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Sweet Valley High #61
Boy Trouble
Patty Gilbert is elated when she finds out that her boyfriend, Jim Hollis is coming home from college for a weekend visit. But then she finds out that her older sister, Jana, is coming to visit the same weekend, and she tells Jim she'll have to spend most of her time with her family. He blows up at her, and before Patty knows what's happening, they have a huge fight and break up.
Patty feels awful, but at least she knows she'll be able to confide in her sister. As soon as Jana walks in the door, however, she announces that she's getting married in two weeks! Jana's so excited about the wedding plans that she has no time for Patt's problems. Patty feels she's lost her boyfriend because of Jana. When Patty accusas her sister of being selfish, they have a huge fight. Now it looks as if Patty has lost both her sister and her boyfriend!
Patty feels awful, but at least she knows she'll be able to confide in her sister. As soon as Jana walks in the door, however, she announces that she's getting married in two weeks! Jana's so excited about the wedding plans that she has no time for Patt's problems. Patty feels she's lost her boyfriend because of Jana. When Patty accusas her sister of being selfish, they have a huge fight. Now it looks as if Patty has lost both her sister and her boyfriend!
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1989
23 people are currently reading
358 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,147 books1,852 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 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 28, 2020
I downloaded this book via Kindle Unlimited.
This was yet another book in the SVH universe filled with vapid characters who don't care about what's going on beyond their own nose. Not only do we have Jim, who doesn't care that Patty's sister, whom she hasn't seen in over six months has come home the same weekend he has and makes Patty feel awful about wanting to see her sister, but we also have Jessica stealing opportunities from DeeDee when she frauds a meeting with a local designer. This book is really all that is wrong with the SVH characters, I'm not going to lie, I thought the last book had set up this book to be about Jim cheating on Patty but that wasn't the case.
This was yet another book in the SVH universe filled with vapid characters who don't care about what's going on beyond their own nose. Not only do we have Jim, who doesn't care that Patty's sister, whom she hasn't seen in over six months has come home the same weekend he has and makes Patty feel awful about wanting to see her sister, but we also have Jessica stealing opportunities from DeeDee when she frauds a meeting with a local designer. This book is really all that is wrong with the SVH characters, I'm not going to lie, I thought the last book had set up this book to be about Jim cheating on Patty but that wasn't the case.
March 13, 2020
I have zero recollection of this book - probably because the ones featuring random secondary characters were always the most boring.
This one wasn’t too terrible, though. Jim and Patty’s fight was ridiculous, and Jessica’s side plot wasn’t nearly as fun as her other schemes, but it was still entertaining enough.
This one wasn’t too terrible, though. Jim and Patty’s fight was ridiculous, and Jessica’s side plot wasn’t nearly as fun as her other schemes, but it was still entertaining enough.
August 6, 2014
The one (or hundredth) with the controlling dickbag boyfriend...
October 13, 2016
SVH cheese at its finest. My dad is awesome for bringing this back for me from his business trip.
May 21, 2025
I want the books to be about Jessica & Elizabeth. This book was about another character (not even really a friend) and her breakup and her sister’s wedding.
July 4, 2020
Sweet Valley has a black character, as evidenced by that being mentioned 3 times in the book and coloring the white girl on the cover in with a brown pastel so that one can't tell if she's just very tan or maybe from India or a Native? At any rate, Patty is best friends with other peripheral character Deedee Gordon, of girlfriendom to Bill Chases, surfer who rejected Jessica way back when. And Elizabeth decides to feature Patty in some new column for the Oracle, so Patty exists now. She is a dancer, she has a boyfriend who goes to Pacific University and they're long distance, and she has an older sister who shows up at home the same weekend as her boyfriend (whom she hadn't seen in 4 weeks). Apparently, this is a big problem, since Patty can't possibly see both of them over the weekend, even though one of them literally will be staying in the same house. So Patty's sister winds up planning a shotgun wedding to her military boyfriend and is 2 weeks from moving overseas with him. Jim gets all pissy that Patty has to help her family plan the wedding and they have a fight, and then they fight again later, and Patty is kind of a pill about her boyfriend problems during her sister's wedding prep crap. That's pretty much the whole book? It wasn't very good. 1.5 stars rounded up.
