Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Totally have to review one of the early SVHs… like the one where Elizabeth hits her head and totally turns into Jessica and makes out with Bruce, completely devastating Todd.  I think the title is “Dear Elizabeth” or something.

Dear God, I’m 31.  Why does my brain remember this?  Please. Kill. Me.

I love “Adios” I’ve purchased three copies so far- I’ve given two of them away to young women who needed a gentle little get your sh## together and have more respect for yourself kick in the pants- And I love how she wins without winning-

you know, I never really read SVH although I do admit to watching the t.v show a bit. That was a long time ago. Was Jessica always portrayed as a bitch?

Go on reviewing fabboo YAs, Sarah! And don’t apologize for it! I do the same at my blog, although to be strictly fair that’s all I do. :p

I enjoyed Adios to My Old Life too, although I thought the e-vil bitch was kind of one-dimensional. But other than that, I loved Ali and Jaime and all the stuff going on.

Maureen

OMG, distracted, that’s exactly what I was going to say! Ack. I’m 31 too, and that’s immediately what sprang to mind when Sarah mentioned SVH.

The tension--will Elizabeth “accidentally” lose her virginity to scummy Bruce while thinking that she’s actually her own slutty twin sister? So. Freaking. Cheesetastically. Good.

I used to ride my bike to the bookstore so I could sit inside and read them-- I couldn’t afford to buy them, and I’d already gone through the library’s entire, incomplete stock.

Holly--if I remember correctly (and I don’t always) Jessica was usually portrayed as a raging bitch, but mostly so that on the rare occasions when she did something slightly less-than-selfish for Elizabeth once in a blue moon, everyone could note that deep down, she was a softie.

Whatev. Bitch city, bring it on!

C’mon, Sarah--whaddya say?

Distracted - I feel your pain… And I think it was actually called ‘Dear Sister’. *hides face in shame*

I also vaguely remember the one where Elizabeth is kidnapped from the hospital where she was volunteering… I think that was titled Kidnapped or something equally thought provoking.

God I think I need help.

Sarah, you better give us a review now!

I never read SVH books, but was a total Girls of Canby Hall fiend. That series fulfilled my escapist boarding school fantasies and featured a black girl as a main character.

Troll bookclub was my Amazon until I was old enough to shop at bookstores on my own. Memories… :D

A shoutout to Caridad on a great review! You go, woman!

I will admit to being a YA reader as well. I’m older than the SVH books (I was stuck on the Sue Barton books to the point where nursing was my number one career choice. That changed the first time I watched a movie of surgery), but today’s YA is NOT your mother’s YA. Sharp, witty, and sometimes in-your-face, just like most real teenagers, the genre has developed respectability.

Now if we can only get that respect in the genre we call ‘romance’…

Thanks for the review!

Diana

Yes, it *was* “Dear Sister”.  See, Elizabeth was riding on Todd’s bike when there was an accident....  Seriously, I need a life.

I loved to read SVH books. I thought the were great at the time. I wonder what I would think of them now?

I do remember one where Jessica pretends to be Elizabeth so she could steal her boyfriend- or maybe that was all of them!

Didn’t they go to France in one of them? And the cute boy was really mean but then turned out to be good. I remember he rode a scooter...Or am I thinking of something else? And yes, I must get a life too.

Dd has read Adios three times. This for a girl who I have to MAKE read at the point of tears. So, yes, it’s an A in our house too.

I still see them at used bookstores and pick them up once in a while.  I loved them growing up--sad, really.  But at least I’m not alone! 

This website has lots of info:

http://www.series-books.com/svh/sweetvalley1-10.html

I loved Adios, it was such a great story and it made me cry a little.  And hey, A Wrinkle in Time is YA - there’s nothing wrong with enjoying such stories when one is *ahem* a bit older than the main character.

Oh Diana, I TOO was a major Sue Barton fan.  And nursing was a career choice for about ten minutes until I realized sick people threw up. 

My favorite YAs were the Rosamund DuJardin books.  “Double Date” anyone?

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss!

*pumps fist in air*

Smart Bitches review FOR THE WIN! Now onward to the Ritas, and then it’s world domination, baby…

Glad to see I’m not the only ADIOS fan.  It came in my RITA judging box, which was a big win for me, since I was planning to buy it.

LOVED that book.  And I so have my fingers crossed for a RITA.  Great book!!

SBSara - I beg you - (and you’ll just have to trust me that that is very unusual behaviour) PUHLEEEEEEEZE review ‘Alice, I Think’ by Susan Juby if you adore quality YA!
I’m actually not a habitual YA reader - I think this title was wrongly shelved or something at my library when I picked it up - but it is howlingly funny, excellently well-written, and totally original. Many of the outstanding features of Ali’s story as you have reviewed it are echoed, only as would happen in the life of a home-schooled daughter of vegetarian hippie-throwback parents in a very small town in the British Columbian interior (i.e. moose play a role in the stumbling, developing romance subplot).  How Alice develops her own vibe, rebels (gently) against her parents, and comes to terms with how different she is from the rest of the crowd in her town, is a poignant and unforgettable story (am I squeeing enough yet?). Arguably the best bit happens in the second book of the trilogy, ‘Miss Smithers’, when Alice enters the local beauty pageant purely as a kneejerk reaction to her ultra feminist mother’s horror at the idea.

Having said all that - I’m off to my bookstore to tear my way through Ali’s story. Thanks for the tip.

Did anyone ever read Sweet Valley University? It followed Jessica and Elizabeth to college (Jessica must have cheated on her SATs) where Elizabeth breaks up with Todd, joins the newspaper, and falls in love with her tortured Editor-In-Chief, Jessica secretly marries (and later divorces) a much older man (with an alcohol problem, no less), Bruce and Lila fall in love (following the death of Lila’s husband, an Italian aristocrat), and Elizabeth’s BFF Enid changes her name to Alex and becomes the campus slut. The series was short lived, but Ms. Pascula (or whoever wrote them) sure managed to pack a lot into the ones that were written.

oh yes Sue Barton-I loved those too. Did anyone else read the Kim Parker books? She was a secretary for an insurance company but yearned to be an investigator like her father and brothers?

Hoo-weee! Talk about a nose dive down memory lane! Somehwere in my parents garage is my coveted collection of SVH - I’m thinking I got up into the 20s before moving on to Rosemary Rogers - a natural transistion, no?

Had to nose around the internet because it was driving me bats that although I couldn’t remember the titles, I was thinking the “Liz Gets Amnesia and Gets to be the Bad Twin For Once” was #6. Turns out Dear Sister is #7. But hey, I was close. This site actually has wonderfully bad .jpgs fo the original cover art: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/francine-pascal/

I love YA, please continue to bring attention to the genre! And definitely do a SVH snark when you get a spare minute.

Last year in Atlanta, Caridad gave me a copy of ADIOS, signed to my niece.  I read it first and not only loved it completely, but bought at least two, maybe three copies for other girls who I thought would enjoy it.

I think the thing about the book that grasped me most was the way she described the actual act of Ali playing music.  The sensuality of it was so compelling.  The words in this book were put together not only to tell a great story, but also in a way that made you stop and re-read a sentence or a passage because of the beauty of it.

Awesome book.  Awesome review.  Hope to see you in the bar on Saturday!

oh, man, if you’re going to review a SV book, may I recommend that it be one of the books in the “Saga”?
the first book, the Wakefields of Sweet Valley, was pretty spectacular, but I’m pretty sure book 2 of the “saga” books, the Wakefield Legacy, was my favorite.

you get multiple generations of fun and twins. and crazy recaps of major historical events! what’s not to love? why oh why did i read those? and more importantly, why do i remember them? (on a similar not, why do i remember most of the words to a good 2/3 of the cartoons of my childhood? why?)

Does anyone else remember the SVH Evil Twin books?  Something about a brunette who looked exactly like the twins and wanted to dye her hair blonde, kill Elizabeth, and take over her perfect life.  And I think in the second one it turned out that the Evil Twin had a twin sister she didn’t know about?