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Sweet Valley High #109
Double-Crossed
Newly engaged Jessica becomes suspicious when she sees Jeremy in a secret Halloween embrace with his ex-fiance Sue, while Lila's plans to make Robby a millionaire, and thus the perfect boyfriend, threaten their romance.
195 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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303 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.
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December 11, 2024
Thus starts the second half of this miniseries - we've moved from Scandal to Deception. We're also onto another ghostie, and the suspicion that all five of these books may have been written simultaneously grows, because there are inconsistencies that just don't make sense.
So here we are in the aftermath of Jessica's dramatics at the wedding. Whereas Liz was leading her off page at the end of the last book, here she is staying at Fowler Crest, laying low not only from Sue and Jeremy, but from her family as well. It appears that there is some implication that the Wakefield parents told Jessica not to return to their house because poor Sue was still staying with them, so she's highed off to Lila's instead. The Wakefield parents are furious with her, feeling she has totally lost control of herself and needs to be sent away to an all-girls' boarding school in Washington state for a bit of military-style discipline. Mr Wakefield also wants to charge Jeremy with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and I ask you - is that truly the best he could do? I know S.E.X. is verboten in the SVH iteration of this series, but really?? And he somehow thinks if he sends Jessica away that she won't find a way to be with her man anyway? He obviously doesn't know this daughter very well!
Jeremy contacts Jessica at Lila's and asks her to meet with him, to which she happily replies that she will. They are off to meet in secret (of course), and once there, Jeremy proposes to Jessica with the ring she picked out way back in Book #107. He almost immediately pleads with her to keep their engagement a secret (of course) which she happily agrees to. He tells her that he's going to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks to work on a Project Nature project, something that will assist him in being transferred to the LA office so he can get away from Sue. Jessica loves the idea of having a secret engagement, at least for a little while. She insists on seeing him off to the airport, and brushes aside the fact that he can't give her any contact info for Costa Rica. She even allows him to persuade her to *not* watch him board the plane, telling her it would be too painful. He promises that once he returns from his research trip, they will announce their engagement to the world.
Jessica can't keep her secret for long, spilling the beans to Lila, who tells Caroline Pearce, who proceeds to tell the entire world (of course). The fall semester of school has started, and Elizabeth hears the news from Caroline at lunch one day. She is stunned, as are Enid and Todd. Elizabeth has had a hard time with Jessica gone from the house, and of course has no idea what to do with this news, considering Sue is still staying with them. It doesn't take long for the news to spill over to the Wakefield parents, who accelerate their plans to put Jess in boarding school. A priceless quote from Liz on their parents' reaction is this: "For the first time in their lives I think they're actually embarrassed by what's happening." After all the shit that Jess (and Liz) have pulled throughout the series, this is what shames the Wakefield parents? Just...wow.
Anyway. Of all people, Sue seems to be taking the news of her ex's new engagement the best - at least, until she overdoses on sleeping pills and has to be rushed to the ER to have her stomach pumped. Even Jessica is shaken by this turn of events. She tries to call Jeremy but he never answers the phone, only returning her messages later. Even Lila tries to point out that this exact thing happened the last time she covered for Jessica, suggesting that perhaps Jeremy is not where he says he is or doing what he says he's doing, but Jessica dismisses this possibility from her mind. She's in love, dammit!
We get our first POV scenes from both Jeremy and Sue, and it becomes even more obvious that these two are up to no good. Jeremy's wanton evil ways are on display as he smokes and drinks in some dark, dank room who knows where, receiving the messages from Jessica from the friend whose number he finally gave her. Sue is going out for long bike rides and walks, and even confesses to Elizabeth that she lied about having a terminal blood illness. Much to Impy's chagrin, there is no mention of this being a huge betrayal, or weirdness, or the circumstances of Tricia Martin's tragic death to be had. Liz even forgives Sue for the colossal lie, though she starts to become a bit suspicious of her.
Jessica attends a meeting of the SVH Video Club to support Amy Sutton's directorial debut (yeah, IDEK) and is shocked when she sees another video purporting to show SV's most romantic spots and a couple that looks eerily similar to Jeremy and Sue cavorting about in the background. She figures she's going nuts since its been so long that Jeremy has been gone, and he keeps giving her excuses as to why he can't get back any sooner.
Meanwhile, a new story has emerged about Sue, which will set up the rest of this part of the miniseries: apparently Sue is the heiress to a large frozen-dinner fortune, and her mother was still alive when she started dating Jeremy. Nancy Gibbons took an immediate dislike to Jeremy, and wrote her will such that if Sue married him, she'd lose her inheritance - it would go to Mrs Wakefield instead. However, if she didn't marry him and stayed away from him for two months, she *would* get the money. So it becomes clear that Sue and Jeremy decided to hit up the Wakefields for wedding planning help in order to stay close to them and the money, and perhaps to put into action the plan that covers the plot of the next book: Sue being kidnapped and held for ransom. But, now that Jessica's done them a favor and broken up the wedding, they are hedging their bets on the "staying away" clause. When Jessica catches them together at the Halloween party (as depicted on the cover), they put the kidnapping plan into motion.
So yes, Sue and Jeremy are totally still seeing each other ~in secret~ while Jeremy pretends to be working on Costa Rica, and Sue pretends to be getting over him and planning to return to New York. Finally, Jeremy does "return" to the Valley, just in time for the huge annual Project Nature Halloween party, to which he's invited all of SVH for some reason. Jessica believes its to announce their engagement, and continues to believe this right up until she stumbles upon Jeremy and Sue making out like there's no tomorrow in the woods. She confronts them and then leaves the party, even after Jeremy tries to chase after her. It was like - she was FINALLY putting all the puzzle pieces together and realizing that he's a huge jerk, only to crumble at the last moment for her feelings for him. He shows up the Wakefields' door with the pronouncement that Sue has disappeared, thus ending the book.
In the meanwhile, there are several subplots going on. Robby and Lila are still seeing each other, altho now it's been retconned that Robby is only 18 and has never attended college, even though he was introduced as 23-year-old Jeremy's college roommate buddy. The whole Lila pretending to be poor subplot from the previous book also apparently never happened. Here, Robby is excited to be showing some of his work at a local gallery, but Lila is concerned because she believes the gallery hasn't given him a fair contract. She enrolls him in a business course at SVU without telling him, and he gets angry with her for it. He eventually grudgingly accepts that it's probably a good idea to have *some* clue about the business side of artistry and attends the class, and he reluctantly tells Lila that she was right after all. He aldo decides to take a life drawing class at uni, and Lila gets angry when he tells her that he's drawing nude women (and men) as part of the class. She breaks up with him over this, but eventually they reconcile when Robby convinces Lila that she's the one he loves, and after Lila practices saying "I'm wrong" hundreds of times in the mirror so that she can say it to him without flinching.
The "wacky hijinks" subplot is that Todd has decided to get a new haircut, and to grow a mustache to accompany his New Look. The mustache completely grosses out Elizabeth, and she starts avoiding him because she can't bear to look at him. (Primal Liz Hear Me Roar from the previous two books is nowhere to be seen; she spends a lot of time feeling ashamed at being so shallow as to care about Todd's looks so much.) They eventually have a huge fight about it and break up, a scene that surprisingly takes place in Liz's bedroom. I don't recall Todd ever being allowed to be up there before, but here he is, shutting the door and everything, for "privacy" while they say some pretty horrible things to each other. Todd all but calls her a bitch for the way she's acting, and their second breakup in as many books is proving to be a very brittle end for these two. They eventually make up when Todd decides to shave the mustache and cut his hair so it'll grow back in his previous style.
A bonus sub-sub-plot is Winston being at the same barbershop as Todd and having his hair absolutely butchered, to the point where he basically has to shave his head to undo the damage. Poor Win! But he was rocking it at the party when he shows up as Jean-Luc Picard, LOL.
There's a lot going on here, very little of it good, and I just wanted to shake Jessica at the end and tell her to believe the man Jeremy is showing her that he is. Apparently it's going to take another whole book of nonsense for her to actually do this, and I don't know if I have the patience for it!
So here we are in the aftermath of Jessica's dramatics at the wedding. Whereas Liz was leading her off page at the end of the last book, here she is staying at Fowler Crest, laying low not only from Sue and Jeremy, but from her family as well. It appears that there is some implication that the Wakefield parents told Jessica not to return to their house because poor Sue was still staying with them, so she's highed off to Lila's instead. The Wakefield parents are furious with her, feeling she has totally lost control of herself and needs to be sent away to an all-girls' boarding school in Washington state for a bit of military-style discipline. Mr Wakefield also wants to charge Jeremy with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and I ask you - is that truly the best he could do? I know S.E.X. is verboten in the SVH iteration of this series, but really?? And he somehow thinks if he sends Jessica away that she won't find a way to be with her man anyway? He obviously doesn't know this daughter very well!
Jeremy contacts Jessica at Lila's and asks her to meet with him, to which she happily replies that she will. They are off to meet in secret (of course), and once there, Jeremy proposes to Jessica with the ring she picked out way back in Book #107. He almost immediately pleads with her to keep their engagement a secret (of course) which she happily agrees to. He tells her that he's going to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks to work on a Project Nature project, something that will assist him in being transferred to the LA office so he can get away from Sue. Jessica loves the idea of having a secret engagement, at least for a little while. She insists on seeing him off to the airport, and brushes aside the fact that he can't give her any contact info for Costa Rica. She even allows him to persuade her to *not* watch him board the plane, telling her it would be too painful. He promises that once he returns from his research trip, they will announce their engagement to the world.
Jessica can't keep her secret for long, spilling the beans to Lila, who tells Caroline Pearce, who proceeds to tell the entire world (of course). The fall semester of school has started, and Elizabeth hears the news from Caroline at lunch one day. She is stunned, as are Enid and Todd. Elizabeth has had a hard time with Jessica gone from the house, and of course has no idea what to do with this news, considering Sue is still staying with them. It doesn't take long for the news to spill over to the Wakefield parents, who accelerate their plans to put Jess in boarding school. A priceless quote from Liz on their parents' reaction is this: "For the first time in their lives I think they're actually embarrassed by what's happening." After all the shit that Jess (and Liz) have pulled throughout the series, this is what shames the Wakefield parents? Just...wow.
Anyway. Of all people, Sue seems to be taking the news of her ex's new engagement the best - at least, until she overdoses on sleeping pills and has to be rushed to the ER to have her stomach pumped. Even Jessica is shaken by this turn of events. She tries to call Jeremy but he never answers the phone, only returning her messages later. Even Lila tries to point out that this exact thing happened the last time she covered for Jessica, suggesting that perhaps Jeremy is not where he says he is or doing what he says he's doing, but Jessica dismisses this possibility from her mind. She's in love, dammit!
We get our first POV scenes from both Jeremy and Sue, and it becomes even more obvious that these two are up to no good. Jeremy's wanton evil ways are on display as he smokes and drinks in some dark, dank room who knows where, receiving the messages from Jessica from the friend whose number he finally gave her. Sue is going out for long bike rides and walks, and even confesses to Elizabeth that she lied about having a terminal blood illness. Much to Impy's chagrin, there is no mention of this being a huge betrayal, or weirdness, or the circumstances of Tricia Martin's tragic death to be had. Liz even forgives Sue for the colossal lie, though she starts to become a bit suspicious of her.
Jessica attends a meeting of the SVH Video Club to support Amy Sutton's directorial debut (yeah, IDEK) and is shocked when she sees another video purporting to show SV's most romantic spots and a couple that looks eerily similar to Jeremy and Sue cavorting about in the background. She figures she's going nuts since its been so long that Jeremy has been gone, and he keeps giving her excuses as to why he can't get back any sooner.
Meanwhile, a new story has emerged about Sue, which will set up the rest of this part of the miniseries: apparently Sue is the heiress to a large frozen-dinner fortune, and her mother was still alive when she started dating Jeremy. Nancy Gibbons took an immediate dislike to Jeremy, and wrote her will such that if Sue married him, she'd lose her inheritance - it would go to Mrs Wakefield instead. However, if she didn't marry him and stayed away from him for two months, she *would* get the money. So it becomes clear that Sue and Jeremy decided to hit up the Wakefields for wedding planning help in order to stay close to them and the money, and perhaps to put into action the plan that covers the plot of the next book: Sue being kidnapped and held for ransom. But, now that Jessica's done them a favor and broken up the wedding, they are hedging their bets on the "staying away" clause. When Jessica catches them together at the Halloween party (as depicted on the cover), they put the kidnapping plan into motion.
So yes, Sue and Jeremy are totally still seeing each other ~in secret~ while Jeremy pretends to be working on Costa Rica, and Sue pretends to be getting over him and planning to return to New York. Finally, Jeremy does "return" to the Valley, just in time for the huge annual Project Nature Halloween party, to which he's invited all of SVH for some reason. Jessica believes its to announce their engagement, and continues to believe this right up until she stumbles upon Jeremy and Sue making out like there's no tomorrow in the woods. She confronts them and then leaves the party, even after Jeremy tries to chase after her. It was like - she was FINALLY putting all the puzzle pieces together and realizing that he's a huge jerk, only to crumble at the last moment for her feelings for him. He shows up the Wakefields' door with the pronouncement that Sue has disappeared, thus ending the book.
In the meanwhile, there are several subplots going on. Robby and Lila are still seeing each other, altho now it's been retconned that Robby is only 18 and has never attended college, even though he was introduced as 23-year-old Jeremy's college roommate buddy. The whole Lila pretending to be poor subplot from the previous book also apparently never happened. Here, Robby is excited to be showing some of his work at a local gallery, but Lila is concerned because she believes the gallery hasn't given him a fair contract. She enrolls him in a business course at SVU without telling him, and he gets angry with her for it. He eventually grudgingly accepts that it's probably a good idea to have *some* clue about the business side of artistry and attends the class, and he reluctantly tells Lila that she was right after all. He aldo decides to take a life drawing class at uni, and Lila gets angry when he tells her that he's drawing nude women (and men) as part of the class. She breaks up with him over this, but eventually they reconcile when Robby convinces Lila that she's the one he loves, and after Lila practices saying "I'm wrong" hundreds of times in the mirror so that she can say it to him without flinching.
The "wacky hijinks" subplot is that Todd has decided to get a new haircut, and to grow a mustache to accompany his New Look. The mustache completely grosses out Elizabeth, and she starts avoiding him because she can't bear to look at him. (Primal Liz Hear Me Roar from the previous two books is nowhere to be seen; she spends a lot of time feeling ashamed at being so shallow as to care about Todd's looks so much.) They eventually have a huge fight about it and break up, a scene that surprisingly takes place in Liz's bedroom. I don't recall Todd ever being allowed to be up there before, but here he is, shutting the door and everything, for "privacy" while they say some pretty horrible things to each other. Todd all but calls her a bitch for the way she's acting, and their second breakup in as many books is proving to be a very brittle end for these two. They eventually make up when Todd decides to shave the mustache and cut his hair so it'll grow back in his previous style.
A bonus sub-sub-plot is Winston being at the same barbershop as Todd and having his hair absolutely butchered, to the point where he basically has to shave his head to undo the damage. Poor Win! But he was rocking it at the party when he shows up as Jean-Luc Picard, LOL.
There's a lot going on here, very little of it good, and I just wanted to shake Jessica at the end and tell her to believe the man Jeremy is showing her that he is. Apparently it's going to take another whole book of nonsense for her to actually do this, and I don't know if I have the patience for it!
December 16, 2024
Lord help me, I can't tell whether this cover is fantastic or terrible. It's memorable and not just because my childhood copy got absolutely wrecked when I let my friends borrow it and a green marker lost its cap while both were in someone's bookbag. Nope. But uh, this is who everyone's all hot and bothered about? Him?
...Okay.
I'm gonna give a star because this is one of the few SVH books I remember actually having a Halloween cover, even if it's questionable in terms of execution. The other star is because sometimes we lean all the way into the crazy and I respect that.
The rest is just... I'm sick and this did not help. :P
I don't know who wrote this one but good lord, we're like five pages in and the inconsistencies pop up immediately with Sue's wedding dress, which I'm fairly certain was accurately depicted on the last book's cover, being described as having long, sheer sleeves. Mm, no. Even if I hadn't been reading these basically back to back and even if a good chunk of my brain didn't hold onto SVH trivia like it was gonna win me millions, I'd still be able to call foul on that. This is not a good sign.
But you did what you had to do for love. Like Romeo and Juliet. How could anyone stay angry about that?"
"I have the feeling my parents can, and they will."
So we're gonna also immediately torpedo Jessica accurately clocking that R+J was a tragedy and not a love story, or at least have Lila mess it up. K. Great. Wonderful. Can I go back and remove my praise from the last book for this?
A fresh torrent of sobs broke free, and Sue cried harder than Elizabeth had ever seen anyone cry.
Ghosty, please, work with me. My bar is pretty low here and I may crack a joke or ten when someone doesn't meet my specific standards but I don't fully hold that against them. HOWEVER, we're not all that removed from SAM's DEATH. I'm fairly certain Liz saw people sob harder for his death than the absolute fuckery that was this sham wedding. I'd hope SHE sobbed harder, dammit.
Okay, let's stop picking at specific quotes for now. I'm confused. This book seems to be saying Sue's illness is in remission, but I swear she was JUST diagnosed with it and it was basically treated as a death sentence for her, giving her a few years if she was absolutely lucky, and not something she'd been battling before, so what the fuck is this remission crap? Do the Wakefield parents still not know? I assume they don't, based on Sue's later suicide attempt, or Alice getting the girl tranquilizers and whatnot, but still. Wtf. My cohort in crime is absolutely correct that I am not happy that Liz didn't even toss off an offhand thought to Tragically Dead Tricia when Sue admits what everyone else already knew (that she lied about the blood disease). Not as outraged as I said I'd be but I'm chalking that up to the cold from heck and also just how this book is written. I expected nothing and I am still let down.
Basically, Sue is the worst and the fact that Alice seems to be ignoring her after going out of her way to keep her around is just... weird. I know that SVH goes pretty hard on the absent parents thing from the jump but Sue's entire arc begins with her cozying up to her Aunt Alice, and honestly, Alice Wakefield is presented as a character who would absolutely make sure her dead friend's daughter was looked after properly after getting jilted at the altar because Alice's own daughter hooked up with the groom. I also do not understand why Sue is still in town. I know, I know, because plot's gotta plot, but for all Jessica is obsessing over Jeremy switching to the LA branch of Project Nature, she never once truly connects the dots to see that Sue's shown no hint of going back to New York even though it's been MONTHS. Like this book is supposed to cover the end of summer all the way through to Halloween and Sue's made NO move to go home. I know we get a scene where her stepfather is supposed to be the worst after her attempt and he's like "but she's fine now, right? Then she doesn't need me." which doesn't really square up with the limited info we've been given about him but y'know, whatever. I'd also kinda forgotten she was a frozen dinner heiress. I knew her mother had money and that's what prompted all this fuckery but the frozen meal thing cracked me up.
More than once, characters (including Sue herself) act like she should be just fine even the day after her wedding gets blown to bits and even knowing it was part of the scheme doesn't make it any more logical. Like, no, I'd say when someone tanks your wedding and your groom runs away with a bridesmaid younger than the bride, you're allowed to wallow for awhile.
Sue, you're only not the worst because Jeremy is right there.
Jeremy and his trip to Costa Rica that everyone else has figured out is BS is just fantastic. When Lila is trying to point out that maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe he's employing the oldest trick in the book and Jessica still can't connect the dots, I just cackled. Honestly, other than the R+J thing, Lila's kinda great here. Yes, she loses points for her freak out over the art class thing, but having to rehearse saying she was wrong is just A+, would cackle again. Also, also, her immediately telling Caroline the same morning Jessica tells her about the engagement is totally a Lila thing to do.
Oh, yeah. Jeremy. We get some vague POV paragraphs from him and he remains the worst, only now he smokes. Yay. He's also very clearly still in town and still seeing Sue. Just imagine me screaming, "You suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" each time he's mentioned/thought about/on page.
Ned and his wanting to bring Jeremy up on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor is something I kinda applaud and kinda can't. Like on the one hand, yes, this guy is waaaaaaaaay too old for Jessica but also like...*helpless gesturing* I dunno. I do kinda wish they'd actually made good on their threat to send Jess to boarding school, but they played it as such an obvious fakeout that it was just there to give Liz an ulcer. Jessica being so sure she'd just take her punishment as a saint and that at the end Jeremy would whisk her away to freedom is just insane. Let's be real, Jessica would run that school within a month anyway.
I get that they needed to walk back Robby's age since they leaned so hard on Jeremy being too old for Jessica, but having him be 18 and friends with 23 year old Jeremy is just weird, along with him having suddenly lost his college career and ambitions. It's weird and I don't like it. Yes, I like that Lila was right but I don't like it coming at Robby's expense and I don't get why it's so hard to give Lila a decent love interest and not fuck around with it too much. Is it because all the ghosties knew deep in their soul Bruce and Lila were endgame?
Also, gagging forever at Robby's jailbait comment. I totally get that it's a joke that would be made in this situation but also ick. It's also reminding me of Steven dating Tricia and Cara and how that was a non issue, really.
I suppose we need to discuss the WTF-ry of Todd trying to grow a mustache. I still cannot envision whatever his haircut was supposed to be, so I'm gonna guess it was one of the generic whiteboy 90's cuts that probably didn't age all that well even at the time? But the mustache thing is one of those storylines that's so ridiculous and yet so absolutely on point that I can't hate it totally beyond wishing like mad they'd made it really obvious that it was a communication issue on top of things. Like, Liz, you're allowed to not like Todd's skeevy attempt at facial hair. Todd's allowed to try and grow it out. But by not letting him know that it's just not doing it for you and keeping quiet, you're making it worse. The total personality change thing, including his use of "babe!" is also something you can and should bring up, Liz. Dying at her eventually eviscerating him later in the book. Later series Todd is just a mess.
Was there only one barber in town? Why the hell didn't Maria take Winston to any other barber in town? Why did Winston keep going back? Let your hair grow out dude. Hell, at this point you'd probably be better off doing it yourself. o_O I do like the contrast between how Liz and Maria deal with their boyfriend's new looks, and also how Winston and Todd react. Other than Winston being a total dumbass, and I'm sorry but I cannot imagine that bald!Winston is a good look. I just can't. I can, however, buy that Winston with longer hair would be a good look, so there you are.
She had known only boys; he was a man.
Gaaaaaaggggggggggg.
Ned having a soul patch that vexed Alice is amusing as hell, though I'm pretty sure that Sue and company would know what a soul patch was, since it was the 90's but hey, the readers might not.
I did actually enjoy the end where Jessica starts putting everything together and realizes, well before she finds Jeremy and Sue, that it's entirely probable that she's been played for a fool, but it's a shame we're just gonna blow that up with the following books. It was nice while it lasted?
...Okay.
I'm gonna give a star because this is one of the few SVH books I remember actually having a Halloween cover, even if it's questionable in terms of execution. The other star is because sometimes we lean all the way into the crazy and I respect that.
The rest is just... I'm sick and this did not help. :P
I don't know who wrote this one but good lord, we're like five pages in and the inconsistencies pop up immediately with Sue's wedding dress, which I'm fairly certain was accurately depicted on the last book's cover, being described as having long, sheer sleeves. Mm, no. Even if I hadn't been reading these basically back to back and even if a good chunk of my brain didn't hold onto SVH trivia like it was gonna win me millions, I'd still be able to call foul on that. This is not a good sign.
But you did what you had to do for love. Like Romeo and Juliet. How could anyone stay angry about that?"
"I have the feeling my parents can, and they will."
So we're gonna also immediately torpedo Jessica accurately clocking that R+J was a tragedy and not a love story, or at least have Lila mess it up. K. Great. Wonderful. Can I go back and remove my praise from the last book for this?
A fresh torrent of sobs broke free, and Sue cried harder than Elizabeth had ever seen anyone cry.
Ghosty, please, work with me. My bar is pretty low here and I may crack a joke or ten when someone doesn't meet my specific standards but I don't fully hold that against them. HOWEVER, we're not all that removed from SAM's DEATH. I'm fairly certain Liz saw people sob harder for his death than the absolute fuckery that was this sham wedding. I'd hope SHE sobbed harder, dammit.
Okay, let's stop picking at specific quotes for now. I'm confused. This book seems to be saying Sue's illness is in remission, but I swear she was JUST diagnosed with it and it was basically treated as a death sentence for her, giving her a few years if she was absolutely lucky, and not something she'd been battling before, so what the fuck is this remission crap? Do the Wakefield parents still not know? I assume they don't, based on Sue's later suicide attempt, or Alice getting the girl tranquilizers and whatnot, but still. Wtf. My cohort in crime is absolutely correct that I am not happy that Liz didn't even toss off an offhand thought to Tragically Dead Tricia when Sue admits what everyone else already knew (that she lied about the blood disease). Not as outraged as I said I'd be but I'm chalking that up to the cold from heck and also just how this book is written. I expected nothing and I am still let down.
Basically, Sue is the worst and the fact that Alice seems to be ignoring her after going out of her way to keep her around is just... weird. I know that SVH goes pretty hard on the absent parents thing from the jump but Sue's entire arc begins with her cozying up to her Aunt Alice, and honestly, Alice Wakefield is presented as a character who would absolutely make sure her dead friend's daughter was looked after properly after getting jilted at the altar because Alice's own daughter hooked up with the groom. I also do not understand why Sue is still in town. I know, I know, because plot's gotta plot, but for all Jessica is obsessing over Jeremy switching to the LA branch of Project Nature, she never once truly connects the dots to see that Sue's shown no hint of going back to New York even though it's been MONTHS. Like this book is supposed to cover the end of summer all the way through to Halloween and Sue's made NO move to go home. I know we get a scene where her stepfather is supposed to be the worst after her attempt and he's like "but she's fine now, right? Then she doesn't need me." which doesn't really square up with the limited info we've been given about him but y'know, whatever. I'd also kinda forgotten she was a frozen dinner heiress. I knew her mother had money and that's what prompted all this fuckery but the frozen meal thing cracked me up.
More than once, characters (including Sue herself) act like she should be just fine even the day after her wedding gets blown to bits and even knowing it was part of the scheme doesn't make it any more logical. Like, no, I'd say when someone tanks your wedding and your groom runs away with a bridesmaid younger than the bride, you're allowed to wallow for awhile.
Sue, you're only not the worst because Jeremy is right there.
Jeremy and his trip to Costa Rica that everyone else has figured out is BS is just fantastic. When Lila is trying to point out that maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe he's employing the oldest trick in the book and Jessica still can't connect the dots, I just cackled. Honestly, other than the R+J thing, Lila's kinda great here. Yes, she loses points for her freak out over the art class thing, but having to rehearse saying she was wrong is just A+, would cackle again. Also, also, her immediately telling Caroline the same morning Jessica tells her about the engagement is totally a Lila thing to do.
Oh, yeah. Jeremy. We get some vague POV paragraphs from him and he remains the worst, only now he smokes. Yay. He's also very clearly still in town and still seeing Sue. Just imagine me screaming, "You suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" each time he's mentioned/thought about/on page.
Ned and his wanting to bring Jeremy up on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor is something I kinda applaud and kinda can't. Like on the one hand, yes, this guy is waaaaaaaaay too old for Jessica but also like...*helpless gesturing* I dunno. I do kinda wish they'd actually made good on their threat to send Jess to boarding school, but they played it as such an obvious fakeout that it was just there to give Liz an ulcer. Jessica being so sure she'd just take her punishment as a saint and that at the end Jeremy would whisk her away to freedom is just insane. Let's be real, Jessica would run that school within a month anyway.
I get that they needed to walk back Robby's age since they leaned so hard on Jeremy being too old for Jessica, but having him be 18 and friends with 23 year old Jeremy is just weird, along with him having suddenly lost his college career and ambitions. It's weird and I don't like it. Yes, I like that Lila was right but I don't like it coming at Robby's expense and I don't get why it's so hard to give Lila a decent love interest and not fuck around with it too much. Is it because all the ghosties knew deep in their soul Bruce and Lila were endgame?
Also, gagging forever at Robby's jailbait comment. I totally get that it's a joke that would be made in this situation but also ick. It's also reminding me of Steven dating Tricia and Cara and how that was a non issue, really.
I suppose we need to discuss the WTF-ry of Todd trying to grow a mustache. I still cannot envision whatever his haircut was supposed to be, so I'm gonna guess it was one of the generic whiteboy 90's cuts that probably didn't age all that well even at the time? But the mustache thing is one of those storylines that's so ridiculous and yet so absolutely on point that I can't hate it totally beyond wishing like mad they'd made it really obvious that it was a communication issue on top of things. Like, Liz, you're allowed to not like Todd's skeevy attempt at facial hair. Todd's allowed to try and grow it out. But by not letting him know that it's just not doing it for you and keeping quiet, you're making it worse. The total personality change thing, including his use of "babe!" is also something you can and should bring up, Liz. Dying at her eventually eviscerating him later in the book. Later series Todd is just a mess.
Was there only one barber in town? Why the hell didn't Maria take Winston to any other barber in town? Why did Winston keep going back? Let your hair grow out dude. Hell, at this point you'd probably be better off doing it yourself. o_O I do like the contrast between how Liz and Maria deal with their boyfriend's new looks, and also how Winston and Todd react. Other than Winston being a total dumbass, and I'm sorry but I cannot imagine that bald!Winston is a good look. I just can't. I can, however, buy that Winston with longer hair would be a good look, so there you are.
She had known only boys; he was a man.
Gaaaaaaggggggggggg.
Ned having a soul patch that vexed Alice is amusing as hell, though I'm pretty sure that Sue and company would know what a soul patch was, since it was the 90's but hey, the readers might not.
I did actually enjoy the end where Jessica starts putting everything together and realizes, well before she finds Jeremy and Sue, that it's entirely probable that she's been played for a fool, but it's a shame we're just gonna blow that up with the following books. It was nice while it lasted?
January 26, 2019
I want to make one thing clear: These books are getting four stars because I love them, not because they're well-written. They're just fantastically, spectacularly bad, and I love it.
https://thingscarlalovesofficial.word...
https://thingscarlalovesofficial.word...
August 5, 2009
Jeremy was the best "villain" ever.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story
December 19, 2017
"Joke's on You, Jess"
Hearts all a-flutter /
"I love you, J," she mutters /
He's with another
Quotes: (This book is rich with ridiculousness)
"Every time she saw [Sue] she felt both angry and guilty, and she didn't need it."
Robby: That's the trouble with you young things: you're jailbait.
[That's the trouble with you older "things": you're pedophiles.]
"Jessica was so proud of her ring- she was dying to show it off. In her mind she had already anticipated the shocked and envious reactions of her friends."
[Since she doesn't have sex, this is what gets her off.]
"Jessica suddenly felt as though her heart were on fire. How would she live without Jeremy for the next month?"
[The same way you always do Jess- by cheating!]
Jess to Liz: Who would take care of me the way you do? Who would be on my side?
[Translation: No one else will let me use them like a doormat the way you allow me to.]
Liz's thoughts: On the other hand, why had she assumed, knowing Jessica as she did, that it WOULDN'T be like this?
"[Jessica] wondered if anyone she knew could possibly be having harder teenage years than she was. No way."
Jessica's thoughts: There's no way this could be my fault. This is definitely not my fault. My loving Jeremy could never have caused such pain.
[I mean... not even a LITTLE, Jess?]
"'Does the phrase 'evil twin' mean anything to you?' Bruce asked humorlessly."
[And it fucking should, since Margo "died" only NINE books ago.
"They paid their bill and went out to the black Jeep Jessica shared with Elizabeth."
[Since when is it black? And, mind you, it was totaled not that long ago. But who needs continuity?!]
Hearts all a-flutter /
"I love you, J," she mutters /
He's with another
Quotes: (This book is rich with ridiculousness)
"Every time she saw [Sue] she felt both angry and guilty, and she didn't need it."
Robby: That's the trouble with you young things: you're jailbait.
[That's the trouble with you older "things": you're pedophiles.]
"Jessica was so proud of her ring- she was dying to show it off. In her mind she had already anticipated the shocked and envious reactions of her friends."
[Since she doesn't have sex, this is what gets her off.]
"Jessica suddenly felt as though her heart were on fire. How would she live without Jeremy for the next month?"
[The same way you always do Jess- by cheating!]
Jess to Liz: Who would take care of me the way you do? Who would be on my side?
[Translation: No one else will let me use them like a doormat the way you allow me to.]
Liz's thoughts: On the other hand, why had she assumed, knowing Jessica as she did, that it WOULDN'T be like this?
"[Jessica] wondered if anyone she knew could possibly be having harder teenage years than she was. No way."
Jessica's thoughts: There's no way this could be my fault. This is definitely not my fault. My loving Jeremy could never have caused such pain.
[I mean... not even a LITTLE, Jess?]
"'Does the phrase 'evil twin' mean anything to you?' Bruce asked humorlessly."
[And it fucking should, since Margo "died" only NINE books ago.
"They paid their bill and went out to the black Jeep Jessica shared with Elizabeth."
[Since when is it black? And, mind you, it was totaled not that long ago. But who needs continuity?!]
February 28, 2019
Liz comes across as really nasty and controlling in this one telling Todd how to dress, have his hair and she tells him to get rid of his tash. Seriously??? Jess is super gullible believing whatever Jeremy tells her, I've lost count of the amount of times Lila and Robby have broken up and got back together in the 3 books so far, Sue's just a complete pilchard and Jeremy's a tool. Hilarious!
September 3, 2022
Jessica gets what she deserves after stealing Sue's fiancé, the 24 yr old dude in question is never even suggested to ne put on a restraining order for proposing to a 16 year old, and Elizabeth deals with Todd growing a hideous mustache- the mustache subplot is why this book gets 2 stars instead of one. Blah.
November 17, 2017
Snark worthy perfection. It was legit hilarious though when Lila tried to save the day. She may be spoiled but she’s a loyal friend who defends Jess to the death.
May 17, 2023
Jeremy is pretty shitty…
September 19, 2023
Good series
November 14, 2025
Certainly more interesting than the last couple I’ve read. Elizabeth needs to get over herself and just tell Todd she doesn’t like his mustache. Such a dumb B-plot. Or C-plot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2013
The book opens the morning after sixteen-year-old Jessica Wakefield has broken up the wedding of a twenty-three-year-old man and his supposedly dying fiancee. Of course said man, whose name is Jeremy, has decided that he's really in love with Jessica and promptly proposes to her only one night after his wedding has been called off. A day or two later, he supposedly takes off for Costa Rica (although the reader is given plenty of clues that he has actually never left California) and remains gone until the Halloween party at the end of the book at which he is caught kissing the ex-fiancee.
I just don't understand how a high-school junior who enjoys partying could possibly be interested in marriage at this point in her life. Jessica is so in love that she's willing to risk going to boarding school for the next two years just so she can be with Jeremy. I kept waiting for her parents to actually send her (even though I knew it probably wouldn't happen) because I think Jessica in boarding school would be a much more unique and interesting plot than having her fall in love with someone inappropriate for her for the hundredth time.
Meanwhile, Jessica's twin sister, Elizabeth, is busy trying to comfort, Sue Gibbons, the jilted fiancee. By the end of the book, nearly two months have elapsed, and Sue is still staying with the Wakefields. This girl has a job in New York City, and I'm sure she has friends there too, so one has to wonder how she's able to stay away that long. It's eventually hinted at that she's up to something too, so I guess it makes sense that the author keeps her around despite it being unrealistic.
I just don't understand how a high-school junior who enjoys partying could possibly be interested in marriage at this point in her life. Jessica is so in love that she's willing to risk going to boarding school for the next two years just so she can be with Jeremy. I kept waiting for her parents to actually send her (even though I knew it probably wouldn't happen) because I think Jessica in boarding school would be a much more unique and interesting plot than having her fall in love with someone inappropriate for her for the hundredth time.
Meanwhile, Jessica's twin sister, Elizabeth, is busy trying to comfort, Sue Gibbons, the jilted fiancee. By the end of the book, nearly two months have elapsed, and Sue is still staying with the Wakefields. This girl has a job in New York City, and I'm sure she has friends there too, so one has to wonder how she's able to stay away that long. It's eventually hinted at that she's up to something too, so I guess it makes sense that the author keeps her around despite it being unrealistic.
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