Kate William
Author of Double Love
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
Pen name used by ghostwriters of the Sweet Valley High series.
Series
Works by Kate William
Chateau d'Amour Collection: "Once Upon a Time", "To Catch a Thief", "Happily Ever After" (Sweet Valley High) (1999) — Author — 5 copies
Sweet Valley High Collection: "Promise", "Rags to Riches" and "Love Letters" No. 2 (1989) 4 copies, 1 review
Sweet Valley High Collection: "Runaway", "Too Much Love" and "Say Goodbye" No. 4 (Sweet Valley High) (1990) 3 copies
Sweet Valley High: The Stolen Diary (Penguin Readers: Level 2) (Penguin Joint Venture Readers) 2 copies
Sweet Valley High Collection:Heartbreaker,Racing Hearts and Wrong Kind of Girl No. 1 (1989) 2 copies, 1 review
Jessies Katastrophen-Urlaub 1 copy
Jul i Sweet Valley 2 1 copy
Hintana yksinsyys 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- n/a
- Disambiguation notice
- Pen name used by ghostwriters of the Sweet Valley High series.
Members
Reviews
You know, credit where credit is due - this wasn't a terrible book. It was actually a fairly decent finale to this whole twisted tale.
We start with a fairly comprehensive recount of this entire saga, I suppose for those people who are reading the Thrillers only. Somehow Jessica makes it through the entire recap and manages to convince herself that she's not seeing her beloved fiance picking up the blackmail money from that phone booth, even though he's wearing the ring that she gave him. She show more can't see what a scuzzbucket he is, so we do have to deal with Jessica being an idiot over him for the first third of the book.
Two things finally break this business wide open: SVH's answer to LexisNexis, newly installed on the Oracle computers, where Liz can do her sleuthing with cutting-edge technology; and Sue's conscience finally getting the better of her. It takes awhile for this latter bit to happen; not until Sue is confronted with Jeremy's lone plane ticket to the South Pacific does it finally sink in that he is 100% after her money only, and he's more than happy to leave her in the process.
Jeremy shows back up to ingratiate himself with the family because he's discovered that the ransom money is fake (even though he was none the wiser when he counted it so laboriously in the previous book), and its his showing up that causes Jessica's brain to rot after the original recap. He continues to see both Jessica and Sue, promising each girl that she is his One & Only. He is such a slimeball that it's patently obvious WHY he's chosen to being a pedo-grooming asshole: because women his own age wouldn't put up with this nonsense. It's extra disgusting here because he starts pressuring Jessica to have sex with him. SO MUCH ICK.
But honestly? These scenes were also unintentionally hilarious because Jessica makes a ~big deal~ about potentially handing in her v-card, including going to the lingerie store at the mall with Lila to pick out the right outfit for the big night. Of course, this being SVH, the word S-E-X is completely verboten; instead, these girls talk euphemistic circles around each other in ways that no teenagers would ever actually talk, especially two experienced girls like Jessica and Lila. I'm pretty sure Jessica has had some hot and heavy relationships, including Tragically Dead Sam, so you know these girls know about all the precautions and whatnot. There's a practical view as well as the romantic one, but this era of YA just does not acknowledge this at all. Rape is easier to talk about than consensual sex, which tells you all you need to know about this era of writing.
ANYWAY, while Jess and Lila are giggling about the Big Night in one dressing room, Sue is conveniently in the next one listening to them. She realizes that far from Jeremy dropping Jessica, he's fully intending to continue taking advantage of her. By page 84, Sue is spilling her guts in a last-ditch effort to keep Jessica from making a huge mistake. This was a fairly well-written scene, although it brings in yet MORE retconning, making it seem as if Jeremy's hand has been guiding fate since the beginning of this series (which seems pretty unlikely), but Sue is able to convince Jessica that Jeremy is still seeing Sue as well. Jessica finally seems to realize what an idiot she's been, and after spending a bit of time uncharacteristically bashing herself, she decides that she's ready to get even with her two-timing sleazeball "fiance."
Meanwhile, Liz is trying to dig up the dirt on Jeremy, but what she finds is...nothing. Sue scoops up some wedding announcement he foolishly carries with him, about a young socialite couple from Atlanta. The dude's name is Matt Thorn but the picture is of the man they all know as Jeremy. Once they pool this information, and realize the Matt Thorn identity is just as thin as the Jeremy Randall one, our plucky trio realize that they are all in this way too deep. Jessica has the gall to call up Matt's scorned wife, impersonating a local police officer on the phone, and gets the scoop. Apparently Jeremy has done this business before, marrying stupid, rich girls and absconding with their money.
The girls decide to trap Jeremy once and for all, and they decide to do it on their own, which is dumb. Not without reason, though, as the police are dismissive when the twins first take their story about Jeremy being the kidnapper to them, because Steven taped over the kidnapping video with the telltale pinky ring. But for them to not tell their parents, and only loop in Sam Diamond at the last minute, was incredibly stupid. Master Detective Diamond has apparently only just reached the same conclusion as Sue, Liz, and Jess, with none of the info that the teenagers had. I certainly would not be trusting this woman with my life and safety!
So they decide that Jessia will lure Jeremy to the Project Nature cabin, Sam will follow with a carload of teenagers, and the police will follow her, and somehow they will confront Jeremy. This plan goes sideways from the start: Jessica makes the supremely unwise decision to tell Jeremy that she knows he is scamming them all, but that she doesn't care and wants to run away with him anyway. The lure of Wakefield twin v-card must be damn strong, because Jeremy takes the bait. Unfortunately, the night they are to run away together is the night of a terrible thunderstorm, so OF COURSE Sam and the teens in her car crash during the wild chase to the cabin, and OF COURSE Jessica realizes this too late, and OF COURSE Jeremy is a hard-hearted asshole who leaves Jessica behind to die in a fire, as depicted on the stepback. He's mostly proud of himself for running his scam without actually killing anybody, and he figures he'll get away with this, too - and he almost does. Sam, Liz, Sue, and Todd arrive as Jeremy is leaving, and Liz and Sue rush into the burning building to save Jessica. This was a hectic, climactic scene that was really nicely done.
It's not until they are all at the hospital that Liz confesses the whole scheme to her parents who are bewildered but not upset, even going so far as to bring Sue back into their fold, knowing all of the terrible things she's done to them. The group gets the good news that Jeremy wrecked his car not far from the cabin, was picked up injured by alive by state troopers, and will presumably be brought to justice with a little help from Sue.
The ending of the main plot is ridiculous, honestly, and very abrupt. Jessica is ready to jump out of the hospital bed, where she's being treated for smoke inhalation and burns, so that she can get to the Mistletoe Madness dance at school!
There are two subplots that are also woven into the story. Lila is convinced that Robby will never have his paintings ready by the time of his gallery showing, so she decides that she's going to throw some paint on canvas and display her work under his name, because obviously nothing can go wrong! She is mortified when everyone hates her work, and even Robby is giving her the stinkeye when he arrives and sees what she's done. There was so much secondhand embarrassment to be had here. For all the brains Lila had in the last book, there are none on display here. Robby is kind enough to forgive her, and his real work is hung in the gallery and he is celebrated as a hot new talent. He also wants to go to the Mistletoe Madness dance at SVH, lucky Lila!
The other subplot is that Ken Matthews has developed a crush on Jessica and starts showing it in very age-appropriate, rather adorable ways. The contrast of Ken's wooing to Jeremy's jaded attitude really brings some home truths to Jessica and she realizes that she's not ready for anything she thinks she is. Ken is definitely more her speed than Jeremy, and there are some really cute scenes between the two here. I was wondering how Jess was going to go from this engagement disaster to her second-best boyfriend in the series, and apparently it all starts here. Aww ♥
NGL, the budding romance between Jessica and Ken definitely helps the rating of this book; I think it's a solid three stars, considering the way the plot basically backed everyone into a corner. I think the ghostie was one of the experienced hands who wrote previous Thriller books, and it certainly shows here. This was not a bad way to end the nostalgia re-readathon for this year, and I might just have to revisit some of these Ken/Jess scenes when I get nostalgic for their relationship. show less
We start with a fairly comprehensive recount of this entire saga, I suppose for those people who are reading the Thrillers only. Somehow Jessica makes it through the entire recap and manages to convince herself that she's not seeing her beloved fiance picking up the blackmail money from that phone booth, even though he's wearing the ring that she gave him. She show more can't see what a scuzzbucket he is, so we do have to deal with Jessica being an idiot over him for the first third of the book.
Two things finally break this business wide open: SVH's answer to LexisNexis, newly installed on the Oracle computers, where Liz can do her sleuthing with cutting-edge technology; and Sue's conscience finally getting the better of her. It takes awhile for this latter bit to happen; not until Sue is confronted with Jeremy's lone plane ticket to the South Pacific does it finally sink in that he is 100% after her money only, and he's more than happy to leave her in the process.
Jeremy shows back up to ingratiate himself with the family because he's discovered that the ransom money is fake (even though he was none the wiser when he counted it so laboriously in the previous book), and its his showing up that causes Jessica's brain to rot after the original recap. He continues to see both Jessica and Sue, promising each girl that she is his One & Only. He is such a slimeball that it's patently obvious WHY he's chosen to being a pedo-grooming asshole: because women his own age wouldn't put up with this nonsense. It's extra disgusting here because he starts pressuring Jessica to have sex with him. SO MUCH ICK.
But honestly? These scenes were also unintentionally hilarious because Jessica makes a ~big deal~ about potentially handing in her v-card, including going to the lingerie store at the mall with Lila to pick out the right outfit for the big night. Of course, this being SVH, the word S-E-X is completely verboten; instead, these girls talk euphemistic circles around each other in ways that no teenagers would ever actually talk, especially two experienced girls like Jessica and Lila. I'm pretty sure Jessica has had some hot and heavy relationships, including Tragically Dead Sam, so you know these girls know about all the precautions and whatnot. There's a practical view as well as the romantic one, but this era of YA just does not acknowledge this at all. Rape is easier to talk about than consensual sex, which tells you all you need to know about this era of writing.
ANYWAY, while Jess and Lila are giggling about the Big Night in one dressing room, Sue is conveniently in the next one listening to them. She realizes that far from Jeremy dropping Jessica, he's fully intending to continue taking advantage of her. By page 84, Sue is spilling her guts in a last-ditch effort to keep Jessica from making a huge mistake. This was a fairly well-written scene, although it brings in yet MORE retconning, making it seem as if Jeremy's hand has been guiding fate since the beginning of this series (which seems pretty unlikely), but Sue is able to convince Jessica that Jeremy is still seeing Sue as well. Jessica finally seems to realize what an idiot she's been, and after spending a bit of time uncharacteristically bashing herself, she decides that she's ready to get even with her two-timing sleazeball "fiance."
Meanwhile, Liz is trying to dig up the dirt on Jeremy, but what she finds is...nothing. Sue scoops up some wedding announcement he foolishly carries with him, about a young socialite couple from Atlanta. The dude's name is Matt Thorn but the picture is of the man they all know as Jeremy. Once they pool this information, and realize the Matt Thorn identity is just as thin as the Jeremy Randall one, our plucky trio realize that they are all in this way too deep. Jessica has the gall to call up Matt's scorned wife, impersonating a local police officer on the phone, and gets the scoop. Apparently Jeremy has done this business before, marrying stupid, rich girls and absconding with their money.
The girls decide to trap Jeremy once and for all, and they decide to do it on their own, which is dumb. Not without reason, though, as the police are dismissive when the twins first take their story about Jeremy being the kidnapper to them, because Steven taped over the kidnapping video with the telltale pinky ring. But for them to not tell their parents, and only loop in Sam Diamond at the last minute, was incredibly stupid. Master Detective Diamond has apparently only just reached the same conclusion as Sue, Liz, and Jess, with none of the info that the teenagers had. I certainly would not be trusting this woman with my life and safety!
So they decide that Jessia will lure Jeremy to the Project Nature cabin, Sam will follow with a carload of teenagers, and the police will follow her, and somehow they will confront Jeremy. This plan goes sideways from the start: Jessica makes the supremely unwise decision to tell Jeremy that she knows he is scamming them all, but that she doesn't care and wants to run away with him anyway. The lure of Wakefield twin v-card must be damn strong, because Jeremy takes the bait. Unfortunately, the night they are to run away together is the night of a terrible thunderstorm, so OF COURSE Sam and the teens in her car crash during the wild chase to the cabin, and OF COURSE Jessica realizes this too late, and OF COURSE Jeremy is a hard-hearted asshole who leaves Jessica behind to die in a fire, as depicted on the stepback. He's mostly proud of himself for running his scam without actually killing anybody, and he figures he'll get away with this, too - and he almost does. Sam, Liz, Sue, and Todd arrive as Jeremy is leaving, and Liz and Sue rush into the burning building to save Jessica. This was a hectic, climactic scene that was really nicely done.
It's not until they are all at the hospital that Liz confesses the whole scheme to her parents who are bewildered but not upset, even going so far as to bring Sue back into their fold, knowing all of the terrible things she's done to them. The group gets the good news that Jeremy wrecked his car not far from the cabin, was picked up injured by alive by state troopers, and will presumably be brought to justice with a little help from Sue.
The ending of the main plot is ridiculous, honestly, and very abrupt. Jessica is ready to jump out of the hospital bed, where she's being treated for smoke inhalation and burns, so that she can get to the Mistletoe Madness dance at school!
There are two subplots that are also woven into the story. Lila is convinced that Robby will never have his paintings ready by the time of his gallery showing, so she decides that she's going to throw some paint on canvas and display her work under his name, because obviously nothing can go wrong! She is mortified when everyone hates her work, and even Robby is giving her the stinkeye when he arrives and sees what she's done. There was so much secondhand embarrassment to be had here. For all the brains Lila had in the last book, there are none on display here. Robby is kind enough to forgive her, and his real work is hung in the gallery and he is celebrated as a hot new talent. He also wants to go to the Mistletoe Madness dance at SVH, lucky Lila!
The other subplot is that Ken Matthews has developed a crush on Jessica and starts showing it in very age-appropriate, rather adorable ways. The contrast of Ken's wooing to Jeremy's jaded attitude really brings some home truths to Jessica and she realizes that she's not ready for anything she thinks she is. Ken is definitely more her speed than Jeremy, and there are some really cute scenes between the two here. I was wondering how Jess was going to go from this engagement disaster to her second-best boyfriend in the series, and apparently it all starts here. Aww ♥
NGL, the budding romance between Jessica and Ken definitely helps the rating of this book; I think it's a solid three stars, considering the way the plot basically backed everyone into a corner. I think the ghostie was one of the experienced hands who wrote previous Thriller books, and it certainly shows here. This was not a bad way to end the nostalgia re-readathon for this year, and I might just have to revisit some of these Ken/Jess scenes when I get nostalgic for their relationship. show less
Much to Jessica's dislike, Steven and Tricia are still happily in love... or are they?
The truth is, Tricia's been cancelling dates and refusing to take Steven's calls. He's completely devastated—especially when rumours start going around about Tricia dating other men. Eventually he confronts her and accuses her of heading off on a dirty weekend with a new beau (remember, guys, Tricia's still in high school) and they break up. But we soon discover that Tricia's not cheating at all but show more instead harbouring a Very Big Secret. She's dying of leukaemia, and wants to spare Steve the misery of watching her fade away. Because thinking your first love is cheating on you and then later finding out she's dead is obviously a bed of roses.
Meanwhile, Jess has heard that one of her favourite celebrities is currently stuck in Fowler Memorial Hospital with a broken leg, so she persuades Liz to join her as a candy striper so she can meet him and he can fall madly in love with her jailbait self. Liz somehow doesn't see right through Jess's claim that she wants to give back to the community, despite knowing her scheming twin for over sixteen years. It soon becomes obvious what Jess is really after, though, when she starts harassing the poor man every chance she gets.
Cara's always been hot for Steve, so with Tricia out of the way, Jess decides to throw her bestie and her brother together. Initially, Steve stays true to the memory of his ex, but before long he's snogging Cara and taking her to college parties, despite still thinking she's shallow and annoying. As you can see, using people runs in the Wakefield family.
Liz finds out Tricia's secret when she runs into her at the hospital, but Tricia makes Liz promise not to tell anyone. Here's one of the few times where the Sweet Valley books actually teach their junior readers a valid lesson, because it's made very obvious that some promises are damaging and shouldn't be kept. Liz angsts about it for a few chapters, pausing occasionally to scheme with Jeremy Frank about frightening Jessica into getting over him by proposing.
She says yes, but it's a very short-lived engagement.
Eventually Liz decides to tell Steven the truth about Tricia's strange behaviour and the two crazy kids are reunited, pausing only for Steven to thoroughly criticise Cara, never once thinking that perhaps his own rebound behaviour could be called into question.
Everything ends happily! Except for Cara, who's been dumped by the guy she's been crushing on forever. And for Tricia, who's still dying. Oh, and for Elizabeth, who's just been kidnapped by Creepy Carl the hospital orderly she was stupid enough to be nice to once.
Cliffhanger time!
This is one of the best early books in the series. There's a light-hearted Jessica plot to counter all the doom and gloom of Steven and Tricia's star-crossed love, and Cara gets to have her first featured role. As is often the case in Sweet Valley, everything could have been sorted out in a tenth of the time if people actually communicated honestly with each other... but where would be the story in that?
Moral of the Story? Don't accuse your girlfriend of cheating. She could just be dying and then how would you feel?
[re-read - previously read around 3 times] show less
The truth is, Tricia's been cancelling dates and refusing to take Steven's calls. He's completely devastated—especially when rumours start going around about Tricia dating other men. Eventually he confronts her and accuses her of heading off on a dirty weekend with a new beau (remember, guys, Tricia's still in high school) and they break up. But we soon discover that Tricia's not cheating at all but show more instead harbouring a Very Big Secret. She's dying of leukaemia, and wants to spare Steve the misery of watching her fade away. Because thinking your first love is cheating on you and then later finding out she's dead is obviously a bed of roses.
Meanwhile, Jess has heard that one of her favourite celebrities is currently stuck in Fowler Memorial Hospital with a broken leg, so she persuades Liz to join her as a candy striper so she can meet him and he can fall madly in love with her jailbait self. Liz somehow doesn't see right through Jess's claim that she wants to give back to the community, despite knowing her scheming twin for over sixteen years. It soon becomes obvious what Jess is really after, though, when she starts harassing the poor man every chance she gets.
Liz finds out Tricia's secret when she runs into her at the hospital, but Tricia makes Liz promise not to tell anyone. Here's one of the few times where the Sweet Valley books actually teach their junior readers a valid lesson, because it's made very obvious that some promises are damaging and shouldn't be kept. Liz angsts about it for a few chapters, pausing occasionally to scheme with Jeremy Frank about frightening Jessica into getting over him by proposing.
She says yes, but it's a very short-lived engagement.
Eventually Liz decides to tell Steven the truth about Tricia's strange behaviour and the two crazy kids are reunited, pausing only for Steven to thoroughly criticise Cara, never once thinking that perhaps his own rebound behaviour could be called into question.
Everything ends happily! Except for Cara, who's been dumped by the guy she's been crushing on forever. And for Tricia, who's still dying. Oh, and for Elizabeth, who's just been kidnapped by Creepy Carl the hospital orderly she was stupid enough to be nice to once.
Cliffhanger time!
This is one of the best early books in the series. There's a light-hearted Jessica plot to counter all the doom and gloom of Steven and Tricia's star-crossed love, and Cara gets to have her first featured role. As is often the case in Sweet Valley, everything could have been sorted out in a tenth of the time if people actually communicated honestly with each other... but where would be the story in that?
Moral of the Story? Don't accuse your girlfriend of cheating. She could just be dying and then how would you feel?
[re-read - previously read around 3 times] show less
Hoo boy! did teenage me have some bad taste in books.
I saw this yesterday in a Free Little Library and couldn't resist finding out how it would read now.
It's pretty awful; what was teenage me thinking?? The characters were so cardboard: Jessica is the vain, selfish, shallow, 'evil' twin; Elizabeth is everything good and shiny. Jessica steals Liz's love interest and Liz is all brave and noble. Liz's love interest is an absolute jackass of an 80's teen with a 50's mentality. And I don't show more even know what the hell was supposed to be going on with their parents...
Dumb book. I'd probably be less harsh with it if I didn't know there were authors out there like Blume who were doing exponentially better books for teens long before this was written, but thankfully there were, and thankfully I read them. show less
I saw this yesterday in a Free Little Library and couldn't resist finding out how it would read now.
It's pretty awful; what was teenage me thinking?? The characters were so cardboard: Jessica is the vain, selfish, shallow, 'evil' twin; Elizabeth is everything good and shiny. Jessica steals Liz's love interest and Liz is all brave and noble. Liz's love interest is an absolute jackass of an 80's teen with a 50's mentality. And I don't show more even know what the hell was supposed to be going on with their parents...
Dumb book. I'd probably be less harsh with it if I didn't know there were authors out there like Blume who were doing exponentially better books for teens long before this was written, but thankfully there were, and thankfully I read them. show less
Well, I suppose it was inevitable that a great book (by SV standards) is followed by a complete dud. This was poorly written, the characters reduced to crude personality traits, and pushed around the chess board in service of the plot. Anything approaching reality was thrown out the window. It was completely devoid of any nuance or callback to previous canon (or even the previous book!). What a letdown. I never knew it was too much to ask for two consecutive books to be written by the same show more ghostwriter!
We pick up immediately where we left off, with Jeremy and Jessica making out in the rose bushes by the Wakefield house, during the engagement party for Jeremy and Sue. Elizabeth tracks them down and separates them, asking them WTF they think they're doing, but Jessica is angry and petulant. She refuses to give a toast to the happy couple and actually runs out of the room, leaving Liz to make an excuse before all that her poor twin can't hold her liquor (ha!).
Unlike the last book, where Jessica took what was the high road for her and basically did nothing but be around Jeremy, hoping that he changes his mind about marrying Sue, in this one she actively pursues her goal. She sneaks around with him behind Sue's back, gets stuck in an elevator with him, fakes a broken ankle on a hike, and even takes him away from his bachelor party! This is the sociopathic Jessica from early canon, where no scheme is too low in order to snag the man she supposedly loves.
Jessica is no longer moaning about being Forever Alone if Jeremy doesn't make her a teen bride. Instead, she declares herself mature and responsible enough to handle a relationship with a grown-ass man. Age gap? What age gap? She is almost pathetic here, in her schemes to win her man. She has no thought for Sam, much less AJ or any of her other boyfriends, whom she once declared her one and only. Jeremy is her ~soulmate~ and they were meant to be together!
Standing in their way is Sue, who is now syrupy sweet, constantly hugging and kissing on Jeremy and referring to Jessica as "cute" and "adorable" and basically a child, even though Sue herself is still a teenager as well. This enrages Jessica to no end, and only makes her want to steal Jeremy away even more. She views Jeremy as a poor victim of circumstances, even moreso when Sue drops her bombshell: she has the same rare blood disease that killed her mother and thus, has only a few years to live. She confides in Liz and Jess but begs them not to tell their parents or anyone else, which is certainly...a choice. Jessica immediately wonders if Sue could possibly be lying to them about her illness, and Liz admonishes her for it, saying that Jess only wonders that because she wants Jeremy for herself.
Jeremy in fact tells Jessica that he is going to call off the wedding and then he receives Sue's news and suddenly feels trapped. He doesn't have the heart to break off with her, especially considering she proposed to him. How can he leave her now, in her hour of need, when she only has a few years left to live? He sets himself up as a true martyr, which - GAG. His pedo-grooming ass has not only a teenager with a ring, but an even younger one on the side. Jessica's thoughts about being Jeremy's mistress are truly hilarious, but it only galvanizes her further: she's not going to settle for second place, dammit!
Meanwhile, Liz has truly gone off the deep end with her primitive-woman-hear-me-roar feminist phase, to the point where even Enid is telling her to knock it off. Liz is agonizing over whether to tell Todd about her fling with Luke in London; she finally decides to spill the beans when he returns from his grandmother's, only for him to beat her to the punch. Liz is so infuriated when Todd tells her that he spent time with another girl that she breaks up with him, and stays angry with him for most of the book. Way to be a complete hypocrite, Liz!
Steven, of all people, eventually clears the path for their reconciliation. Liz confesses to her own misadventure in London, and Todd is completely understanding/forgiving about it. He even tells her that maybe they are just kinda meant to have flings when they're apart, which I guess forever sets them up for cheating from here on out. This Todd is a complete 180 from the jealous jerk that we see later in the series, so enjoy him while you can. After the way Elizabeth treated him, I'm not sure why he was pining over her.
The third subplot in this book is Lila and Robby. Jessica plants the seed that maybe Robby is only interested in Lila for her money, so she decides to give him a taste of his own medicine by declaring herself an orphan and basically an indentured servant to the Fowlers. It backfires on her, of course, and Robby seems to be even more smitten with her, now that he believes they have poverty in common! Lila even goes so far as to attempt to make breakfast for him before fessing up to her lie and the reasons for it. Robby is also Mr Mature and assures Lila that he loves her for herself, not her money. They kiss and make up without incident moments before the big wedding.
Elizabeth and her friends throw Sue a lingerie shower the night before the wedding (to which Jessica's contribution is 3 pairs of oversized granny panties, LMAO). She is, however, furious when she learns that Robby is giving Jeremy a bachelor party. She goes off on how it's such a barbaric ritual and how Robby and Jeremy are probably throwing some wild bash with girls in bikinis everywhere. She ultimately decides she wants to raid the party and shame all the dudes that are there, and the others agree to go along - all except Sue, who decides that she trusts her man completely and is tired after her own party. So Liz, Jess, Amy, Olivia, Enid, and Lila dress up as English bobbies, complete with fake mustaches and hats, and crash the bachelor party.
Some wild party it turns out to be - Robby figured that it would be much more classy and sophisticated if he gave a quiet eight-course dinner party by candlelight instead of the strippers-and-booze fest that pretty much everyone is expecting. Even though all of the people who attend the party are in high school (plus Steven because he's needed as someone for Todd to talk to). What is up with these grown-ass adults having grown-ass parties with only underage minors in attendance?? It's gross on so many different levels, ugh.
Anyway, the girls show up, Robby gives in and puts on some music so everyone can dance around his living room. I'm unclear if he is still house-sitting for his dad's boss at this point (and when he invites Lila over to make him breakfast), so this is doubly dubious. Jeremy confesses to Robby that he's in love with Jessica and is only marrying Sue because she's dying, and Robby is like, "okay, do whatever makes you happy, you know I got your back." He stands aside when Jeremy and Jessica leave (in full view of everyone). Elizabeth, newly reconciled with Todd, has made the sudden decision to stop trying to control her sister and also lets them go.
Jeremy and Jessica share the sunrise; Jessica is still trying to figure out how to keep Jeremy from marrying Sue, while Jeremy is desperately trying to escape the situation altogether. He's not man enough on his own to call off this whole shindig, and no man enough to stay away from Jessica, either. So he's pretty damn pathetic in this book, as well as being a pedo-grooming ass.
So finally, we come to the Big Day, the beach-side wedding ceremony. Jessica is frozen in horror because they are marrying on the very spot where she and Jeremy first met, and she would rather die than go through with being a bridesmaid. Liz compels her to go through with her promise, and Jessica is able to only just hold it in before bursting out at the most cliche moment possible. The whole scene is something to behold, truly:
It's like - that's not how this works, that's not how any of this works! It's badly written soap opera fanfic, complete with Sue swooning and Mrs Wakefield saying something incredibly ugly to Jessica before running to cradle her BFF's daughter in her arms. Chaos and confusion reign, while Jess is led away by Liz and Jeremy is taken in the opposite direction by the officiant.
I can only just shake my head at this nonsense. Perhaps most amusing of all, the little teaser blurb calls the next three-part series Sweet Valley Scandal, when in fact this two-parter was actually labeled that and the rest of the series was called something else. It's sloppy right to the final word, which is only fitting IMO. show less
We pick up immediately where we left off, with Jeremy and Jessica making out in the rose bushes by the Wakefield house, during the engagement party for Jeremy and Sue. Elizabeth tracks them down and separates them, asking them WTF they think they're doing, but Jessica is angry and petulant. She refuses to give a toast to the happy couple and actually runs out of the room, leaving Liz to make an excuse before all that her poor twin can't hold her liquor (ha!).
Unlike the last book, where Jessica took what was the high road for her and basically did nothing but be around Jeremy, hoping that he changes his mind about marrying Sue, in this one she actively pursues her goal. She sneaks around with him behind Sue's back, gets stuck in an elevator with him, fakes a broken ankle on a hike, and even takes him away from his bachelor party! This is the sociopathic Jessica from early canon, where no scheme is too low in order to snag the man she supposedly loves.
Jessica is no longer moaning about being Forever Alone if Jeremy doesn't make her a teen bride. Instead, she declares herself mature and responsible enough to handle a relationship with a grown-ass man. Age gap? What age gap? She is almost pathetic here, in her schemes to win her man. She has no thought for Sam, much less AJ or any of her other boyfriends, whom she once declared her one and only. Jeremy is her ~soulmate~ and they were meant to be together!
Standing in their way is Sue, who is now syrupy sweet, constantly hugging and kissing on Jeremy and referring to Jessica as "cute" and "adorable" and basically a child, even though Sue herself is still a teenager as well. This enrages Jessica to no end, and only makes her want to steal Jeremy away even more. She views Jeremy as a poor victim of circumstances, even moreso when Sue drops her bombshell: she has the same rare blood disease that killed her mother and thus, has only a few years to live. She confides in Liz and Jess but begs them not to tell their parents or anyone else, which is certainly...a choice. Jessica immediately wonders if Sue could possibly be lying to them about her illness, and Liz admonishes her for it, saying that Jess only wonders that because she wants Jeremy for herself.
Jeremy in fact tells Jessica that he is going to call off the wedding and then he receives Sue's news and suddenly feels trapped. He doesn't have the heart to break off with her, especially considering she proposed to him. How can he leave her now, in her hour of need, when she only has a few years left to live? He sets himself up as a true martyr, which - GAG. His pedo-grooming ass has not only a teenager with a ring, but an even younger one on the side. Jessica's thoughts about being Jeremy's mistress are truly hilarious, but it only galvanizes her further: she's not going to settle for second place, dammit!
Meanwhile, Liz has truly gone off the deep end with her primitive-woman-hear-me-roar feminist phase, to the point where even Enid is telling her to knock it off. Liz is agonizing over whether to tell Todd about her fling with Luke in London; she finally decides to spill the beans when he returns from his grandmother's, only for him to beat her to the punch. Liz is so infuriated when Todd tells her that he spent time with another girl that she breaks up with him, and stays angry with him for most of the book. Way to be a complete hypocrite, Liz!
Steven, of all people, eventually clears the path for their reconciliation. Liz confesses to her own misadventure in London, and Todd is completely understanding/forgiving about it. He even tells her that maybe they are just kinda meant to have flings when they're apart, which I guess forever sets them up for cheating from here on out. This Todd is a complete 180 from the jealous jerk that we see later in the series, so enjoy him while you can. After the way Elizabeth treated him, I'm not sure why he was pining over her.
The third subplot in this book is Lila and Robby. Jessica plants the seed that maybe Robby is only interested in Lila for her money, so she decides to give him a taste of his own medicine by declaring herself an orphan and basically an indentured servant to the Fowlers. It backfires on her, of course, and Robby seems to be even more smitten with her, now that he believes they have poverty in common! Lila even goes so far as to attempt to make breakfast for him before fessing up to her lie and the reasons for it. Robby is also Mr Mature and assures Lila that he loves her for herself, not her money. They kiss and make up without incident moments before the big wedding.
Elizabeth and her friends throw Sue a lingerie shower the night before the wedding (to which Jessica's contribution is 3 pairs of oversized granny panties, LMAO). She is, however, furious when she learns that Robby is giving Jeremy a bachelor party. She goes off on how it's such a barbaric ritual and how Robby and Jeremy are probably throwing some wild bash with girls in bikinis everywhere. She ultimately decides she wants to raid the party and shame all the dudes that are there, and the others agree to go along - all except Sue, who decides that she trusts her man completely and is tired after her own party. So Liz, Jess, Amy, Olivia, Enid, and Lila dress up as English bobbies, complete with fake mustaches and hats, and crash the bachelor party.
Some wild party it turns out to be - Robby figured that it would be much more classy and sophisticated if he gave a quiet eight-course dinner party by candlelight instead of the strippers-and-booze fest that pretty much everyone is expecting. Even though all of the people who attend the party are in high school (plus Steven because he's needed as someone for Todd to talk to). What is up with these grown-ass adults having grown-ass parties with only underage minors in attendance?? It's gross on so many different levels, ugh.
Anyway, the girls show up, Robby gives in and puts on some music so everyone can dance around his living room. I'm unclear if he is still house-sitting for his dad's boss at this point (and when he invites Lila over to make him breakfast), so this is doubly dubious. Jeremy confesses to Robby that he's in love with Jessica and is only marrying Sue because she's dying, and Robby is like, "okay, do whatever makes you happy, you know I got your back." He stands aside when Jeremy and Jessica leave (in full view of everyone). Elizabeth, newly reconciled with Todd, has made the sudden decision to stop trying to control her sister and also lets them go.
Jeremy and Jessica share the sunrise; Jessica is still trying to figure out how to keep Jeremy from marrying Sue, while Jeremy is desperately trying to escape the situation altogether. He's not man enough on his own to call off this whole shindig, and no man enough to stay away from Jessica, either. So he's pretty damn pathetic in this book, as well as being a pedo-grooming ass.
So finally, we come to the Big Day, the beach-side wedding ceremony. Jessica is frozen in horror because they are marrying on the very spot where she and Jeremy first met, and she would rather die than go through with being a bridesmaid. Liz compels her to go through with her promise, and Jessica is able to only just hold it in before bursting out at the most cliche moment possible. The whole scene is something to behold, truly:
"If any man or woman knows of any reason why this couple should not be joined as one under the realm of God, speak now, or forever hold your peace."
Elizabeth held her breath and closed her eyes.
"I do!" Jessica shouted.
Elizabeth couldn't believe what she was hearing. Maybe she imagined it. She opened her eyes and saw the shocked expression on Father Bishop's face, and she knew her worst fears had come true.
"You do what?" Father Bishop asked. His voice was shaking.
"I know why they shouldn't be married," Jessica said as tears rolled down her face.
"And what might that reason be, my child?" Father Bishop asked as sweat formed on his brow and his neck turned red inside his clerical collar.
"Jeremy can't marry Sue because he's not in love with her," Jessica blurted out. The crowd seemed to gasp in horror at the same time.
"What are you talking about?" Sue shouted at Jessica.
"It's the truth, Sue," Jessica said. "Jeremy's really in love with me."
"Jeremy?" Sue looked at Jeremy, anticipating a denial.
"Is this true?" Father Bishop asked Jeremy. "Are you in love with this young lady here?"
Jeremy looked at Sue and then at Father Bishop. "Yes, Father," he said sadly. "It's true."
"Well, then, that is that," Father Bishop pronounced. "This ceremony is officially void and null."
It's like - that's not how this works, that's not how any of this works! It's badly written soap opera fanfic, complete with Sue swooning and Mrs Wakefield saying something incredibly ugly to Jessica before running to cradle her BFF's daughter in her arms. Chaos and confusion reign, while Jess is led away by Liz and Jeremy is taken in the opposite direction by the officiant.
I can only just shake my head at this nonsense. Perhaps most amusing of all, the little teaser blurb calls the next three-part series Sweet Valley Scandal, when in fact this two-parter was actually labeled that and the rest of the series was called something else. It's sloppy right to the final word, which is only fitting IMO. show less
Lists
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 141
- Members
- 11,516
- Popularity
- #2,040
- Rating
- 3.1
- Reviews
- 147
- ISBNs
- 523
- Languages
- 11
- Favorited
- 1