Aria Montgomery (Book Character)

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

Appearance
Aria has long, black-blue hair and has blue eyes, which is her distinguishing feature. She's quite tall. She is depicted to have pouty lips, a ballet-dancer frame. She is also said to have a bigger chest than most of the group pre-Courtney'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: Ice-blue eyes and blue-black hair
 * Known for: Being anti-Rosewood, making short films, her yak fur bag, knitting, and being vegetarian
 * Favorite things: Coffee imported from Iceland, French films, literature, and Pigtunia, her pig puppet
 * Biggest regret: Keeping her father's affair from her mom
 * Worst offense: Pushing Tabitha off of the roof in Jamaica

Biography
Aria Montgomery is introduced as 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 want her and her brother Mike call them by their first names, Ella and Byron, and they are much looser with rules than most Rosewood parents. Aria, along with Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields, suddenly finds herself as one of the most popular girls in Rosewood when "Alison" DiLaurentis, the princess of their local private school, randomly decides to make them her new clique in sixth grade, and the five girls all quickly become best friends. After Ali's disappearance, the remaining four girls all drift apart and Aria and her family move to Iceland for three years due to Byron's job as a professor and lecturer. Before she had left, Aria and Ali had discovered that Byron was having an affair with one of his students, Meredith Gates. Byron makes Aria promise not to tell Ella or Mike, and she keeps the promise, trying to keep her family together. Ali had constantly teased Aria about the affair, leading Aria to avoid her for a few weeks before Ali's death. Aria comes back to Rosewood for her junior year of high school and, along with Spencer, Hanna, and Emily, 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. However, the girls continue to receive messages after Alison's body is found buried under the concrete base for a gazebo at the old DiLaurentis house.

In Pretty Little Liars, Aria begins a secret relationship with her English teacher, Ezra Fitz. They meet at a bar before the school year begins, neither of them knowing that Ezra would soon be Aria's teacher, due to Aria lying about being a college student. The two immediately bond when Aria mentions having been in Europe, and they ending up hooking up in the bar's bathroom. The next day at school, they are both shocked to see each other in English class, which is where A's texts begin to arrive, taunting Aria about Ezra. The next day, Aria approaches him in his classroom about their relationship, and Ezra tells her that, although he still has feelings for her, it's not a good idea. Frustrated, Aria starts to try and make Ezra jealous by talking to Noel Kahn, who has a crush on Aria. She even picks Noel to be her partner in a project for Ezra's class, kissing Noel on the cheek and loudly accepting his invitiation for his party for Ezra to hear. However, once at the party, Aria is bored out of her mind and is thrilled when she gets a phone call from Ezra, inviting her to come to his apartment. She breaks her promise of not leaving to Noel and hurries to Ezra's place, where they nearly have sex. However, while Ezra is in the bathroom, Aria receives a text from A, taunting her and Ezra's relationship and threatening to tell Ella about Byron's affair and that Aria knew about it. In a panic Aria tells Ezra that she has to leave and hurries home. The next morning, Aria makes up from a nightmare about Alison showing up at the Montgomery and rotting while talking to Aria. Aria starts to worry if Ali's ghost is sending her messages as A. Before she can think about the subject anymore, Emily shows up at her door, seeming panicky and terrified of something. She asks if Ali ever told the other girls something about her behind her back. Aria says no, and attempts to tell Emily about A, but decides against it when Emily starts for her bike home. That afternoon, news comes that workers found Alison's decomposed body underneath a slab of concrete used for a gazebo at the old DiLaurentis house, now occupied by Maya St. Germain's family. When Aria looks to Ezra for comfort, she discovers that he had found her cell phone, which she accidentally left at his house. He accuses her of telling people about their relationship and going out with him as a joke. Not giving her a chance to explain herself, he angrily kicks her out and their relationship ends. The next day, Emily, Hanna, Aria, and Spencer reunite at Ali's funeral and finally let each other know that they have all been getting texts. Once out of the building, they all get a text: ''I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything. —A''

In Flawless, A reveals to Ella that Byron had an affair and that Aria knew about it. Ella is so angry at Aria that she doesn't try to stop her when she moves out. Aria turns to her new boyfriend Sean Ackard, who had recently broken up with Hanna. However, Aria and Ezra rekindle their relationship, which ends when A sends Sean a picture of them together. Sean calls the police and Ezra is taken to the police station. Sean kicks Aria out of his house, leaving her homeless. 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 had a relationship, even though he was dating Spencer's older sister, Melissa, at the time. In Unbelievable, she finds out that Ali and Jenna Cavanaugh planned out the event that they later called "The Jenna Thing," in which Ali accidentally hit Jenna with a firework, blinding her. The event was planned to get rid of Toby Cavanaugh, who had been sexually abusing Jenna, his step sister.

In Killer, Aria also had Ali's Time Capsule flag piece; in sixth grade, before Ali, Aria, and the others were friends, it was covertly given to her by Ali's older brother, Jason. The Time Capsule flag piece is a tradition at Rosewood Day where pieces of the school flag are hidden, and whoever finds a piece gets to decorate it and put it in a time capsule that is buried near the school. Aria hung on to the flag for years, and, with the other three girls, finds a discrepancy between what Ali had claimed she would draw on it and what was actually on the flag. Ali said she drew a manga frog, but the flag actually has a drawing of a wishing well.

During Heartless, Aria is desperate to find out who killed Ali and resorts to asking psychics to help her. With her new boyfriend, 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 says, Ali killed Ali. Believing that this means that Ali committed suicide, Aria is heartbroken and feels guilty for avoiding Ali in the weeks before her death.

In Wanted, when it is revealed at a press conference that Alison had a secret twin sister, "Courtney," Aria, along with the other girls, is shocked. Aria develops a strange dislike toward Courtney when she starts to flirt with Noel. It makes Aria even more frustrated when Noel doesn't seem notice and goes along with it.

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, 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.

Memorable Quotes
"There's nothing simple about ."

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