Aww Lila. Lila is my favourite character and she has a hard time in this. It starts off with her liking John Pfeifer, sports editor dude at The Oracle.  There must be some build up beforehand. John likes her too and appears lots of places she is going. She is waiting for him to ask her out.  Lila thinks it’s high time she had a nice boyfriend. Jessica is so loved up on Sam and Lila wishes she always had a plus one. Aww.

I remember John being nice and serious and there was something about him and a blond girl earlier but can’t remember what happened. Either way, he has broken up with that girl and still feels a bit crap about it. But he does like Lila.

He eventually asks her out and Lila is all cute and excited about it.

Meanwhile Jessica is worried that she and Sam are getting too physical and she might get carried away because they kiss too much. She is still sixteen- yawn. Sam is a really nice guy and I might have to trail through Shannon’s blog to see when is it they get together.  She talks to Liz who says yeah, Todd and I have gone through the same thing but Jessica can’t believe her and Todd have the same passion she and Sam have. Neither can I really but there must be times where umm kissing for hours gets a bit hard wearing on your lips- some might even want to get a bit nikid in the back car seat.  So without talking about- are we ready for sex…they decide they will cool it a bit. Sam says he would never ‘do’ anything she didn’t want but she still flaps about.

So Lila’s big date- ends horribly. She has a lovely time with John at dinner and dancing…<don’t know when and where she danced but apparently she did> but then they go to Millers Point. And they make out but John gets too heavy and rough and turns out not to be a nice guy after all. She gets away from him but then doesn’t tell anyone what happened. Jessica notices something is wrong as Lila normally would have given her the low down about the date- she doesn’t- and that’s weird. Jessica tries to be a good friend again and I’m surprised at Jessica being nice -again.

Lila then worries that John will try and come to her costume ball and tells him he can’t. But the shit-head does. At the costume ball Lila loses it and yells at John in front of everyone how he tried to rape her. Everyone is shocked. Everyone talks about it at school. Jessica is supportive of Lila.

Lila thinks things can’t get any worse when a girl materialises and says John tried to do the same thing to her. Both girls confront John in front of people. Lots of boys go,’ that’s not cool John’. John is a douche bag. They tell him to get help.

I haven’t ever read what actually happens to John but figure out from various blogs- that he goes from date raper to complete all and out wacko and tries to burn something down and dies in the process.  Shame.  I mean they could have dealt with how he deals with the aftermath etc but to go the next level and become sunset beach—was sort of needless.

This books isn’t bad though- I did used to like John but sort of don’t mind too much that a nice guy turned out that way. There are many times you think you know someone and they do horrible things.  Even nice guys.

It’s good that the book is predominately told from Lila’s POV because it could have turned into one of those books where the reader gets the impression that it was Lila’s fault for dating him and going to Millers Point in the first place.

In my brief buying titles I really want;

I also read 1 Double Love where we get introduced to the most beautiful, Californian twins in the WORLD. Jessica is frankly a scheming bitch, and Liz is a doormat who cries all the time. At the rate her ‘eyes fill with tears’, the girl just can’t wear eye liner full stop. Double Love is where Todd and Liz get together and I used to not mind Todd- its Liz that’s the biggest problem in their relationship. They all jump to conclusions so quickly you think- where’s the trust people?

3- Playing with Fire. Bruce is supposed to be older… is he is the same age as Aaron in that case? They’re like 17?? Either way, he is a good-looking rich git who takes advantage of girls all the time. Jessica gets in over her head- he gets heavy and treats her like crap and then she realises at the end that enough is enough and ends it with him.

5- All night Long– Jessica still doesn’t learn her lesson about older, pushy guys and goes out with some dodgy bloke who tries to get all heavy again. She spends the night out and Liz covers for her by pretending to be her. Todd thinks Liz is a prat and she cries all the time. Jessica is mean when she comes back and then isn’t- the mood swings are quite alarming. All is right with the world at the end.

7- Dear Sister. Todd has a motorcycle and he and Liz get into an accident. Liz is in a coma for four seconds and then wakes up and turns into a worse version of Jessica. She flirts with all and sundry and ends up with Bruce. He tries to get heavy with her and she runs off in tears into the strong <puny> arms of sixteen year old Todd. All is right with the world.

9- Racing Hearts. I remember this book because I thought Lila was so lucky her brown hair didn’t frizz like mine in the rain. Ha ha . Lila plays around with some poor bloke called Roger who runs really fast. Bla bla. Olivia, who does have frizzy hair, is a friend of Roger and she and Roger get together. Liz is wandering about being self-serving and righteous. Jessica is probably doing something. All is right with the world in the end.

32- The New Jessica. Jessica is sick of being mistaken for Liz and wants to create her own identity. She and Lila have a makeover weekend where she dyes her hair black, borrows Lila’s wardrobe and adopts an English accent. This cover isn’t flattering to Jessica at all. I always thought she looks a bit like a drag queen. Liz is pretty but annoying. Everyone loves Jessica’s new look which is obviously OTT for high school. Liz is very upset and is mean to her new boyfriend Jeffery because she think he fancies Jessica. The poor guy said he liked Jessica’s hair and never was able to finish a sentence. Liz being mean.  Jessica can’t model because they think her look is too stylised and she goes back to be an amazingly, stunning Wakefield twin. All is right with the world in the end.

48- Slam Book Fever.  Amy Sutton is back from Connecticut and says that Slam Books are all the rage. All the girls get matching books and make entries of Biggest Flirt bla bla. Jessica actually, genuinely, likes a new boy called AJ and is rather endearing when she blushes and acts out of character. She feels badly that she has been named biggest flirt as new boy doesn’t like aggressive girls. Her eyes fill with tears multiple times. Meanwhile, Liz is mean to Jeffery again and jumps to conclusions without talking to him. She thinks he has hooked up with her friend Olivia who by now has broken up with speedy runner Roger.  In the end, they figure out it was Lila stirring up trouble and all is right with the world. In the end.

49- Playing for Keeps. I quite liked Jessica acting a little different in this one. She likes that new red-haired guy and thinks he wants a meek; weak sap aka Liz so Jessica acts all demure and stuff. It works and they start going out but Jessica is OTT and keeps wanting to go hiking and random save the planet meetings. Trying too hard there. Liz is all concerned. Bla Bla. There’s some tramp called Pamela who is from a private girls school- she nearly drowns and AJ saves her. Another over developed sixteen year old! She throws herself at AJ and Jessica watches but stays schtum.  Then there is some fashion contest at Lisettes and hot girls enter. Jessica of course and the tramp Pamela. On the day of the contest, Pamela sabotages Jessica’s outfits but Jessica remains undefeated and reigns supreme thanks to umm Lila pulling back the stage curtains and Jessica going off on one at Pamela whilst looking like a goddess wearing a wet swimsuit. Aj is like wow, Jessica is so great and spunky. And all is right with the world.

72- Rock Stars Girl. I remember reading this so clearly- it doesn’t feel that long ago at all! Lol I always really liked it and re-reading it i feel quite the same. It’s actually quite a good book. Liz doesn’t annoy me, and Jessica and the girls aren’t overly bitchy. Recap is that some hot new girl moves to town. Enid and Liz befriend her. Her name being Andrea Slade. Meanwhile, Jessica et all are into a rock star and rumour has it that he moving to Sweet Valley. They are very excited. Whilst on random outings with the gals, Nicholas Morrow bumps into Liz etc and him and Andrea hit it off and its crush at first sight. They go out on a date and its brilliant. They’re all in love. Only weird thing is Andrea never wants anyone to pick her up from her house. Yeah ok. Sooo Lila is snooping and wandering about and spots rock star guy and follows him. She sees Andrea. So it comes out slightly pear shaped that Andrea is rock stars live-in tween girlfriend. Nicholas believes the rumour and is crushed bla bla. There is a big showdown at rock stars house and it comes out that Andrea is actually his daughter. Ta da. Everyone is happy. So yeah, i remember the angel hair pasta that Andrea orders with Nicholas. They’re a cute couple. For a while anyway.

84- The Stolen Diary.  I did read this one. I don’t know why Jessica is seen on the cover reading Liz’s diary cos that never happens. She did read her diary in the New Jessica but she had black hair in that one. But I guess by now we know that the covers hardly relate to the actual story. Doh.

I suppose there must be some build up about Todd feeling suffocated or something with Liz because when he tells her he wants to see  other people. We the reader get a filler about Todd being young and not wanting to be tied down. I felt pretty sorry for Liz here. Seemed quite unnecessarily harsh of Todd. Anyway, she recovers somewhat and starts hanging out with a Kris Lynch who is quiet and goth but nice enough. Oh, of course he has been in love with her forever- so says Caroline.

There are lots of times we are told that Liz keeps forgetting where she put her stupid diary. She carries it around with her..Liz seriously WTF? Jessica is quite nice in this one and looks out for her sister for once.

So Liz accidently leads on Kris. When he tries to kiss her at a party she freaks out and says take me home. He gets all heavy and shit like and says lets go to Millers Point. She says no and he grabs her and is a shit again and she cries and says let me out of the car. He drives off.

Todd come to her later on and says he made a mistake and doesn’t want to be dating tramp girl and Liz is happy but then things start to fall apart. There are rumours that Liz and Kris went to Millers Point and Kris got some. Enid blahs at him and he says that he and Liz are close and Liz told him about Enid trying to hook up with her ex Hugh. Enid is so aghast and dumps on Liz. Todd goes to tell off Kris about Miller Point rumours and Kris divulges secrets and Todd dumps on Liz. People dump on Liz. Why it doesn’t strike her that she dropped her flippin diary in Kris’ car and he read it before he put it in her locker is beyond me.  Jessica is the one to realise this and confront Kris who is soooo sorry about the outcome that he apologises to Liz with Todd and Enid. Liz is so grateful that everyone loves her again that she doesn’t get pissed at how two of the closest people to her thought the worst of her!  But it’s all good.

Oh somewhere along the way, Jessica has broken up with AJ and is now with Sam, who is a dirt bike racer and they are really great together. No sign of what happened to AJ–where did he go?

Why are the twins looking like 35 year olds on the cover? And why are they hunched over and weird? And what happened to their lips? They don’t look very pretty do they? And why is Jessica gripping her OWN arms so viciously?

So okay, Enid liked  new guy, Jeffery French first….ooooh that explains ‘Enids story’ She liked him first- Liz thats just cheap, going out with a guy you KNEW your best friend liked, a lot< even if later Enid endorses it and says go for it Liz; just know she is inwardly sobbing>. So when Lila likes Jeffery too and throws an impromptu pool party, why is Liz annoyed that Lila didn’t invite her and Enid to her pool party? Hello? Lila has never been your biggest fan Liz, she probably doesn’t invite you to lots of stuff. Liz doesnt know at this point that Jessica knows that Enid likes Jeffery too. Way to jump to assumptions Liz, and hey ghost writer stop skipping ahead and assuming characters know stuff when they DON’T.

Meanwhile, the twins have a ONE YEAR YOUNGER cousin called Jenny but they say she acts like she is a kid and they are so grown up. I admit, I like Jessica’s thoughts being so scathing. At least she is honest. What’s with Liz saying, ‘Jenny, you look great’ when apparently, clearly she doesn’t. Woah, Liz is mean.

Just to comment on Jessica’s bikini at the pool party; it supposed to be so tiny, it left little to the imagination. She is sixteen stop over sexualising her. My point, not a whole bunch of sixteen year old girls are so developed at that age- what’s with these girls with bodies like 20 something year old grown up women. I go on about this a lot don’t I? But it’s just like Gossip Girl. Serena was fifteen in flashback of series one and before? What a tramp. Where are the parents? What is going on..tut tut.

So bla bla, Jeffery likes photography and comes to The Oracle. Liz talks to him and tries in hopeless vain, to big up Enid but its quite obvious that Jeffery has no interest in Enid and actually is trying to get to know Liz better. She likes him too but feels guilty so keeps trying to push him and Enid together.

There is some charity auction and Liz convinces Jeffery to auction a date with himself. So not to be hard on Mr Collins again, but his thing for the auction is a voucher for a HOME COOKED MEAL BY HIM…so thats means some kid who wins goes to Mr Collins house to have dinner? Mr Collins must be really lonely if that is the extent of his social life…. told you, he spends way too much time out of school hours with these school kids.

Enid wins the auction goes out with Jeffery. He is nice but not interested in her. She tries to tell Liz; who fancies Jeff herself so stubbornly keeps trying to get Enid and Jeff together so she feels like a better friend. At yet another social gathering, Liz tells Jeffery to talk to Enid. It doesn’t work out. Everyone yells at Liz and then Jessica helps Liz realise that she is falling in LOVE   with Jeffery. In love? It’s been one week…. geez Liz, get a grip.

Funny moment, when Liz approaches Enid to apologise, Enid’s eyes instantly fill with tears..ha ha why is that. Liz’s self-righteous face is enough to make a girl cry. Heee. So Liz gets over her silliness and finds Jeffery and they kiss and fall in love because its that easy. Honestly, I think its a little harsh when Liz things that Jeffery’s touch is the most gentle she has ever had in her life…. err what about Todd Liz? Cor she forgets some stuff doesn’t she. And she thinks her and Jeffery will last? Ur urr no Liz, you and Jeffery break up in Book 59 called Broken Hearted, Poor ol Jeffery is broken-hearted for sure. Liz will be like see ya mate. That Liz… I tell you.

My current phase is submerging myself into everything Sweet Valley so in keeping with that- I managed to get like 22 books for £34 from Amazon market sellers. How cool  is that? 😮 Shannon and all other SV bloggers have saved me a ton of money like I said, but i felt all itchy and scratchy and wanted to read some for myself before the new one came out.  I went through all lists and picked the titles that I used to like the most plus getting some I hadn’t read.

I am currently on number 11- Too Good to be True.  I always thought it really funny that Suzanne was wearing such a heavy, turtle neck jumper… Arent they always running around in light blouses and shorts? Lol She must be sweating!

I think she has way too much make up on for a 16 year old…yikes. Elizabeth is pouting and looks pained and about 28 years old.  So this book is aboout good ol Roger Collins getting down and dirty with an underage girl… he didn’t- okay well thats what Suzanne says and mostly everyone, albeit, reluctantly believes her. I crushed on Mr Collins when I was 12…. now as adult, I think he spends wayyy too much with underage girls.

Why did he get divorced huh?  His son, Teddy is six years old so probably Mr Collins is early 30s? He got married young- wife ran out on him and he is a single dad…. did we ever learn his history? Was his wife a druggy, and poor woes me Collins is hard done by dadeeo? Or was he a git, had an affair, wife had a break down and ran out on him and their son….

I haven’t finished re-reading but know that Suzanne reveals her true, evil colours in a screeching  scene and Liz and Winston save the day and everything goes back to normal. I don’t remember the later book where Suzanne is all repentant and is ‘sick’- I prefer to remember her like this.  A beautiful, misunderstood witch.

Oh, and Jessica gets nearly date raped again by Suzanne’s boyfriend in New York. Her experiences slide off her like water and she never lets up her pursuit of older, unsuitable men who ‘want more’. Suzannes parents find Jessica fighting off a guy, bursting into tears and umm don’t tell the Wakefields…. I wonder if Ned tells them of Suzanne’s troubles…nah, probably not.

Ooo just finished reading it; so one of Lis’ favourite books is East of Eden….she probably blushed all the way through. Methinks that books is too gritty for her. Also, Lis only had to look into the eyes of her favourite teacher to know he was telling the truth. I’m not sure how comfortable I am with a bunch of kids going to a teachers house and umm kissing him on the cheek. Like your teacher sure, but surely there are some ‘boundaries’.

Poor frizzy haired Olivia, makes me think of swift footed Achilles; that’s like her tag.

Everyone gets over everything in four seconds. The end.