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Sweet Valley High #122
A Kiss Before Dying
Jessica Wakefield promises eternal love to gang member Christian Gorman when the latter promises to never fight again, while Elizabeth and her friend Rosie Shaw scheme to end gang warfare once and for all.
197 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1996
23 people are currently reading
318 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,149 books1,854 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 5, 2009
I BAWLED at the end of this book. I'm not even ashamed.
March 4, 2019
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!!
I honestly think this was the best one of the three part trilogy. I couldn't help but think though that if the writers really wanted to make an impact with this storyline, (as in violence is bad kind of thing) they'd have written one of the main characters out instead of Christian - then I thought to myself well, no they couldn't 'cos of the Sweet Valley University books being out - but then I thought hang on a minute yes they could actually. After all, from what I recall, a certain character is alive and well in SVU yet dIes in the final SVH's. One thing that irks me, why is Jessica Wakefield not in therapy though??? That's 3 boyfriends now that have died - why have her parents not insisted on it???? Oh, to be old and wise!!
I honestly think this was the best one of the three part trilogy. I couldn't help but think though that if the writers really wanted to make an impact with this storyline, (as in violence is bad kind of thing) they'd have written one of the main characters out instead of Christian - then I thought to myself well, no they couldn't 'cos of the Sweet Valley University books being out - but then I thought hang on a minute yes they could actually. After all, from what I recall, a certain character is alive and well in SVU yet dIes in the final SVH's. One thing that irks me, why is Jessica Wakefield not in therapy though??? That's 3 boyfriends now that have died - why have her parents not insisted on it???? Oh, to be old and wise!!
March 29, 2020
Book 3 in the high school wars opens right where we left off at the last book: Winston was tricked into an ambush by the Palisades guys, and the SVH guys figure it out and show up and get into a huge brawl. Liz calls the cops, then is completely mortified when old Toddy boy is handcuffed and assisted into a police cruiser. He mouths off at Liz and basically says he hates her. Have I ever mentioned that I really can’t stand Todd? 🙄
This goes on back and forth throughout this book. Todd thinks it’s perfectly legit to go around beating the crap out of people and thinks Liz just doesn’t understand because “she’s a woman”, blah blah. Liz feels bad and tries to come up with some fresh ideas to stop the high school wars for good. More on this later.
Meanwhile, Jessica and Christian continue to date, and they both want an end to this war. In the meantime they are trying to keep their relationship under wraps — they don’t want anyone at Palisades to know that they’re an item because Christian knows they would flip their shit.
Cue Elizabeth Wakefield, winner of the dunce of the month club. She thinks it’s a great idea after she is approached by Rosie Shaw, the tough girl surfer from Palisades who is dating one of the gang members. She sucks up to Liz and makes her believe she wants nothing more than to end this war. Good old steady Enid is 100% right throughout this entire book (hey she’s not my favorite but you’ve got to give credit where credit is due!), urging Liz to not be so gullible because she gets a bad vibe from Rosie. Give this girl a prize!
The genius idea Rosie comes up with is for the Palisades girls to tell the Palisades guys that they want to surrender, ditto with the SVH girls and guys. She is supposed to meet Liz and Enid at a restaurant but never shows up. Liz is still too dense to realize what’s going on, even though earlier in the day she was asking about security measures at the Patman mansion, where the SVH guys are supposed to meet. I’m sure you can see where this is going.
The PH guys also orchestrate to have Christian show up. Jessica follows after him in her car. All the SVH and PH guys and girls all end up at Bruce’s, where a huge brawl ensues. Christian tries to break up the fight and gets beaten up by both sides. Everyone watches in horror when he stumbles and cracks his head on the concrete and falls in the pool. Spoilers ahead!!
Christian is rushed to the hospital after Jess and Liz perform CPR, but he is DOA. Not gonna lie, this part is sad, and I remember it used to make me bawl my eyes out when I read and reread this as a teenager.
Well, this is what it takes for the high school war to finally die.
Jessica competes in the surfing competition — her biggest competition is that biatch Rosie Shaw, and I’m happy to say she kicks her ass and wins the whole thing.
Snark aside, this is a Sweet Valley train wreck at its finest!
This goes on back and forth throughout this book. Todd thinks it’s perfectly legit to go around beating the crap out of people and thinks Liz just doesn’t understand because “she’s a woman”, blah blah. Liz feels bad and tries to come up with some fresh ideas to stop the high school wars for good. More on this later.
Meanwhile, Jessica and Christian continue to date, and they both want an end to this war. In the meantime they are trying to keep their relationship under wraps — they don’t want anyone at Palisades to know that they’re an item because Christian knows they would flip their shit.
Cue Elizabeth Wakefield, winner of the dunce of the month club. She thinks it’s a great idea after she is approached by Rosie Shaw, the tough girl surfer from Palisades who is dating one of the gang members. She sucks up to Liz and makes her believe she wants nothing more than to end this war. Good old steady Enid is 100% right throughout this entire book (hey she’s not my favorite but you’ve got to give credit where credit is due!), urging Liz to not be so gullible because she gets a bad vibe from Rosie. Give this girl a prize!
The genius idea Rosie comes up with is for the Palisades girls to tell the Palisades guys that they want to surrender, ditto with the SVH girls and guys. She is supposed to meet Liz and Enid at a restaurant but never shows up. Liz is still too dense to realize what’s going on, even though earlier in the day she was asking about security measures at the Patman mansion, where the SVH guys are supposed to meet. I’m sure you can see where this is going.
The PH guys also orchestrate to have Christian show up. Jessica follows after him in her car. All the SVH and PH guys and girls all end up at Bruce’s, where a huge brawl ensues. Christian tries to break up the fight and gets beaten up by both sides. Everyone watches in horror when he stumbles and cracks his head on the concrete and falls in the pool. Spoilers ahead!!
Christian is rushed to the hospital after Jess and Liz perform CPR, but he is DOA. Not gonna lie, this part is sad, and I remember it used to make me bawl my eyes out when I read and reread this as a teenager.
Well, this is what it takes for the high school war to finally die.
Jessica competes in the surfing competition — her biggest competition is that biatch Rosie Shaw, and I’m happy to say she kicks her ass and wins the whole thing.
Snark aside, this is a Sweet Valley train wreck at its finest!
January 13, 2012
Welcome to "Jessica is the Angel of Death" or SVH #122, "A Kiss Before Dying."
So this is part 3 of a the three-part "gang" miniseries (or betrayal, as it says on the side of the book). It seems that after book 100, "The Evil Twin," all books thus forth were part of a miniseries. I didn't read the first two of this one, but I don't need to, as they spend at least the first 30-40 pages recapping everything. Book 2 in any miniseries (or series) is usually pointless anyway... you just need to be introduced to a story and then find out what happens in the end.
The title of this one spoils everything for you, so anything I write here shouldn't be a spoiler. The long and short of it is that SVH is in a war with Palisades High. This so soon on the tails of "A Night to Remember" where, if you recall, ANOTHER one of Jessica's boyfriends died and SVH was at war with Big Mesa. They love Big Mesa in this one, however... towards the end of the book Bruce even suggests SVH and BM gang up together to get back at Palisades. For what, I'm not sure. Apparently, Ken provoked them in the first book. Who knows? Basically the guys spend the entire book fighting and plotting (lame) ways to get back at PH for all real and imagined slights (the book opens with Winston having been beaten basically unconscious).
This ties in with the fact that Jessica is now dating (for two weeks) Christian Gorman, the former gang leader at PH. She is TOTALLY in love with him. She's NEVER felt this before (except for Sam, who just died, and Lucas in the next book... and A.J. and on and on). Normally Jessica is completely wrong about guys. But we see in this book (and it really is a shock) that Christian is truly no longer interested in violence. He wants everyone to understand his love for Jessica. They are acting like buffoons, so of course they don't. Naturally, word gets out that Jessica and Christian are dating. Who dropped that bomb? None other than...
Elizabeth Wakefield, who naively teams up with PH student Rosie Shaw. We can all see from a mile away that of COURSE Rosie is using this as a set-up to stage the final showdown between PH and SVH. After all, Liz's trusty boyfriend Todd put the beatdown on Rosie's boyfriend, Greg McMullen. Apparently this slips Liz's mind when Rosie approaches her. So you could say that the entire mess (and Christian's death) is truly Elizabeth's fault. That's accurate enough. But here's the crazy thing. Jessica forgives her!! Pretty much instantaneously. And yet when it was Liz who killed Sam accidentally at Jungle Prom (but secretly it was really Jess's fault because she spiked her punch) Jess refused to forgive her for SIX books. Go figure.
Speaking of which, I decided I really couldn't snark on Jessica for this book. Before Christian she was dating Ken Matthews, quarterback of the football team. A chapter of this book opens with Jessica experiencing ACTUAL remorse. She hunts down Ken and apologizes to him. Ken makes fun of her at first, because he's as shocked as we all are reading it. But then he, too, gets misty-eyed and says, "For what it's worth, I'm also sorry." That, to me, is sadder than Christian's death, because you can tell that they really had something and Jessica knew it or else she wouldn't have apologized or felt any remorse (since she never has up until this point, to my knowledge). It just made me so sad for Jessica... if there had been any true character development and this had been a valid book series, she would have sought help. Running around from one man to the next, never feeling remorse, feeling empty all the time... Jessica has extreme issues. That's the real tragedy in all this. Why were we ever jealous of the Wakefield twins?? They have everything material, maybe, but personality-wise they are emptier than Ted Bundy's heart.
So this is part 3 of a the three-part "gang" miniseries (or betrayal, as it says on the side of the book). It seems that after book 100, "The Evil Twin," all books thus forth were part of a miniseries. I didn't read the first two of this one, but I don't need to, as they spend at least the first 30-40 pages recapping everything. Book 2 in any miniseries (or series) is usually pointless anyway... you just need to be introduced to a story and then find out what happens in the end.
The title of this one spoils everything for you, so anything I write here shouldn't be a spoiler. The long and short of it is that SVH is in a war with Palisades High. This so soon on the tails of "A Night to Remember" where, if you recall, ANOTHER one of Jessica's boyfriends died and SVH was at war with Big Mesa. They love Big Mesa in this one, however... towards the end of the book Bruce even suggests SVH and BM gang up together to get back at Palisades. For what, I'm not sure. Apparently, Ken provoked them in the first book. Who knows? Basically the guys spend the entire book fighting and plotting (lame) ways to get back at PH for all real and imagined slights (the book opens with Winston having been beaten basically unconscious).
This ties in with the fact that Jessica is now dating (for two weeks) Christian Gorman, the former gang leader at PH. She is TOTALLY in love with him. She's NEVER felt this before (except for Sam, who just died, and Lucas in the next book... and A.J. and on and on). Normally Jessica is completely wrong about guys. But we see in this book (and it really is a shock) that Christian is truly no longer interested in violence. He wants everyone to understand his love for Jessica. They are acting like buffoons, so of course they don't. Naturally, word gets out that Jessica and Christian are dating. Who dropped that bomb? None other than...
Elizabeth Wakefield, who naively teams up with PH student Rosie Shaw. We can all see from a mile away that of COURSE Rosie is using this as a set-up to stage the final showdown between PH and SVH. After all, Liz's trusty boyfriend Todd put the beatdown on Rosie's boyfriend, Greg McMullen. Apparently this slips Liz's mind when Rosie approaches her. So you could say that the entire mess (and Christian's death) is truly Elizabeth's fault. That's accurate enough. But here's the crazy thing. Jessica forgives her!! Pretty much instantaneously. And yet when it was Liz who killed Sam accidentally at Jungle Prom (but secretly it was really Jess's fault because she spiked her punch) Jess refused to forgive her for SIX books. Go figure.
Speaking of which, I decided I really couldn't snark on Jessica for this book. Before Christian she was dating Ken Matthews, quarterback of the football team. A chapter of this book opens with Jessica experiencing ACTUAL remorse. She hunts down Ken and apologizes to him. Ken makes fun of her at first, because he's as shocked as we all are reading it. But then he, too, gets misty-eyed and says, "For what it's worth, I'm also sorry." That, to me, is sadder than Christian's death, because you can tell that they really had something and Jessica knew it or else she wouldn't have apologized or felt any remorse (since she never has up until this point, to my knowledge). It just made me so sad for Jessica... if there had been any true character development and this had been a valid book series, she would have sought help. Running around from one man to the next, never feeling remorse, feeling empty all the time... Jessica has extreme issues. That's the real tragedy in all this. Why were we ever jealous of the Wakefield twins?? They have everything material, maybe, but personality-wise they are emptier than Ted Bundy's heart.
January 5, 2023
The hate and the violence from the previous book continue in this one as well as (most) of the girls trying to find a peaceful solution before things get totally out of hand.
Meanwhile Jessica is still with Christian and still practicing for a surfboard competition.
Bruce, Todd and others have been put into jail. Winston is recovering from his beating. The girls come up with another plan to try to get the guys to stop their fighting and it's a pretty good plan in my opinion.
Here's where I have a problem with this particular book. In the previous one the school principal held an emergency assembly to address the violence and basically said that kind of thing would no longer be tolerated.
Yet, as with most public schools today, there's no followup. The violence in this book has continued and it's clear it's going to get worse, guys from Sweet Valley High have been arrested yet there's no emergency assembly, no threats to suspend or expel students participating in the violence.
(Looking online at different sites it seems that schools can do just that given certain circumstances.)
The story continues with betrayal, more violence and, from the title, it's obvious that someone is going to die.
It's a good follow-up to the previous work except for what I pointed out about the school backing off, apparently, from any mention of the continuing violence.
Meanwhile Jessica is still with Christian and still practicing for a surfboard competition.
Bruce, Todd and others have been put into jail. Winston is recovering from his beating. The girls come up with another plan to try to get the guys to stop their fighting and it's a pretty good plan in my opinion.
Here's where I have a problem with this particular book. In the previous one the school principal held an emergency assembly to address the violence and basically said that kind of thing would no longer be tolerated.
Yet, as with most public schools today, there's no followup. The violence in this book has continued and it's clear it's going to get worse, guys from Sweet Valley High have been arrested yet there's no emergency assembly, no threats to suspend or expel students participating in the violence.
(Looking online at different sites it seems that schools can do just that given certain circumstances.)
The story continues with betrayal, more violence and, from the title, it's obvious that someone is going to die.
It's a good follow-up to the previous work except for what I pointed out about the school backing off, apparently, from any mention of the continuing violence.
July 12, 2023
As a 90s kid, the Sweet Valley High books I grew up with are the ones with the Daniel Twins on the cover. These are the ones I remember! Books where Jessica is a bit shallow and kind of an airhead but not a psychopath. Stories in which Elizabeth is naive and sweet but not a complete pushover. This was certainly better than the 80s books and gave me hope that I might still enjoy them lol. That being said, this was great for a SVH book. It kept me wanting to know what was going to happen next and was pretty intense. I would give it 3.5 stars, but I’m rounding it to 3 instead of 4 because for being so smart, Elizabeth was pretty dumb for falling for Rose’s antics. Her intention were painfully obvious and it was just stupid that someone as “smart and mature” as Elizabeth wouldn’t notice.
August 10, 2022
Look, was this book great? Probably not. But do I still remember the NEED to go to Barnes & Noble with my allowance money & get this when I was 10? Absolutely. 5 stars.
August 15, 2023
I vividly remember loving this particular book when I was a teenager (I even remember how the tragedy happens!), so I'm giving it 4 stars for nostalgia.
September 4, 2024
I really liked this book of this sequence of the series though it's heartwrenching. I started reading it just to learn about Christian, one of Jessica's true loves. He was that and more. It shows how ugly even small differences in viewpoints can turn if not taken with openness. It shows Jess's grief but also growth and the cracks in Liz and Todd relationship. Though one wonders where the "parental units" were when all this happened!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2016
This book concludes the mini series, The High School Wars, within the bigger series of SVH. This book is my least favorite out of the mini series, not to say that it is bad. Kate William's writing flows nicely and the story is suspenseful as the war between Palisades High and Sweet Valley High escalates more and more. Additionally, Jessica and Elizabeth are being accused by their SVH peers. Jessica is getting harsh judgement for dating Christian Gorman from Palisades. Elizabeth is getting criticized for not standing by her boyfriend Todd in the SVH war.
This book has a good amount of suspense and intrigue. The other books in SVH do not have as involved plot lines.
This book has a good amount of suspense and intrigue. The other books in SVH do not have as involved plot lines.
May 16, 2013
This was very dramatic.
The three stars is for Christian.
Elizabeth was really annoying here. She kept planning stuff that kept on backfiring on her and her friends. She's so naive as to trust someone her guts were telling her not to.
Of course, when Jessica finally falls in love, you have to get him out of the way, huh? So we can have the two-timing Jessica back?
The epilogue was nice.
The three stars is for Christian.
Elizabeth was really annoying here. She kept planning stuff that kept on backfiring on her and her friends. She's so naive as to trust someone her guts were telling her not to.
Of course, when Jessica finally falls in love, you have to get him out of the way, huh? So we can have the two-timing Jessica back?
The epilogue was nice.
November 4, 2014
I found this book while sorting through some of my old books. I had forgotten all about my love for Sweet Valley High as a young teen. However, I would recommend leaving the reading of these books for teens, though it was quite enjoyable, I have grown far to cynical now.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover but just not the story.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews