Status
Available
Series
Publication
Bantam Books (1993), Edition: #96, 224 pages
Description
Will Elizabeth ever regain her self-respect? Elizabeth Wakefield has been arrested -- and her twin, Jessica, has finally stolen Elizabeth's boyfriend, Todd. The twins have drifted further apart than ever before -- is there any hope of reunion now? Nicholas Morrow agrees to appear on the host new dating show, Hunks. After two ridiculous dates, Nicholas is ready to give up on the idea of true love forever. But he still has one more date to go... Lila Fowler's mother has returned to Sweet Valley just when her daughter needs her the most. But how can she explain why she abandoned Lila? Can Lila learn to love the woman who left her all those years ago? ... and Margo continues toward Sweet Valley -- leaving a wake of destruction! Book Two in this explosive six-part miniseries... Sweet Valley will never be the same!… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member eurohackie
Well, we have our first signs that the ghostie who wrote this book is not the same as the previous one. The timeline has magically constricted - instead of nearly a month passing at the start of this one, only a week has passed. In that time, not only has Sam been buried, the Jeep has also been
Let's run down the storylines, from lightest to darkest:
(1) Nicholas Morrow agrees to appear on HUNKS and has a predictably horrible time. Date #1 is a bike named Jakki who apparently has face tattoos and knows of a worse place around the Valley than Kelly's Roadhouse. Date #2 is the chronic giggler/childlike Susan, who dresses so casually that the only place the two can get in is Bobo's Burger Barn, which features tablecloths that can be colored. Nicholas isn't the only one who's shocked when Susan admits she already has a boyfriend (who *loves* Bobo's) and only did the show for fun. Date #3 is Ann, a pretty, sophisticated girl from nearby Shelter Cove. This time, it's Nicholas who messes up: showing up straight from an afternoon of yard work; forgetting his wallet so she has to pay for dinner; Ann changes the flat tire on his car on their way to the amusement park, where he ends up throwing up on her during the roller coaster ride. Remarkably, Ann found all of this incredibly romantic and agrees to a second date, after their humiliating return to the show to share how their dates went. Nicholas is so grateful that he kisses Ann live on air, and they all live happily ever after.
I wasn't too thrilled with Wacky Dating Hijinks, especially as the ghostie went out of their way to make Jakki and Susan especially awful, and Nicholas into a stick in the mud. The dude is gorgeous and rich; he's never going to have this much trouble dating, especially if he gets out of the high school dating pool and looks elsewhere. Jolly for him that he gets the happy ending here, but yeesh. This whole storyline was super cringey.
(2) Steven is super worried about his family and he can't stay away, even though he desperately needs to find a roommate to share the rent. He plays phone tag with a potential as he comes and goes from campus to home, but when he finally meets Bille Winkler, he's in for a surprise: Bille's a gorgeous girl!
(3) Bruce is finding himself unable to get over Pamela so easily, and he spends a LOT of time waffling with himself over the rumors of her reputation. We get Pamela's POV for the first time here, and learn that a jilted boy is responsible for trashing her reputation. She's never slept with anyone, but none of the guys at Big Mesa want to admit that they couldn't score with Easy Pammy, so the rumors and stories spin completely out of control. Pamela wants to tell Bruce the truth, because she has big news: she's managed to wrangle a transfer to Sweet Valley High, where she hopes to repair her social standing and start over. There are some nasty scenes at the Box Tree Cafe, however, and Pamela realizes that the rumors will follow her even out of Big Mesa, so maybe the transfer to SVH to be near Bruce isn't going to completely solve all of her problems.
(4) Lila is SO EXCITED to meet her mother that it's literally all she can talk about. She's driving her friends crazy, but she doesn't care: she's beyond ready for her own mother figure, and she's nervous/excited to finally see Grace after 14 years. The reunion at the Beverly Hills Hotel is more than she can ask for: Grace is beautiful, charming, and sophisticated, apparently an ash-blond version of Lila herself. All is going quite swimmingly until Grace's boyfriend Pierre announces himself to the world as "Grace's lover"! Lila and her father aren't the only ones who gagged at Pierre the Pill's crash landing. Why the hell did Grace bring him along if he's only going to be a drama queen? I don't care if she lives with him or not: they're not joined at the hip, she could've come alone.
Grace spends as much time soothing Pierre's perceived hurts as she does with Lila, which pisses Lila off and she turns her back on Grace. She doesn't realize until the end - when she hears her mother crying in the living room at Fowler Crest - that maybe the 14 year separation has hurt everyone involved, not just herself.
It's hard not to feel for Lila. She's getting what she wants - her mother - but discovering that there are always strings attached. The moments there are between Lila and Grace are lovely, and I'm looking forward to more mother-daughter bonding ♥
(5) Elizabeth is arrested and has to spend a night in jail, where she's taunted by her cell mates. She still can't remember anything about the night that Sam died; her memory is a black hole. Unfortunately, neither the police nor her high-powered attorney, Alan Rose, believe her; Mr Wakefield is so fed up with hotshot Rose that he vows to take up Liz's defense himself. I thought I remembered him defending her in court, becoming whatever type of lawyer the plot requires, no matter what his actual practice is. Steven is apparently lined up to help. If I was Liz, I'd be more than a little worried about two novices taking on criminal defense, but of course as the Good Twin, everything is going to work out for her. No matter that right now she is in the depth of depression and ostracizing herself from the world.
This has brought the family split that was hinted at before: everyone is giving Elizabeth support, which makes Jessica feel isolated and betrayed. Jess puts on a happy face and goes "back to normal" towards everyone except Todd, Liz's boyfriend. She's determined to make Liz pay for killing Sam, even if all she can do as revenge is take her own boyfriend away. Jess has some conflicting feelings about this; she doesn't actually like Todd, but she can make him feel sorry for her and hang around her, so she spends most of her time being weepy and dramatic to elicit his sympathy.
It's quite pleasantly more complex that it sounds. Todd is the only person who will actually talk about Sam to Jessica, and she needs that outlet; she's missing him so badly that she'll take anything she can get in that score, even if it means having dull as dishwater Todd offering her comfort. She plays up her isolation from her family as a means to get closer to him.
Todd, for his part, has some misguided notion that the only way he can get back to Liz is through Jessica. He hopes that by spending time with Jess, he can get close enough to Liz to actually speak to her again. Never mind the find that he's studiously avoided her since the prom; somehow Jessica's approach is what gives him hope that he can find his way back to Liz again. Okay, Todd, that makes no damn sense and you have only yourself to blame for hanging out with Jessica in public, where all your classmates can see (and gossip) about you.
(6) Margo's babysitting job in Cleveland is now for the less-than-wealthy Smith family, as opposed to the upper crust Rossis originally introduced in #95. Apparently Mrs Smith runs an antique shop and she's just taken in a cache of jewelry, which Margo intends to steal to fund the next phase of her trip. We get a bit more of Margo's backstory here; instead of pounding headaches and a raspy voice, she has a soothing inner voice that "guides" her. We see flashes of abuse from Margo's childhood: being locked in a closet and in a bathroom and crying to be let out. She has a "treasure box" that she keeps things in, including the jewels she steals from Mrs Smith. She drowns little Georgie in a lake after he gives up the key to the safe and takes off, careful to disguise herself as the news starts to make national headlines. She takes the bus to Houston, barely eating and growing more paranoid all the time. The motherly voice "guides" her to the Houston train station, where she sits for sixteen hours waiting for the next sign. She hears an announcement for a connecting train to LA, and meets a little old lady with a Sweet Valley newspaper in her bag. Margo spots the headline about Elizabeth's arrest and upcoming trial, and sees in the picture a blond version of herself. She kills the old lady in the train station bathroom for her money and her ticket, with her ultimate destination in mind: Sweet Valley.
It occurs to me as I read this that the reason that I likely forgot about the big Brazil trip prize for Prom Queen is that it's never mentioned again after A Night to Remember. I get that there's collective chaos and unreality settling in over Sweet Valley, but if Jessica had been forced to follow through with the trip and ambassadorship for Environmental Awareness, that would've been more than enough to keep her mind off her guilt for being the cause of Sam's death, and it would've given her something to insulate her from her feels of loss and betrayal when her parents and brother start rallying to Liz's defense. But nope, instead we have to let those dark feelings fester and Jessica turns her mind to revenge by pulling Todd away . The wedge has to be driven so completely between the twins to allow for the showdown with Margo in 3 books' time. It's a shame, really, that none of the ghosties were able to put a line under the whole Brazil trip aspect of A Night to Remember, instead letting that plot thread hang out there.
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repaired. Apparently after a total, it looks brand new. Er, yeah, okay then.Let's run down the storylines, from lightest to darkest:
(1) Nicholas Morrow agrees to appear on HUNKS and has a predictably horrible time. Date #1 is a bike named Jakki who apparently has face tattoos and knows of a worse place around the Valley than Kelly's Roadhouse. Date #2 is the chronic giggler/childlike Susan, who dresses so casually that the only place the two can get in is Bobo's Burger Barn, which features tablecloths that can be colored. Nicholas isn't the only one who's shocked when Susan admits she already has a boyfriend (who *loves* Bobo's) and only did the show for fun. Date #3 is Ann, a pretty, sophisticated girl from nearby Shelter Cove. This time, it's Nicholas who messes up: showing up straight from an afternoon of yard work; forgetting his wallet so she has to pay for dinner; Ann changes the flat tire on his car on their way to the amusement park, where he ends up throwing up on her during the roller coaster ride. Remarkably, Ann found all of this incredibly romantic and agrees to a second date, after their humiliating return to the show to share how their dates went. Nicholas is so grateful that he kisses Ann live on air, and they all live happily ever after.
I wasn't too thrilled with Wacky Dating Hijinks, especially as the ghostie went out of their way to make Jakki and Susan especially awful, and Nicholas into a stick in the mud. The dude is gorgeous and rich; he's never going to have this much trouble dating, especially if he gets out of the high school dating pool and looks elsewhere. Jolly for him that he gets the happy ending here, but yeesh. This whole storyline was super cringey.
(2) Steven is super worried about his family and he can't stay away, even though he desperately needs to find a roommate to share the rent. He plays phone tag with a potential as he comes and goes from campus to home, but when he finally meets Bille Winkler, he's in for a surprise: Bille's a gorgeous girl!
(3) Bruce is finding himself unable to get over Pamela so easily, and he spends a LOT of time waffling with himself over the rumors of her reputation. We get Pamela's POV for the first time here, and learn that a jilted boy is responsible for trashing her reputation. She's never slept with anyone, but none of the guys at Big Mesa want to admit that they couldn't score with Easy Pammy, so the rumors and stories spin completely out of control. Pamela wants to tell Bruce the truth, because she has big news: she's managed to wrangle a transfer to Sweet Valley High, where she hopes to repair her social standing and start over. There are some nasty scenes at the Box Tree Cafe, however, and Pamela realizes that the rumors will follow her even out of Big Mesa, so maybe the transfer to SVH to be near Bruce isn't going to completely solve all of her problems.
(4) Lila is SO EXCITED to meet her mother that it's literally all she can talk about. She's driving her friends crazy, but she doesn't care: she's beyond ready for her own mother figure, and she's nervous/excited to finally see Grace after 14 years. The reunion at the Beverly Hills Hotel is more than she can ask for: Grace is beautiful, charming, and sophisticated, apparently an ash-blond version of Lila herself. All is going quite swimmingly until Grace's boyfriend Pierre announces himself to the world as "Grace's lover"! Lila and her father aren't the only ones who gagged at Pierre the Pill's crash landing. Why the hell did Grace bring him along if he's only going to be a drama queen? I don't care if she lives with him or not: they're not joined at the hip, she could've come alone.
Grace spends as much time soothing Pierre's perceived hurts as she does with Lila, which pisses Lila off and she turns her back on Grace. She doesn't realize until the end - when she hears her mother crying in the living room at Fowler Crest - that maybe the 14 year separation has hurt everyone involved, not just herself.
It's hard not to feel for Lila. She's getting what she wants - her mother - but discovering that there are always strings attached. The moments there are between Lila and Grace are lovely, and I'm looking forward to more mother-daughter bonding ♥
(5) Elizabeth is arrested and has to spend a night in jail, where she's taunted by her cell mates. She still can't remember anything about the night that Sam died; her memory is a black hole. Unfortunately, neither the police nor her high-powered attorney, Alan Rose, believe her; Mr Wakefield is so fed up with hotshot Rose that he vows to take up Liz's defense himself. I thought I remembered him defending her in court, becoming whatever type of lawyer the plot requires, no matter what his actual practice is. Steven is apparently lined up to help. If I was Liz, I'd be more than a little worried about two novices taking on criminal defense, but of course as the Good Twin, everything is going to work out for her. No matter that right now she is in the depth of depression and ostracizing herself from the world.
This has brought the family split that was hinted at before: everyone is giving Elizabeth support, which makes Jessica feel isolated and betrayed. Jess puts on a happy face and goes "back to normal" towards everyone except Todd, Liz's boyfriend. She's determined to make Liz pay for killing Sam, even if all she can do as revenge is take her own boyfriend away. Jess has some conflicting feelings about this; she doesn't actually like Todd, but she can make him feel sorry for her and hang around her, so she spends most of her time being weepy and dramatic to elicit his sympathy.
It's quite pleasantly more complex that it sounds. Todd is the only person who will actually talk about Sam to Jessica, and she needs that outlet; she's missing him so badly that she'll take anything she can get in that score, even if it means having dull as dishwater Todd offering her comfort. She plays up her isolation from her family as a means to get closer to him.
Todd, for his part, has some misguided notion that the only way he can get back to Liz is through Jessica. He hopes that by spending time with Jess, he can get close enough to Liz to actually speak to her again. Never mind the find that he's studiously avoided her since the prom; somehow Jessica's approach is what gives him hope that he can find his way back to Liz again. Okay, Todd, that makes no damn sense and you have only yourself to blame for hanging out with Jessica in public, where all your classmates can see (and gossip) about you.
(6) Margo's babysitting job in Cleveland is now for the less-than-wealthy Smith family, as opposed to the upper crust Rossis originally introduced in #95. Apparently Mrs Smith runs an antique shop and she's just taken in a cache of jewelry, which Margo intends to steal to fund the next phase of her trip. We get a bit more of Margo's backstory here; instead of pounding headaches and a raspy voice, she has a soothing inner voice that "guides" her. We see flashes of abuse from Margo's childhood: being locked in a closet and in a bathroom and crying to be let out. She has a "treasure box" that she keeps things in, including the jewels she steals from Mrs Smith. She drowns little Georgie in a lake after he gives up the key to the safe and takes off, careful to disguise herself as the news starts to make national headlines. She takes the bus to Houston, barely eating and growing more paranoid all the time. The motherly voice "guides" her to the Houston train station, where she sits for sixteen hours waiting for the next sign. She hears an announcement for a connecting train to LA, and meets a little old lady with a Sweet Valley newspaper in her bag. Margo spots the headline about Elizabeth's arrest and upcoming trial, and sees in the picture a blond version of herself. She kills the old lady in the train station bathroom for her money and her ticket, with her ultimate destination in mind: Sweet Valley.
It occurs to me as I read this that the reason that I likely forgot about the big Brazil trip prize for Prom Queen is that it's never mentioned again after A Night to Remember. I get that there's collective chaos and unreality settling in over Sweet Valley, but if Jessica had been forced to follow through with the trip and ambassadorship for Environmental Awareness, that would've been more than enough to keep her mind off her guilt for being the cause of Sam's death, and it would've given her something to insulate her from her feels of loss and betrayal when her parents and brother start rallying to Liz's defense. But nope, instead we have to let those dark feelings fester and Jessica turns her mind to revenge by pulling Todd away . The wedge has to be driven so completely between the twins to allow for the showdown with Margo in 3 books' time. It's a shame, really, that none of the ghosties were able to put a line under the whole Brazil trip aspect of A Night to Remember, instead letting that plot thread hang out there.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1993-08
Physical description
224 p.; 6.75 inches
ISBN
0553298534 / 9780553298536