Sweet Valley High #15: Promises

Front Cover: Somehow, Jessica will get rid of Betsy!

Back Cover: Bad girl in town...

Steven Wakefield is crushed when his girlfriend, Tricia, dies after a tragic illness. The only things that keep him going are the memory of their love and his promise to Tricia to take care of her sister, Betsy, after she's gone.

Betsy Martin's wild exploits with drink, drugs and boys have left her with the worst reputation in Sweet Valley. But when Steven takes her into the Wakefield home, Betsy makes a promise to change. And as her goodness grows, so does her love for Steven.

 Jessica, Steven's conniving younger sister, doesn't like this one bit. She makes a little promise of her own - to get Betsy out of the house and out of Steven's life... forever!

I like how this book doesn't hide the fact that Jessica is totally mean and a bitch. Betsy's sister just died, and Jessica is all "But what about me? ME!!!" I really wished people in the book called her out on her behaviour more often.

Even though Jessica and Elizabeth still feature prominently in this book, it's largely about Steven, which I really liked. I wish we got more books about him. I'm excited for all the books in the future that feature him being all creepy about Tricia haha

I wonder if anyone ever brings up the fact that Betsy's name must be Elizabeth. I mean, I suppose it's always possible that her parents just named her Betsy straight-up, but generally, "Betsy" is a nickname for "Elizabeth". Oh the irony!

Anyways, what basically ends up happening is that Betsy stays true to her word. It's not easy, and with Jessica's machinations, she very nearly decides to forgo it all and just resign her life to being poor white trailer trash. But of course, it wouldn't be a Sweet Valley book without everything ending up all hunky-dory in the end. Steven and his friend Jason Stone decide to enter Betsy in an art contest to get a scholarship at an art school. Of course, she wins, so I'm guessing that means we won't be seeing much of her anymore.

Jason Stone seemed like such a generic nice-guy. I'm guessing in the future, if he or Betsy ever get mentioned, it'll be that they're dating.

The subplot is that Roger Barrett's mom is dying, and Bruce Patman's father is being super-nice about it. In the end, we find out that Bruce's uncle, Paul, who died in a plane accident long long long ago, is actually Roger's father.

Hook: Now Roger is as rich as Bruce, but how muvh will he have to change to fit in to the Patmans' world?

I'm guessing that at first, Roger will be all like, "This doesn't change anything. I mean, I won't have to work so many hours and I won't have to worry about money for school, but I'm still the nice guy I've always been!" But then Jessica is going to sink her hooks into him, and convince him to change, and others will have an influence on him, and the next thing we know, he'll break up with his girlfriend, date Jess (who will realize that despite the money, she thinks Roger is the most boring person ever) and eventually realize that money can't buy happiness and that he was better off before. So even though he'll still have the money, he'll eschew the lifestyle and everything will pretty much be status quo haha

Sweet Valley High #9: Racing Hearts

Front Cover: Can Roger melt Lila's icy heart?

Back Cover: Love on the run...

Roger Barrett has always had a hopeless crush on glamourous, wealthy Lila Fowler. The only attention Lila ever pays to him, though, is to make fun of him in front of her friends. But why shouldn't she, he thinks. After all, he's clumsy and shy and works secretly as a janitor after school.

When Roger wins the qualifying heat for a big race, he becomes a school celebrity overnight. And to his surprise, even Lila starts to chase after him. But Roger knows if he runs in the race finals, he'll lose his job. Will Lila still notice him when he's no longer a star?

So in this one, the conflict actually ran through the entire novel. Of course, it didn't have to if Roger had just asked his boss in the first place if he could run in the race, or if Roger had just straight-up told the coach why he couldn't run. Although, I have to admit, I think it's a bit realistic of Roger to been too shy and eager to please to tell the coach the truth. Of course, Roger in the end gets to race and keep his job, and he wins the scholarship, so everything works out great for him.

I would've liked this book a whole lot more if it had been from Roger's POV the whole time. It kinda gets tiring always having everything come back to Elizabeth, and to a lesser extent Jessica. I would've liked to have seen more of Roger's home life. All we learn is that his father's a drunk, and his mother is on disability and no longer able to work. I would have been interested in seeing more of this, like just how bad life was at Roger's, and did his parents know/care/realize what he was doing for them.

Obviously Lila was just a bitch and only wanted Roger for his fame and new-found popularity. I'm not surprised by that at all. It would've been nice to have seen some character development from her, but I know that that's asking for too much from these books haha

The subplot in this one was that Jessica decided it was time to take a look at her future, and started volunteering at her father's lawfirm. Of course, since she's just a 16 year old girl, they had her started on just photocopying things. If it were me, I'd have been pretty happy with that, but of course that's just too slow for Jessica. Luckily, she met a boy there, so that helps. Not gonna lie, that'd help me too xD haha

She thinks Dennis is in college, but he confirms that he's in high school - he just goes to El Carro, the rival school. In the end, Jessica finds out that Dennis is actually only 15, but that he turns 16 in two months. That's a total dealbreaker for Jessica, who breaks things off and runs away crying.

I don't get what the big deal is. Unless he was a grade below her, two months shouldn't really make a difference. Are you saying none of her friends are born later in the year than her?? They make it seem like Dennis was just some lowly little 9th grader in the end, but if Jessica is a junior at age 16, then he should at least be in grade 10. I do understand the stigma of dating someone a grade lower than you though. I'm just pissed because Jessica never even stops to consider that, hey, he might be in her grade, just born later in the year!

Another thing that pisses me off is that Jessica originally thinks he goes to college, so that he's probably 18. There's a pretty noticeable difference between a guy who is 15, who is 18 and even who is 20. Unlike girls, who especially with make-up, can pass for anywhere between 14 and 20, guys tend to look more different at each of those stages in their lives. So unless Dennis was on steroids, Jessica should have at least figured he was in high school.

Hook: What trouble is in store for Annie?

I'm guessing Jessica is going to spread all sorts of vicious rumours around about Annie, and get her into trouble. Maybe even make her super-depressed. Then it'll turn out that Annie really isn't that easy, that it's just the rep that she has. That she's no more different than Jessica, who also dates a new guy every week (and I'm pretty sure doesn't actually sleep with many, if any, of them). So Jessica will feel super-guilty and decide to let Annie on the cheerleaders, her reputatio will be cleared up, and she'll live happily ever after haha

Sweet Valley High #8: Heart Breaker

Front Cover: Will Jessica break Bill's heart, too?

Back Cover: Catch a wave...

The surf's up in Sweet Valley, and gorgeous Jessica Wakefield is making a big splash with Bill Chase, the hottest surfer in town. But after she tricks him into falling madly in love with her, she ignores him completely. 

To complicate matters, she, quiet DeeDee Gordon is also after Bill. But Jessica has the upper hand. If Bill even looks at DeeDee, Hurricane Jessica blows him off his board and back into her arms. Can Bill escape Jessica's undertow, or is he in over his head?

Again, another book highlighting what a bitch Jessica is! Although, to be fair, I've done similar things as her, just not quite to her extent. But I'm no stranger to stringing guys along and playing a few mind games with them...

The fact that Jessica and Bill were starring in the school play together just came out of nowhere! These books seem to act as if very very very little time has passed between them, so the idea that they were full-blown into production with no mentions of anything in the previous book just seemed abrupt. Then again, I guess most people don't read these for continuity. I used to read them out of order, whenever I could get my hands on them. And I've definitely not read every single one. I'm pretty sure this was my first time reading this one.

The subplot in this one involved Elizabeth getting jealous over Todd's ex-girlfriend having moved back into town. I know there's about a bajillion continuity errors between Twins and High, to the point where each series is essentially meant to be independent of each other (both of them rehashing pretty much the same themes and similar plots, just targeted at slightly different age groups), but now I'm wondering if Patsy was mentioned Twins. I'm thinking not, because I don't remember her at all.

I hate how half of Todd and Elizabeth's fights stem from Elizabeth being stupid and not just TALKING TO TODD to clear the air! Then again, I can't really speak...

Hook: Roger and Lila have big surprises in store for them

Pretty much the weakest hook ever, but then again, this book actually tried to set things up for it in advance. Elizabeth finds out that Roger works as a janitor in her father's building, not just to make extra money, but because his family is so poor, they wouldn't even be able to afford rent without him working. Of course, Roger has a crush on Lila, who is filthy stinking rich. So I'm guessing the next novel will either have Roger somehow working in Lila's house, thus exposing his secret, or Lila will somehow fall for him, Roger will try to keep his secret, but it'll get out and Lila will ruin him. Either way, Roger's secret will get out and Lila will ruin him and then see the error of her ways and then it'll all be back to status quo haha

I would really like a story about Roger and his background, so I'm looking forward to reading the next one.