Sweet Valley Series

[Jibby]

I must admit that I loved these books. I actually still collect them, along with the Baby-Sitters Club books, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!

I really liked that mini-series about the prom, when Jessica's boyfriend died and they get stalked by a crazy girl who looks just like them, which of course is very plausible . I didn't like how after that, all of the books were in mini-series. I liked the early books, where Jessica was a bitch and Elizabeth was perfect and they had a good old time in perfect Sweet Valley.

I'm proud to say that I have almost the entire collection of SVH and SVT.

[Deleted]

I had the game, and I remember no one wanting to be Enid to the point that we would have one person sit out a game then rotate in. I also remember the SVU books as well, and the sagas.

[Mutagen]

You know, I was always way more into the BSC (shut up), but reading over this thread I'm shocked at how much Sweet Valley stuff I remember!

-My best friend when I was little had the Sweet Valley High board game. We all thought this was the most awesomest thing ever. Luckily there were only three of us who played it on a regular basis, because nobody ever wanted to be poor dorky Enid. (The Mallory Pike of Sweet Valley)

-My favorite character was Lila. Yeah, she was a total bitch, but she was an entertaining bitch. Also, one of the SVH books I most clearly remember is the one where she was almost date-raped, because it freaked me out.

-Was it Jessica or Lila who joined the cult? That book also kind of disturbed me, but looking back it's a pretty hilarious plot. I'm surprised the BSC never went there.

-I actually read some of the Sweet Valley University series... good GOD!

-Do y'all remember the series about Margo, the evil psychopath who happened to look exactly like Elizabeth and Jessica (?!) and was plotting to kill Elizabeth and take her place? One of my early literary crushes was Josh, the guy who tracked her across the country to avenge his little brother. (And I freely admit the little brother's demise REALLY freaked me out.)

-I too read the "Wakefields in history" supplement to the Sweet Valley series... I loved the French resistance one, and wasn't there one where the Proto-Elizabeth was a horseback performer in the circus?

Edited to add: LOL, I just cross-posted half of this stuff! I guess great minds think alike, and also remember the same stuff from Sweet Valley! ;D

[franticjoy]

Oh, man. My mum started me on SVT when I was 6 or 7, and I went straight into the forbidden SVH books. I think I must have been too young to understand anything sexual in them, though, because I remember being convinced that "scruples" were pants and wondering how on earth Jessica had lost her pants.

I also thought for years that Regina Morrow had died from smoking pot, not doing a couple of lines of cocaine, and that thought would always surface when somebody asked why I never tried marijuana. There would always be this tiny little thought that Regina Morrow died from smoking it. Which is pretty sad, now that I think of it.

The things I learned from this series: Beware of people walking around carrying rags covered in chloroform (#13, Kidnapped!); fat girls will always be made fun of, until they lose a ton of weight, then everybody will love them (#4, Power Play); leukemia makes you prettier (#12, When Love Dies); everybody will always think Jessica is awesome, even when she spikes somebody's drink and gets her boyfriend killed.

[carrier76]

You'd think there wasn't one brunette or redhead in the entire state!

Oh yes, her name was Lila Fowler and she was an EVIL BITCH.

Because blondes are good and pure. It's the Smurfette Syndrome. Whatever.

[chonies]

Ethnic people (Maria Gonzalez, Jade Wu, possibly Penny Ayala) are good, too. Especially because they're poor (unlike non-ethnic poor people like Annie Whitman [slut] and Betsy Martin [whore], although Susan Stewart's mother/maid was Noble and True).

[Deleted]

I always loved Lila. She was my favorite.

I remember that even when I was younger, their brother seemed like a total goober.

I loved it when they went to college and Enid joined a sorority Todd dumped Elizabeth and she got fat and wore dock martins. I don't know what doc martins had to do with being fat but I think they were just showing how poor Liz was sliding down a slippery slope. Not only does she not care about her weight, she does not care about footwear.

I also remember in Kidnapped, the kidnapped one (was it Elizabeth?) was all upset because the kidnapper kept feeding her waffles with syrup for breakfast and she was going to get fat. Um, Liz (or Jess) you've been kidnapped by a creepy orderly. Let's be happy that you haven't been buried alive, mmkay?

[dwanollah]

There used to be a Sweet Valley thread, but I think it got accidentally deleted in the Big Accidental Old Thread Delete Scandal.

That's okay. Gives me an opportunity to re-pimp my Sweet Valley High Blather/slam book on my website!






<---- and click on "How Sweet It Is"!

[chonies]

Being fat and wearing Doc Martens is code for being a feminist. Not only did Elizabeth get fat, she turned into a womyn's libber. Which, of course, means ugly, humorless, and a Debbie Downer who sucks the joy out of phallocentric university life--football games, frat parties, etc.

[lallybroch]

chonies said:

Well, the worst part about that is Rick the Porntache Perv was the last overt sexual mention. Ever, as far as I can recall. Everything else was chaste kisses in someone's mom's Toyota or something. BORING!

A few books later, didn't Bruce try to have sex with Elizabeth? She'd fallen off a motorcyle and hadn't been acting like herself. Then there was "Easy Annie", who had a {{{gasp}}} teenage mother and everyone insinuated that she would follow in her footsteps. But you're right, this all happened fairly early on in the series.