Young Adult Revisited

One Evil Summer opens with Amanda Conklin stuck at the Maplewood Juvenile Detention Center. She’s completely unhappy and really, who can blame her? She wanders into the bathroom and thinks about how her life was once completely different. As the house mother type person yells at her to get ready for her psychiatrist’s appointment, she thinks back to Chrissy and where it all started. Amanda is stuck in the backseat with her little brother and Kyle and little sister Merry. Mom is a freelance writer, who’s working on some big story about how teens deal with stress. They’re heading out to Seahaven, this small town away from Shadyside, to spend the summer and get some relaxation. Amanda accidentally mentions algebra and we learn that she’s enrolled in summer school after flunking the class. Mom is pissed because now they have to hire a baby-sitter/nanny. Am I the only one who has a problem with this? Did mom just expect Amanda to spend the whole summer working for free and watching over...

Supposedly a bunch of Sweet Valley High kids are off to spend Spring Break in France. The only ones actually mentioned are the twins and Lila. Lila is off to spend a week with a family in the Riviera, while the twins are staying with this woman Avery and her son Rene. Her daughter Feney is going to spend a week with the Wakefield family. Poor girl. Liz is a little sad because Todd has just moved to Vermont and she thinks Rene looks cute in his photo. Avery is super nice to the girls, but Rene *gasp* hates them. Hates them? Say it ain’t so! He actually hates all Americans and the girls learn that his father was American. He left when Rene was fairly young and so now he hates everyone from America. On their first full day in Cannes, Jess meets a guy named Marc. He isn’t very cute, but he’s rich and drives a Porsche, so she’s all over him. Liz finds a random dog and takes it home. Turns out his owner is a wealthy countess and arranges to have her meet her grandson Jean-Claude. Jean-Cl...

The truth about Ryan is that he’s kind of a dick and I don’t get why everyone wants him. Is that him on the cover? If so, he kind of reminds me of the stereotypical douche bag lifeguard. The one that really belongs in some Baby-Sitter’s Club book. So when we last left Liz, she was stuck on the side of the road and crying her eyes out because she was missing a date with Ryan. She’s now stuck in a garage, waiting for the Jeep to get fixed. The mechanic tells her that the Jeep overheated and broke a fan belt, probably because she was driving too fast in the heat. Liz gets pissed because he makes a sexist comment about how she was probably in the beauty parlor, until she realizes that he was right. Ryan meanwhile is nursing a hangover and avoiding the ringing phone because he knows that it’s Liz. He keeps drinking whiskey and blaming her for his drinking. Jessica shows up, trying to escape Ben and Priya and has a little flirting with Ryan. Liz shows up and Jess runs off, but then Liz...