consequences are coming and I’m excited to see the results.

Spencer is usually the most interesting to me, as I said before, I find sibling dynamics fascinating. Here, the whole family is freezed out after the Golden Orchid/Arrested Ian scandal and the Hastings seems to have the beginning of marital problems (the cause is explained in Ali’s Little Lies). But a cute tenis player comes onto the scene and the sisters begin to bond over capturing his eye. Spencer begins to believe they can be sisters again!

Well things aren’t as sweet as they seem nor as perfect as the Hastings insist on showing to everyone else in the world. The ending is actually sweet for Melissa and Spencer at least and really funny, as they bond over a shared humiliation. How will A use it against them, who knows?

I do know that it won’t happen for a while since this was written after book 12 I think so it won’t be mentioned in Wicked or the following books but it is a refreshing change of peace to see the girls have some relaxing vacation time with their families and wished-for-friends.