Young Adult Revisited

Jessica is obsessed with Scott, an older guy who’s either 18 or 21. They mention that he’s 18, but Liz thinks he’s older and Jess lied about his age so their parents wouldn’t worry. Both girls were invited to a beach party with his friends, but their parents put their foot down…for once. Jess lies and says she’s going out with Cara, but actually goes to his party. The party itself is fairly lame, with a bunch of college kids sitting on the beach, drinking beer and gossiping. Jess tries to play it cool and make everyone like her, but then realizes that they all know she’s too young for him. They do pass around a joint and Jess is all shocked. Scott takes her out into the woods and she willingly goes along, just wearing a bikini, which proves she learned nothing from her relationship with Bruce. He puts the moves on her, she refuses and he makes a comment about her being too young before ditching her there. She eventually finds her way out, but he’s too drunk to drive her back and hides ...

I just finished reading the first chapter of Sweet Valley Confidential. If you sign up as a "Super Fan", the publisher emails a copy to you. Actually, if you're like me, you register/sign up, watch it say that you registered, wait around for a day without getting anything and then go back to the site. Register again, watch as you get a message thanking you for updating your information and then (and only then) get the chapter emailed to you. Seems like a lot of work for something I was kind of disappointed with. Maybe it's working as a writer. Granted I do non-fiction and will never reach the level of success (or money!) as Ms. Pascal, but I do understand passive voice...and I read a couple of them in the one chapter that made my head hurt. Hopefully those disappear before the book comes out. Plus, I wasn't crazy about Liz and orgasms in the first chapter. Yes they're all grown up now, but the Liz we knew and loved wasn't so gung ho about sex talk. Now she...

Felicia is sitting in sometime of biology/psychology lab at the community college, trying to move things with her mind. Apparently she has some kind of psychic power, which she inherited from her dad and her mean old aunt made her enroll in the project after her dad died. Everyone is super worried because she doesn’t really have a handle on her power. She makes that pretty clear when she gets pissed off at the doctor in charge and shoots a pencil into his eye. She starts screaming because she can see it so clearly in her mind, but the doctor keeps yelling at her and when she looks up, the pencil is stuck in the wall. Psycho much? I honestly have a hard time remembering what part is a flashback and which part they tell at the beginning so let’s just explain what happened. Felicia runs into her friend Debbie, who’s also in the project even though she doesn’t display any psychic powers. Debbie is super jealous and keeps pouting because Felicia has powers that she doesn’t have. They stop b...

Todd and Elizabeth are now back together again, but things are soooo different now. Todd doesn’t even go to Sweet Valley High! It’s kind of funny because the whole book seems to be about how Liz can’t fit in with all his friends, but then she never even tries. She basically just wants Todd to tell his dad to stuff it and come back to school with her. At the beginning of the book, she’s kind of/sort of trying to be the good girlfriend. They meet after school every night, but it’s also kind of selfish on her part. Supposedly Lovett Academy where Todd now goes, is an hour away. So basically he drives an hour home, immediately meets her, spends a few hours with her, does his homework and goes to bed because he has to get up early. But Liz talks about how it’s such a drain on her because she doesn’t have enough time. They both end up getting in trouble because Todd skipped out on three basketball practices to meet with her and his coach told him if he misses one more, he’s off the team. Liz...

Marvin is your average high school student, except for the fact that the 17 year old is a world famous author of books for teens. His latest series follows a young girl named Ann, who’s found dead, floating in the lake. He only has one book left to write, but it’s four months behind and his publishers are freaking out because they want it done now. Part of the reason for his writer’s block is Shelly. They dated a year ago, but she was also dating Harry. He was found dead, she broke things off with Marvin and barely talked to him since. He reads a short story for creative writing class about a frog named Seymour who wanted to fly. The frog filled his lungs with air, flew into the air and when he tried to get more air into his lungs, he exploded. The birds ate him and carried him off, letting the frog fly like a bird. He then asks Shelly out and she agrees, telling him not to wait so long next time. Marvin picks up his little sister Ann (does Pike know any other female names?) and checks...

Mary Lee and Madrigal are twin sisters and best friends, up to the point when their parents decide to send Mary Lee (ML from here on out) to a private boarding school. ML expects her sister to stick up for her and refuse the separation, but Madrigal thinks it’s a good idea. ML feels all crappy because she thinks her parents hate her, but goes anyway. She hates the school and withdraws from everyone, to the point where her roommates and classmates start ignoring her and think she’s weird. She goes home and learns that her twin now has her own life, including a boyfriend. She doesn’t want him to see her at all because she wants him to think of her as unique. Then Madrigal comes for a visit and wows all of her classmates, who think she’s so cool. They all go skiing and she loans ML her own cool ski outfit. The lift breaks and Madrigal falls to her death, but because of her clothes, everyone thinks it was ML. She tries to tell everyone who she really is, but they think she’s in shock. When...

Catherine Belmont is obsessed with her favorite soap opera, Lost River. We know this because right when the book opens, she and her best friend Liz are preparing to run across town to Anderson’s Appliances, to watch the show. She usually tapes the show and watches it later, but her VCR broke so she’s stuck running over everyday at lunch. Apparently Catherine loves Cassandra Bly, the heroine of the show. As she runs off today, her friend/neighbor Kade decides that he really wants to see what the show is about. He picks on her, makes fun of her, but also makes it clear that he kind of likes her. That night, he even comes over and offers to fix her VCR for her. Unfortunately, Catherine is also kind of a loser. She keeps imagining herself in the soap opera and practicing her smiles or walks, like people are watching her at home. At the same time, Lost River is doing a new storyline where Cassandra is stalked by a figure in a dark robe, who keeps leaving her red roses. Catherine heads home ...