Young Adult Revisited

Jessica is so upset over her near date rape that she sits around all the time in her dorm room, moping and wearing sweatpants. Um, and she also goes to the Theta house all the time. Liz runs around acting like she was the one hurt and demanding that everyone listen to what she says. She decides that the school needs a Take Back the Night rally, to open everyone’s eyes. Look, I think it’s really sweet that Liz is trying, but…is this really going to do anything? They did these at my school and the same group of girls showed up, along with some new freshmen who were roped into the event. Everyone else just went about with their own business and kind of forgot it was even going on. You’d come back from econ class and just walk around the gathering of people, irritated that they were taking up so much room. Anyway….Jess goes to the Theta house and hears that one of her sisters (Mariela) has a date with James. They all try to pretend it isn’t a big deal, but Jess warns her to be careful and ...

Jenny really has a sucky life and apparently all her mom cares about is money. This makes the third book where there’s some mention of her mom not having a job/enough money and making Jenny work to help pay the bills. She gets a job at a doughnut shop, but has a flashback where she thinks she sees Mr. Hagan in the mall. When her mom hears about it, she announces that she made plans for Jenny to spend the summer with her aunt and cousin Debra. Debra is apparently kind of a slut. She has a boyfriend Mark, but keeps calling and talking sexy to Terry, a guy she has a crush on. Her ex-boyfriend stops by and threatens to tell Terry that she’s making the calls, but she laughs him off. Then she bonds with Jenny before taking her to her job, which just so happens to be babysitting. It turns out to be a pretty cushy job because it’s watching over a six month old baby named Peter, who sleeps almost all of the time. Jenny seems a little nervous and tells Debra the whole story about what happened w...

I remember reading this book so clearly when I was younger! I even remember it being one of three books my grandma let me pick out from the bookstore when I spent the day with her and I think that it may have been right after the book came out. For some reason I remember being the first one of my friends to own it and read it. Anyway, a bunch of kids are going on an extra credit field trip for biology, led by Mr. Russo. Jess has decided that she wants Ken Matthew, but only because he’s the best looking, single guy going on the trip. To catch his eye, she wears flip-flops, short-shorts and a strapless shirt. I have no idea why Mr. Russo doesn’t take one look at her and send her home, unless he has a thing for young teenage ass. She and Ken do a lot of flirting and she figures that she’ll just cozy up to him and make him hers. Instead Russo puts everyone in groups and pairs them with a buddy. Jess ends up with Winston as her buddy, along with Randy Mason and Lois Waller. Winston keeps sc...

Ariel just finished up a ski weekend with her best friend Shannon and her boyfriend Doug. Ariel’s boyfriend left early after a fight, but they’re also traveling with Red, a guy they met at the ski lodge. On the way home the roads get pretty bad and Ariel is nervous because Doug is driving like an asshole. Red convinces Doug to get off the highway because the county roads get cleared faster. As someone who grew up in the county, outside an actual town, I can tell you that this is completely wrong. Red also points out that there’s a house nearby and it’s big enough for them to stay until the snow dies down. Since Doug is about to crash the car, they decide to pull off. A big, scary guy opens the door and introduces himself as Lou and his wife Eva, who basically hides out for most of the book. Lou starts hitting on Shannon, which should piss Doug off because he apparently hates when anyone looks twice at his girlfriend. Instead he decides that he likes Lou because they both like hunting. ...

I was 17 when this book came out and had absolutely no business reading Fear Street books and yet I remember almost everything about this book, including the ending. I think I probably borrowed it from a library back when the blog was a thought, but I was still a few years away from actually starting one. Delia is completely obsessed with her boyfriend Vincent who’s also dating Karina and also obsessed with her dark purple lipstick. She’s constantly applying and reapplying her lipstick and based on the color, I was sure she was goth for half the book. Delia wants to sit around and plan Vincent’s birthday party, but he wants her to get going because Karina is on her way over. Vincent keeps thinking about how he likes both girls and can’t choose between them, but he does admit that Karina is prettier. Karina shows up and freaks out when she sees purple lipstick on his cheek, but he says Delia was there earlier for homework help and kissed his cheek on the way out. Ugh, I hate to admit th...

Wow, a book totally devoted to Todd Wilkins! I’m sure I would have devoured this book 15-20 years ago. Of course back then, I thought Todd was the perfect guy lol. So it’s the 14th summer vacation during the junior year of high school. Todd, Enid, Cara, Liz, Jess and a few other kids are working as camp counselors at Secca Lake. The camp is all weird too because it only lasts for two weeks. Somehow the kids are still going to be able to find jobs for the rest of the summer. Jess is only working on the chance that she might meet cute guys (of course), but everyone else actually wants to work there. Liz has suddenly decided that her relationship with Todd isn’t healthy because he doesn’t pledge his undying love to her every single day. I know it’s more complicated than that, but it basically feels that way. She tries to force him into talking to her and then throws a fit because he doesn’t want to go over his every thought with her. Todd is having problems because his dad wants him to wo...

Jenny, Cappie and Barbie are three typical teenage girls who cut class and go for a drive in Jenny’s huge, old convertible. They talk constantly about their friend Megan’s upcoming 16th birthday party and how their friend wouldn’t skip class to hang out. Jenny goes around a corner, the steering wheel locks up and the car crashes. The book then jumps to Megan, who’s mooning over her friend Justin. Apparently she’s so in love with him and they spend a lot of time together, but he barely realizes that she exists. She gets a call from her best friend Hillary, telling her about the accident and flips out. Still wearing the blue dress for her party, she collapses on the bed, where she hears someone talking to her. After looking around for a few minutes, she realizes that the voice is coming from inside the mirror! The voice inside the mirror, comments on her dress choice and talks to her for a few minutes. Personally I’d be freaking out, but Megan kind of takes it all in stride. The next day...