May 19, 2020
Boy Trouble SVH
Elizabeth has this idea for a new column for the Oracle that will highlight the seniors plans for the future. She wants the first interview to be with Patty Gilbert because she’s an incredibly talented dancer. Patty has a boyfriend named Jim who’s in college that she hasn’t seen in a while, he’s coming home for the weekend. But since they haven’t been spending that much time lately this weekend is do or die. She however, promises Liz she’ll do the interview. Only when she gets home, her parents tell her sister (Jana) is coming into town the same weekend, and she has big news. Patty tries to get a hold on Jim, but she can’t. So her mind jumps to conclusions, and she imagines he’s out on a date. Jim comes home with “kissing” for hours on the brain -mmm I think we all know what that’s code for. (He’s in college). Patty tells him that her sister’s coming home and she’ll have to postpone their plans. Instead of being a good boyfriend and saying I understand (snorts who am I kidding none of these boyfriends are worth a damn) he acts like a lil bitch and starts an argument with her about wasting his time driving there. Patty then accuses him of cheating and they break up. Upset, Patty goes home only to find her sister with an unfamiliar man in uniform. She introduces him as her fiancée Ted. After telling them about himself he says in 3 weeks he’ll be flying out to go to West Germany. Which means Jan and Ted have to be married in 3 weeks and she’ll be moving to West Germany. Patty’s upset and she tries to tell Jana about her and Jim, but she’s so obsessed about the wedding plans she’s not hearing anything else. So Patty keeps it to herself. I’m not gonna lie this would drive me CRAZY if I’d broken up with my man and I had to watch my sister plan a wedding. Luckily she’s just as unmarried as I am. Dee Dee suggest they go on a double-date with her, Bill, and Bill’s friend Craig. And as we all know he would Jim shows up but Patty isn’t the only one on a date. Jim is with another girl. Craig has his arm around Patty and he sees her. Patty calls Jim later and accuses him of cheating again and ignores him when he tries to explain. Then she gets upset because he won’t believe that Craig was just a friend. They hang up. Liz interviews Patty the next days and notices she’s upset. She invites her over tells her it might just be a misunderstanding. So Patty goes to Jim’s house but the girl is there so she keeps driving. Patty and Jana get into it over wedding stuff, and tells her she doesn’t want to be maid of honor or come to the wedding at all. She even misses her bridal shower. Elizabeth finds out the girl Jim was with was a cousin and when Patty isn’t home tells her sister (who didn’t realize they’d broken up). Liz then tells Patty and she writes Jim a heartfelt letter. Jana and Patty make up when Patty sees how beautiful Jana looks in her wedding dress. Jana and Patty talk about Jim. At the rehearsal dinner Ted leaves. At the wedding we find out that Ted left to get Jim. He and Patty make up. The B plot is Deedee is painting hand-made shirts for the craft fair. She takes a break and asks Jessica to watch her booth. A guy comes up named Vincent who wants to sell her shirts to a boutique. Only Jessica thinks he’s trying to make a play for her. He calls her house to tell her to bring some samples. She gets in a panic and tries to design her own. Of course, they don’t look remotely like Dee dees and she finds out that’s really all he wanted when he turns her shirts down.
My Thoughts: And for the umpteenth book we get another jerky boyfriend. Where do they find this cess-pool of men? Only in SV! Ted, I didn't mind tho. I liked Ted for going to get Jim -which showed he cared about his sister in law- but I did think Ted should have sat him down and had a man to man with him like “Look! You can not lose your shit when other plans come up in your girl’s life and she ain’t able to give you none when you want it. Trust me I know I’m about to be married. I know what I’m talking about.” I couldn’t be mad at Jana, because in a way 1 if I were in college and my boyfriend wasn’t answering my calls -maybe not one time- but if it was a continuous thing then yeah my mind might jump to that conclusion and actually 2 it happened to me in the reverse when I was in college and I had a boyfriend who wasn’t and he thought that when I wasn’t returning his pages I was guilty of being with someone else when it really was that there were some spots at my college that didn’t pick up pages. (It was in a little country area). So I can see how on your end and someone elses this can happen. I can also understand how Jana feels about her sister’s wedding. The last thing I’d wanna hear about if I had a break up was my sister obsessing over her wedding. Today I don’t even like seeing people gush over their relationships on social media honestly. When things just aren’t going right in your life in the relationship department the last thing you want is someone else throwing up there’s in your face ALL THE TIME. Am I right or am I right? But they all make-up (and make-out) in the end. This is one of the hard-cover books I own. I still tho wonder why it is (and how it is) that Liz just one by one worms her way into every books featured character, Characters that she doesn't normally even associate with, but somehow always end up turning to her to cry on her shoulder and happily eat up whatever advise she dishes out. Maybe she ought to change her career goals from a journalist to a therapist. She's had more than enough practice and she seems to do amazingly at it if you go by the many she's mentored.
Elizabeth has this idea for a new column for the Oracle that will highlight the seniors plans for the future. She wants the first interview to be with Patty Gilbert because she’s an incredibly talented dancer. Patty has a boyfriend named Jim who’s in college that she hasn’t seen in a while, he’s coming home for the weekend. But since they haven’t been spending that much time lately this weekend is do or die. She however, promises Liz she’ll do the interview. Only when she gets home, her parents tell her sister (Jana) is coming into town the same weekend, and she has big news. Patty tries to get a hold on Jim, but she can’t. So her mind jumps to conclusions, and she imagines he’s out on a date. Jim comes home with “kissing” for hours on the brain -mmm I think we all know what that’s code for. (He’s in college). Patty tells him that her sister’s coming home and she’ll have to postpone their plans. Instead of being a good boyfriend and saying I understand (snorts who am I kidding none of these boyfriends are worth a damn) he acts like a lil bitch and starts an argument with her about wasting his time driving there. Patty then accuses him of cheating and they break up. Upset, Patty goes home only to find her sister with an unfamiliar man in uniform. She introduces him as her fiancée Ted. After telling them about himself he says in 3 weeks he’ll be flying out to go to West Germany. Which means Jan and Ted have to be married in 3 weeks and she’ll be moving to West Germany. Patty’s upset and she tries to tell Jana about her and Jim, but she’s so obsessed about the wedding plans she’s not hearing anything else. So Patty keeps it to herself. I’m not gonna lie this would drive me CRAZY if I’d broken up with my man and I had to watch my sister plan a wedding. Luckily she’s just as unmarried as I am. Dee Dee suggest they go on a double-date with her, Bill, and Bill’s friend Craig. And as we all know he would Jim shows up but Patty isn’t the only one on a date. Jim is with another girl. Craig has his arm around Patty and he sees her. Patty calls Jim later and accuses him of cheating again and ignores him when he tries to explain. Then she gets upset because he won’t believe that Craig was just a friend. They hang up. Liz interviews Patty the next days and notices she’s upset. She invites her over tells her it might just be a misunderstanding. So Patty goes to Jim’s house but the girl is there so she keeps driving. Patty and Jana get into it over wedding stuff, and tells her she doesn’t want to be maid of honor or come to the wedding at all. She even misses her bridal shower. Elizabeth finds out the girl Jim was with was a cousin and when Patty isn’t home tells her sister (who didn’t realize they’d broken up). Liz then tells Patty and she writes Jim a heartfelt letter. Jana and Patty make up when Patty sees how beautiful Jana looks in her wedding dress. Jana and Patty talk about Jim. At the rehearsal dinner Ted leaves. At the wedding we find out that Ted left to get Jim. He and Patty make up. The B plot is Deedee is painting hand-made shirts for the craft fair. She takes a break and asks Jessica to watch her booth. A guy comes up named Vincent who wants to sell her shirts to a boutique. Only Jessica thinks he’s trying to make a play for her. He calls her house to tell her to bring some samples. She gets in a panic and tries to design her own. Of course, they don’t look remotely like Dee dees and she finds out that’s really all he wanted when he turns her shirts down.
My Thoughts: And for the umpteenth book we get another jerky boyfriend. Where do they find this cess-pool of men? Only in SV! Ted, I didn't mind tho. I liked Ted for going to get Jim -which showed he cared about his sister in law- but I did think Ted should have sat him down and had a man to man with him like “Look! You can not lose your shit when other plans come up in your girl’s life and she ain’t able to give you none when you want it. Trust me I know I’m about to be married. I know what I’m talking about.” I couldn’t be mad at Jana, because in a way 1 if I were in college and my boyfriend wasn’t answering my calls -maybe not one time- but if it was a continuous thing then yeah my mind might jump to that conclusion and actually 2 it happened to me in the reverse when I was in college and I had a boyfriend who wasn’t and he thought that when I wasn’t returning his pages I was guilty of being with someone else when it really was that there were some spots at my college that didn’t pick up pages. (It was in a little country area). So I can see how on your end and someone elses this can happen. I can also understand how Jana feels about her sister’s wedding. The last thing I’d wanna hear about if I had a break up was my sister obsessing over her wedding. Today I don’t even like seeing people gush over their relationships on social media honestly. When things just aren’t going right in your life in the relationship department the last thing you want is someone else throwing up there’s in your face ALL THE TIME. Am I right or am I right? But they all make-up (and make-out) in the end. This is one of the hard-cover books I own. I still tho wonder why it is (and how it is) that Liz just one by one worms her way into every books featured character, Characters that she doesn't normally even associate with, but somehow always end up turning to her to cry on her shoulder and happily eat up whatever advise she dishes out. Maybe she ought to change her career goals from a journalist to a therapist. She's had more than enough practice and she seems to do amazingly at it if you go by the many she's mentored.
December 15, 2021
Bit rubbish, Patty is having boyfriend troubles at the same time her overachieving sister returns to SV to plan her wedding. All the drama vould have been avoided if the sisters had actually bothered to talk to one another
January 1, 2018
Miscommunication and misunderstanding are so frustrating but this book wouldn't be a book without them.
December 19, 2024
Hey, here's a thought! You could, I don't know...try talking to each other??
January 4, 2012
Welcome to "Being a Girl is A Constant Struggle" or SVH #62, "Boy Trouble."
Main plots:
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Patty Gilbert because her "super amazing" sort-of long distance boyfriend flips his shit when she informs him that she has to spend the weekend with her sister, whom she hasn't seen in six months. This "great" boyfriend tells her that she is incredibly selfish for wanting to spend time with her family since he hasn't seen her in four weeks, and they break up. Turns out Patty's sister Jana's big news is that she is getting married. So now Jana has no time to listen to Patty's petty problems. At least, that's what they are to Jana. *Sigh*. It's just a constant struggle.
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Jana Gilbert, because she is a 20-year-old who is getting married (!) in two weeks (!!) and then moving to West Germany (!!!) with her soon-to-be hubby, Ted. She has also somehow already graduated college in the span of three years. Talk about exhausting. Since it is impossible to plan a wedding in two weeks, everything is going wrong, and she doesn't have time to talk with her younger sister about juvenile stuff. Patty is acting like a 5-year-old in her esteemed opinion. *Sigh*. It's just a constant struggle.
Sub-plots:
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Liz Wakefield because... nope. She's a saint.
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Jessica Wakefield because she is Bored with a capital B of all the Boys with a capital B in Sweet Valley with a capital S and V. Since she is a whore that has broken the hearts of every guy in Sweet Valley and/or been nearly raped by nearly all of them, she is having to resort to desperate measures in order to find a date. She decides to skip the beach one Saturday (!!) in favor of attending a crafts fair. There she finds DeeDee Gordon selling homemade t-shirts. Jessica laments that she's not exactly fond of DeeDee, what with her stealing Bill Chase away from her and all (bahahahahahahahaha. This was book #8, which I reviewed. Remember?). Jessica agrees to sub in for DeeDee's booth so that she can go find some food, and who should happen across Jess's path but a hot guy (in his late-20s!!!) who makes her an offer she can't refuse. Now Jess is left having to paint shirts (and she can't paint) for this gorgeous man to sell in his shop. When she realizes he is not interested and tells him she is a fraud, she resumes lamenting how her life is a constant struggle and immediately plans her next scheme. *Sigh*
Being a girl is a constant struggle for DeeDee Gordon, because she's actually an amazing best friend who has to listen to her best friend Patty's petty problems. And I don't mean she's a frenemy, no, she's an actual true-blue. Way to go, D! So, of course, she is gypped out of an opportunity to sell her shirts at a store due to Jessica's schemes. Of course, the man eventually gets in contact with her, but she finds it irritating that Jessica has come around again to stomp on all her flowers. *Sigh* It's just a constant struggle here in Sweet Valley.
Main plots:
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Patty Gilbert because her "super amazing" sort-of long distance boyfriend flips his shit when she informs him that she has to spend the weekend with her sister, whom she hasn't seen in six months. This "great" boyfriend tells her that she is incredibly selfish for wanting to spend time with her family since he hasn't seen her in four weeks, and they break up. Turns out Patty's sister Jana's big news is that she is getting married. So now Jana has no time to listen to Patty's petty problems. At least, that's what they are to Jana. *Sigh*. It's just a constant struggle.
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Jana Gilbert, because she is a 20-year-old who is getting married (!) in two weeks (!!) and then moving to West Germany (!!!) with her soon-to-be hubby, Ted. She has also somehow already graduated college in the span of three years. Talk about exhausting. Since it is impossible to plan a wedding in two weeks, everything is going wrong, and she doesn't have time to talk with her younger sister about juvenile stuff. Patty is acting like a 5-year-old in her esteemed opinion. *Sigh*. It's just a constant struggle.
Sub-plots:
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Liz Wakefield because... nope. She's a saint.
Being a girl is a constant struggle for Jessica Wakefield because she is Bored with a capital B of all the Boys with a capital B in Sweet Valley with a capital S and V. Since she is a whore that has broken the hearts of every guy in Sweet Valley and/or been nearly raped by nearly all of them, she is having to resort to desperate measures in order to find a date. She decides to skip the beach one Saturday (!!) in favor of attending a crafts fair. There she finds DeeDee Gordon selling homemade t-shirts. Jessica laments that she's not exactly fond of DeeDee, what with her stealing Bill Chase away from her and all (bahahahahahahahaha. This was book #8, which I reviewed. Remember?). Jessica agrees to sub in for DeeDee's booth so that she can go find some food, and who should happen across Jess's path but a hot guy (in his late-20s!!!) who makes her an offer she can't refuse. Now Jess is left having to paint shirts (and she can't paint) for this gorgeous man to sell in his shop. When she realizes he is not interested and tells him she is a fraud, she resumes lamenting how her life is a constant struggle and immediately plans her next scheme. *Sigh*
Being a girl is a constant struggle for DeeDee Gordon, because she's actually an amazing best friend who has to listen to her best friend Patty's petty problems. And I don't mean she's a frenemy, no, she's an actual true-blue. Way to go, D! So, of course, she is gypped out of an opportunity to sell her shirts at a store due to Jessica's schemes. Of course, the man eventually gets in contact with her, but she finds it irritating that Jessica has come around again to stomp on all her flowers. *Sigh* It's just a constant struggle here in Sweet Valley.
October 7, 2010
Things get very frustrating when your in a bad situation and someone that is close has the situation going the way they want. Patty felt this way about her older sister, Jana, and she doesn't know what to really feel because Jim and her broke up. While Patty is very hurt, Jana is going to get happily married.
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March 29, 2015A series of zany misunderstandings threaten to disrupt the relationship of Sweet Valley High's first ever African American couple. Gosh! I hope Saint Liz is nearby to assist these two people she has literally never spoken to before. (hint - she is, she always is).
October 24, 2010
I grew as they grew. They never left, even in the hard times and the awkward years. I love the Sweet Valley.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story
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February 5, 2009JAR4-Pas
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews