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Sweet Valley Jr. High #5
Boy. Friend.
You shouldn't date your best friend--even if you really want to. Right?
Kristin has had a crush on Brian Rainey since about...forever. Of course, she would totally die if he ever found out. Brian just thinks of her as a friend. That's why it's so cool that Mike asked her out. Now she has someone else to crush on--and she gets to stay friends with Brian. Perfect.
Brian thinks Kristin is so sweet and smart. So he doesn't get it. Why do the coolest girls always go for the jerkiest guys?
Kristin has had a crush on Brian Rainey since about...forever. Of course, she would totally die if he ever found out. Brian just thinks of her as a friend. That's why it's so cool that Mike asked her out. Now she has someone else to crush on--and she gets to stay friends with Brian. Perfect.
Brian thinks Kristin is so sweet and smart. So he doesn't get it. Why do the coolest girls always go for the jerkiest guys?
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 11, 1999
2 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 books1,850 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 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 12, 2013
Who are our friendly neighborhood narrators?: Lacey, Kristin, Brian (and Liz, Jess, Salvador, and Anna in diary entries)
What’s the main gripe? : Brian doesn't understand how Kristin could go for such a jerk face guy (Mike Kalb), even though Brian's a jerk himself, as you will soon find out.
Individual Synopses: Lacey, Kristin, Brian: We pick up immediately where "The Cool Crowd" left off. Kristin is helping clean up at the Wakefields', along with Brian and Bethel. As the scene opens Kristin is immediately doused with the spiked punch that Brian has put on top of the refrigerator. It gets all in her beautiful hair and plasters it to her face. I mention this only because it sets the scene for everything that follows.
Brian and Kristin leave and get in the car with Billy, Brian's douche brother, and his asshole high school friend, Mike. Mike gives Kristin a weird look, but she doesn't really take it as a negative thing. After all, she knows it's not her finest moment. I guarantee you that if Jessica Wakefield spilled pink punch on her perfect blonde hair, everyone would come to school the next day with their hair dyed pink.
Anyway, the guys drop Kristin off and then head to a monster movie marathon. While at the theater they rag all over Kristin and how awful she looked. Even Brian, her supposed best friend. Ugh ugh ugh. Then Mike tells them about his initiation into The Secret Order of the Golden Moose (Snort). It's a secret club for the wrestling team at SVH. The inductees have to host a Doggie Chow dinner where they bring girls that look like "dogs" and then feed them dog food. It is the most repulsive thing I've read in a very long time. Billy suggests that Mike bring Kristin, since she looked so awful, but he isn't serious. Well, Mike is.
He actually invites Kristin to the Doggie Chow, only he tells her it's a special dinner for the wrestling team. Kristin wakes Lacey up early to tell her. Lacey makes it her sworn mission to make Kristin feel good about herself the whole time. Brian makes it his sworn mission to be a douchebag and avoid Kristin once he finds out that Mike actually did invite her. Instead of telling Kristin himself, he repeatedly asks his brother to make Mike stop. But Billy sounds a lot like Jessica Wakefield when he lectures Brian on how IMPORTANT this club is for their whole high school career and that Kristin will only be upset "for one night." Yeah. Right. BUT BRIAN ACTUALLY SEES HIS BROTHER'S POINT!
Meanwhile, Kristin is trying to prep for her date but also figure out why Brian won't talk to her. She playfully dissed his clothes while cleaning up at the Wakefields party, and she thinks that this is the reason that he won't speak to her. Sooo... she goes to the basketball courts wearing a hideously baggy outfit similar to the one that Brian wore so that he knows she is really okay with his clothing. Then she does ridiculous cheers in them the whole time. (You already know that Mike Kalb is there, right? Duh.) As soon as Lacey spots Mike she tells Kristin to cool it down. K plays it off, and Mike is surprised to find out that Kristin is, you know, NOT a dog. She's on the cheerleading team and actually really popular.
Kristin sees Mike again ANOTHER day when she's in a less than flattering outfit - she is wearing her sweatsuit to cheerleading practice when Mike pulls up at the field. He obviously wants to tell her something, but he is too much of a coward to uninvite her to the dinner. Lacey has helped her to secure a really fabulous dress. Kristin leaves Mike's car just as psyched as ever.
Over in JerkLand, Billy is telling Brian he has to choose between him (Billy) and Kristin. What? Jesus. This guy is a real piece of work. Brian buys into it, of course, until the final hour when he tells Billy to fuck off and goes to tell Kristin the truth. He's been acting so crazy I don't know why he expects K to listen to him. At this point K has found out that Brian and Billy made fun of her at the movie theater (which they did). So, naturally, Kristin tells him to piss off when he calls Mike a jerk and tells K not to go to the dinner.
The dinner is as horrible as you might expect. Kristin realizes that all the girls there are not what one would call The Unicorn Club (or Pi Beta Alphas). There are no Wakefields present, so these girls have to be "dogs." One of them even has a hearing aid. I want to punch someone right now. Kristin is so happy that these guys are evolved enough to notice different standards of beauty. The wrestling team? Evolved? Right.
So the dog food is served and the guys start barking and howling, and it slowly dawns on Kristin what is happening. Instead of committing suicide the way any other sad sack SVJH character would do, Kristin earns every reader's respect when she tells off every single guy in the place and brings them to silence. Then she marches out with the other girls in tow. Carla, the girl with the hearing aid, suggests that they go to the Manchester Club for a "victory dance." Good. I'm glad they're celebrating being awesome while those other guys rot in the dog food. I wonder if the ghosties got this idea for the book from Never Been Kissed?
Anyway, I hate Brian Rainey.
Oh and Liz, Jess, Sal, Anna: Liz & Jess are grounded and getting on each other's nerves big time.
Liz is avoiding both Anna and Sal because of the poem and kiss debacles, respectively.
Anna whines that Liz hates her poem since she's avoiding her.
Sal whines that Liz hated his kiss since she's avoiding him.
That's pretty much it.
Alternate Title : "Brian Rainey is just as douchey as Mike Kalb"
The Big Deal: The Doggie Chow Dinner/date. Ugh.
Lingering Questions: Wait, I thought Kristin and Brian were already dating. Oh well.
Cover: Good or Bad?: Kristin's a cutie, but I like the other Brian, the one on the cover of "No More Mr. Nice Guy."
Quotes from the Book: "In a way, it was three against one: Mike, Billy, and me against Kristin. Like Billy said, she'd be miserable, but only for one night."
Brian Rainey, ladies and gentleman.
"'Kristin and I have been friends a really long time, Billy,' I said. 'I know her. If I let her go to this dinner, she'll never get over it. She'll hate herself for thinking a high-school guy could really want to go out with her. She'll start to think she really IS ugly. She'll feel like a loser, and she won't trust the next guy who asks her out, and... she'll never forgive me. Never.' 'She'll get over it,' Billy said. 'You're blowing this way out of proportion.'"
Billy Rainey, ladies and gentleman.
On page 96 we discover that Mike drives a blue Honda. *I* drive a blue Honda, and now I wish I didn't.
"I guess this is what it's like when you grow up, I realized happily. Guys know how to spot more than one kind of beauty."
In Sweet Valley, Kristin? Dream on.
Final Rating: Two stars, but only for my awesome girl Kristin.
What’s the main gripe? : Brian doesn't understand how Kristin could go for such a jerk face guy (Mike Kalb), even though Brian's a jerk himself, as you will soon find out.
Individual Synopses: Lacey, Kristin, Brian: We pick up immediately where "The Cool Crowd" left off. Kristin is helping clean up at the Wakefields', along with Brian and Bethel. As the scene opens Kristin is immediately doused with the spiked punch that Brian has put on top of the refrigerator. It gets all in her beautiful hair and plasters it to her face. I mention this only because it sets the scene for everything that follows.
Brian and Kristin leave and get in the car with Billy, Brian's douche brother, and his asshole high school friend, Mike. Mike gives Kristin a weird look, but she doesn't really take it as a negative thing. After all, she knows it's not her finest moment. I guarantee you that if Jessica Wakefield spilled pink punch on her perfect blonde hair, everyone would come to school the next day with their hair dyed pink.
Anyway, the guys drop Kristin off and then head to a monster movie marathon. While at the theater they rag all over Kristin and how awful she looked. Even Brian, her supposed best friend. Ugh ugh ugh. Then Mike tells them about his initiation into The Secret Order of the Golden Moose (Snort). It's a secret club for the wrestling team at SVH. The inductees have to host a Doggie Chow dinner where they bring girls that look like "dogs" and then feed them dog food. It is the most repulsive thing I've read in a very long time. Billy suggests that Mike bring Kristin, since she looked so awful, but he isn't serious. Well, Mike is.
He actually invites Kristin to the Doggie Chow, only he tells her it's a special dinner for the wrestling team. Kristin wakes Lacey up early to tell her. Lacey makes it her sworn mission to make Kristin feel good about herself the whole time. Brian makes it his sworn mission to be a douchebag and avoid Kristin once he finds out that Mike actually did invite her. Instead of telling Kristin himself, he repeatedly asks his brother to make Mike stop. But Billy sounds a lot like Jessica Wakefield when he lectures Brian on how IMPORTANT this club is for their whole high school career and that Kristin will only be upset "for one night." Yeah. Right. BUT BRIAN ACTUALLY SEES HIS BROTHER'S POINT!
Meanwhile, Kristin is trying to prep for her date but also figure out why Brian won't talk to her. She playfully dissed his clothes while cleaning up at the Wakefields party, and she thinks that this is the reason that he won't speak to her. Sooo... she goes to the basketball courts wearing a hideously baggy outfit similar to the one that Brian wore so that he knows she is really okay with his clothing. Then she does ridiculous cheers in them the whole time. (You already know that Mike Kalb is there, right? Duh.) As soon as Lacey spots Mike she tells Kristin to cool it down. K plays it off, and Mike is surprised to find out that Kristin is, you know, NOT a dog. She's on the cheerleading team and actually really popular.
Kristin sees Mike again ANOTHER day when she's in a less than flattering outfit - she is wearing her sweatsuit to cheerleading practice when Mike pulls up at the field. He obviously wants to tell her something, but he is too much of a coward to uninvite her to the dinner. Lacey has helped her to secure a really fabulous dress. Kristin leaves Mike's car just as psyched as ever.
Over in JerkLand, Billy is telling Brian he has to choose between him (Billy) and Kristin. What? Jesus. This guy is a real piece of work. Brian buys into it, of course, until the final hour when he tells Billy to fuck off and goes to tell Kristin the truth. He's been acting so crazy I don't know why he expects K to listen to him. At this point K has found out that Brian and Billy made fun of her at the movie theater (which they did). So, naturally, Kristin tells him to piss off when he calls Mike a jerk and tells K not to go to the dinner.
The dinner is as horrible as you might expect. Kristin realizes that all the girls there are not what one would call The Unicorn Club (or Pi Beta Alphas). There are no Wakefields present, so these girls have to be "dogs." One of them even has a hearing aid. I want to punch someone right now. Kristin is so happy that these guys are evolved enough to notice different standards of beauty. The wrestling team? Evolved? Right.
So the dog food is served and the guys start barking and howling, and it slowly dawns on Kristin what is happening. Instead of committing suicide the way any other sad sack SVJH character would do, Kristin earns every reader's respect when she tells off every single guy in the place and brings them to silence. Then she marches out with the other girls in tow. Carla, the girl with the hearing aid, suggests that they go to the Manchester Club for a "victory dance." Good. I'm glad they're celebrating being awesome while those other guys rot in the dog food. I wonder if the ghosties got this idea for the book from Never Been Kissed?
Anyway, I hate Brian Rainey.
Oh and Liz, Jess, Sal, Anna: Liz & Jess are grounded and getting on each other's nerves big time.
Liz is avoiding both Anna and Sal because of the poem and kiss debacles, respectively.
Anna whines that Liz hates her poem since she's avoiding her.
Sal whines that Liz hated his kiss since she's avoiding him.
That's pretty much it.
Alternate Title : "Brian Rainey is just as douchey as Mike Kalb"
The Big Deal: The Doggie Chow Dinner/date. Ugh.
Lingering Questions: Wait, I thought Kristin and Brian were already dating. Oh well.
Cover: Good or Bad?: Kristin's a cutie, but I like the other Brian, the one on the cover of "No More Mr. Nice Guy."
Quotes from the Book: "In a way, it was three against one: Mike, Billy, and me against Kristin. Like Billy said, she'd be miserable, but only for one night."
Brian Rainey, ladies and gentleman.
"'Kristin and I have been friends a really long time, Billy,' I said. 'I know her. If I let her go to this dinner, she'll never get over it. She'll hate herself for thinking a high-school guy could really want to go out with her. She'll start to think she really IS ugly. She'll feel like a loser, and she won't trust the next guy who asks her out, and... she'll never forgive me. Never.' 'She'll get over it,' Billy said. 'You're blowing this way out of proportion.'"
Billy Rainey, ladies and gentleman.
On page 96 we discover that Mike drives a blue Honda. *I* drive a blue Honda, and now I wish I didn't.
"I guess this is what it's like when you grow up, I realized happily. Guys know how to spot more than one kind of beauty."
In Sweet Valley, Kristin? Dream on.
Final Rating: Two stars, but only for my awesome girl Kristin.
March 6, 2023
So it seems like I’m back to reading SVJH book. This book was…IDK. I LOVE Kristin. She is an amazing character and I loved finally reading from her perspective. She gets 4 stars. The guys were unbearable. Billy and Mike are absolute jerks, but at least they know they are jerks…whereas Brian is your typical “nice guy” who is actually trash lol.
April 30, 2024
Another charming instalment of Jr High, the best off-shoot of the Sweet Valley machine.
This one deals with Kristin being asked on a date by Mike, a high schooler, who has picked her because she's chubby/ugly. The goal is to get ugly girls to eat dog food because, ha ha, ugly/heavy people deserve to be punished.
Unlike Sweet Valley High, where this would be seen as a totally acceptable - maybe even praiseworthy - way to encourage a healthier lifestyle in those that are a little on the heavy side, Jr High sees this as the toxic behaviour it is.
Kristin is very likeable. We get more insight into Lacey, who, thus far, has been a thorn in Jessica's side. Oh, and this series is not afraid to sideline the Wakefields if they have nothing to add to the plot, and this book does so in a way that works perfectly without sending them to visit Great Aunt Helen or the Robinson grandparents, as is usual in Twins or High.
One thing I would say is that gets forgiven a little too quickly and seems quick to absolve them from any part they played. Admittedly, it was tangental, but still, .
On the other hand, any part of this series is a billion times more responsible with its messages about what is and is not acceptable behaviour than anything you'll find in High or Twins, so I can't come down on it too hard.
This one deals with Kristin being asked on a date by Mike, a high schooler, who has picked her because she's chubby/ugly. The goal is to get ugly girls to eat dog food because, ha ha, ugly/heavy people deserve to be punished.
Unlike Sweet Valley High, where this would be seen as a totally acceptable - maybe even praiseworthy - way to encourage a healthier lifestyle in those that are a little on the heavy side, Jr High sees this as the toxic behaviour it is.
Kristin is very likeable. We get more insight into Lacey, who, thus far, has been a thorn in Jessica's side. Oh, and this series is not afraid to sideline the Wakefields if they have nothing to add to the plot, and this book does so in a way that works perfectly without sending them to visit Great Aunt Helen or the Robinson grandparents, as is usual in Twins or High.
One thing I would say is that gets forgiven a little too quickly and seems quick to absolve them from any part they played. Admittedly, it was tangental, but still, .
On the other hand, any part of this series is a billion times more responsible with its messages about what is and is not acceptable behaviour than anything you'll find in High or Twins, so I can't come down on it too hard.
May 18, 2008
I don't really dig Kristin's story but this one's pretty interesting :)
April 29, 2009
Echh. Sweet Valley Junior High was just a way to suddenly intoduce a whole lot of new characters to the series... I'd rather just read more about the same core group!
Read
August 10, 2009this book is a tad bit odd.
December 23, 2012
I never knew about this Brian Rainey character exist in SV. But I love him at the first sight. He's a true gentleman and a true friend. While Kristin reminds me of myself. LOL.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story.
August 10, 2010
pretty stupid good at first what can you expect from 20th century teeniebopper books
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews