Sweet Valley Twins #55: Brooke and Her Rock-Star Mom


Kids in Sweet Valley suddenly start going crazy about some new rock star from France named Coco. At the same time, Brooke Dennis is excited because her mom is coming to visit from France. See where this is going? She's bringing along her new husband Bobby and their daughter Sonya.

When Brooke makes plans to meet her mom at her hotel, her mom tells her a big secret: she's actually Coco. Apparently, she took some voice lessons while trying to make it as an actress and got an agent who convinced her to move to France because Europe has a big need for American singers. He then helped her reinvent herself on her way to becoming a big star.

She then meets Bernice, her mom's agent. Bernice tells her that they have to keep her mom's private life a big secret. No one knows that she is on her second husband or that she has kids. It would totally ruin her public image because rock stars don't have kids. I'm not making that up either. Bernice literally tells her that.

Meanwhile, Jessica becomes obsessed with Coco, and at the urging of the Unicorn Club, decides to start a Coco fan club. When she calls the record label, she learns that it's actually the first one of its kind in the country. The other girls let her be president because it seems like a lot of work. She gets a big box of publicity stuff and passes around red tee shirts. Jessica also starts dressing just like Coco does in her first video, including faded jeans and red cowboy boots. She even borrows a fringed jacket from Aaron that looks like the one Coco wears.

Brooke starts feeling down almost right away because her mom suddenly has no time for her. Every time they make plans, she gets to the hotel and finds her mom gone. Coco has interviews to do, costumes to try on, and hundreds of other things to do. Though she does call Brooke a few times, she's a pretty terrible mother. She just keeps telling her that she'll make time for her later.

Later never actually comes though. Bernice won't even let Brooke tell her dad what's going on, so she feels lost all the time. Though she was one of the charter members of the fan club, she drops out when she finds out about her mom. Despite having a crush on this cutie named Colin, she starts ignoring him because he's Coco crazy too. Brooke finally breaks down and confesses to Liz about who her mom is and begs her not to tell anyone.

Jessica gets a call that Coco is doing an autograph signing and meet and greet and that she wants her there as a special guest. Though the fans get the chance to ask questions, Jessica notices that Coco seems cagey and doesn't really talk about herself. When Bernice shows up and makes a comment about the hotel, Jessica follows them there. She heads upstairs and sees Coco with her husband and smallest daughter.

When she rushes home and asks Liz a question about keeping a celebrity's secret, Liz lets it slip about Brooke being Coco's daughter. Somehow, Jessica actually manages to keep this a secret. The same cannot be said for Brooke.

During yet another hotel visit, Bernice reveals that she scheduled Coco for her first concert that weekend. Even though they made plans to spend the weekend together, Brooke's mom says that the show is just way too important to skip. Bernice then goes on and on about how this is just a stepping stone to her career and how Coco will soon have a world tour. Realizing that this means she'll never see her mom, Brooke calls the newspaper and reveals the truth.

When the news breaks, people go crazy. Everyone suddenly wants to be her best friend, but they really just want the dirt on her mom. Liz offers to walk home with her, but Bernice drives by and gets Brooke alone. She tells her all about how she ruined her mom's career and how her mom is extremely upset. Bernice makes it seem like her mom doesn't want to talk to her or be around her, so Brooke decides to run away from home.

Mr. Dennis comes over to the Wakefield house to talk to Liz and find out if she's seen her. Coco then calls and talks to her too. She gives an interview with the paper and says that she'll cancel the concert unless her daughter comes home. This leads Jessica to reveal that Brooke is actually in their basement. Jess saw her at the bus station and convinced her to come to their house instead of running away.

Coco then calls to talk to Brooke and actually comes over to the house. She tells her that she wasn't upset with her and that she was actually relieved that her secrets were all out in the open. They make up, and her mom promises to make time for her in the future.

As fan club president, Jessica gets two front row tickets to the concert, but pretty much everyone else in town goes to the show. Brooke's mom brings her out on stage in front of everyone to tell her how much she loves her. And, Brooke winds up going to the concert with Colin.

The other story is about the twins and Steven trying to hide the fact that they threw a rager of a party when their parents were out of town. Alice keeps wondering what happened to all the food, Ned finds bologna in one of his shoes, and they keep finding junk food trash. When Alice teams up with Caroline Pearce's mom to host a neighborhood yard sale, they all freak out because Mrs. Pearce is a big gossip too. They finally break down and confess about the party, and their parents make them clean the whole house as punishment.

*Elizabeth refers to Brooke as one of her closest friends, but is she? I always thought she just popped up when it was convenient.

*Sonya is old enough that she already has her first two teeth. It's really shitty that Brooke's mom hasn't seen Brooke since before the kid was born!

*Colin is just starting a new band with Bruce, so I guess Bruce didn't give up on his rock star dreams after that book where Jessica was his lead singer.

*Coco is a horrible person. She says she didn't want to move to France but didn't have a choice. Except that she totally did. Her agent said she had a better chance of making it as a singer if she moved, so she just took off with her new family.

*Brooke says the court actually ruled that she couldn't move to France with them, which makes me think that her mom did something really bad.

*Coco also tells her that she's super important to her and makes all these plans with her. When she gets a chance to have a concert, she literally tells her that the concert is more important than spending the weekend with her,

*Brooke spends the whole time going to the hotel to see her mom and winding up doing stuff with her stepdad and her sister.

*Bobby is pretty understanding about the whole thing! If I married someone who told me that he had to keep me and our child a dirty little secret, he wouldn't be my husband for very long!

*Alice gets all confused when the twins tell her that May, their babysitter, ate all the mayonnaise and other food because the woman is just so thin.

*Bernice and Coco not letting Brooke tell her dad is bull shit. There is no way this woman should have even partial custody of either kid.

*Lila gets ticked off when she finds out that their club is the first one and that Jessica will get all this publicity and attention. She suggests that Jess may not want to be president after all because it's really a lot of work LOL.

*Coco and her husband made plans to move to either Los Angeles or Sweet Valley and started looking for a house. Given that she's also planing on a world tour, does it really matter how close to Brooke she lives?

*Is there a big demand for American singers in France? She literally tells Brooke that she had a better chance of becoming famous overseas and then becoming a star in America. It doesn't make sense anyway because she releases two singles that are smash hits in America, which is why she comes back. It's not like she became famous over there first.


*Brooke's mom's real name is Constance Gray, which is a totally awesome rock star name.

Comments

  1. I didn't read a lot of Sweet Valley, but I totally remember this one and that cover. Yeah Coco is a terrible mom!

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  2. This one was terrible in so many ways!

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  3. I agree Coco was a horrible wife and mother. I don't know why her husband didn't leave her as soon she told him she'd have to hide him I don't know. She has no problem hiding either of her daughters. Had no problem leaving Brooke behind to move to France. Yes, there had to be something big for a judge to not allow Brooke to go with her. That just doesn't happen. And yes she had a choice she chose to hide her family. And for all her claims of missing Brooke and wanting to spend time with her she always cancels.

    I did laugh when I first read this book about rock stars not allowed to have kids. Yeah, God knows photographers never fought each other to get the first pictures of Madonna's baby, Whitney Houston and others because the first picture is worth millions. Having kids certainly destroyed their careers, Mick Jaggar's career certainly stopped when the first of his many children were born. Carole King managed to still be successful despite having her kids young.

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    Replies
    1. Can I just say that I LOVE Carol King? There's a movie loosely based on her life story called Music of the Heart or something like that. When I learned that the character was based on her, I sought her out and fell in love with her music.

      I also remember the hoopla over Gavin and Gwen's kids because I thought Gavin Rossdale was the hottest thing ever lol.

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