This page provides detailed explanations of the timelines I’ve created for the Pretty Little Liars book series. Discover how events from the books are organized, cross-referenced, and presented for a clearer understanding of the series’ complex timeline

Creating the Timeline

I began working on this timeline in December 2022, dedicating countless hours to reading, re-reading, and analyzing the books, taking notes, checking calendars, and cross-referencing dates. 

To establish a foundation for the timeline, I started with the release date of the first book, Pretty Little Liars, in 2006, since no specific year is ever mentioned in the series. From there, I  documented every hint or reference as to when events in the story occurred.

In the first book, Pretty Little Liars, it’s stated that it’s been “three years, two months, and twelve days” since Alison’s disappearance, which is said to have occurred on June 20. Although Alison’s disappearance is said to have occurred on multiple different dates throughout the series, June 20 is used the most and fits best with the timeline. Since we already established that the book starts in 2006, we can then  count three years back, putting Alison's disappearance on June 20, 2003. From there, we can count forward three years, two months, and twelve days to reach the start of book one, Pretty Little Liars, on September 1, 2006. This date then serves as the foundation for the entire timeline.

Occasionally, the books mention the month current or past events are taking place in. When a book is said to take place, for example, two months after the previous one, I would calculate the exact date that is two months after the end of the previous book. Then, I would work with the weekdays and any specific dates mentioned in the story to determine when the book is set and align it with the overall timeline

However, as I worked through the books, I noticed several discrepancies between the dates described in the books and the actual calendar, which made creating a consistent timeline more challenging.

Addressing Date Discrepancies in Pretty Little Liars

One of the biggest challenges when constructing the timeline for Pretty Little Liars books is that the weekdays and dates in the books often don’t align with the real calendar—or even with each other—indicating that Sara Shepard did not use an actual calendar when writing the series. 

I started running into problems immediately, with the start of book one, Pretty Little Liars–which we already established started on September 1, 2006. The problem is that this date is described as a Saturday in the books, when in reality, September 1, 2006 was a Friday. This creates a clear inconsistency.

Another example of the timeline’s issues occurs with the discovery of Ian’s body in book five, Wicked. 

In this book, the story spans from January 1 to January 7, but later, Ian’s body is described as being found on January 15, which contradicts the established timeline. Additionally, there are instances where the books mention events occurring in June, but earlier books suggest that June has already passed, further complicating the timeline.

To address these discrepancies, I developed a system that cross-references the fictional dates in the books with real-world calendar dates. In this system, both the incorrect dates from the books and the correct real-world dates are listed side by side. By using the actual calendar for the years in which the events are assumed to take place—starting with Alison’s disappearance in 2003—I was able to create a corrected timeline. For example, if a book claims an event happens on Saturday, September 1, 2006, but in reality, September 1, 2006, was a Friday, the corrected timeline will reflect Friday, September 1, 2006, not Saturday.

You can find links to the Pretty Little Liars book timelines and the lists of chapter dates below.