Aria Montgomery (Book Character)

"Pigtunia wanted to go for a ride. How could I say no?"

- Aria to Courtney

Aria Marie Montgomery is one of the four main characters in the book series created by Sara Shepard. She is portrayed by Olga Alexandrovskaia on the book covers.

Appearance
Aria has long, raven black hair and has blue eyes, which is her distinguishing feature. She has been described as "freakishly tall." She is depicted to have pouty lips and a ballet-dancer frame. She is also said to have a bigger chest than most of the group pre-Alison's death.

Personality
Aria used to be Rosewood's resident weird girl—but that was before a trip to Iceland did her a world of good. It seems sometimes you have to leave your hometown to realize that you're not weird, just different. Aria is artsy and imaginative, with hipster style, and a passion for knitting and writing. But, unfortunately for her, when Aria blossomed in Iceland, her deepest, darkest secrets didn't wither away as she'd hoped they would. The ugly truth is out there, and it's going to catch up with her.
 * Distinctive feature: Blue eyes, black-blue hair and willowy ballerina frame.
 * Known for: Being anti-Rosewood, making short films, her yak fur bag, and knitting, vegetarian.
 * Favorite things: Coffee imported from Iceland, French films, literature, and Pigtunia.
 * Biggest regret: Keeping her father's affair from her mom.
 * Worst offense: Two counts of pushing someone (Tabitha off the roof of the hotel in Jamaica, Klaudia off the ski lift on the Kahn family's skiing trip).

Biography
Aria is an artsy girl who doesn't really fit in with the preppy, glamorous image of Rosewood. Her family is a bit odd too; her parents let her and her brother Mike call them by their first names, and they are much looser with rules than most Rosewood parents. Aria suddenly finds herself as one of the popular girls when "Alison" DiLaurentis decides to be friends with her in sixth grade. After Ali's disappearance, Aria and her family move to Iceland for three years due to her dad's job as a professor and lecturer. Before she had left, Aria and Ali discovered that Aria's father was having an affair with one of his students, Meredith Gates. Alison constantly teased Aria about this, leading Aria to avoid her for a few weeks before her death. Aria comes back to Rosewood for her junior year of high school and begins to receive texts from someone called "A". She believes it's Alison at first, because the texts contain information about things only Ali knew, like the affair her father had with his student. She is a poopy head.

Aria begins a secret relationship with her teacher, Ezra Fitz which comes to an end at prom; the relationship is rekindled and continues until A sends Aria's boyfriend, Sean Ackard, a picture of Ezra and Aria together, resulting in Ezra's arrest after Sean calls the police. In "Perfect", Aria is re-watching a video she taped of one of the old sleepovers with her friends, and she discovers that Ali and then high school senior Ian Thomas has a relationship. In "Unbelieveable", she finds out that Ali and Jenna Cavanaugh planned out the event that they later called "The Jenna Thing". She also had Ali's Time Capsule flag piece; it was covertly given to her by Ali's brother Jason She hung on to the flag for years, and with the others, found a discrepancy between what Ali had claimed she drew and what was actually on the flag. She said she drew a manga frog, but the flag actually has a drawing of a well with an A-post.

During "Heartless", Aria is desperate to find out who killed Ali and resorts to asking phsychics to help her. With Noel Kahn, she finally finds a psychic she deems legitimate, and they go to the scene of Ali's death. The medium channels Ali, actually speaking with her voice, and is hesitant to answer Aria's question of who killed Ali. The-medium-as-Ali reluctantly agrees to write the answer and tells Aria to leave. When Aria reads the note, it states "Ali killed Ali." Only after the real Alison returns does Aria finally understand what it means.

Over time, Aria grows close to rich boy Noel and dates him for over a year. In Twisted, Noel begins to pressure Aria for sex, but she brushes him, saying that she isn't ready. However when Klaudia Huusko starts living in Noel's house as an exchange student, Aria changes her tune and invites Noel to sleep with her on their ski trip. But, starts living in Noel's house as an exchange student, Aria changes her tune and invites Noel to sleep with her on their ski trip. But, Klaudia determined to sabotage their relationship, bangs down Noel's hotel room until he opens it while they are getting it on. Aria is furious that Noel doesn't ignore Klaudia, and fights ensue over Klaudia's new role in Noel's life. At the end of the ski trip, Aria pushes Klaudia off a ski lift during a fight, causing her to end up in the hospital. Noel takes Klaudia's side without Klaudia even fully accusing Aria of hurting her, and Aria takes a bus home to Rosewood by herself, unsure of the status of her relationship with Noel. A few days later, Noel approaches Aria at school and breaks up with her, saying that they are just too different.

Aria ends up emailing Ezra saying that she misses him and feels lonely, and the next day, Ezra shows up outside of her house and takes her on a picnic lunch where he confesses that he has missed her too, and never stopped thinking about her. Aria finds out that Ezra has written a novel, so she reads the manuscript and discovers that the novel is about her relationship with Ezra when they had first met a year ago. Later on, while Aria and Ezra are cuddling on a couch in the back of a cafe, Ezra asks Aria to critique his novel, and when she does, he gets really offended saying that she misunderstood what the book was about. Just then, Klaudia Huusko walks in, and comments Ezra on his poetry saying that she has his poem pinned up on her wall at home, and Ezra offers her his manuscript to read, much to Aria's chagrin. And as Klaudia walks out of the cafe, Ezra pays more attention to her than Aria.

Ezra comes over to Aria's house, and they talk about moving to New York together immediately, and when Aria's mom comes home, Aria freaks because she doesn't want her mom to know about her and Ezra just yet. The next night at the cast party for "Macbeth" Ezra surprises Aria in front of all of Rosewood Day, and her mom and Mike. Everyone starts to make the connection, including Noel Kahn, and Aria once again freaks out telling Ezra that this was not the time for them to tell everyone about their relationship, causing Ezra to walk away from her. She then comes to a conclusion that she in fact doesn't care what anyone thinks, and decides that she was being foolish, so she goes to look for Ezra. She finds him in the coat room, making out with Klaudia.

Covers
Aria is on the cover of four of the books, Perfect, Wanted, Burned, and Pretty Little Secrets, but all four girls are on Pretty Little Secrets.