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Sweet Valley High #93
Stepsisters
Will Cheryl fit in at Sweet Valley High?
Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield have a new neighbor their friend and sorority sister Annie Whitman. Annie's mother is getting married to a famous African-American photographer from New York City, and the new family is moving in next door.
Annie can't wait to introduce her stepsister-to-be to all her Sweet Valley High friends. She tries her best to make Cheryl feel at home in Sweet Valley, but Cheryl, used to the excitement of New York City, doesn't seem interested in fading into the crowd. Annie is hurt and thinks Cheryl's a snob.
Can two such different people ever become sisters?
Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield have a new neighbor their friend and sorority sister Annie Whitman. Annie's mother is getting married to a famous African-American photographer from New York City, and the new family is moving in next door.
Annie can't wait to introduce her stepsister-to-be to all her Sweet Valley High friends. She tries her best to make Cheryl feel at home in Sweet Valley, but Cheryl, used to the excitement of New York City, doesn't seem interested in fading into the crowd. Annie is hurt and thinks Cheryl's a snob.
Can two such different people ever become sisters?
154 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
23 people are currently reading
365 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 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.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 26, 2017
One of the rare Sweet Valley books that doesn't focus on the twins! ALthough, of course they are still involved. Jessica is overly opinionated and Elizabeth plays counselor (As does Steven which was interesting to see). This book brings up an interesting hot topic about racial differences. At first is seems simple, but when self doubt and a lack of understanding the other side come into play, hurt feelings and chaos can ensue. Annie's character annoyed me and she seemed to be lacking an understanding of being different, have different interests, etc. Cheryl I really liked but she was a bit stand-offish without meaning to. This had me shaking my head at these two girls until they could figure things out. While many may see the situation as dated, similar conflicts still arise today between different people and it is neat to step back and see how both sides make mistakes in judgement of the other.
May 15, 2021
This is the SVH, written in 1993, that tells readers its ok for Black people to marry white people. For real. Annie Whitman, formerly known in the Sweet Valley world as 1. The girl with the "fast/loose" reputation who tried to kill herself when Jessica tried to keep her off the cheerleading squad back in book 5 (when she was 15- she aged! In this book she's driving! Not sure how that happened, as the twins have been locked in at 16 for like 5 years now), and 2. The girl who is the on/off boyfriend of roid-ragey Tony Estaban-- THAT Annie Whitman- gets a surprise when her single mother cimes home from a work trip with a new fiancee who has a daughter, and cue dramatic music-- They're Black New Yorkers. Even more dramatic- they're moving in next door to the Wakefield family! And we all know how well Sweet Valley handles racism. Really fucking poorly. That's how well this book goes. 1.5 stars rather than 1 because at least stepsister Cheryl isn't ashamed of her heritage and calls Annie and others out on their racist shit a little bit. Not enough to be even semi-realistic for the 1990s, but an improvement over the last few installments of this series embarrassing attempts at tackling racism in the super-white Sweet Valley town. It's still pretty bad, though.
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May 1, 2025Step sisters
I’m skipping the long summary for this one. I did one (of course) but it won’t all fit. Briefly this one is about Annie’s mom comes back from New York and tells her she’ll be marrying her photographer (Walter) and he and his daughter (Cheryl) will be moving in with them. Oh and by the way he’s black.
It took me a LONG time to even wanna deal with thoughts on this book. So, I stalled on it (and stalled and stalled). I KNEW as soon as I read the sentence “And by the way Walter is black.” I wasn’t gonna like it. I thought here we go with *this* again. As if I didn’t get enough of this is the BSC series. There was the book about Andy Jenkins but I was just hoping and praying that was the only one in this series.
In the BSC it didn’t annoy me *as much* as in this one. I think I’m just over it honestly. I know my thoughts will be kinda all over the place for this one, but one of the things I wished wasthat (white authors) wouldn’t make the (only) black characters stand out like this. If that’s the case, I wish they didn’t include the (token) black character at all. As much as blacks stand out as people (and we have excelled in a very large arena of skills and talents) it’s never the *right* way in these series. Tho yes, they try by giving us dancing (Jessi) and musical abilities (Cherly) which isn’t a lie. But it’s not the main thing. The main thing is they make the black character stand out because (he or she) is a source of hatred or alienation.
One of the only things I liked about this book, was that the other characters (other than Annie) really didn’t seem to have a problem with Cheryl. (That is until the next book-Are We In Love?-) As I was reading this book, I even wondered did a white ghost writer write this because some of the things Cheryl said sounded cookie cutter (like a white person trying to write a black character’s thoughts on being black).
Other than the book where she tried to commit suicide, I never really gave Annie anythought. She REALLY turned me off as a character in this. Because YES everything about her actions said she was prejudiced. Only people kept telling her “Oh your not prejudice”. The most ridiculous one to me was she wasn’t because she dated a Hispanic. But has she dated a black man? Has she dated Andy? NO! Would she date Andy? She doesn’t even speak to the other kids who aren’t white. And since when are black people, Asians, and Hispanics all thrown into one group and known as “colored people”.
As I know it when someone referred to “colored people”, they’re referring to black people. I may be wrong about this but it’s just going off what I’ve heard. Annie was prejudiced but she keep trying to cover it up by blaming it on other people. “I wonder how the other *students* will feel about Cheryl.” I REALLY wanted someone to call her out and say “Are you worried about how the other students feel about Cheryl or are YOU the one uncomfortable with Cheryl because she’s black. I think it’s YOU!”
Another thing I didn’t like was the emphasis Annie put on driving. That *really* kind of ticked me off because not everyone drives. There are a lot of reasons why people might not. It doesn’t make them any less of a person. Annie practically thought Cheryl was a freak because she didn’t. She immediately puts her off. “Oh you don’t drive. What kind of person are you?” Another thing is the Sorrority thing.
Not always (and of course there are always exceptions) what Annie didn’t seem to grasp is that there are some things that a black person might be more comfortable doing with other black people. Pledging a sorority or a fraternity is just one of those things. And she easily should have understood this because again would she have pledged an all-black sorrority. EXACTLY! Not that I haven’t heard of this but in this case I sincerely doubt it. If someone chooses to even pledge at all. And in high school? High school has enough cliques without this so…
I did kinda like the moment Cheryl got in Annie’s face about trying to turn her white. But what I didn’t understand was why she had a problem with Annie inviting other kids to the party. I guess it *did* look fake but it was the one thing Annie did that I didn’t have a problem with. Cheryl even said she was used to being around all kinds of kids in NY. So, why not get to meet some of the others at the high school. And as we see she did find things in common with some of em’.
Rating: 5
I’m skipping the long summary for this one. I did one (of course) but it won’t all fit. Briefly this one is about Annie’s mom comes back from New York and tells her she’ll be marrying her photographer (Walter) and he and his daughter (Cheryl) will be moving in with them. Oh and by the way he’s black.
It took me a LONG time to even wanna deal with thoughts on this book. So, I stalled on it (and stalled and stalled). I KNEW as soon as I read the sentence “And by the way Walter is black.” I wasn’t gonna like it. I thought here we go with *this* again. As if I didn’t get enough of this is the BSC series. There was the book about Andy Jenkins but I was just hoping and praying that was the only one in this series.
In the BSC it didn’t annoy me *as much* as in this one. I think I’m just over it honestly. I know my thoughts will be kinda all over the place for this one, but one of the things I wished wasthat (white authors) wouldn’t make the (only) black characters stand out like this. If that’s the case, I wish they didn’t include the (token) black character at all. As much as blacks stand out as people (and we have excelled in a very large arena of skills and talents) it’s never the *right* way in these series. Tho yes, they try by giving us dancing (Jessi) and musical abilities (Cherly) which isn’t a lie. But it’s not the main thing. The main thing is they make the black character stand out because (he or she) is a source of hatred or alienation.
One of the only things I liked about this book, was that the other characters (other than Annie) really didn’t seem to have a problem with Cheryl. (That is until the next book-Are We In Love?-) As I was reading this book, I even wondered did a white ghost writer write this because some of the things Cheryl said sounded cookie cutter (like a white person trying to write a black character’s thoughts on being black).
Other than the book where she tried to commit suicide, I never really gave Annie anythought. She REALLY turned me off as a character in this. Because YES everything about her actions said she was prejudiced. Only people kept telling her “Oh your not prejudice”. The most ridiculous one to me was she wasn’t because she dated a Hispanic. But has she dated a black man? Has she dated Andy? NO! Would she date Andy? She doesn’t even speak to the other kids who aren’t white. And since when are black people, Asians, and Hispanics all thrown into one group and known as “colored people”.
As I know it when someone referred to “colored people”, they’re referring to black people. I may be wrong about this but it’s just going off what I’ve heard. Annie was prejudiced but she keep trying to cover it up by blaming it on other people. “I wonder how the other *students* will feel about Cheryl.” I REALLY wanted someone to call her out and say “Are you worried about how the other students feel about Cheryl or are YOU the one uncomfortable with Cheryl because she’s black. I think it’s YOU!”
Another thing I didn’t like was the emphasis Annie put on driving. That *really* kind of ticked me off because not everyone drives. There are a lot of reasons why people might not. It doesn’t make them any less of a person. Annie practically thought Cheryl was a freak because she didn’t. She immediately puts her off. “Oh you don’t drive. What kind of person are you?” Another thing is the Sorrority thing.
Not always (and of course there are always exceptions) what Annie didn’t seem to grasp is that there are some things that a black person might be more comfortable doing with other black people. Pledging a sorority or a fraternity is just one of those things. And she easily should have understood this because again would she have pledged an all-black sorrority. EXACTLY! Not that I haven’t heard of this but in this case I sincerely doubt it. If someone chooses to even pledge at all. And in high school? High school has enough cliques without this so…
I did kinda like the moment Cheryl got in Annie’s face about trying to turn her white. But what I didn’t understand was why she had a problem with Annie inviting other kids to the party. I guess it *did* look fake but it was the one thing Annie did that I didn’t have a problem with. Cheryl even said she was used to being around all kinds of kids in NY. So, why not get to meet some of the others at the high school. And as we see she did find things in common with some of em’.
Rating: 5
September 10, 2023
As with some other of the Sweet Valley High series this one has its own message and that relates how to people of different races can get along and thrive.
Annie's mother is a catalog model. Her mother has met a photographer and they both have fallen in love. The photographer also has a daughter. Annie and her mother are white while the photographer and his daughter are black and this sets the tone for the entire book.
Annie worries about how her friends will react to her having a black stepsister and how Cheryl, the stepsister, will react moving from New York to Sweet Valley which most of its population is white.
Annie does have a couple of black friends and a couple of Hispanic friends.
An interesting statement in the book is '...black people and white people often have distorted images of each other.'
Annie has major problems in figuring out just how to introduce Cheryl to her friends. There's also a girl's sorority that she wonders if it would be open to a black girl.
(If you look at some older high school yearbooks you will probably find sororities and fraternities which are completely divided by race)
Cheryl has problems with Annie's handling of how she tries to bring Cheryl into her group of friends and Cheryl says '...black people are supposed to be grateful to white people for trying to turn them into white people.'
The solution is very simple. Talk to each other. Don't make assumptions of what the other party wants. Just talk to each other.
A very good book with a very good message.
Annie's mother is a catalog model. Her mother has met a photographer and they both have fallen in love. The photographer also has a daughter. Annie and her mother are white while the photographer and his daughter are black and this sets the tone for the entire book.
Annie worries about how her friends will react to her having a black stepsister and how Cheryl, the stepsister, will react moving from New York to Sweet Valley which most of its population is white.
Annie does have a couple of black friends and a couple of Hispanic friends.
An interesting statement in the book is '...black people and white people often have distorted images of each other.'
Annie has major problems in figuring out just how to introduce Cheryl to her friends. There's also a girl's sorority that she wonders if it would be open to a black girl.
(If you look at some older high school yearbooks you will probably find sororities and fraternities which are completely divided by race)
Cheryl has problems with Annie's handling of how she tries to bring Cheryl into her group of friends and Cheryl says '...black people are supposed to be grateful to white people for trying to turn them into white people.'
The solution is very simple. Talk to each other. Don't make assumptions of what the other party wants. Just talk to each other.
A very good book with a very good message.
December 21, 2017
Cheryl and Annie are both beautiful girls inside and outside, but I still didn’t feel anything when the book was tackling racism. Another problem I had were the lessons in the book. Sweet Valley High usually has valuable morals, but I think Sweet Valley needs three life morals this time.
1. It’s okay for people to be interested in different things. They don’t have to do anything they don’t want to until they’re ready. No matter how good intentions may be, pressuring someone is uncool because no means no.
2. Apparently, everyone in Sweet Valley has Beauty and the Beast fever. (I’m talking about the 1991 film.) Anyway, isn’t it better to have a guy who will treat you right than to have an abusive player? I wouldn’t be surprised if the domestic violence rate was high in Sweet Valley.
3. Like there’s nothing wrong with having friends of a different race, there’s nothing wrong with loving someone of a different race. The important thing is that friends make you feel happy and lead you down a good path. If anyone has a problem with that, it’s the hater’s fault.
1. It’s okay for people to be interested in different things. They don’t have to do anything they don’t want to until they’re ready. No matter how good intentions may be, pressuring someone is uncool because no means no.
2. Apparently, everyone in Sweet Valley has Beauty and the Beast fever. (I’m talking about the 1991 film.) Anyway, isn’t it better to have a guy who will treat you right than to have an abusive player? I wouldn’t be surprised if the domestic violence rate was high in Sweet Valley.
3. Like there’s nothing wrong with having friends of a different race, there’s nothing wrong with loving someone of a different race. The important thing is that friends make you feel happy and lead you down a good path. If anyone has a problem with that, it’s the hater’s fault.
November 10, 2024
One of the better books in the Sweet Valley High series, Stepsisters dives into the rocky start between Annie Whitman and her new stepsister, Cheryl Thomas, who’s just moved to Sweet Valley because their parents are getting married. I’ll give it to this book: the story explores family blending and the cultural clashes that come up when Cheryl, a Black girl from NYC, has to adjust to Sweet Valley’s overwhelmingly white bubble. It tries to tackle some serious themes, even if it’s wrapped in classic Sweet Valley melodrama.
But as much as I liked the premise, the dialogue can be seriously dated and cheesy. There’s that particular ’80s vibe in the slang and phrasing that just hasn’t aged well. It’s like an unintentional time capsule of cringe. Yet somehow, that’s part of the charm. It’s nostalgic in a way that makes you feel like you’re reliving a very specific, and often ridiculous, version of high school drama.
But as much as I liked the premise, the dialogue can be seriously dated and cheesy. There’s that particular ’80s vibe in the slang and phrasing that just hasn’t aged well. It’s like an unintentional time capsule of cringe. Yet somehow, that’s part of the charm. It’s nostalgic in a way that makes you feel like you’re reliving a very specific, and often ridiculous, version of high school drama.
December 15, 2021
Annie Whitmans mom is remarrying and the new family is moving next door to Jess and Liz. When Annie finds out that her new family is black, she's worried that her new stepsister Cheryl may face prejudice, and does everything she can to include her in SVH activities despite Cheryl not being interested in all the same things that Annie is. The sisters manage to bind, and soon Cheryl has a romance on the way with handsome neighbour Steven Wakefield
April 10, 2016
I realize that this was written a good 23 years ago, and it was a bit of a different world when it came to race and interracial relationships, but I honestly just wanted to bang my head against something reading this book. The point that race shouldn’t be important was made, and that’s a good point, but of course, it is, particularly in America. And it was just horrendously a focus because Cheryl was African American.
There was a good message in there, but I think the presentation was aggravating and poorly delivered and honestly just made me cringe.
There was a good message in there, but I think the presentation was aggravating and poorly delivered and honestly just made me cringe.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story.
August 6, 2014
The one in which they drink a whole hell of a lot of orange juice...
August 21, 2018
Rereading the series as I am packing it away. I can’t believe how much I used to devour them as a kid but some still have their charm. This one was one of the better ones as I liked how it dealt with two families becoming one, interracial relationships, and race.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews