What do you think?
Rate this book
Sweet Valley High #104
Love and Death in London
Working as summer interns for the London Journal, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are assigned the Scotland Yard beat and decide to investigate a series of grisly murders. Original.
199 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
28 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,140 books1,851 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
November 12, 2024
I was delighted by just how much fun this, my first Sweet Valley High, book was. A dizzy mix of crime, horror and romance, all told with breathless energy. This first entry in the ‘Horror in London’ trilogy, sees the Californian twins travel to the UK to work as interns in a newspaper. Immediately there’s a murder, as well as an almost overwhelming number of references to ‘An American Werewolf in London’, a missing princess and lots and lots of boys.
No one element ever overwhelms the others. The horror is silly, the mystery obvious and the romance never more than fleeting, but the balance between the three is delicious. It’s all ridiculous, but the cliched characters and plot twists are so much fun it’s impossible to dislike it.
And OMG is the cliffhanger ending shocking!
No one element ever overwhelms the others. The horror is silly, the mystery obvious and the romance never more than fleeting, but the balance between the three is delicious. It’s all ridiculous, but the cliched characters and plot twists are so much fun it’s impossible to dislike it.
And OMG is the cliffhanger ending shocking!
October 10, 2017
Hilariously bad 😂😂 I loved it. The twins 537th Summer in their never ending junior year finds them in London with a possible werewolf problem.
October 21, 2023
The first stop on this year's Halloween nostalgia re-readathon is the first book in the SVH "Horror" miniseries. As per the back cover blurb, Liz and Jess are off for a one-month internship at the (supposedly) prestigious London Journal newspaper. They are on their own, living at the Housing for International Students (HIS) youth hostel which is more like a boardinghouse than a hostel, but whatever. They have a gaggle of fellow teens hanging around, most of them studying at university. For their Sweet Valley sendoff party, Lila screened An American Werewolf in Paris for some reason. Jessica loved it, but Liz found it scary as hell. Even though the twins are traveling in the summer, all the talk is about how dank and foggy and cold London is.
When the twins arrive, the big story is the missing Princess Eliana, the younger daughter of the Queen. She's apparently vanished into thin air and nobody knows where she could be, so of course the red-tops are having a field day with the speculation. Sign #1 that perhaps the Journal isn't such a staid newspaper is that they, too, are in on all the tabloid fun, so much so that the speculation about the missing princess is pushing actual news to the back of the paper, or out of it entirely.
There are basically 4 stories going on, all at once:
(1) The twins are somehow shuffled onto the Journal's crime desk, even though they are foreign students completing a (likely unpaid) one-month internship. They are sent to a few "small" crime scenes, where they encounter Sergeant Bumpo, who is apparently a Scotland Yard detective but is written as more of a put-upon constable. Bumpo serves as comedy relief, just in case it wasn't obvious by his name. Liz and Jess blow Bumpo off pretty quickly and go to a murder scene, where they spy their boss, Lucy Friday, examining a savagely murdered corpse, the defining characteristic of which is that he had his throat ripped out. The twins are grossed out, Lucy is raring to go, and there are two other guys on the scene.
Lucy is told that she can't write a story on the murdered man, so she quits her post and leaves the office. The twins eventually track her down (after doing some research in the Journal's back articles, and she's surprised and impressed that they've linked a similar murder to hers. (I mean, how common is it for victims to have their throats ripped out?) The twins decide to investigate on their own, but it's obvious that the police are *not* baffled, back cover blurb. They just aren't sharing even nuance of their investigations with nosy teenagers or tabloid reporters, which makes perfect sense to me.
(2) The HIS peanut gallery includes Emily, David, Gabriello (LOL), Portia, and Lina. We get to know these characters a little bit, and it turns out that at least two of them are playing parts. Portia isn't the stuck up witch she appears to be, and Lina outright confesses to Liz that she's the missing Princess. She wanted to get out of her gilded cage and see the real world, which to her means serving at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. She dyed her hair and put on glasses and voila, nobody recognizes her. David is hankering after her with a hopeless crush, and Lina/Eliana doesn't want to get close to him because ZOMG what will happen when he finds out who she really is?!
(3) Elizabeth is shocked when, who should she find at HIS but Rene Glize, the snotty French boy she felt sparks with during a past spring break trip? Rene is working at the embassy and apparently has no free time. So, here's the first of Liz's two suitors, showing up extremely early in the novel. The second one appears on Day 2: Luke Shephard is a quiet Byronic manboy who also works at the Journal, blowing off his actual work to write poetry instead. Swoon! Luke is kinda obsessed with werewolves, and Liz finds this strangely assuring, somehow? Her heart's all aflutter about Luke and she blows off a dinner invitation from Rene, so he's insufferable AND huffy.
Todd? Who's Todd? He actually calls Liz at one point and she spends the entire time feeling guilty for having warm fuzzies for Lord Byron Luke. You've known him less than a week, Liz, come on!
(4) Jessica, meanwhile, lands herself a real-live Lord on her second day in town. She's swept off her feat by Lord Robert Pembroke Jr, and he seems equally smitten. He invites the twins (and Liz brings along Luke) for a weekend at his country estate. There, the twins see the two men from the murder scene, who turn out to be Lord Robert Senior (who owns the Journal) and the police chief. Their spidey senses are tingling and they decide to poke around and see if they can find any evidence of a cover-up.
As is common, Liz takes an immediate dislike to Robert (both senior and junior) and thinks the worst of him because he's so posh. She much prefers quiet Luke, who is actually pretty darn creepy, pretty darn quick. He has a strange interaction with Lord Robert Senior (hmm, is he a cuckoo in the nest?) and he gives Liz a werewolf pendant to wear to protect her. From what, you may ask? Well, it just so happens that someone is murdered at Pembroke Manor - a young blond girl, in Jessica's bed! HORRORS!
What will happen next?! Will Eliana reveal herself to the other HIS kids? Will Rene ever get a chance to speak with Liz? Will Luke start baying at the moon? And who died in Jessica's bed, because we all know damn well it wasn't Jessica! And does this mean there is a murderer stalking Pembroke Manor?
When the twins arrive, the big story is the missing Princess Eliana, the younger daughter of the Queen. She's apparently vanished into thin air and nobody knows where she could be, so of course the red-tops are having a field day with the speculation. Sign #1 that perhaps the Journal isn't such a staid newspaper is that they, too, are in on all the tabloid fun, so much so that the speculation about the missing princess is pushing actual news to the back of the paper, or out of it entirely.
There are basically 4 stories going on, all at once:
(1) The twins are somehow shuffled onto the Journal's crime desk, even though they are foreign students completing a (likely unpaid) one-month internship. They are sent to a few "small" crime scenes, where they encounter Sergeant Bumpo, who is apparently a Scotland Yard detective but is written as more of a put-upon constable. Bumpo serves as comedy relief, just in case it wasn't obvious by his name. Liz and Jess blow Bumpo off pretty quickly and go to a murder scene, where they spy their boss, Lucy Friday, examining a savagely murdered corpse, the defining characteristic of which is that he had his throat ripped out. The twins are grossed out, Lucy is raring to go, and there are two other guys on the scene.
Lucy is told that she can't write a story on the murdered man, so she quits her post and leaves the office. The twins eventually track her down (after doing some research in the Journal's back articles, and she's surprised and impressed that they've linked a similar murder to hers. (I mean, how common is it for victims to have their throats ripped out?) The twins decide to investigate on their own, but it's obvious that the police are *not* baffled, back cover blurb. They just aren't sharing even nuance of their investigations with nosy teenagers or tabloid reporters, which makes perfect sense to me.
(2) The HIS peanut gallery includes Emily, David, Gabriello (LOL), Portia, and Lina. We get to know these characters a little bit, and it turns out that at least two of them are playing parts. Portia isn't the stuck up witch she appears to be, and Lina outright confesses to Liz that she's the missing Princess. She wanted to get out of her gilded cage and see the real world, which to her means serving at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. She dyed her hair and put on glasses and voila, nobody recognizes her. David is hankering after her with a hopeless crush, and Lina/Eliana doesn't want to get close to him because ZOMG what will happen when he finds out who she really is?!
(3) Elizabeth is shocked when, who should she find at HIS but Rene Glize, the snotty French boy she felt sparks with during a past spring break trip? Rene is working at the embassy and apparently has no free time. So, here's the first of Liz's two suitors, showing up extremely early in the novel. The second one appears on Day 2: Luke Shephard is a quiet Byronic manboy who also works at the Journal, blowing off his actual work to write poetry instead. Swoon! Luke is kinda obsessed with werewolves, and Liz finds this strangely assuring, somehow? Her heart's all aflutter about Luke and she blows off a dinner invitation from Rene, so he's insufferable AND huffy.
Todd? Who's Todd? He actually calls Liz at one point and she spends the entire time feeling guilty for having warm fuzzies for Lord Byron Luke. You've known him less than a week, Liz, come on!
(4) Jessica, meanwhile, lands herself a real-live Lord on her second day in town. She's swept off her feat by Lord Robert Pembroke Jr, and he seems equally smitten. He invites the twins (and Liz brings along Luke) for a weekend at his country estate. There, the twins see the two men from the murder scene, who turn out to be Lord Robert Senior (who owns the Journal) and the police chief. Their spidey senses are tingling and they decide to poke around and see if they can find any evidence of a cover-up.
As is common, Liz takes an immediate dislike to Robert (both senior and junior) and thinks the worst of him because he's so posh. She much prefers quiet Luke, who is actually pretty darn creepy, pretty darn quick. He has a strange interaction with Lord Robert Senior (hmm, is he a cuckoo in the nest?) and he gives Liz a werewolf pendant to wear to protect her. From what, you may ask? Well, it just so happens that someone is murdered at Pembroke Manor - a young blond girl, in Jessica's bed! HORRORS!
What will happen next?! Will Eliana reveal herself to the other HIS kids? Will Rene ever get a chance to speak with Liz? Will Luke start baying at the moon? And who died in Jessica's bed, because we all know damn well it wasn't Jessica! And does this mean there is a murderer stalking Pembroke Manor?
August 1, 2018
The twins have just seen An American Werewolf in London, so you know what that means.... they are going to London and will be plagued by thoughts of werewolves the whole time.
The twins have yet another internship at yet another journal for the summer. You’d think Jess would need summer school, but I guess not. The twins are staying in Housing for International Students, or HIS. Upon arrival they meet dowdy Lina, stuck-up Portia, and quiet Luke, who works at the paper with the twins. Liz also runs into her flame from the Cannes spring break book, Rene Glize. It turns out he is staying at HIS too.
The girls learn that Princess Eliana is missing... something you think Scotland Yard would have solved rather quickly. The twins are given bum assignments at the Journal. They have to follow around the hilariously named Sergeant Bumpo. It turns out a woman’s dog, Poo-Poo, has been murdered. But not just murdered... his throat was ripped out! Dun dun dun. I love how Liz goes right to werewolf instead of serial killer (Jack the Ripper) in her head!
But urging her along is Luke Shepherd, who becomes quite enamored with Liz. Liz hasn’t cheated on Todd in about three days, so she wets her panties with delight at being with Luke. He takes Liz to a wax museum where they run into a very lifelike wax werewolf. Luke confesses to his love of and interest in werewolves. That’s not obvious at all.
Meanwhile, Jessica “falls in love” with Lord Robert Pembroke. Of course he is handsome, but he’s also tied to royalty, and that’s what Jessica is after. Luke doesn’t like good old Rob at all, and he’s not shy about showing it.
Jess and Liz are much more interested in the murders happening around town than following around Sergeant Bumpo. One day they see something they shouldn’t, but it’s confusing and not relevant to the plot yet, so I didn’t pay much attention.
Besides werewolves, there are also liars among the twins. Lina keeps acting very weird and not at all like the low-class Liverpudlian she claims to be. Finally she confesses to Liz that she’s not. She’s actually Princess Eliana! Same old “I got tired of being a royal” story. Though Eliana actually wants to do good for her community, so you can’t be all that upset at her.
Portia is awful and stuck-up at the beginning of the book. But when the twins and others go to see her play, they realize that she was rehearsing lines by being snooty the whole time! Liz forgives her, which isn’t shocking, and so does Jess, which is slightly more shocking.
But Jess is too wrapped up about marrying into royalty to care. She and Liz get invited to stay at the Pembroke manor for the weekend. Liz doesn’t like him, but she agrees because she wants to keep an eye on the suspicious family. And she brings Luke along. Luke gives her a pentagram with a wolf on it and tells her she will be safe as long as she wears it. Yeah okay, Luke.
But Liz has a terrible dream that Jess’s room is all torn up and that she (Jess) is murdered by the same beast who has been slaying everyone else. Liz wakes up in a fit and rushes to Jessica’s room... where she finds her room torn up, and a girl with blonde hair lying dead in her own blood on the bed. Jessica is DEAD!
Except not. Did anyone ever believe the twins would die? The series clearly isn’t over yet.
Quotes:
Jessica: Maybe they’ll be a nice, ghoulish murder while we’re working for the London Journal, something gruesome and creepy.
Honestly, Jess, don’t you get enough of that in Sweet Valley? Margo killed a bunch of people only four books ago!!
Liz fantasizing: Our story would be on the front page and we’d have our very own bylines: Reported exclusively for the Journal by Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield!
“[Liz] had told Todd just about everything that happened to her since she’d arrived in London except for the episodes involving Rene and Luke. I just kind of... left them out. Is that as bad as lying? She wondered.”
Saint Liz, you should know the answer to that one.
“To Jessica’s disappointment, Piccadilly Circus wasn’t a circus at all.”
The twins have yet another internship at yet another journal for the summer. You’d think Jess would need summer school, but I guess not. The twins are staying in Housing for International Students, or HIS. Upon arrival they meet dowdy Lina, stuck-up Portia, and quiet Luke, who works at the paper with the twins. Liz also runs into her flame from the Cannes spring break book, Rene Glize. It turns out he is staying at HIS too.
The girls learn that Princess Eliana is missing... something you think Scotland Yard would have solved rather quickly. The twins are given bum assignments at the Journal. They have to follow around the hilariously named Sergeant Bumpo. It turns out a woman’s dog, Poo-Poo, has been murdered. But not just murdered... his throat was ripped out! Dun dun dun. I love how Liz goes right to werewolf instead of serial killer (Jack the Ripper) in her head!
But urging her along is Luke Shepherd, who becomes quite enamored with Liz. Liz hasn’t cheated on Todd in about three days, so she wets her panties with delight at being with Luke. He takes Liz to a wax museum where they run into a very lifelike wax werewolf. Luke confesses to his love of and interest in werewolves. That’s not obvious at all.
Meanwhile, Jessica “falls in love” with Lord Robert Pembroke. Of course he is handsome, but he’s also tied to royalty, and that’s what Jessica is after. Luke doesn’t like good old Rob at all, and he’s not shy about showing it.
Jess and Liz are much more interested in the murders happening around town than following around Sergeant Bumpo. One day they see something they shouldn’t, but it’s confusing and not relevant to the plot yet, so I didn’t pay much attention.
Besides werewolves, there are also liars among the twins. Lina keeps acting very weird and not at all like the low-class Liverpudlian she claims to be. Finally she confesses to Liz that she’s not. She’s actually Princess Eliana! Same old “I got tired of being a royal” story. Though Eliana actually wants to do good for her community, so you can’t be all that upset at her.
Portia is awful and stuck-up at the beginning of the book. But when the twins and others go to see her play, they realize that she was rehearsing lines by being snooty the whole time! Liz forgives her, which isn’t shocking, and so does Jess, which is slightly more shocking.
But Jess is too wrapped up about marrying into royalty to care. She and Liz get invited to stay at the Pembroke manor for the weekend. Liz doesn’t like him, but she agrees because she wants to keep an eye on the suspicious family. And she brings Luke along. Luke gives her a pentagram with a wolf on it and tells her she will be safe as long as she wears it. Yeah okay, Luke.
But Liz has a terrible dream that Jess’s room is all torn up and that she (Jess) is murdered by the same beast who has been slaying everyone else. Liz wakes up in a fit and rushes to Jessica’s room... where she finds her room torn up, and a girl with blonde hair lying dead in her own blood on the bed. Jessica is DEAD!
Except not. Did anyone ever believe the twins would die? The series clearly isn’t over yet.
Quotes:
Jessica: Maybe they’ll be a nice, ghoulish murder while we’re working for the London Journal, something gruesome and creepy.
Honestly, Jess, don’t you get enough of that in Sweet Valley? Margo killed a bunch of people only four books ago!!
Liz fantasizing: Our story would be on the front page and we’d have our very own bylines: Reported exclusively for the Journal by Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield!
“[Liz] had told Todd just about everything that happened to her since she’d arrived in London except for the episodes involving Rene and Luke. I just kind of... left them out. Is that as bad as lying? She wondered.”
Saint Liz, you should know the answer to that one.
“To Jessica’s disappointment, Piccadilly Circus wasn’t a circus at all.”
April 9, 2020
Some day soon I will return to reading normal books because I'm almost through my Sweet Valley Books. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!
One of the hilarious things about the Sweet Valley series is how they completely rip off movies but at least this time they own that this is an 'American Werewolf in London' copy by name dropping the movie constantly. Yep, the twins head off to merry Olde England that exists only in tourist postcards. Every meal has tea & scones, red telephone boxes on every corner, and royals everywhere. In fact, the royal had a Sweet Valley make-over and in this universe, Queen Elizabeth has a bunch of hot teenagers for kids and they all have the most 90s sounding names.
My favourite thing about this book has to be that Elizabeth, the supposedly smart twin fully believes werewolves are real because a hot poet told her so. Saint Liz is her most pretentious in this book, judging anyone with a dime to their name as an awful person even though literally no one has been awful to her. Essentially Liz's mindset is 'How dare they have that dirty, dirty money'...completely oblivious to her own privilege. I mean, they travel everywhere and their house has a pool, the Wakefield's are not poor.
...Yeah, I realize all my reviews are just ragging on Elizabeth but she's. just. SO. BAD.
Anyway, only a couple of more books to go before I wrap up my COVID re-reading of Sweet Valley.
One of the hilarious things about the Sweet Valley series is how they completely rip off movies but at least this time they own that this is an 'American Werewolf in London' copy by name dropping the movie constantly. Yep, the twins head off to merry Olde England that exists only in tourist postcards. Every meal has tea & scones, red telephone boxes on every corner, and royals everywhere. In fact, the royal had a Sweet Valley make-over and in this universe, Queen Elizabeth has a bunch of hot teenagers for kids and they all have the most 90s sounding names.
My favourite thing about this book has to be that Elizabeth, the supposedly smart twin fully believes werewolves are real because a hot poet told her so. Saint Liz is her most pretentious in this book, judging anyone with a dime to their name as an awful person even though literally no one has been awful to her. Essentially Liz's mindset is 'How dare they have that dirty, dirty money'...completely oblivious to her own privilege. I mean, they travel everywhere and their house has a pool, the Wakefield's are not poor.
...Yeah, I realize all my reviews are just ragging on Elizabeth but she's. just. SO. BAD.
Anyway, only a couple of more books to go before I wrap up my COVID re-reading of Sweet Valley.
May 15, 2017
Reading these for fun and nostalgia, remember I thought this series was great when I was a kid.
It is fun and easy to read, but also ridiculous as expected (like how Jessica got an internship when she's never once been interested in journalism) and Elizabeth is really quite a terrible person. Don't think I realized that as a kid, cause she was 'the good one', but she's judgemental, overdramatic and can't keep it in her pants, so to speak. She has a boyfriend but that sure doesn't stop her from playing the field ;)
It is fun and easy to read, but also ridiculous as expected (like how Jessica got an internship when she's never once been interested in journalism) and Elizabeth is really quite a terrible person. Don't think I realized that as a kid, cause she was 'the good one', but she's judgemental, overdramatic and can't keep it in her pants, so to speak. She has a boyfriend but that sure doesn't stop her from playing the field ;)
Read
September 11, 2011Elizabeth Wakefield is definitively the worst.
October 8, 2023
I forgot how fast everything in this arc moves. Hell, I forgot it was taking place over a month instead of the usual summer shenanigans for the twins as they intern at a newspaper. I also never realized the HIS was a hostel because dude, my cohort in crime is absolutely right and it reads like a boarding house.
The quick summary: Jess and Liz jet off to London for a month during the summer, to intern at the prestigious London Journal. Liz has dreams of being personally mentored by the editor of the paper while Jess is hoping to land herself a royal lad and maybe get a nice, gruesome murder to investigate. To be fair, nearly every other summer at the local paper has yielded a murder so it's not like that's totally out of left field for Jessica.
Jessica also gets her wish, or close enough, when her fluffy society crime piece brings her into Lord Robert's (the younger) orbit and he is instantly smitten. Liz, well, maybe don't aim so high, kiddo.
The twins do get a grisly murder, though it appears no one at the paper is going to be able to properly cover it when their boss, Lucy Friday, quits after her piece on the murder was chopped into dull, useless pieces. Fear not, though, as the twins are on the case!
I should probably mention that this is one of those arcs that is absolutely completely batshit crazy because by the end of this book, Liz is convinced that there's an actual werewolf running around London killing people. Two people and a Yorkie, actually. I'm not really sure I'd qualify that as a serial killer, Lucy, but I will grant you that it's... weird and the kill count is gonna go up so fine.
I'm going to give a nod to their sleuthing here because they found out about the first victim by going through the crime beat archives and looking for the brief mentions of a death that had no real details given.
I guess now's as good a time as any to mention the drama at HIS, huh? Well, for starters the twins run into French Rene Glize (please see: Super Edition Spring Break) who is clearly still very interested in Liz, and also seems to be in a better headspace than he was. Yay! Too bad Liz is gonna spend this arc cheating on Todd with Luke, the pale poet at the newspaper who floats the idea of werewolves being totally a real thing.
Liz.
Honey. Sweetie. Baby. Sugar. If you're gonna cheat on Todd, at least Rene's SANE. But no. She blows him off and is then hurt when he's not immediately back on her side. Ma'am. He had ONE NIGHT OFF, asked you well in advance, and you blew him off to hang out with "Um, actually, werewolves are real and one is stalking London right now" and then didn't even remember he'd mentioned the whole one night off. Also, whose friends ask them out on a platonic date *cough* via a rose?
JUSTICE FOR RENE!
So, the murder isn't making news because Princess Eliana, the Queen's youngest daughter, is missing. Has she runaway? Been kidnapped? Murdered? Decided to cut and dye her hair and help out at a soup kitchen/homeless shelter and call herself Lina while she lives at HIS?
No, you do not get a prize for guessing correctly.
I genuinely don't remember whether the princess reveal was a surprise to younger!me, but I doubt it since the hints are about as subtle as a piano falling out of a window. Snooty Portia the actress being totally method, however, was a bit of a surprise.
Also a surprise: me totally blanking on social butterfly Emily (the Aussie) being named Emily. I did, however, remember she was from Sydney. For an Aussie though, she sure doesn't sound all that Australian? I know we're talking about a book from the mid 90's but I was talking to a fair number of Australians not that long after and um, yeah. No.
Also no is Liz being so damn snotty in her thoughts about Robert and later the soon to be murdered Joy. Just because she's a pretty socialite doesn't mean she's stupid or inferior, Liz. To be fair, this is definitely a thing Liz does all the time. So... yay? But also no because it kind of teaches the readers to be absolute assholes to other people since Jess is so rarely portrayed as being in the right about anything. Of course, she's also convinced the aristocracy could never, ever do anything wrong and uh, Jess, crack open a history book sometime, k? Read it, that is.
As for Luke. He's...not my favorite of Liz's out of town boyfriends, but I think he's one that I liked better when I was younger. As an adult, he's sending up SO many red flags and not just because I know how this arc ends. There's his raging disdain for his father (...Liz, c'mon, this alone is normally enough for you to at least hold back a little), his werewolf fascination, and the fact that he's not Rene. Do you know how often we get characters from a previous one-off? NEVER. And you waste this miracle to give Luke more air time. Ugh. UGH. I cannot with you, Elizabeth Wakefield! In the span of four days you've become...actually, this all tracks as normal for Liz once she goes ahead and believes in the supernatural.
But kid!me was so shocked we got Rene back. Shocked, I say!
I have another quibble and then I'll shush. For now. Liz mentions she's never seen Jess so smitten with a guy before. We're in book 104. Sam's been dead for less than ten books, Liz. SAM. He doesn't get even a passing mention. The way this series treats Sam's death in the immediate aftermath of the Evil Twin arc is SO weird. I get not going into the Margo stuff, or not having Liz mention, even in her thoughts, the manslaughter thing, but Sam's loss should be mentioned considering how Jess was absolutely in love with him. And yes, this is a thing younger!me had an issue with as well.
Btw, the events of this book do not even span a WEEK.
The quick summary: Jess and Liz jet off to London for a month during the summer, to intern at the prestigious London Journal. Liz has dreams of being personally mentored by the editor of the paper while Jess is hoping to land herself a royal lad and maybe get a nice, gruesome murder to investigate. To be fair, nearly every other summer at the local paper has yielded a murder so it's not like that's totally out of left field for Jessica.
Jessica also gets her wish, or close enough, when her fluffy society crime piece brings her into Lord Robert's (the younger) orbit and he is instantly smitten. Liz, well, maybe don't aim so high, kiddo.
The twins do get a grisly murder, though it appears no one at the paper is going to be able to properly cover it when their boss, Lucy Friday, quits after her piece on the murder was chopped into dull, useless pieces. Fear not, though, as the twins are on the case!
I should probably mention that this is one of those arcs that is absolutely completely batshit crazy because by the end of this book, Liz is convinced that there's an actual werewolf running around London killing people. Two people and a Yorkie, actually. I'm not really sure I'd qualify that as a serial killer, Lucy, but I will grant you that it's... weird and the kill count is gonna go up so fine.
I'm going to give a nod to their sleuthing here because they found out about the first victim by going through the crime beat archives and looking for the brief mentions of a death that had no real details given.
I guess now's as good a time as any to mention the drama at HIS, huh? Well, for starters the twins run into French Rene Glize (please see: Super Edition Spring Break) who is clearly still very interested in Liz, and also seems to be in a better headspace than he was. Yay! Too bad Liz is gonna spend this arc cheating on Todd with Luke, the pale poet at the newspaper who floats the idea of werewolves being totally a real thing.
Liz.
Honey. Sweetie. Baby. Sugar. If you're gonna cheat on Todd, at least Rene's SANE. But no. She blows him off and is then hurt when he's not immediately back on her side. Ma'am. He had ONE NIGHT OFF, asked you well in advance, and you blew him off to hang out with "Um, actually, werewolves are real and one is stalking London right now" and then didn't even remember he'd mentioned the whole one night off. Also, whose friends ask them out on a platonic date *cough* via a rose?
JUSTICE FOR RENE!
So, the murder isn't making news because Princess Eliana, the Queen's youngest daughter, is missing. Has she runaway? Been kidnapped? Murdered? Decided to cut and dye her hair and help out at a soup kitchen/homeless shelter and call herself Lina while she lives at HIS?
No, you do not get a prize for guessing correctly.
I genuinely don't remember whether the princess reveal was a surprise to younger!me, but I doubt it since the hints are about as subtle as a piano falling out of a window. Snooty Portia the actress being totally method, however, was a bit of a surprise.
Also a surprise: me totally blanking on social butterfly Emily (the Aussie) being named Emily. I did, however, remember she was from Sydney. For an Aussie though, she sure doesn't sound all that Australian? I know we're talking about a book from the mid 90's but I was talking to a fair number of Australians not that long after and um, yeah. No.
Also no is Liz being so damn snotty in her thoughts about Robert and later the soon to be murdered Joy. Just because she's a pretty socialite doesn't mean she's stupid or inferior, Liz. To be fair, this is definitely a thing Liz does all the time. So... yay? But also no because it kind of teaches the readers to be absolute assholes to other people since Jess is so rarely portrayed as being in the right about anything. Of course, she's also convinced the aristocracy could never, ever do anything wrong and uh, Jess, crack open a history book sometime, k? Read it, that is.
As for Luke. He's...not my favorite of Liz's out of town boyfriends, but I think he's one that I liked better when I was younger. As an adult, he's sending up SO many red flags and not just because I know how this arc ends. There's his raging disdain for his father (...Liz, c'mon, this alone is normally enough for you to at least hold back a little), his werewolf fascination, and the fact that he's not Rene. Do you know how often we get characters from a previous one-off? NEVER. And you waste this miracle to give Luke more air time. Ugh. UGH. I cannot with you, Elizabeth Wakefield! In the span of four days you've become...actually, this all tracks as normal for Liz once she goes ahead and believes in the supernatural.
But kid!me was so shocked we got Rene back. Shocked, I say!
I have another quibble and then I'll shush. For now. Liz mentions she's never seen Jess so smitten with a guy before. We're in book 104. Sam's been dead for less than ten books, Liz. SAM. He doesn't get even a passing mention. The way this series treats Sam's death in the immediate aftermath of the Evil Twin arc is SO weird. I get not going into the Margo stuff, or not having Liz mention, even in her thoughts, the manslaughter thing, but Sam's loss should be mentioned considering how Jess was absolutely in love with him. And yes, this is a thing younger!me had an issue with as well.
Btw, the events of this book do not even span a WEEK.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2025
In the long, long ago of junior high, I think (I can only guess going by the library I was using at the time), I randomly grabbed the third book in this little trio from the Sweet Valley High series. Imagine my surprise and joy to discover all of the Sweet Valley High books on Kindle Unlimited, including this long remembered trio about the twins in London and facing a werewolf serial killer. Before delving into the series as a whole, I had to go and read the werewolf trilogy, mainly so that I can fully understand what I read years ago.
And....wow. I'm fully entertained by how cheesy it all is! I'm not surprised, as I'm also rereading the old Fear Street novels and experiencing the same entertainment, but what I didn't expect was to find so much disdain for Elizabeth, the 'smart' twin, as she's always portrayed. Girlie shows so much disdain for the aristocracy that her sister, Jessica, is so ready to hobnob with. Not that they as a whole deserve much sympathy, but the genuinely nice ones, like Jessica's male love interest, Robert, and Joy, another person they meet at Robert's home, still gain her ire. Considering she's currently cheating on her own boyfriend, Todd, with an English boy named Luke, she hardly has the moral high ground.
It's so interesting to read this with adult eyes after so many years. Off to the next in the series!
