Sweet Valley High

[Stillinbedat10am]

I have just discovered that most of the Sweet Valley High series are available on Kindle Unlimited and that I can get a two month free trial.

Anybody like to join me on a (socially distanced) journey back through life with Elizabeth, Jessica, Todd, et al?

For fans of Babysitter's Club the new graphic novels are brilliant.

I also loved Drina The Ballerina series. She went dancing allover Europe, but there was some tragic orphan background of some sort that she was always trying to hide...

@bookmum08 I had to google lol. Yeah she appears. From the sounds with a different personality. Dumped Ken when he went temporarily blind..became friends with Jessica not Elizabeth..and tried to split up a few couples.

I was obsessed with these books in the 80s, aged around 10/11 yrs old.

I loved the descriptions of what they wore. Jessica always got cool (80s-tastic) outfits like ‘leather pants with a hot pink blouse’ , whereas Elizabeth seemed to dress like she was 15 going on 50 ‘olive green turtle neck with ivory slacks’ 😆

The guys always seemed like real doofuses, though.

God this takes me back in getting on kindle unlimited now. Didn't the twins relationship take a really sinister turn - didn't Jessica spike Elizabeth who then drunk drove and killed Jessica's boyfriend?! Then they didn't speak - i think that is when I stopped reading them.

@RingaRosie ah she was really Andrina Adamo, daughter of famous ballerina/dancing couple? Was she an orphan or were they off dancing somewhere?

I'm surprised that Elizabeth forgave Jessica so many times. Jessica did some horrible things. Even starting from the first book if I remember rightly Jessica had a crush on Todd and even though she knew he liked Elizabeth she tried to manipulate him into liking her instead.

Thanks for this! I’m going to add SVH to my yr 6 DD’s homeschool schedule!! I’m also going to try to find California Dreams & Pugwall on YouTube. Lockdown is looking up!!

Ah god this reminds me also of the Sweet Dreams books. I used to read those and SVH. Memories

olive green turtle neck with ivory slacks

😂😂😂

@Inmyownlittlecorner I now have the theme tune for California Dreams in my head! 🎶Surf dudes with attitude,🎶.
Does anyone remember a series of books about a Cheerleader squad? Red and yellow covers l think.

@wizzbangfizz yeah then she saved her from a twin look alike who tried to kill so she could take over her life..and all was forgiven.

Jessica was quite horrible! Yet somehow got away with everything

OMG! A babysitters club series on Netflix! When? WHEN???

I've just finished SVH number 13 which is "Kidnapped" and was the earliest one I could find on Kindle. The storyline is so far-fetched it is funny... the idea of a 16 year old going missing and it being her friend's who find her in the end.

Also, such a big thing being made of Regina Morrow being deaf - I seem to remember that in every book after this where she is mentioned there is once again a description of her "tragic handicap" which she "bravely overcomes." You just wouldn't write about a disability like that now and actually get it published.

This evening I will be moving onto number 14. The enticingly named "Deceptions."

Elizabeth's best friend was "tomboy" Amy, who moved away eventually then came back and was more friends with the Unicorns than Elizabeth.

Drina (ballet series) was the daughter of Elizabeth Ivory (Betsy Chester) and an Italian businessman. He died when she was a small baby but her mum died in a plane crash not long after. Drina spent the whole series trying to prove herself as a ballerina without using her mother's name. I still have all mine, might have to read them again!

Jessica and Todd are married!!!!
Hang on, Jessica married Todd??

This is so funny, I was telling DH about these books yesterday and have been singing the SVH theme tune ever since. Jessica was a mean girl.

I loved SVH, Babysitters Club and the Cheerleader books too.

Wasn't it Veronica who met Todd in Vermont and they fell in love so Elizabeth had to step back and give her blessing? Then she supposedly had a brain tumour and had a glass of champagne and went driving and had an accident, making the twins feel bad about not being nice to her, then she was told she didn't actually have a tumour?

And Margo had her own twin, unknown to her, who pretended to be Jessica and was sleeping in her bed when Margo went in and stabbed her to death? So everyone thought Jessica was dead but actually it was the unknown twin, who had trapped Jessica in the basement of the high school?

I loved those far-fetched storylines! Definitely off to read some!!

@sueelleker I seem to remember throughout sweet valley twins and high she used to go on and on how boring he was! Then it leads to that! Given how much bad luck she had with boyfriends dying however nice it sorta went a happy if not weird way.

And also Elizabeth and Bruce..she hated him as well! So how did that come about.

Sorry @TitianaTitsling
Does anyone else remember one of the specials about a theme park? They went on a school trip & Elizabeth was sucked into a fairytale land??

I remember one where they went to France to be au pairs for a royal family. As if the king and queen would hire two 16 year old girls with no experience!

@SallyLovesCheese oooh yeah Suzanne!! I remember reading someones blog on that how do you even come up with that?!..she was misdiagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and actually had something else.

Then in the later years book she died in a crash when she mixed her Multiple Sclerosis medicine with champagne...even though she originally didnt have it lol.

They killed off Winson in the later books as well. Get the feeling she really didnt need to go back to them

Also the middle school series and the unicorn club - and they have to wear something purple every day! Oh the details.

If you think about the amount of books with all those events/traumas/complicated dating vs the time frame (ie "Junior Year) something major must have happend every 3 and a half hours.
I remember one of the Sweet Valley Twins books a girl was diagnosed and cured of cancer in the space of one book. Later on she was refered too as "having had cancer a few month back".
That part of California obviously is in some sort of time hole.

Suzanne! That was her!

I think it was a Christmas special, so we found out about her secret but she didn't die in the car crash, it was afterwards they told her she was misdiagnosed and the medicine was causing the sight issues etc? Trying to remember that one!

I think they had one birthday in the entire series