Stunning

Stunning is the 11th book of the Pretty Little Liars Series by Sara Shepard and published by HarperTeen. It is scheduled to be released on June 1st, 2012. Stunning is mostly about Emily’s secret that she had a baby, and her giving the baby up for adoption. This was only hinted in Twisted and Ruthless, but the books don’t go very deep into it. We don’t know what happens to the baby. Her parents don’t know, and the father doesn’t know. Emily has wronged somebody in the process of giving up this baby, and that is the suspect for “A.” Somebody obviously wants revenge.

Back Cover Summary
In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, four stunningly beautiful girls are haunted by a very ugly past. Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily want nothing more than to forget Alison DiLaurentis, their former best friend who tried to ruin their lives. But someone refuses to let her memory die. A is still out there, lurking in the shadows and digging up the pretty little liars' newest 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. A knows about everything, from their tiniest transgressions to the awful incident in Jamaica. Soon A will have enough ammunition to pull the trigger and end the pretty little liars, once and for all. ..



In-Detail Summary
The prologue focuses on the day after Emily gives birth to a baby girl. By this point she has told the others about her pregnancy and they're all parked outside of a modest but welcoming looking house. Emily plans to drop the baby girl off on the step and the girls ask if she's sure about this. At this moment Emily receives several angry voicemail messages by a wealthy woman named Gayle, who was apparently supposed to adopt the baby. She offered fifty thousand dollars for the child in an illegal transaction. Eventually fearing that Gayle would be an unfit mother, Emily decides to give the child to the original candidates for adoption and she gives Hanna the money to covertly return. Emily snuck out of the hospital with her friends' help shortly after giving birth so that Gayle wouldn't find her. She ignores the calls, places the child on the doorstep with Aria helping her, and quickly leaves the neighborhood.

Hanna's Story
Hanna continues to help her father Tom with his campaign. Surprisingly, she and Kate are getting along rather well. Kate is avoiding her friends Naomi and Riley, confessing that she got into a fight about Hanna with Naomi. Hanna notices that her ex-boyfriend Mike has moved on: he is now dating a sophomore named Colleen Bebris. Hanna remembered when Colleen was a geeky freshman trying to be friends with her and Mona; though she's less awkward looking now, Hanna still doesn't like the girl. Colleen, on the other hand, is very sweet and still admires the senior.

Desperate to get Mike back, Hanna does everything from flirting with him in front of Colleen to blatantly insulting her. When "A" hints that Colleen might be hiding something, Hanna starts to follow her in hopes of getting a juicy secret. One day, she follows the sophomore to a large Victorian home, where she does a photoshoot for an older male photographer. Unlike Hanna's situation with a sleazy "photographer", this one appears to be completely professional. She searches Colleen's name on the web and finds a video of her in a Latvian commercial for laxatives. Knowing she's finally found the embarrassing secret, Hanna decides to spread it around school later.

Besides stalking Colleen, Hanna has a few uncomfortable run-ins with Gayle. The woman, who recently moved from New Jersey to Rosewood, is a big supporter of Tom's campaign and she attends several of his political events. At one point she tells Hanna she wants what is owed her. Hanna believes this means that she wants Emily's baby and that she might be "A". At an event at the Gemological Museum, Hanna has second thoughts on spreading the video, but "A" encourages her. Unfortunately, "A" tricks her and a video of Hanna stalking Colleen is sent around. Though she is humiliated, Mike is impressed by her efforts and decides to get back with her.

Aria's Story
Aria and Noel are happily together again, though Klaudia is still around to their dismay. Noel makes her promise that there won't be any secrets between them. Aria has a painful but necessary discussion with Meredith about the cheating scandal. On Meredith's request, she heads to a supermarket over in Bryn Mawr to find a special ingredient the woman needs for a dish. While she's at the market, she notices a tall woman hanging around. When the woman turns around, Aria is shocked to see that it's none other than a crossdressing Mr. Kahn. She skitters off before he can see her and she wonders why he's dressed like a woman.

"A" threatens Aria with this information; they tell Aria to break up with Noel or pictures of Mr. Kahn in this state will go public. She complies and tearfully breaks up with Noel just before a date. She notices Gayle entering a Babies R' Us and it strengthens her suspicions about the woman posing as "A". The next day, Aria heads to Noel's house to get her stuff back. At this moment, both of them come face to face with Mr. Kahn in crossdressed fashion. Noel's father runs back inside and Aria finds out he's been dressing like a woman for years. Thinking that Aria broke up with him because of Mr. Kahn's crossdressing habit, Noel gets upset and tells her to leave. Later, the two reconcile and apologize to each other for the confusion.

Spencer's Story
Spencer spends most of her time in the town of Princeton. She meets several other early-admission students and student ambassadors from Princeton University. Spencer becomes acquainted with a student named Harper Essex-Pembroke. Harper is the chair of Ivy, an Eating Club. These are highly coveted secret societies with great networks. Spencer desperately wants to be a member of Ivy and wants to leave a good impression. Harper invites her to stay at Ivy House and takes her to a campus party. Spencer sees the girl smoking pot on the balcony and is a bit uncomfortable being near her. She goes inside again, but the cops arrive several minutes later and take Harper into custody for marijuana possession. Harper automatically blames Spencer, who fears that "A" has been following her.

Luckily for Spencer, Harper gives her a second chance and invites her to a potluck meal at the Ivy House. However, she tells the high schooler that she must bring a dish to the meal. For some odd reason, Spencer interprets this as making a dish with pot in it. She decides to make pot brownies and gets a stash of pot from another early-admit, Raif "Reefer" Fredricks. convinces the motel manager to let her use their kitchen. She falls asleep while the brownies are baking, giving "A" the chance to lace them with Ritalin and LSD. Everyone enjoys the brownies at the potluck and soon the meal turns into a wild college party. Spencer's consumed some of the brownies and is completely out of her element. She wakes up in the hospital and is shocked to hear that she had Ritalin and LSD in her system. When she calls Reefer to confront him, he tells her that the stash was pure. She then gets a text message from "A" teasing her about the ordeal.

Spencer soon returns to Rosewood and Harper pays her a visit, angrily informing her that she's been put on academic probation thanks to her stunt with the brownies. She tells Spencer that she doesn't want her near Princeton, but Spencer blackmails her with videos of her destroying Ivy House. Harper is resigned and tells Spencer that she's not welcome in Ivy. Spencer's inwardly disappointed, but tells Harper she didn't like anyone in Ivy anyway.

Emily's Story
The whole mystery surrounding Emily's pregnancy is finally revealed. During that summer, she meets a guy named Derrick, who quickly becomes a good friend. He is her confidante; only he knows her true identity since she's given other strangers the name "Heather". One day, Derrick invites her to talk to him at a ritzy mansion in New Jersey where he works as a gardener on the weekends. While they're talking, one of the homeowners, Gayle Riggs, comes out. She notices a very pregnant Emily and becomes tearful. After asking a few questions, Gayle runs back into her mansion.

Bewildered by her emotional behavior, Emily is later put into contact with her. Gayle has apparently been trying for a baby for years without any luck. She offers to take in Emily's baby and tells her that she and her husband can give her amazing opportunities. Gayle also says that they can't go to an adoption center because an accident happened with their daughter and it might reflect poorly on them. Aria, who's with Emily at the time, is very skeptical and wary of the offer, but Emily herself is interested. Because she grew up in a family that has had constant worries about money, Emily thinks that this would be the best option for her child. Though she already picked a family--a couple who are both teachers--she agrees to Gayle's offer. Emily gets fifty thousand dollars and decides to put it towards college.

However, she becomes less confident in her decision after she gets constant calls from Gayle requesting updates on her pregnancy. One day, when she goes to the mansion to visit Derrick, she overhears Gayle telling someone on the phone that she is pregnant. Horrified at the delusions of the woman, Emily decides that it's not safe to give her baby to Gayle. She leaves the baby on the Bakers' (the original family) doorstep.

In the present time, Emily runs into Isaac a few times. He wants to start things over but Emily isn't sure. At the very least, she agrees to hang out with him. She wonders if she should tell him about the baby, but she decides to keep it a secret. At Tom Marin's town hall talk, she comes face to face with Gayle, who is unpleasantly surprised to see her. Emily informs the other girls of the woman's identity and Aria immediately brings up the suggestion that she might be "A". Emily isn't so sure though.

Emily talks to her priest about her summer and he promises not to tell anyone. He does recommend that she tell the child's father, stating that it might make her feel better. Emily meets up with Isaac to tell him the truth, but wavers again. Just beforehand she runs into Derrick, who's taking classes at Hollis College. Derrick never knew what happened to Emily's child since she never called him after overhearing Gayle's conversation. She's chilled when he tells her that Gayle threw a fit about her. Later, at another event for Mr. Marin, Emily gets a message from "A" claiming that they have her baby.

She is told to go to a specific address to save the child. Aria and Hanna accompany her. The address turns out to be a mansion, which is dark and unlocked. They realize that Gayle lives at this mansion--there's a picture of her, her husband Kenneth Clark, and Tabitha Clark in the entryway. Surprised and frightened by this new information, the girls then hear a baby's cries. They move outside onto the patio. In the foggy night weather, they notice a figure moving on the driveway. A gunshot rings out and the figure falls to the ground. Carefully making their way to the person, the girls discover that it's Gayle Riggs, who's been shot in the temple. Spencer arrives a few minutes later, as do several police cars and ambulance. To Emily's ire, Isaac followed her to the mansion. She finally tells him the truth about their child and he storms off in disbelief and anger.

The girls are questioned at the police station and insist they didn't kill Gayle. Spencer informs the cop that she saw a hooded figure run past her car when she arrived. Kenneth Clark arrives and is devastated to hear of his wife's loss. The girls learn that Gayle was Tabitha's stepmother and the two didn't get along at all. It was Gayle's idea to send Tabitha away for her behavioral problems. Kenneth had no idea Gayle was trying to adopt Emily's child. He did note that Gayle recently found out she was pregnant and they were both overjoyed.

Emily has also been searching for the Bakers since they moved out of their home. With Hanna's help, she finally gets an address and is overcome with emotion when she sees that her daughter--Violet--is doing just fine with the couple. Violet has the same reddish-blond hue of hair as Emily. Mrs. Baker spots Emily and tells her that they moved so no one would ask questions about the sudden adoption. She thanks Emily for changing her mind and choosing them to raise Violet. Reassured that her baby will grow up happy and healthy under the Bakers' care, Emily leaves. She also gets a text message from Isaac stating that he wants to talk. She has no idea if it's going to be a good or bad discussion.

At the funeral for Gayle, Mr. Clark drops a major bombshell: he had an autopsy conducted on Tabitha and the results showed that there were no traces of alcohol in her system. He says that she has been murdered and that he will find whoever killed her. The girls are beyond frightened at this point. A message from "A" gleefully informs them that they're going to be taken down soon.

Hook-Ups
Mike and Colleen

Mike and Hanna

Aria and Noel

Emily and Isaac

Break-Ups
Mike and Colleen

Aria and Noel

Emily and Isaac (?)

Spencer
Hi Spence! Think your college friends would let you into their Eating Club if they knew about your appetite for murder? Kisses!--A

Just be happy I didn't call the cops about YOUR secrets.--A

Talk about a bad trip, huh? That's what you get for leaving your potluck goodies unattended.--A

Emily
Hey, baby mama. Guess the jig is up!--A

Guess Emily's not the only one looking for that little bundle of joy. Who's going to get there first?--A

I've got your baby. If you want her to be safe, come to 56 Mockingbird Drive. Ticktock!--A

Hanna
Think Colleen is as innocent as she seems? Think again. Everyone has secrets...even her.--A

Better do as you're told! You wouldn't want Daddy's campaign to go up in smoke.--A

You're close, Hanna. Keep digging.--A

C'mon, Hanna. Send that video. You know you want to.--A

Aria
Secrets are such a drag. Break up with your loving boyfriend, or this pic goes public.--A

Kudos, Aria. No pain, no gain, right? Mwah!--A

Everyone
That's right, bitches--Daddy's on to you. How long do you think it'll take the police to realize you were at both crime scences?--A