Sweet Valley High, the books & the TV series

Loving this thread! Even back in the 90s I remember rolling my eyes a bit at the:

"perfect size 6 figures"
"blue green eyes the colour of the Pacific Ocean" blah blah blah, whilst their brother and dad of course were tall dark and handsome.

Does anyone remember what the historical ones were called. I loved the one I had - mum's side. I only realised from this thread that there was a dad's side version too. These days I'm really into genealogy (and I'm now wondering if this book was part of the reason actually!), so I'd love to find copies.

@isitjustmeme I think the suicide attempt was a mix of parental pressure and sexuality.
I might have to re-read again.

@isitjustmeme I found the whole thing about using condoms (or sheath as they call it) was only about preventing pregnancy not STDs (Katherine goes on the pill so they can stop using them) and the only mention of STDs is a joke about "VD".
It's obviously "of it's time" (1975 when published) but other than a slight disclaimer at the beginning in modern editions about using condoms as well as the pill it's not really made clear that it's a book "set" in the 70s so for modern teens it's not great.
It's actually sad to think the friend who was gay is of the era that he possibly caught HIV/AIDS 🙁
The friend who gave up her baby was hardly a "woman" - she was a High Schooler.

I used to love these books. Also, the sweet valley twins series which came before when the twins were aged about 11.

I almost had the whole collection, I used to find them in charity shops as a kid for about 20p.

I was always more fascinated with the character Lila Fowler. She was Jessica's best friend, a very rich, spoilt little bitch who always used to get her own way! 😂

@papersky it was in tv years ago it wasn't very good

@Needmorelego sorry meant to add I thought the attempted suicide was due to his father's pressure on what school he attends? I remember a discussion about him being gay with her best friend but I thought he concluded he wasn't?

Fair enough. For me what stood out was the safety and consent around sex. It wasn't the typical boy pressuring a girl and the girl feeling pressured. But that somehow being okay because they 'love' each other. It showed a healthy relationship with upfront conversation about sex and protection. And that was in the seventies when these things were a lot more taboo.
The adoption storyline I guess it depends on your views on adoption. A woman made a choice and put herself first.
The attempted suicide highlighted the pressure teens can feel to leave up to expectations.

It probably didn't need the extras in though as yes it did sidetrack from the main plot of first sex/love and I agree it could have gone deeper into their relationship and them as people.
I think they just fancied each other. There wasn't much more depth to their relationship than that.

@isitjustmeme I re read Forever a couple of years back and I didn't like it.
I realised that the characters didn't have any personality and I couldn't see what Katherine's attraction to Micheal was. We (the reader) didn't learn anything about him.
I hated the storyline of the friend who had a baby and gave her up for adoption. I found it heartbreaking but in the book everyone just seems to not give it a second thought. I vaguely remember there's one comment about how this friend (I can't remember her name right now) won't be able to graduate school with an "academic" diploma just an "attendance" one or something because she missed school by having a baby - and the characters seem to care more about that than this poor girl giving up her baby.
There was the subplot too of the male friend being depressed and trying to kill himself because he thought he was gay (this went completely over my head when I first read it as a teen). It takes up barely a chapter!
Looking at it now - as an adult - I think it's a terrible book about first romance.
I love all the other Judy Blume books - even though some do have parts that are dated - but the characters are wonderful.
And lets face it - if anyone found out their boyfriend called his penis Ralph they'd be starting one of those "I've got the ick" threads on here 😂

I would pay good money to see the whole movie!

Treat yourself OP!

https://www.modcinema.com/

Loving this thread!

I loved
svh/d
The babysitter club
Judy Blume
Virginia Andrews
Point horror

I re read forever recently. It's still a great book and very relevant

This was a whole miniseries which ended in The Evil Twin. It was a wild ride!

Jemima Rooper was George in a Famous Five series. I always recognise her when she pops up in things for that reason!

These were my favourite ones!

@Dustyblue Olivia is played by Jemima Rooper who is actually a really good British actress. I think I watched it on Paramount Plus which is a paid TV app; they have loads of the VA adaptions. The Dawn series has now been released too! You can discover those whilst I sink into SVH from Kindle Unlimited!

I remember the one where a serial killer comes to town and happens to look like the twins and tries to kill one so she can take over??

@Dustyblue have you seen Garden of Shadows? It’s a four parter, higher quality than the other four films.

Some of these books are giving me a real blast from the past! I read Flowers in the Attic but don't remember the Heaven series. Unfortunately my girls have never been massively interested in a lot of my old books, despite trying to convince them many times that Judy Blume or the Nancy Drew series or SVH are quite excellent reading! One did read a couple of my Christopher Pike teenage horror books though.