The Wedding

Sweet Valley High #98

by Kate William (Creator), Kate William

Can romance save Sweet Valley?

Lila Fowler finally has the family that she always wanted: a father and a mother who love her. And she can tell that despite their years apart, her parents still love each other. Now all Lila wants is to get them back together—and what Lila wants, Lila gets!

Todd Wilkins can't keep pretending he's interested in Jessica Wakefield—especially when he's still in love with Elizabeth. But can Elizabeth ever forgive his betrayal?

...and Margo has seen the Wakefield twins—and the new life that could be hers. The only thing standing between Margo and her dream is murder!

The fifth title in an explosive seven-part miniseries... Sweet Valley will never be the same!

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Teen

217 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

Kate William is not a real person and does not exist.

Kate William is the fake name that was created to represent the team of ghostwriters that wrote the Sweet Valley High series.

Reviews

[kylajaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for this one.
One for the ghostwriters using words such as didactic and epochal.
One for Lila Fowler, the true heroine of this miniseries.
And one for Margo Black, who is without doubt the greatest (fictional) serial killer ever.

To begin, we have Todd in the first corner. Poor Todd. He has no dick and no life ever since he hooked up with Jessica following the Aftermath of the Jungle Prom. Any awesomeness Todd might have had was vacuumed away when his limp dick self decided to go along with Jessica's crazy self in an attempt to make BOTH twins happy (mind you he wasn't even talking to Liz at this point). However, in this book, he finally gets several inches back when he tells Jess that things are finito between them (as if he could ever really love her anyway). One day he offers Liz a ride home, but she's a major bonerkiller because she's all "Yeah right, shitface. Where have you been in my hour of need?" and she decides she must steadfastly look after number one. Of course, last time she decided this the Jungle Prom happened and she "killed" her sister's boyfriend, so I think it's best if Liz goes back to being the codependent brownnoser. At the Fowlers' wedding Todd and Liz dance and she cryptically starts crying, and this is where we are left in their story - for now.

Jessica, finally relieved from the shackles of Trusty Boyfriend Todd, now finds herself alone with her worst nightmare : herself. She marches on up to the cemetery to lay waste to Sam's grave with her tears (as she has in every book previous in the miniseries) while simultaneously trying to bury her guilt over the whole matter down with Sam (bitch spiked her sister's drink - so Jess is REALLY the reason Sam died). While noticing her reflection in Sam's grave, Jessica feels appalled that she looks so horrible. After all, she may be grieving, but she's still Jessica Wakefield, for chrissakes. Regaining her cool, calm and collected California composure (ooo, alliteration!), Jess remembers the advice of her friend April : DO something! She ACTUALLY considers hosting another dance for about 0.5 milliseconds before racking the operating, non-sociopathic microscopic part of her brain when she lands on a brills idea : a dirt bike rally in Sam's honor. All the proceeds will go to SVH's SADD chapter. It's just what she needs to honor Sam, pay off her guilty conscience and get her old life back.
Margo, being the brilliant conniving wench that she is (and also quite the reader of current events), notices an ad for the dirt bike rally in the paper. She immediately sets out at contacting a dirt biker named James she met at a skeevy bar in some part of Sweet Valley that we have never heard of before because - oh! - it's just SO beautiful and such a wonderful town. She pays James off to enter the Dirt Bike Rally race (he claims to be super fast) and plant himself in Jessica's heart. He enters at the last minute with the name Black Lightning (snicker). Of course he wins the race, and Margo congratulates herself on making this event so splendid for everyone - after all, if not for her, James wouldn't have entered the contest.
A week and 3 days later (I shit you not, it's in the book) Jessica claims to Lila that James is a permanent fixture in her life and she is completely convinced he will be her boyfriend for a long time to come. Or until 'The Evil Twin', anyway. So yeah, a week after a dirt bike rally memorial for her DEAD BOYFRIEND Jess has already found bliss and eternal happiness with a shady guy who only asks questions about herself and takes countless pictures of her. Oh Jess. When will you learn so I can stop beating my head against the wall?

Margo. Spectacular Margo. She is, of course, using every bit of info from James to learn everything she can about the twins. Her latest plan is to get into the Fowlers' wedding, where she knows the Wakefield twins will be. She ups her body count in this quest, raising the tally to 4 when she runs over a lady (!!! whose baby is waiting right inside her house) repeatedly with her rented car. She must kill this lady in order to steal a position catering the wedding - she knows otherwise she would never get in. She wears a red wig and spends the whole time creeping out Winston and hovering around Liz. Margo's fantasies about wanting to shoot Winston in the heart and stab the leading caterer lady are sooo sooo hilarious and more than a little creepy... especially at the end when she is fingering the butcher knife in her pocket while watching Todd & Liz dance. Chills.

And finally, Miss Lila. To make this long review a little longer, Lila is continuing to enjoy the time she has with her mother while also scheming ways to make her stay forever. She catches her dad in a rare moment of tenderness where Lila realizes that her dad does still have feelings for her mom. The only problem is the "pretentious oaf" of a Frenchman, Pierre, that is Grace Fowler's current boyfriend. No problem, Lila figures. She is pretty much par for Jessica's course when it comes to ceasing and desisting of those who oppose and stand in her way. The only difference is that Lila actually CARES about the people in her life, and so when she must manipulate somebody there is usually good cause. In this case, she finds out that her good friend Amy Sutton has been fondled inappropriately by Pierre. Lila doesn't tell her mother right away because she has promised to get to know him better. So she takes this approach when constructing her plan to dispose of him. Lila plans a day for her and Pierre of thoroughly American activities that she knows will disgust Pierre to no end - and, of course, they do. For the grand finale she watches as he gets spectacularly drunk at their last stop, and then Lila leaves him to sleep in the basement of her house. In the meantime, she goes to dinner with her dad and mom, and finds them very close indeed. With newfound courage, George Fowler proposes to Grace for the second time in his life - just as Pierre comes smashing in the restaurant. Lila is delighted that her mom gets to watch this guy act as a buffoon. Then she storms outside and tells him to go back to France - or else she'll expose to her mother how he put his dirty French hands all over Amy Sutton's bosoms. And with that taken care of, she walks back in to find that her mother is wearing an engagement ring. Cue the wedding and the happily ever after - for Lila, anyway.

It's only going to get worse for the Wakefields from here.

Oh, and also in a small subplot Josh Smith (the big brother of Margo's second victim) continues on the hunt to bring her to justice. He caught her in the previous book, but she fled and pretended she had no idea who he was. She shook him off by heading to San Diego before swinging back around to Sweet Valley. Josh decides the police are not doing an adequate job (ahahahah! of course not, that manslaughter trial was a joke!) and so he takes matters in his own hands by questioning all the workers at the train station. Just as he's about to pack it in, he stops one more worker, and, lo and behold!, this one actually does remember helping Margo in great detail - he even tells Josh that she was reading a Sweet Valley newspaper. 30 miles away from San Diego Josh finally connects the dots and realizes that however clever Margo might be, he is still better.
I don't know about that... girl has done serious damage already.
I think I might go as her for Halloween. All I need is a butcher knife and a brown wig.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margo ran over an innocent mother with her rental car. Priceless.

[EuroHackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has always been my favorite book of this miniseries, and I suppose it still is. It holds up beautifully and serves as a good bridge between the previous angst-driven books and the upcoming showdown in #100.

The centerpiece is, of course, the Fowler (re-)wedding, as depicted on the cover. I've always kinda loved that we never see Grace's face. She's forever an enigma of the series, having disappeared from Lila's life at an early age, and her being gone is part of the root of Lila's issues (the other being that her father gives her everything money can buy, but withholds the one thing it can't: his attention). Even now, at the crowning of her triumphant return, we don't really see her. Well played, cover artist!

The novel opens with Lila throwing a big luncheon to introduce her mother to all of her SVH friends. She's super proud and happy, and is deep in matchmaking mode, in spite of what her mother told her in the last book. She's determined to get her parents back together, and what Lila wants, Lila gets. There's only one thing standing in her way: Pierre the Pill, her mother's French ~lover~ who insists on inserting his irritating, melodramatic self into everything. He even crashes Lila's luncheon. Grace pleads with Lila to give him a chance, but of course Lila's having none of that. Her resolve is strengthened when she learns that the reason Amy leaves so abruptly is because Pierre cornered her and tried to assault her. Pierre's not merely a pest, but he's a sex pest, too.

Lila sweeps him off his feet and "treats" him to a day around Sweet Valley: a greasy breakfast, a whirlwind shopping trip, tennis at the club, and lunch in the desert, where he mostly drinks and smokes. He's a complete mess by the time they make it back to Fowler Crest, which is of course what Lila wanted. They are supposed to meet her parents at an elegant LA restaurant, and Lila wants to insure that her mother sees George in his best light, and Pierre at his worst.

She needn't have bothered. Her parents are glowing at each other all through dinner, and George pops the question mere moments before Pierre makes his loud, drunken entrance. Lila follows him as he's escorted out of the restaurant and threatens to tell Grace about his assaulting Amy if he doesn't leave, posthaste. Personally, I think she should've said something to Grace anyway, because gross. Any grown man who puts his hands on a teenage girl is disgusting and deserves to have that little fact amplified across town (the world). But, Lila's so thrilled that Grace has agreed to marry George that she lets it drop.

Unfortunately, whatever groveling George has done to make up for the fact that he once had Grace declared an unfit mother is done off-page. Grace has decided to forgive him and remain with him. We see this all from Lila's perspective, so of course there is a rosy glow emanating from this whole scene. It doesn't cut much ice with me as an adult, but I'm willing to be swept away by my nostalgia. Besides, we need the wedding setup as the social event of the season to push all of the other plots forward.

At Lila's luncheon, Jessica finally has a realization that her whole plan to steal Todd away from her sister as punishment for Elizabeth is just not working. She doesn't like Todd, Todd is miserable and pulling away anyway, and none of this has assuaged Jessica's guilt for spiking the punch at prom and being the catalyst for Sam's death in the first place. When Todd finally dumps her, jessica visits Sam's grave again and has a good long cry and comeapart, and realizes that the only way to begin healing from her boyfriend's death is to celebrate his life. So she throws herself into planning a memorial dirt bike rally. Jessica never had a ton of interest in dirt biking before, but she's so enthusiastic and sincere that everyone immediately hops on board to help make it a big success.

Jessica gives a very emotional speech at the opening of the rally, and raises quite a bit of money for SADD. She also meets a new man: the mysterious late entry Black Lightning appears at the last minute and wins the entire race in thrilling fashion. He unveils himself on the winner's stand, and Jessica is instantly smitten. Black Lightning's real name is James, and he falls just as hard for Jessica - or so it seems.

James has an ulterior motive, however: he's been paid to enter and win the race by Margo, who finds him one night at Kelly's, bemoaning his broken bike. Margo has visions of motorcycles dancing in her head, but James puts her clear. When Margo learns of the rally from the newspaper, she pays James to fix his bike and win the race, and then to start pumping Jessica for a TON of information about herself and her family. Margo rightly guesses that Jessica will be so dazzled by an older man paying such close attention to her that she'll barely even notice what James is doing.

Jessica is appropriately dazzled, and apparently gives James every detail of her life, including a floorplan of her house (!), which James dutifully passses along to Margo, along with piles and piles of pictures. Margo has already staked out the Wakefield house on Calico Drive, watching each member of her "new family" quite closely, and even assists Alice Wakefield with the groceries one random afternoon.

Margo also learns about the Fowler wedding and schemes her way in as part of the catering team. The owner of the catering business doesn't take her on right away, so Margo kills one of the other applicants for the job by running her over with a rental car. Margo gets into the wedding and spends as much time as she can around Elizabeth, enough to rouse the suspicions of Liz's date, Winston.

Margo's also starting to get a little careless and reckless - she comes thisclose to killing her boss in the Fowler kitchen because she can't get outside to spy on Elizabeth fast enough. Really, Margo? You're going to leave a bloody crime scene at Fowler Crest and think you aren't going to draw attention to yourself?? Mercifully, she's allowed out before she has to drawn blood over it, and she goes out and watches Elizabeth and her friends, listening to the idle gossip from the other SVHers to learn about Todd.

Todd has finally put on his big boy pants and attempts to approach Liz a couple of times. First he offers her a ride home from school one day (which Liz rejects), then he approaches her at the wedding and requests a slow dance, which Liz accepts. They don't actually speak to each other, and indeed end the dance crying, but it's one of those sigh-worthy romantic moments that I'm just completely hopeless about. (It put me in mind of Shawn and Belle's dance at their senior year Last Blast, after they'd been estranged for most of the school year.)

The last little storyline going on is that Josh Smith is still hot on Margo's heels, determined to hunt her down and make her pay for killing his brother Georgie. Georgie's death has sent Josh's mother into an alcoholic spiral, and the police aren't taking everything seriously enough for Josh's taste, so he's basically a lone teenage vigilante at this point. He pounds the pavement in LA for most of this book, but finally realizes the significance of Margo reading the Sweet Valley News on the train to San Diego, and gets back on track of hunting her down.

Per the timeline of this book, two months have passed since Grace's return to Sweet Valley. Everything's moving awfully quickly, and I don't even think this puts us into the summer season yet (everyone's still in school), but somehow in two books' time we'll be at Christmas. My, how time flies.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

the wedding of one of the twins don't remember which one

[Tiffany Spencer]

The Wedding
Lila throws a party. My guess is this one is to let all her friends meet Grace. Amy and Annie are envying her mom and the life she leads, but Lila thinks about how it hasn’t always been all glamour and how *she* use to be the one envious of her friend’s mother. But now it’ll be different now that her father’s invited her mother to come back. Lila notices Grace trying to talk to Jessica but she’s barely listening and she feels sympathy for her and thinks of what she’s been through in the previous books. Jean says you’d think she’d be better. Sam’s been gone for a while. Lila says Sam’s still dead and it’s Liz’s fault. Jean says Liz wasn’t convicted. Lila says she was still drinking and driving. Jean is uncomfortable and changes the subject. She asks when Grace is leaving.

Lila excuses herself and starts to cry in the powder room. She wonders what will happen when Grace goes back to Paris. She vows to find a way to let Grace know she can’t leave her alone again. Grace says she thinks she’ll get a drink and asks if Jessica wants one. She says no she’s fine but she doesn’t feel fine. She wonders why she can’t bring Sam back like George brought Grace back.

April Dawson comes over to Jessica. (She’s the one that introduced her to Sam) She tells her she knows what it’s like. She lost her cousin in a car accident. Jessica asks how she got through it. She says she started training again and she entered a dirt bike rally. She suggest Jessica do something she loves or plan an event. Her words sting. The last thing she’d planned was the Jungle Prom. Jessica escapes to the garden and cries.

Margo is now going by Mandy and staying with a woman named Mrs. Palmer. She’s been working on her tan. So far hasn’t seen anything else about Liz. So, she looks up the Wakefield’s address. She gets the number also and calls. One of the twins picks up and Margo starts to ask which one it is but hangs up. It’s not time yet.

Liz was the one who picked up. She hopes it’s not Enid. They’re supposed to go to the library so she can catch up on her work. After they leave the library, the go to the Dairi Burger. Winston joins them and they’re all having a good time, but then Ted Carpenter (Sam’s best friend) comes over and lets Liz know that even tho the trial declared her not guilty she still killed his best friend by drinking and driving drunk. Elizabeth quickly gets out of there and cries. Enid comes after her and tells her he’s wrong it’s not her fault. The judge made her decision.

Liz tho says she was drinking. Maybe if she wasn’t she could have avoided the other car. No! Sam is dead and she’ll have to carry that with her until she’s dead. Lila asks Grace why she has to leave. Grace says she has to get back to her business and so does Pierre. Uh why is he bouncing when he walks? Is he gay? Lila is repulsed when Pierre comes over and she excuses herself to “see to her guests”.

She wonders what her mother sees in this fool. Pamela says he looks like he could use a good hair stylist. She says she expect Grace to be with someone more distinguished. She says she can imagine her with George but not this idiot. So, Lila right there starts to devise a plan. Pierre finally is able to get close to her and says he’d like a chance to get to know her. Grace hears this and is pleased. Lila blows him off and says it’ll have to wait and goes over to her other guests. Grace calls her out on it in private and suggests she get to know him. Lila apologizes and Grace accepts. But Lila looks at him blowing smoke in her friends faces and know she won’t like him any better even if she does.
Todd is playing basketball thinking what a jerk he is.

When he turns around Jessica is behind him. Jessica tries to kiss Todd -who really just wanted to be by himself and thought it was good time since she’d be at the luncheon-. This time he pushes her away. Jessica feels the change and there’s an awkward moment. She knows he’s about to tell her something she isn’t trying to hear. He’s about to tell her he doesn’t love her. He loves Liz. So, she lies and says everyone avoided her at the luncheon. This work, She cries on him and he pulls her closer.

Lila, Jean, and Sandra are all talking about what Grace sees in Pierre and Lila has to front and say she hasn’t really gotten a chance to know him but if Grace likes him, he must have some good qualities. All of a sudden, they see Amy rushing away from the terrace. She tells Lila she has to go. She has a headache. Jessica and Todd go to the Wave Club. Jessica is trying to hold a conversation with Todd but he’s in another world-that doesn’t include her-. She tries to get him to dance but its obvious he’s not into it. She suggests they go for a walk on the beach. Todd says she has to get home, but agrees to go with her for a little while. She tries to kiss him but he jumps up and says this isn’t right (making her fall in the sand). Jessica knows he’s right. They’ve both been using each other.

He tells her it’s over. Jessica knows it was over before it even started. Jessica knows he’s right but she knows she’ll never be happy again. Todd offers to drive her home, but she says she’ll walk and Todd feels hurt. Jessica realizes she’s now all alone. Margo goes to Kelly’s and meets James (whose gorgeous). He’s in a bad mood because his dirt bike’s broke and he can’t afford to fix it. She decides to keep her interest professional and she feigns interest in his racing thinking he might be a good match for Jessica or Elizabeth.

Amy calls Lila and tells her Pierre tried to come on to her and touched her breast. Lila thinks Goodbye Pierre. She says she’ll think of a way to tell her mother and not to worry he won’t be around much longer. Lila is about to knock on Grace’s door but thinks what if Grace thinks she’s lying because she doesn’t like Pierre. It might even send her back. She’ll have to keep it to herself for now. Josh Smith is at a hotel thinking about how he let Margo get away. When he tried to call attention to her everyone looked at him like he was crazy. The police just tell him it’s out of their jurisdiction. His mother has turned into an alcoholic and begs him to come home.

He tells her he needs more time and hangs up. He considers leaving this to the police but decides he can’t give up and heads out. Jessica gets a boy named Artie to take her to Valley Memorial Cemetary and she goes to Sam’s grave. She cries and loses track of time. She then makes a decision she needs to do something that will give her life and plan an event to honor Sam’s memory. It’ll be a dirt-bike rally. (Forgetting I guess that they already threw one). At the Wakefields house, Margo sees Ned and thinks how handsome he is. She sees Alice and mistakes her for one of the twins until she sees them kissing. She thinks Alice is the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen. She’s disappointed to see the twins have a brother. She gets upset when Alice leaves but then thinks she can’t stay mad for long because she already loves her. She sees the twins too but notices the tension between them.

Lila, Grace, and George have breakfast. When Grace goes to answer a call, George admits he has everything but he feels empty inside. He said he hurt the women he loved and sent her away and there’s nothing he can do about it. She has someone else. Lila suggests he tell her how he feels. He says its too late. Lila says its never too late. Grace thanks Lila for inviting Pierre to dinner. She says she took the day off and so she’ll be able to spend the whole day with him. Lila vows he’ll regret the day he ever meet her.

Within hours, Jessica gets her event together. The money will go to the SVH chapter of Students Against Drunk Driving. First Lila takes Pierre to a bad restaurant who has greasy food. Then she takes him to the beach to try surfing and watches him fall over. He then takes him to the mall and makes him carry her bags. Then she takes him to play tennis. She takes him out to lunch and gets him very wasted. He starts to get vulgar and then falls asleep on his plate.

She then escorts him out so they won’t be late for dinner. Lila thinks this is going even better than she expected. Liz is walking and Todd pulls up to her and asks for a ride. Liz thinks is this fool forreal. He hasn’t talked to me since the accident and he’s fooling around with Jessica. She just says no. It’s a nice day. I’d rather walk. So, he drives off. She thinks rejection is a bitch isn’t it. She feels guilty for a minute but then thinks for what. If the trial taught her anything it’s too look out for herself.

Lila escorts Pierre to “the guest shower” which is really a storage closet and locks him in. At the mall, Margo does a little shop-lifting. Might as well since the seller is watching her and thinks she’s going to anyway. Then she goes to Casey’s. While trying to find some people that go to SVH to ease drop on, she sees a article about Jessica’s event. She thinks too bad Sam died. Maybe she would have shared him with her sister. She sees (who I think is Bruce and Pamela) and thinks soon she’ll have a boyfriend that loves her for herself (Elizabeth Wakefield).

Margo gets some contacts, the color of the Pacific Ocean. George says he has to ask Grace something before Pierre arrives. He asks her will she marry him so they can be a family again. Before she can answer, Pierre comes in drunk out of his mind. Two men kick him out -Uncle Phil and Jazz style-. Pierre threatens to tell Grace what Lila did. She says if he doesn’t get on the plane and out of her mother’s life she’ll tell Grace what he did to Amy. When Lila gets back Grace is wearing the ring.

Winston tells Liz (while taking her home) Todd isn’t going out with Jessica anymore. He tells her Todd misses her. Liz tells him it’s none of his business angrily. Margo sees an article about George and Grace’s upcoming wedding. Margo decides she has to be at that wedding. Both Elizabeth and Jessica will be there. Margo calls James and tells him she has a proposition for him. She tells him she wants him to enter and do some follow-up work. He says no. It’s too small for him. She offers him two thousand dollars and he changes his mind. Josh finally finds a ticket taker that remembers Margo. He finds out she was headed to San Diego and then figures out she was headed to Sweet Valley.

Jessica already can’t sleep and then hears Liz screaming from nightmares. Jessica goes to Liz and holds her -unknown to her- and wonders how she could be so selfish. Because of her Liz was really suffering. She knows she has to tell Liz the truth. She’s about to but Alice comes into the room and asks is everything ok. Jessica decides her confession will just have to wait. Margo goes to the cateers to see if she can get a job but the manager tells her they’re filled for the Fowler wedding. She says she can leave her number tho. She leaves the room and Margo writes down one of the applicants addresses.

At the race, a mysterious last-minute contestant (Black Lightning) wins the trophy. Jessica afterwards tells Lila she spent the weekend with him and he wants to know absolutely everything about her. Lila warns her to be careful and he sounds too good to be true. She tells her she should probably go a little slower. Jessica says it’s time to start living her life again. James tells Margo he knows everything there is too know about Jessica. Margo tells him to be careful or she’ll catch on. James says not a chance. They make plans to meet. Margo sees that Jessica has made over a thousand dollars for SADD and is proud. She goes to the address of the applicant and runs her over with her car. (There’s a baby in the car). She then hops on a bus back to SV.

Alice is about to drop her groceries bags when a mystery girl comes to her rescue. She invites her inside but when she turns around the girl is gone. Alice thinks to herself she must have been shy. At the wedding, Jessica is excited about introducing James to all her friends, but realizes when Lila asks if he has another brothers not only doesn’t she know she doesn’t know anything about him at all. But what matters to her if how sexy he is and how much he loves her. Margo is treated as Mrs. D’Angelo’s personal servant and is not allowed to go outside. She keeps her inside filling trays. She grabs a butcher knife and raises it above her hand but she’s interrupted by a waiter. She then sends Margo outside.

Winston points out the red-haired waitress who keeps staring at them but Liz just waves it off. Then the cake comes out and its forgotten. Margo is happy to see much everyone loves Liz. So, this means they’ll love her. Mrs. D’Angelo tells Margo she can leave but she says she’ll stay. She spots Winston and Elizabeth dancing and thinks he’s a geek. She’ll have to do better at picking a date. She sees Todd approach Liz and ask her to dance. She accepts. Margo thinks that’s more like it. She learns that Jessica had dated Todd and thinks NAUGHTY NAUGHTY. She hopes she won’t have to teach her a lesson for not keeping her hands to herself.

My Thoughts:
While I’m happy that Lila got her mother back-because she really seemed to need that- I don’t know what Grace was thinking. I mean if she was going to leave George because he worked to much and neglected her did, she think the second time around this would magically disappear. All she had to do was have a conversation with Lila to see that he did the EXACT SAME THING with the daughter he took from her. Going backwards NEVER WORKS! No! There was a way that she could have stayed in SV for Lila without resorting to this. George didn’t even fake the funk and PRETEND like he’d change because he WONT change. I just hope that somehow Grace can somehow keep her own stationary business because she’s found such a success with it and not just throw it all away because she now has a billionaire husband. That would just be PATHETIC! Everyone seemed to think George was the better option and I guess compared to gay, molester, he would be (because Pierre sounded VERY gay to me with his bouncy walk) but I really don’t think marrying George was a come up.