And....wow. I'm fully entertained by how cheesy it all is! I'm not surprised, as I'm also rereading the old Fear Street novels and experiencing the same entertainment, but what I didn't expect was to find so much disdain for Elizabeth, the 'smart' twin, as she's always portrayed. Girlie shows so much disdain for the aristocracy that her sister, Jessica, is so ready to hobnob with. Not that they as a whole deserve much sympathy, but the genuinely nice ones, like Jessica's male love interest, Robert, and Joy, another person they meet at Robert's home, still gain her ire. Considering she's currently cheating on her own boyfriend, Todd, with an English boy named Luke, she hardly has the moral high ground.
It's so interesting to read this with adult eyes after so many years. Off to the next in the series!
December 29, 2021
This particular story line- the twins have some sort of extra school break and inexplicably wind up with internships at a British national paper in London and everyone eats scones and there's a murder and apparently the blind acceptance that werewolves are real- is pure stupid and I hate it and I'm just going to plow through these 3 books as fast as I can stand it because I don't want to abandon finishing the series, but....this book is bad. The premise is idiotic and the ending is abrupt. One star.
February 23, 2019
Camp, far-fetched and fun! Great names in this one Poo-Poo the dog (poor poo-poo), Sergeant Bumpo, Lucy Friday. Seriously though after events in The Evil Twin you wouldn't have thought Ned and Alice would have even considered the idea, but no, they're seemingly perfectly happy letting the 16 year old twins hop on a plane and stay in London for a month!! Lots of references to one of my favourite horror films of all time also - An American Werewolf In London. Great stuff.
November 16, 2021
The twins are on a newspaper internship in London where they soon come across a murder scene that has a hint of the supernatural about it - werewolves to be precise. While Jess pooh-poohs the idea, and focuses on her new relationship with a handsome Lords son, Liz becomes involved with her gentle colleague Luke, who has a deep interest in werewolf lore
Very entertaining
Very entertaining
November 13, 2024
My brain cannot handle how good this book was. Exceeded expectations.the writing, the characters, the beats of the story, friendship, tension, love, mystery, excitement - this book hits all the spots that a reader loves and with great pacing. Highly recommended to anyone that has never read a Sweet Valley High book and wanted to try.
January 31, 2023
Based on pieces of a A Werewolf in London this story takes us to a London location. The twins intern and report stories, but also have to be aware of a full moon. This is a three parter series. So this story will end on a cliffhanger.
September 19, 2018
these stupid books give me LIFE
October 23, 2019
Unrealistic as ever, what else do you expect from SVH. As long as you read it with a pinch of salt, you know what to expect! A bit of a boring start TBH to this arc but enjoyable nonetheless
January 8, 2025
A fun nostalgic read!
September 25, 2019
Really just read for the Teen Creeps podcast. It’s not the most exciting book until the end and probably don’t need to read this one to understand the trilogy. What a cliffhanger! And that American Werewolf in London movie is definitely too scandalous for the twins to be watching or even for the intended audience of this book. Never read this one back in the day.
March 26, 2018
THIS BOOK IS PERFECT AND I WILL FIGHT YOU ON IT
In this masterpiece of a tale, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are spending their 921st summer together as sixteen-year-olds trapped in YA Purgatory. As the story opens, the twins are headed for London, to work as interns for the London Journal, a famous newspaper that apparently feels it's cool to hire American teenagers to cover the crime beat.
Of course, Elizabeth is in her usual smug froth about the whole thing, imagining that she'll be getting front page bylines and working directly with the editor. Jessica, meanwhile, is dreaming of kissing British royalty and sipping tea with the Queen. Thank God for Jessica folks, because can you imagine if the books were solely about Liz? lol, you'd fall asleep after maybe two pages.
The twins are staying at an International hostel, and they meet some fun people - including Rene, who was in one of the past SVH books (yay for continuity), and a few others whose names escape me - I think Portia, Elaine (?) and David. Anyway, they're actually all quite good fun, and it's nice to have some fresh air breathed into the series - bonus points for leaving Todd (AKA: He Who Resembles a Wet Blanket) behind in California.
Although the twins find themselves assigned to the 'society' beat (Liz is affronted! She's a serious! Journalist! Why! Isn't! She! Covering! Crime! - it never occurs to her they have actual paid journalists to do this), they quickly hatch other plans, tagging along to a crime scene and getting wrapped up in a series of grisly murders happening across the city.
Both girls also find romance - Elizabeth with Luke, a dark-haired poet with an interest in werewolves and pubs, and Jessica with Robert, who is an actual Lord and is legit smitten with our favourite beach babe. Both twins naturally dislike the other's choice of boyfriend, both end up squabbling with each other over nothing special, and both begin investigating the murders in their own ways.
It's seriously entertaining in its cheesiness, and I could read this particular bit of the series over and over - and have - it's got everything! London! Brits! Pubs! Mist! Werewolves! History! Tea! Did I mention werewolves!!
I looooove it. If you're a fan of SVH, pick up this book (and the next two in the set) - it's a delight.
In this masterpiece of a tale, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are spending their 921st summer together as sixteen-year-olds trapped in YA Purgatory. As the story opens, the twins are headed for London, to work as interns for the London Journal, a famous newspaper that apparently feels it's cool to hire American teenagers to cover the crime beat.
Of course, Elizabeth is in her usual smug froth about the whole thing, imagining that she'll be getting front page bylines and working directly with the editor. Jessica, meanwhile, is dreaming of kissing British royalty and sipping tea with the Queen. Thank God for Jessica folks, because can you imagine if the books were solely about Liz? lol, you'd fall asleep after maybe two pages.
The twins are staying at an International hostel, and they meet some fun people - including Rene, who was in one of the past SVH books (yay for continuity), and a few others whose names escape me - I think Portia, Elaine (?) and David. Anyway, they're actually all quite good fun, and it's nice to have some fresh air breathed into the series - bonus points for leaving Todd (AKA: He Who Resembles a Wet Blanket) behind in California.
Although the twins find themselves assigned to the 'society' beat (Liz is affronted! She's a serious! Journalist! Why! Isn't! She! Covering! Crime! - it never occurs to her they have actual paid journalists to do this), they quickly hatch other plans, tagging along to a crime scene and getting wrapped up in a series of grisly murders happening across the city.
Both girls also find romance - Elizabeth with Luke, a dark-haired poet with an interest in werewolves and pubs, and Jessica with Robert, who is an actual Lord and is legit smitten with our favourite beach babe. Both twins naturally dislike the other's choice of boyfriend, both end up squabbling with each other over nothing special, and both begin investigating the murders in their own ways.
It's seriously entertaining in its cheesiness, and I could read this particular bit of the series over and over - and have - it's got everything! London! Brits! Pubs! Mist! Werewolves! History! Tea! Did I mention werewolves!!
I looooove it. If you're a fan of SVH, pick up this book (and the next two in the set) - it's a delight.
December 23, 2012
Okey. Ini kali pertama aku baca penulisan FP yang berbentuk thriller and mystery. Almost all her books I read are a bit gedik. Tapi aku pernah beli buku dia fasal Halloween, though aku dah lupa macam mana cerita dia (and kat mana aku letak buku tu).
Back to the story. It was quite okay actually since there are multiples mysteries in one book. And of course, the major mystery was all about the murder caused by werewolf. But actually, I still don't know yet whether (checking Google Translate how to spell it) the murder was actually made by the werewolf because THERE ARE THREE MINI SERIES to read and this is the first series. Macam tahi? I know.
But personally, I still feel that the story was a bit draggy for a thriller and mystery type of novel. But if you know how FP writes, you just don't care and love it. Like I do. <3
Back to the story. It was quite okay actually since there are multiples mysteries in one book. And of course, the major mystery was all about the murder caused by werewolf. But actually, I still don't know yet whether (checking Google Translate how to spell it) the murder was actually made by the werewolf because THERE ARE THREE MINI SERIES to read and this is the first series. Macam tahi? I know.
But personally, I still feel that the story was a bit draggy for a thriller and mystery type of novel. But if you know how FP writes, you just don't care and love it. Like I do. <3
January 13, 2012
A great opener of a 3 mini part series.
The setting's in London wherein Elizabeth and Jessica are working as interns for the London Journal. I've no idea how Jessica ended up in a newspaper (probably all that goading from her more studious twin) but I'm glad she's finding a better avenue for her skills.
They find out about a series of grisly murders where the victim's throat was torn up. Werewolves, perhaps? Throw in a quiet poet, a lord, a snooty roommate and a missing princess and you get yourself a supernatural chick lit of sorts targeting the young adult.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: Love and Death in London (Sweet Valley High, #104)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
The setting's in London wherein Elizabeth and Jessica are working as interns for the London Journal. I've no idea how Jessica ended up in a newspaper (probably all that goading from her more studious twin) but I'm glad she's finding a better avenue for her skills.
They find out about a series of grisly murders where the victim's throat was torn up. Werewolves, perhaps? Throw in a quiet poet, a lord, a snooty roommate and a missing princess and you get yourself a supernatural chick lit of sorts targeting the young adult.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: Love and Death in London (Sweet Valley High, #104)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
September 22, 2023
When listening to the Sweet Valley High recaps on the brilliant Double Love podcast, sometimes the books sound so outlandish that I have to read them for myself to fully appreciate them. This was one of those occasions. For pure entertainment, this is five stars. For actual plot and characterisation, it's a generous three. The book is set in a weird alternate reality version of London, which is delightful but means that most of the regular characters are missing and the new batch are an odd bunch. It's all quite ridiculous, but pretty tame compared to the next two installments.
May 19, 2020
This werewolf mini-series is so ridiculous, but I love it.
I’m still sad that Jessica never reaches out to Cara once they reach London, though. I guess I was right that her character is never mentioned again after she moves away.
I’m still sad that Jessica never reaches out to Cara once they reach London, though. I guess I was right that her character is never mentioned again after she moves away.
December 17, 2023
This trilogy scared the shit out of me as a child. It still does but for totally different reasons (AKA why is Jessica dating a full adult man and why is the Guardian allowing teenage girls at crime scenes??)
March 8, 2010
DAMN YOU, CLIFFHANGER! This was just a novelty subway read/dignifying Leanne's gift with a perusal, and now I feel like I need to read the other TWO books.
August 23, 2011
I thought the book was good. The book unfortunately was predictable which well made it kinda boring. But it was overall good.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover but just not the story
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews