Stunning

In the eleventh novel, A is still out there, lurking in the shadows and digging up the liars’ latest secrets...

Emily’s reconnecting with an old flame, one baby step at a time. But is she headed toward true love or another bundle of heartache? Spencer’s learning about the highs and lows of campus life on a trip to Princeton. Aria’s seeing a whole new side to Noel’s dad—and it could drive a wedge between her and Noel. And, for better or worse, Hanna’s getting in touch with her inner A.

Secret by secret, lie by lie, the girls get tangled in A’s dangerous web. Soon A will have enough ammunition to pull the trigger and end the pretty little liars, once and for all….

I just finished reading and reviewing Pretty Little Secrets, and as soon as I put that down, I had to read this, the 11th in the series. I had a PLL craving!

It should come as no surprise that I loved this book. The girls are still being stalked by a new A because of what I’ll call ‘the incident’ in Jamaica (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I don’t want to spoil it for you, because I know you’re going to go read this, right???). On top of that, they each have their own struggles: Spencer trying to get in with the right crowd at Princeton; Hanna wanting her ex-boyfriend back; Aria learning a secret about her boyfriend Noel’s family; and Emily…well, if you’ve read the previous book, Ruthless, you already know Emily’s secret, but it plays a major role in this book.

I feel like there’s nothing new for me to say about this series, because I love every book, and get totally wrapped up in the stories. As always, my favourites are Hanna and Spencer – I feel like in some way I’ve always wanted to be like them: Spencer is driven, intelligent, and achieves pretty much everything she sets out to achieve; Hanna is pretty, popular, and powerful – but the best parts of these books, for me, are when the girls are all together, helping one another through a problem or running for their lives from A, or trying to figure out just who A is this time. They are each well-developed characters and by now I just feel so attached to them and like I know who they are. Sara Shepard has kept each girl’s actions consistent with her character throughout the series. I never stop and think to myself that the Spencer I know wouldn’t do/say/etc. that!

Of course, I have about a hundred guesses as to who A might be in this latest arc, but the beauty of this series is that I’m always wrong! I’ve never faulted the books for being predictable. It’s just too much fun to jump in and enjoy the ride.

As long as Sara Shepard keeps writing these books, I’m going to keep reading them! A little birdy (ahem, Wikipedia – beware of potential spoilers) told me that the 12th book in the series, Burned, is set to come out in December of this year (although I thought I read somewhere that it might be the last in the series – please no!). Boy, does that feel way too far away right now!