I usually don’t say this but I was proud of Jessica for doing something not selish. Even tho the writer somehow forgot that a memorial was also thrown in his memory in one of the previous books.
Rating: 5

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wedding does, in fact, contain a wedding, and there's a scene or two from the book that have lived in the back of my head ever since I first read it. One is Liz thinking to herself that she's glad that the celebs have left because they made the party too stuffy. Even then, I thought it a bit... odd that a wedding for grown adults would have so many teenagers present. Yes, it's SVH and to be expected, but it was still weird. It's no less weird now, btw. But as I did then, I just assume Liz is concentrating more on her friends than the other SV attendees.

The other scene is Black Lightning making his dramatic last minute entrance at the dirt bike rally and the subsequent down to the wire finish. Ooh. Ahh. Intrigue!

Oh, wait, Pierre's fall down the stairs and Lila's mild worry that she'd accidentally killed the lech is also there, lurking in my subconscious.

Honestly, for this arc, this is a fun read. Jessica's starting to thaw after she realizes how she's been acting towards Todd and how, at best, it looks terrible for her image, and at worst, well... I like that it's April who gives Jessica the idea that ultimately leads to Jessica snapping out of her depression, even as the guilt over her actions at the prom motivates a good chunk of the things she does. I do not like that April's not even in the running, really, for winning the memorial rally but whatcha gonna do 30 years later? I did roll my eyes so hard at Jessica worrying that if her parents found out the truth about Liz's spiked drink, they'd ground Jessica and keep her from holding the rally. On what planet would Ned and Alice Wakefield do that? It's a charity rally that's getting their daughter back to normal. If nothing else, they'd ground her from everything BUT the rally prep/rally itself, and then ground her from everything after. Except not because consequences have never been this series' strong suit.
I loved Sam's best friend running into Liz at the DB and calling her out on acting like everything's fine even though Sam's still DEAD. It came at a moment where you want to defend Liz on some level (she's finally finding a ray of sunshine!) but at the same time, of course his best friend is going to feel like Liz seemingly living her best life while his best friend is DEAD is a slap in the face. I also loved Lila pointing out that sure, someone else technically caused the accident but Liz was still driving drunk. These are much needed moments of reality peppered into an arc that's still completely batshit crazy at its core.

I have mixed feelings about everyone falling all over Grace, thinking she's the absolute most beautiful woman ever (even at an event where there are actual super models in attendance) because when we're introduced to her, we're told she's basically Lila but blonde. You're telling me the only thing keeping Lila from being the most beautiful woman in Sweet Valley is her brown hair? ...look, I know blonde is a hell of a drug but c'mon. I usually chalk this up to it just being a beautiful bride moment or everyone's complimenting Grace because of course she's gorgeous and of course the easiest way to flatter Lila is to tell her that her long lost mother is stunning, but I also had to mention it.

Just like I have to mention that this ghosty is clearly not working off any early SVH canon because for all the talk of Winston out on the dance floor, Pamela had to drag Bruce out to dance? Bruce Patman is known for his moves on the dance floor, ghosty.

I wish Lila had mentioned to her mother what Pierre did to Amy because sending that back into the dating world without a head's up, especially given what happened to Lila that sparked this arc of hers? Does not ring true. Telling him she'd keep his secret if he left, yes. Actually doing so? Not a chance.

It must have completely blown past me the first time I read this, and every subsequent re-read of The Evil Twin but how the FUCK did Josh Smith track Margo to California? I could totally buy that Liz's fuckup made a brief blip in national news (if it was a slow news week, then yeah, People magazine absolutely would've included a little article about it and Josh could've seen it at checkout and gone "MARGO!") but that's not what happened. Josh somehow pieced together Nina's murder, the old lady in the bus station, and Georgie's death, and ... somehow this sent him to California where he found her almost immediately and then lost her and THEN it takes him like three weeks to find a clue to send him to the right town? I...what? This is one of the rare cases where I'd believe this happened in present time more than it would back at the time it was written.

Margo's complete and utter disregard for human life should probably not be amusing, but my god, it is. Just the thought of her being so cuckoo that she's ready to stab her boss at a wedding, and you know she knows that's gonna be messy? Just so she can get another glimpse of the twins? Hilarious. I also love that the ghosty drew the line at killing the waitress's kid but not killing Mommy right in front of the baby. There are LINES, people.

The decision to include actual timelines here is both welcome and a bad idea, as Liz thinks to herself that Lila's probably been just as miserable as she has been for the last two months... but we're told it's taking Jess 3 weeks to set up the rally. Lila's had Grace that whole time and ever since Grace showed up, with a very, very small exception, Lila's been on cloud 9 and hell, Liz, you got your stay out of jail free card before the three months began SO...

Should've known it would take a party to solve the Liz/Todd problem, or at least get them moving in the right direction. Lila's parties can solve many a thing. ~Magic.~

I did absolutely crack up when Grace is telling Lila what a good person she is, though. Ma'am, you're new around here and I love Lila to bits, but her list of bad behavior is several miles long. Please see the victimized by Regina George scene and just swap in Lila's name.

I assume Liv got an invite to the wedding of the century through Harry who is loaded because Lila and Liv are kind of the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Oh! Liz defending the Fowlers to Winston's snarky comments at the wedding was weird. Some, sure, but Liz has long been critical of George and Lila so her suddenly defending them at every turn was an odd take.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good Lila story, so the major plot line of Lila trying to Parent Trap her benignly neglectful father and absent mother by showing how her mom's French boytoy Pierre is a drunken sleazebag who felt up Amy Sutton has been the most fun part of this miniseries so far for me. In other developments, Margo arrives in Sweet Valley, buys herself some colored contacts, seduces a college aged dirtbike racer to help her infiltrate Jessica's world, and is being followed by dead Georgie's older brother Josh. Elizabeth remains moony and kind of sad, and Jessica, despite STILL not having confessed to her part in Sam's death, moves on to the mysterious biker who calls himself Black Lightening (or something cheesily similar) and starts dating again- she doesn't realize this guy is just being paid by an evil stalker trying to get info about the Wakefield family. Shit is getting even weirder in Sweet Valley in this book, and I'm here for it. 2.5 stars rounded up because of the Lila main plot. Am enjoying this dumbass miniseries more than I want to admit- I like that these stories are all actually totally new to me. But they're still awful for anyone who may try to read them with anything other than a sense of nostalgia for their cheesiness.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series continues to be ridiculous, but I knew that going in. I find it especially surprising that Margo is so intent on taking over Elizabeth's life when she clearly would have an easier time emulating Jessica. Regardless its an entertaining enough story but it's clear they wanted this to be a mini series without really thinking through the execution of it. There is so much unnecessary filler in all of these books that had they stuck to the core story, twins fighting and Margo coming in it could have easily been 3-4 meatier stories instead of 6 drawn out with a ton of side stories no one cares about.

[Carol Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It may seem silly for a woman my age to read a Sweet Valley book. I find them comforting they take me back to a time when my life was less complicated. It helps with my depression.

I don't think the stories would resonate with young adults today they are too innocent and Jessica and Elizabeth just too perfect.

[Sarah Baines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was worth reading purely for the part where Lila gets shot of "Pierre The Pill". ingenious stuff!

[Grace Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy darkness! But I’m happy for Lila.

[Monique Brownrigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tension is really starting to build. Lila's parents got together waaaaay too smoothly and Grace ditched Paul(?) so suddenly? Like what??

[Wysteria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty sure every storyline that features Mr Fowler only tries to marry him off at some point.
It’s a tired trope.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be rating all of these "Margo" books with 5 stars, not because of their literary merit but because they are ABSOLUTELY INSANE and amazing. These books started my love affair for Sweet Valley, and re-reading them while sick has been so much fun.

I love how this book starts with Grace having a boyfriend and ends with her getting remarried to her ex husband, all in the span of 200 pages. Oh, Sweet Valley, never change.

[Nell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fourth book in the six part mini series.

It was nice to see Jessica and Liz start to come back to themselves in this one – so this one felt a little lighter and brighter than some of the previous books in this little mini series. Obviously, with Margo setting up shop in Sweet Valley, it’s a finely walked tight rope as danger gets nearer and nearer to the Wakefield’s as their lives are getting back on track.

Another enjoyable adventure in the SVH world.

[Lizzie the Book Hoarder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another part of the miniseries started with A Night to Remember. I like this story but I thought that the storyline with Lila's parents was a little farfetched. I also felt it was beyond time for Jessica to take responsibility for her actions.

[jenn]

This one was pretty much worthless.

[Hillary]

It isn't that Margo is amazing (she's really just your average psychopath), it's that everyone in this town is so glaringly self - obsessed they don't notice the FREAKING PSYCHOPATH!.

[KLB · Rating 3 out of 5]

good