When Love Dies

Sweet Valley High #12

by Francine Pascal (Creator), Kate William

The Wakefield twins' older brother, Steven, is heartbroken. His girlfriend, Tricia Martin, no longer seems interested in him. She breaks their dates and doesn't return his calls. Steven can't understand why Tricia's feelings have changed so suddenly.

Jessica is thrilled that Steven isn't dating Tricia anymore. She sees it as the perfect opportunity to pair him with her best friend, Cara Walker. Elizabeth, Jessica's twin, thinks that scheming, gossipy Cara is all wrong for Steven. She's determined to find out the reason for Tricia's strange behavior—and horrified when she discovers the awful truth.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Childrens, Teen, Chick Lit, Ebooks

129 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Francine 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.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-Read 2023

One of my absolute favorites! The storyline is centered on the twins older brother, Steven and his girlfriend, Tricia Martin. Tricia's been acting strangely and Steven thinks she's dating someone else. The truth is much sadder.

Meanwhile, Jessica and Elizabeth become candy stripers at the local hospital. Lots of drama ensues. Also, this book has an awesome cliffhanger because Elizabeth is kidnapped!!


Jessica still drives me up the wall. I guess when I was an 11 year old reader, I overlooked the silliness of her motives to do good. This book contains two lovely scenes-one, between Steven and Ned Wakefield and the other between Elizabeth and Mr.Collins. It also mentions the arrival of the Morrow family whose children-Nicholas and Regina will shake up Sweet Valley. Lastly, Elizabeth has another tutoring gig, this time to help the lead guitarist, Max.

I purchased on Kindle books 1-12 in a collection box but have reviewed all the books separately. You can expect more SVH reviews because many other titles of the series are available on Kindle Unlimited.


Goodreads review published 10/09/23

[Tara Calaby]

Much to Jessica's dislike, Steven and Tricia are still happily in love... or are they?

The truth is, Tricia's been cancelling dates and refusing to take Steven's calls. He's completely devastated—especially when rumours start going around about Tricia dating other men. Eventually he confronts her and accuses her of heading off on a dirty weekend with a new beau (remember, guys, Tricia's still in high school) and they break up. But we soon discover that Tricia's not cheating at all but instead harbouring a Very Big Secret. She's dying of leukaemia, and wants to spare Steve the misery of watching her fade away. Because thinking your first love is cheating on you and then later finding out she's dead is obviously a bed of roses.

Meanwhile, Jess has heard that one of her favourite celebrities is currently stuck in Fowler Memorial Hospital with a broken leg, so she persuades Liz to join her as a candy striper so she can meet him and he can fall madly in love with her jailbait self. Liz somehow doesn't see right through Jess's claim that she wants to give back to the community, despite knowing her scheming twin for over sixteen years. It soon becomes obvious what Jess is really after, though, when she starts harassing the poor man every chance she gets.

Cara's always been hot for Steve, so with Tricia out of the way, Jess decides to throw her bestie and her brother together. Initially, Steve stays true to the memory of his ex, but before long he's snogging Cara and taking her to college parties, despite still thinking she's shallow and annoying. As you can see, using people runs in the Wakefield family.

Liz finds out Tricia's secret when she runs into her at the hospital, but Tricia makes Liz promise not to tell anyone. Here's one of the few times where the Sweet Valley books actually teach their junior readers a valid lesson, because it's made very obvious that some promises are damaging and shouldn't be kept. Liz angsts about it for a few chapters, pausing occasionally to scheme with Jeremy Frank about frightening Jessica into getting over him by proposing.

She says yes, but it's a very short-lived engagement.

Eventually Liz decides to tell Steven the truth about Tricia's strange behaviour and the two crazy kids are reunited, pausing only for Steven to thoroughly criticise Cara, never once thinking that perhaps his own rebound behaviour could be called into question.

Everything ends happily! Except for Cara, who's been dumped by the guy she's been crushing on forever. And for Tricia, who's still dying. Oh, and for Elizabeth, who's just been kidnapped by Creepy Carl the hospital orderly she was stupid enough to be nice to once.

Cliffhanger time!

This is one of the best early books in the series. There's a light-hearted Jessica plot to counter all the doom and gloom of Steven and Tricia's star-crossed love, and Cara gets to have her first featured role. As is often the case in Sweet Valley, everything could have been sorted out in a tenth of the time if people actually communicated honestly with each other... but where would be the story in that?

Moral of the Story? Don't accuse your girlfriend of cheating. She could just be dying and then how would you feel?

[re-read - previously read around 3 times]

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Source: I borrowed this book online via OpenLibrary.
Cost: Free

Title: When Love Dies
Series: Sweet Valley High #12
Author: Francine Pascal/Kate William
Overall Rating: 3 stars

I really like Steve, he might be my favourite character in this whole series, especially from what I can remember from later books that I've read. However, this book lost points due to how stupid the twins are. Can Jessica be anymore heartless? Can Liz stop being so docile when it comes to Jessica and when she was telling Todd that she thought something was up, can she stop thinking about herself and her own relationship for 5 minutes?

I catch myself wondering if people actually acted like this in the 80s...

[B'omarr Punk · Rating 2 out of 5]

wtf that ending

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awww. I always liked Tricia, even though we barely got to know her.

I always just remember this as the book where Tricia breaks up with Steven so he doesn’t have to watch her die, (and the one with a truly hideous cover), but there are so many other subplots here. The Morrows move to town in this one and the twins become candy stripers, leading Jessica to scheme for Jeremy Frank’s love and for Liz to meet crazy orderly Carl who will soon kidnap her (at the very end of this book, actually.) I really did not remember that this was the book where all of that happens!

[Whitney More · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literally everything I read in this book fled the moment I got to the last few paragraphs. WHAT!?

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

wtf that ending

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much melodrama in this one. It reads a lot like a soap opera with an injured celebrity, a dying love interest and a creepy kidnapper all thrown in. I even remember reading this as a kid as well as the next one.
The story begins with Steven and Tricia calling it quits although neither of them wants that. Tricia is dying of leukemia which just about every book and TV show in the 80s and 90s had someone with leukemia even Peanuts had a girl who had it. She just wants to spare Steven the pain of watching her die cause knowing someone you love died alone is so much better. Jessica being the scheming narcissist she is immediately sets up Cara with her brother. She also volunteers herself and Liz to be candy stripers because there's a handsome young celebrity Jeremy with a broken leg. Jessica gets assigned to the maternity ward and Liz actually meets the celebrity. Never one to be outdone Jessica conspires her way in to see Jeremy and each time she injures him in someway. I guess Jess is the comic relief in the story. Anyway Liz finds Tricia as she's receiving treatment and for several agonizing days keeps the news from Steven until she finally spills the beans cause Liz can't keep a secret. The book ends with creepy Carl who's been following Liz around kidnapping her setting up the next book in the series. This would've been sadder had it not come right after reading the gut wrenching Sunny Diary Three but it was still touching and I actually remembered reading it so bonus for that.

[Maui Rochell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second favorite SVH Book. The story mostly revolved around Steven, the twins' older brother who got broken over her girlfriend, Tricia. Okay, I love the humor of this story. And it's a total cliffhanger. :-(

So sad it's my last ebook of SVH Series since I can't find the ebook version of other books. I'll definitely miss the Wakefield Twins especially Jessica's cleverness. She really affects me only in the worst way because I get irritated in her in every single SVH book that I've read. Well, for Elizabeth, I'll miss her kindness and her other good qualities.

The Wakefield Twins may be identical in looks but they're totally different in many other ways.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: When Love Dies
Author: Francine Pascal, Kate William
Series: Sweet Valley High, 12
Format: ebook, bind-up
Length: N/A
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis: What terrible secret is Tricia keeping from Steven?
Steven Wakefield, Elizabeth and Jessica’s handsome older brother, is heartbroken. His girlfriend, Tricia Martin, no longer seems interested in him. She breaks their dates and doesn’t return his calls. Steven doesn’t understand why Tricia’s feelings have changed so suddenly.
Jessica, on the other hand, sees this as the perfect opportunity to set Steven up with her best friend, Cara Walker, but Elizabeth isn’t thrilled with the scheming, gossipy Cara. She is determined to find out just why Tricia left Steven—and is horrified when she discovers the awful truth.

Favourite character: Elizabeth
Least favourite character: Cara & Jessica

Mini-review: I always want to start off these reviews with "Well that was dramatic" which is because this series is more or less a teen book version of a soap opera.
This book alone had 4ish plots:
1. Steven breaks up with Tricia due to her not telling him something, so he assumes it's another guy, but it's not.
2. Jessica practically forces Steven to take Cara on a date, making Cara throw a last minute party as well.
3. Jessica convinces Elizabeth that they should get jobs as candy stripers at the hospital due to the fact that (unbeknownst to Elizabeth) teen TV heartthrob Jeremy Frank is there with a broken leg.
4. Elizabeth gets a stalker.

Fan Cast:
Elizabeth Wakefield/Jessica Wakefield - Lili Reinhart
Steven Wakefield - Timothée Chalamet
Cara Walker - Sofia Carson
Tricia Martin - Katherine McNamara
Jeremy Frank - Zac Efron
Carl - Caleb Landry Jones
Enid Rollins - Joey King
Aaron Dallas - Cody Christian
Alice Wakefield - Laura Dern
Ned Wakefield - Patrick Warburton
Mr. Collins - Armie Hammer
Caroline Pearce - Shannon Purser
Todd Wilkins - Blake Michael

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the General Hospital / Sweet Valley High crossover that we've all been waiting for! But seriously, a lot of this book takes place in a hospital. Jessica, motivated by the admittance of a local celebrity with a broken leg, convinces Elizabeth that they should do some good in this world and volunteer to become candy stripers (this is inspiring me to do a deep dive on the history of candy stripers, is this still a thing?). This leads to encounters with a creepy orderly (the next book is called "Kidnapped", uhh ohhh) and Steven's girlfriend Trisha who has a secret she is keeping from him.

No spoilers, but I will admit that I was drawn into the melodrama and was perfectly OK with that. I also appreciated getting to know the other Wakefield sibling a little better. This is the first book where we get some chapters entirely from Steven's perspective.

--
**Review Note - I have been re-reading the Sweet Valley High series one book at a time for my podcast, “Lessons From Sweet Valley.” The following is the unique SVH rating system that I use on goodreads for these books alone…

5 Stars - The book is worthy of being read outside of the series purely as an exemplary example of YA fiction.
4 Stars - The book contains an element, storyline or theme that sets it apart from your average SVH tome.
3 Stars - The book adequately meets the expectations of an SVH book as it exists in the Sweet Valley universe.
2 Stars - The book falls below the SVH standards in terms of subject matter, characters or overall story.
1 Star - Offensive by SVH standards! Any of those re-reading the series should skip entirely.

[Nicole Dunton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven is torn. Tricia has been acting strangely. He can't figure out what he's done wrong or what's wrong. He just knows deep down that there's something wrong. Upon confronting her, she ends it rather than go into details. Can he discover what's really going on? Or will he just let her go without question?

This book was as adorable as the rest of the series. Full of scandal and chaos as well. I always thought that the small town thing was reserved to more south east states. I can see now that I was very wrong. I guess I should have realized that with my obsession with Gilmore Girls, but it is what it is.

My complaints with this book are my usual complaints with this whole series. It didn't last long enough. There were also many scenes that should have been played out more. I get why they are the way they are though. I just kind of wish they had been a bit longer.

I do recommend this book. I recommend the entire series. It's a very easy and sweet read. There are many books in this series. There are many series pertaining to this series. There's Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, Sweet Valley University. It goes on.

[Starry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The twin's older brother, Steven, is miserable because he just can't understand why his saintly girlfriend is brushing him off and then telling him to get out of her life. Jessica is overjoyed as she always thought Tricia is no saint.... don't you know she is from the wrong side of the tracks and is just a scourge? yeah there is a wrong side of the tracks in this perfectly peachy place called Sweet Valley (it was news to me too!) it has all the hallmarks of a bad, bad place with rubbish and broken glass... aw... what no meth heads lolling around in the gutter?

How will Liz ever reconcile her urge to make everything alright with the promise to withhold just what is going on from her big boob (I mean brother) ?

[ThymeOperator · Rating 4 out of 5]

GOD this one is sad, although they do try to give you some comic relief through Jessica's sub-plot. I will be interested to see how Steven ends up with Cara. I'm not sure I ever read that one, just lots of later books where they were a real thing.

The bleak irony is that this is also the book that first introduces Regina Morrow...and she'll die tragically, too, in time.

As an aside, I do love the question on the front cover, paired with that particular image. What terrible secret is Tricia keeping from Steven? Suggested answer: that she's actually nearly 200 years old and visiting 1980s California from her home world in a Jane Austen novel.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably the least fun of the SVH books I'm rereading as an adult so far- too much melodrama, not enough evil Jessica, and also, Steven sucks as a character in general. Could he be any duller? I mean if he wasn't a Wakefield, he would be a nerd. Only one star, because this was the first time I've actually not wanted to bother finishing one of these since I started collecting them again. Also- are candy stripers still a thing? Like do they even exist anymore? Blah. Next one sounds promising though, with this one ending on a very tv-miniseries cliffhanger.

[anolinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looks like I forgot to review this, just like Francine Pascal forgot to mention any of the events in this book in the next installment of the series.

But anyway. Tricia Martin, whatever, we've only glimpsed her and Steven's relationship from a distance so I'm not too invested in them, although I was rooting for them just to spite Jessica's snobbery. Poor girl not only has to suffer through the plot of this book, but she also has probably the worst hair I've seen on a Sweet Valley High cover (although we're only at book #12, so I'm sure she'll have plenty of competition).

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steven and Tricia forever! This one felt sad as we see young love being tested by cancer. Although we have Jessica to bring her delusional comic relief to the plot as she throws herself at a twenty-something heartthrob actor who just happens to be in the hospital she and Liz are volunteering as candy stripers (is that even a term anymore?) Silly hijinks prevail!

I am tearing through this books, and wow am I shamelessly enjoying it. My face lit up when I realized the rest of the series is on kindle unlimited. I know what I’ll be doing for the rest of the summer and 2025 😂

[Autumn Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book from the Sweet Valley High collection. I enjoyed the more serious tone with Tricia's story, however I wish there was more detail on the reaction from people at school considering they all thought Tricia dumped Steven for another guy. I also kind of wish that Pascal wrote about the Morrow's party and meeting them for the first time. I enjoyed reading this, time for another!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, Francine Pascal's "Sweet Valley High" series reads a whole 'nother way 20 years later. Talk about a series that is written to make teenage girls think they need to be "All American" in the blond-hair, blue-eye, slender, athletic, wealthy way in order to fit into the high school scene. Very glad that when I was reading this series as a pre-teen/teen, I only vaguely let it sway my self-assessments.

In this case, where the library only has volumes 1-12, I do wish the series didn't always end on a cliffhanger. In this case, "When Love Dies" ends on quite a heavy one!

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I know it’s none of my business, but I can’t help feeling involved.” If this quote doesn’t perfectly sum up Elizabeth Wakefield, I don’t know what does. Her meddling pays off in this book however, as she tells Steve the truth about Tricia, causing Steve to realize the error of his Cara-filled ways and reunite with his one true dying love, Tricia. Too bad Elizabeth gets kidnapped at the end and doesn’t even get to see the results of her meddling :(

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tricia had broken up with Steven yet they’re both miserable. Jessica and Elizabeth start volunteering at the local hospital. Jessica has an ulterior motive for volunteering which she doesn’t tell Elizabeth. Elizabeth bumps into Tricia who confides in her why she broke up with Steven. Tricia ask’s Elizabeth to keep it a secret but can she?

[Marcy]

Trish’s big secret is that she thinks it’s better to let her BF think she’s cheating than tell him she’s dying of leukemia. Meanwhile, Jessica is totally selfish with classist attitudes and shames Trish’s widowed father who is clearly coping with unresolved grief via alcohol. The only redeemable character gets kidnapped and shoved in a van for a raging cliffhanger.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intriguing and emotional. This is definitely one of the most iconic SVH books, so naturally I was thrilled when I found it months ago at the thrift store. It definitely did not disappoint, and I can’t wait to read the next one.

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

My library recently got a ton of SVH for its digital collection and I had a fit of nostalgia and snagged one.

Fit over.

[Odhran · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was the first book in the series.

There's quite a bit of melodrama in here, and I might have enjoyed this a lot more if the writing wasn't so clunky.

[Carolyn M L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deserving of 3 stars just for that cover alone...

[Alana]

lol it was for book club

[Alena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lurlene McDaniel crossover!

[Lisa Woodward]

Finished in 8th grade.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was sad. I kinda wish they focused more on Steve and Tricia's relationship so we really get a sense of their love for each other.