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Sweet Valley University Thriller Editions #11
Love and Murder
When Lila Fowler meets mysterious, sexy Damon Price, the connection is too intense for words. Lila instantly feels as if she's known him for ages. But despite their deep romantic bond, Lila knows nothing about Damon's past. Then the nightmares begin. Nightmares from another era in which she becomes Flora Grey, the wife of Theodore, an abusive man who looks exactly like Damon. Lila soon discovers that the Greys really existed, and that Flora was murdered by her husband. Could Flora's tragic history be repeating itself?
283 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1998
176 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 books1,846 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 20, 2024
I sail the good ship Bruce/Lila as an OTP for the Sweet Valley universe, so when this book opened with lots of references to Lila's deceased Italian count husband Tisiano, I knew I was in for a rough ride. Lila and Tisiano married right after SVH and lived for a while in his native Italy, before he was killed in a Jet Ski incident. Lila returned to Sweet Valley and started attending SVU with her lifelong friends. This is Super Thriller #11, set around the late-#30s of the SVU canon; if you didn't know any better, you'd think it was super early canon. Bruce/Lila is an established pairing, but this ghostie swipes it aside with ease, so less than a chapter into this, my back was already up. Things were only made worse when Jessica arrives in the plot and is the vain, spoiled, selfish early-SVH canon version of Jessica. The one who only ever thinks in terms of revenge. This is my least favorite Jessica, and after she was so awesome in ST #3, I was not looking forward to shenanigans here.
Lila is sitting in art history class one day, thinking back over her life with Tisiano, when suddenly a drop-dead gorgeous TA walks into her life. Said gorgeous TA will be taking over lectures for the aged old Professor no one likes, but Lila takes one look and fancies herself in love, before she even knows this guy's name. (This is not the Lila Fuckin' Fowler of my head-canon, TYVM.)
This guy is 23-year-old Damon Price, an art history grad student who is extremely into the early 20th century surrealist movement. He takes one look at Lila and basically falls right back in love with her, even when she makes a complete cake of herself in class in front of him.
Lila runs off to find her BFF Jessica, who is also in this class but of course skipped it, because working on her tan on the quad is a much better use of her time. Lila gushes about the gorgeous Damon to Jessica, who decides that she'll have a crack at him herself, and very pointedly reminds Lila that she has a steady boyfriend, who is so conveniently off studying abroad in Japan for the length of this book. Lila brushes her off and schemes with how to meet Damon outside of class, because she has this much hots for him.
Lila finally calls him at his office and apologizes for being weird in class, then enthuses that she was quite the art collector before returning to SVU, and basically sets up a date with him. The two go to the most expensive restaurant in town (for which Lila pays), then head back to his little grad student apartment, where they have some kissyface times and he tries to show her the artwork of his particularly favorite artist, only to accidently drop a book on her head. (Yes, this really happens, and it knocks her unconscious and everything.) Damon is terribly upset about what happened, but he avoids her because he's all up in his own confused feelings.
Meanwhile, Lila starts having dreams about herself and Damon, only they are a mid-1930s newlywed couple named Theodore and Flora. The first dream or two are okay, but they quickly become nightmares, where Theodore is angry with Flora, and becomes increasingly violent towards her. Lila is scared out of her wits, and every time she sees Damon, she sees Theodore. Things are only made worse when she realizes that Theodore Grey is the artist Damon idolizes, and one of the reasons why he's so drawn to Theo's paintings of Flora is because Lila is the spitting image of Flora.
Lila goes a bit crazy trying to convince Damon that she's reliving Theo/Flora's life together and that Theo killed Flora; he doesn't believe her and continues to try to push her away, even fleeing town. But Lila is still haunted by the nightmares, and by eerie phone calls she's receiving from a strange man whose voice sounds very much like Damon's. She can't decide if he's a crazy sick weirdo or what, especially when he shows up even after telling her he's leaving town, and starts acting strangely dark and cold around her.
Lila is now actively fearful for her life - she's thrown over her absent boyfriend for a strange man she now believes is going to kill her, because once upon a time Flora was murdered and Theo was accused of doing it. She sees Theo in her dreams and can't distinguish him from the Damon of her real life. She runs to her BFF Jessica for help, and from there things only get weirder.
After Jessica hears the whole crazy story and then witnesses Lila's nightmares, she accompanies her to the SVU library to learn more about Flora's life (because for some reason Lila stopped looking when she found Flora's obit and the accusation against Theo), and then takes her to some kook on the coastal highway calling herself a reincarnation therapist. Said reincarnation therapist confirms that Lila is basically re-living a past life, perhaps to finally bring justice to the killer, which will allow Flora's spirit to finally find rest in the afterlife.
As if this wasn't unhinged enough, somehow Damon finds Lila at said therapist and attacks her, which scares Lila and Jessica back to SVU, where they have a fight (of course) so Lila goes careening off to her apartment by herself - only there's the eerie-voiced Damon with wild hair, black eyes, and a couple of nasty scars on his face, waiting for her, ready to kill her.
Jessica is frantic to get to Lila's because the reincarnation therapist warned her to not leave Lila by herself, and she finally gets to Lila's apartment at the same time as Damon, whom she immediately attacks in order to keep him from getting to Lila. Only then they both hear Lila's bloodcurdling scream from inside.
I'm basically sitting her going WTF did I just read??
There are so laugh out loud moments (caller ID machine! microfiche cataloged on CD-ROM! Jessica and Lila doing makeovers during their BFF Friday night "stay awake party," which included the 'Elizabeth Wakefield prom' look!), and the ghostie worked hard to redeem Damon, but yeah. The WTFery of it all is just too much for me. Constantly weepy Lila, , Damon scoffing away the problem of TAs dating undergrads who are taking their classes - just, ugh. No thank you! This is not a book I will return to anytime soon.
I'm glad we're pivoting to another series for this week's entry in the re-readathon!
Lila is sitting in art history class one day, thinking back over her life with Tisiano, when suddenly a drop-dead gorgeous TA walks into her life. Said gorgeous TA will be taking over lectures for the aged old Professor no one likes, but Lila takes one look and fancies herself in love, before she even knows this guy's name. (This is not the Lila Fuckin' Fowler of my head-canon, TYVM.)
This guy is 23-year-old Damon Price, an art history grad student who is extremely into the early 20th century surrealist movement. He takes one look at Lila and basically falls right back in love with her, even when she makes a complete cake of herself in class in front of him.
Lila runs off to find her BFF Jessica, who is also in this class but of course skipped it, because working on her tan on the quad is a much better use of her time. Lila gushes about the gorgeous Damon to Jessica, who decides that she'll have a crack at him herself, and very pointedly reminds Lila that she has a steady boyfriend, who is so conveniently off studying abroad in Japan for the length of this book. Lila brushes her off and schemes with how to meet Damon outside of class, because she has this much hots for him.
Lila finally calls him at his office and apologizes for being weird in class, then enthuses that she was quite the art collector before returning to SVU, and basically sets up a date with him. The two go to the most expensive restaurant in town (for which Lila pays), then head back to his little grad student apartment, where they have some kissyface times and he tries to show her the artwork of his particularly favorite artist, only to accidently drop a book on her head. (Yes, this really happens, and it knocks her unconscious and everything.) Damon is terribly upset about what happened, but he avoids her because he's all up in his own confused feelings.
Meanwhile, Lila starts having dreams about herself and Damon, only they are a mid-1930s newlywed couple named Theodore and Flora. The first dream or two are okay, but they quickly become nightmares, where Theodore is angry with Flora, and becomes increasingly violent towards her. Lila is scared out of her wits, and every time she sees Damon, she sees Theodore. Things are only made worse when she realizes that Theodore Grey is the artist Damon idolizes, and one of the reasons why he's so drawn to Theo's paintings of Flora is because Lila is the spitting image of Flora.
Lila goes a bit crazy trying to convince Damon that she's reliving Theo/Flora's life together and that Theo killed Flora; he doesn't believe her and continues to try to push her away, even fleeing town. But Lila is still haunted by the nightmares, and by eerie phone calls she's receiving from a strange man whose voice sounds very much like Damon's. She can't decide if he's a crazy sick weirdo or what, especially when he shows up even after telling her he's leaving town, and starts acting strangely dark and cold around her.
Lila is now actively fearful for her life - she's thrown over her absent boyfriend for a strange man she now believes is going to kill her, because once upon a time Flora was murdered and Theo was accused of doing it. She sees Theo in her dreams and can't distinguish him from the Damon of her real life. She runs to her BFF Jessica for help, and from there things only get weirder.
After Jessica hears the whole crazy story and then witnesses Lila's nightmares, she accompanies her to the SVU library to learn more about Flora's life (because for some reason Lila stopped looking when she found Flora's obit and the accusation against Theo), and then takes her to some kook on the coastal highway calling herself a reincarnation therapist. Said reincarnation therapist confirms that Lila is basically re-living a past life, perhaps to finally bring justice to the killer, which will allow Flora's spirit to finally find rest in the afterlife.
As if this wasn't unhinged enough, somehow Damon finds Lila at said therapist and attacks her, which scares Lila and Jessica back to SVU, where they have a fight (of course) so Lila goes careening off to her apartment by herself - only there's the eerie-voiced Damon with wild hair, black eyes, and a couple of nasty scars on his face, waiting for her, ready to kill her.
Jessica is frantic to get to Lila's because the reincarnation therapist warned her to not leave Lila by herself, and she finally gets to Lila's apartment at the same time as Damon, whom she immediately attacks in order to keep him from getting to Lila. Only then they both hear Lila's bloodcurdling scream from inside.
I'm basically sitting her going WTF did I just read??
There are so laugh out loud moments (caller ID machine! microfiche cataloged on CD-ROM! Jessica and Lila doing makeovers during their BFF Friday night "stay awake party," which included the 'Elizabeth Wakefield prom' look!), and the ghostie worked hard to redeem Damon, but yeah. The WTFery of it all is just too much for me. Constantly weepy Lila, , Damon scoffing away the problem of TAs dating undergrads who are taking their classes - just, ugh. No thank you! This is not a book I will return to anytime soon.
I'm glad we're pivoting to another series for this week's entry in the re-readathon!
Read
October 19, 2024The fun thing about this year's read-along is that for this book in particular, I have NO memory of it beyond assuming it's about Lila. And that much is true. Everything else? Total mystery! Some of it, and I do mean some of it would occasionally ring a bell but that was about it.
So. Short version. Bruce is in Japan for the semester and Lila meets a very cute, very handsome TA in her art history class. She immediately makes an impression, though not necessarily the one she intended, when she drops the contents of her purse all over the floor after being called on in class. Since she's Ms. Lila Fowler, he's immediately as smitten as she and we're off to the races.
Jessica hears about cute new TA and wants in on this action since it's not fair that Lila's stupidly rich (she's got the Fowler millions and her Countess money), gorgeous (not that Jessica really sees her as competition ever), and already has a boyfriend. She does not need another dude at her beck and call, right? So she shows up to class early and catches Damon and Lila being entirely too close, and she drops the Bruce boyfriend bomb. Damon doesn't rise to the bait entirely and instead mocks Jessica for her class attendance (basically calling her on her BS claim to love the class, even though Lila's tried peddling some BS to get in good with him) annnnnnnnd dude, I dunno if younger me was impressed with him not falling for it or what, but grumpy old me is not. She's your student, you're not supposed to scare her away from class. You're also not supposed to be literally obsessing over one of your students either, mmkay?
Sigh.
The book gets real weird, real quick, as Damon realizes he's seen Lila's face before he even met her, and in his frantic search to find a book with a picture of the painting he's got hanging in his office, he drops said book on Lila's head, damn near concussing her. Shortly thereafter, Lila begins dreaming of a couple named Flora and Theo, only Flora looks exactly like Lila and Theo is naturally Damon's doppelganger. Ooh. Ahh. Lila's intrigued but a little weirded out when it turns out that Theo is the artist Damon was trying to tell her about, especially once her dreams reveal that Theo and Flora's marriage was anything but sunny. We quickly learn that Flora died pretty young and Theo was a suspect in her possible murder, and Lila's dreams are soon nightmares.
Lila reacts about as well as you'd expect her to when faced with the idea that maybe she and Damon might be reenacting a dangerous past life... honestly, the thought that Lila actually had a serious brain injury would explain so much about this book. As it is, she's more than a little unhinged about it and Damon reacts very, very poorly. To be fair, I wouldn't want someone I'd had one date with to be accusing me of being an abuser in any life, but I also hope I wouldn't snap at them, grab them, and then yell at them while calling them the other person's name. It's intense.
To be fair, there are other things at play. After the near concussion, Damon disappears for a few days, and this is after Lila begins to suspect that he lied about not having a phone to call her, since she saw the damn thing when she went to his home.
Damon decides he needs to take a step back after the altercation and leaves town, only stopping to call Lila on the way out. Almost immediately, Lila gets creepy calls from someone who sounds more than a little like Damon. And then she runs into him, very much not out of town... and things go from bad to worse.
Eventually Lila realizes that the relationship is all kinds of toxic as is, and we get some musings on how abusers isolate their victims, but it's also been a really quick whirlwind and I'm sorry, but the idea that Lila doesn't have any friends other than Jessica is BS, especially since she hung out just fine with Isabella (always weird to think of that since Isabella was very clearly meant to be Lila's replacement when the series started, but one cannot replace Lila frickin' Fowler) and the Thetas LOVE her. But I get that book's gotta get the message out somehow, and I do love her dynamic with Jessica, so I'll only dock a few points here.
The one thing this ghosty does right is getting how Jessica and Lila fight but make up and how their friendship works. (They also get one other thing right and we'll get to it in a bit.) I loved this section and my only real issue with it was Jessica confessing to writing to Bruce to tell him about Lila cheating on him... while Lila was very clearly NOT safe. Unburden yourself LATER, Wakefield, when Lila's not being stalked by a psycho. Not to keep you waiting on that, the way Bruce responds to Jessica's letter is just fantastic and shows how Bruce has grown. He knows what kinds of tricks Jess has up her sleeve and also can tell she's pissed as shit, so anything she says or does at the time of writing that letter is to be taken with a huuuuuuuuuge mountain of salt, so he lets Lila know that when she wants to talk, he's ready to listen. This almost makes up for everything else said about Bruce in this book. I'm no Bruce apologist, but I will not stand for the Bruce/Lila obvious endgame going on in SVU being besmirched by some random one-off who will never be mentioned again, dammit. You don't say Lila's settling for Bruce just to prop up the new dude. FEH.
(I reserve the right to eat my words if Lila's feeling this way in the series proper by this point but until then, fuuuuuuuuuuuck that noise.)
I've never seen the movie this apparentlyrips off pays homage to, so I was expecting more possession than just a lot of past life flashbacks, but it did give me kinda backstory, which I do love. Cackling at the idea that Jessica, who has canonically worked at a newspaper for multiple summers, has no idea how microfiche machines work because we gotta make sure the reader knows.
I do wonder how I'd feel about this if I read it again now that I know/remember the ~twist~ and if that would make things better, worse, or still the same. Kinda tempted to do it.
Ultimately, my biggest issue with this one, aside from the Bruce/Lila slander, was how much it did not feel like a SVU novel. It really felt like something better suited to SVH, as the characters acted more like their high school selves versus their college selves, and it was jarring to read right after the last SVU book that felt like a SVU book, even with the vampires.
So. Short version. Bruce is in Japan for the semester and Lila meets a very cute, very handsome TA in her art history class. She immediately makes an impression, though not necessarily the one she intended, when she drops the contents of her purse all over the floor after being called on in class. Since she's Ms. Lila Fowler, he's immediately as smitten as she and we're off to the races.
Jessica hears about cute new TA and wants in on this action since it's not fair that Lila's stupidly rich (she's got the Fowler millions and her Countess money), gorgeous (not that Jessica really sees her as competition ever), and already has a boyfriend. She does not need another dude at her beck and call, right? So she shows up to class early and catches Damon and Lila being entirely too close, and she drops the Bruce boyfriend bomb. Damon doesn't rise to the bait entirely and instead mocks Jessica for her class attendance (basically calling her on her BS claim to love the class, even though Lila's tried peddling some BS to get in good with him) annnnnnnnd dude, I dunno if younger me was impressed with him not falling for it or what, but grumpy old me is not. She's your student, you're not supposed to scare her away from class. You're also not supposed to be literally obsessing over one of your students either, mmkay?
Sigh.
The book gets real weird, real quick, as Damon realizes he's seen Lila's face before he even met her, and in his frantic search to find a book with a picture of the painting he's got hanging in his office, he drops said book on Lila's head, damn near concussing her. Shortly thereafter, Lila begins dreaming of a couple named Flora and Theo, only Flora looks exactly like Lila and Theo is naturally Damon's doppelganger. Ooh. Ahh. Lila's intrigued but a little weirded out when it turns out that Theo is the artist Damon was trying to tell her about, especially once her dreams reveal that Theo and Flora's marriage was anything but sunny. We quickly learn that Flora died pretty young and Theo was a suspect in her possible murder, and Lila's dreams are soon nightmares.
Lila reacts about as well as you'd expect her to when faced with the idea that maybe she and Damon might be reenacting a dangerous past life... honestly, the thought that Lila actually had a serious brain injury would explain so much about this book. As it is, she's more than a little unhinged about it and Damon reacts very, very poorly. To be fair, I wouldn't want someone I'd had one date with to be accusing me of being an abuser in any life, but I also hope I wouldn't snap at them, grab them, and then yell at them while calling them the other person's name. It's intense.
To be fair, there are other things at play. After the near concussion, Damon disappears for a few days, and this is after Lila begins to suspect that he lied about not having a phone to call her, since she saw the damn thing when she went to his home.
Damon decides he needs to take a step back after the altercation and leaves town, only stopping to call Lila on the way out. Almost immediately, Lila gets creepy calls from someone who sounds more than a little like Damon. And then she runs into him, very much not out of town... and things go from bad to worse.
Eventually Lila realizes that the relationship is all kinds of toxic as is, and we get some musings on how abusers isolate their victims, but it's also been a really quick whirlwind and I'm sorry, but the idea that Lila doesn't have any friends other than Jessica is BS, especially since she hung out just fine with Isabella (always weird to think of that since Isabella was very clearly meant to be Lila's replacement when the series started, but one cannot replace Lila frickin' Fowler) and the Thetas LOVE her. But I get that book's gotta get the message out somehow, and I do love her dynamic with Jessica, so I'll only dock a few points here.
The one thing this ghosty does right is getting how Jessica and Lila fight but make up and how their friendship works. (They also get one other thing right and we'll get to it in a bit.) I loved this section and my only real issue with it was Jessica confessing to writing to Bruce to tell him about Lila cheating on him... while Lila was very clearly NOT safe. Unburden yourself LATER, Wakefield, when Lila's not being stalked by a psycho. Not to keep you waiting on that, the way Bruce responds to Jessica's letter is just fantastic and shows how Bruce has grown. He knows what kinds of tricks Jess has up her sleeve and also can tell she's pissed as shit, so anything she says or does at the time of writing that letter is to be taken with a huuuuuuuuuge mountain of salt, so he lets Lila know that when she wants to talk, he's ready to listen. This almost makes up for everything else said about Bruce in this book. I'm no Bruce apologist, but I will not stand for the Bruce/Lila obvious endgame going on in SVU being besmirched by some random one-off who will never be mentioned again, dammit. You don't say Lila's settling for Bruce just to prop up the new dude. FEH.
(I reserve the right to eat my words if Lila's feeling this way in the series proper by this point but until then, fuuuuuuuuuuuck that noise.)
I've never seen the movie this apparently
I do wonder how I'd feel about this if I read it again now that I know/remember the ~twist~ and if that would make things better, worse, or still the same. Kinda tempted to do it.
Ultimately, my biggest issue with this one, aside from the Bruce/Lila slander, was how much it did not feel like a SVU novel. It really felt like something better suited to SVH, as the characters acted more like their high school selves versus their college selves, and it was jarring to read right after the last SVU book that felt like a SVU book, even with the vampires.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2024
As many (or most, but perhaps I just haven’t connected all the dots) Sweet Valley Thriller Editions are teenaged versions of popular movies, Love and Murder works the Kenneth Branagh movie Dead Again into the Southern California beach setting. If you aren’t familiar with that 1990s flick, the plot of this book will be a total surprise to you.
Posh and pretty Lila meets a new teacher, Damon, and feels an instant and intense attraction. It’s a whirlwind romance (sorry Bruce!) but perhaps they’re rushing in too deep too quickly. Technically, Damon’s the man of her dreams – but that’s not necessarily a good thing. In Lila’s dreams, she’s in a different time period and living as Damon’s wife. He’s a volatile artist and she fears his temper. Are these dreams real? Have they known each other in a former life? If so, does he still have the same wild spirit, and is she in danger? Someone will be in danger; after all, it’s a thriller edition. Enjoy!
https://hottoastyrag.weebly.com/svu-4...
Posh and pretty Lila meets a new teacher, Damon, and feels an instant and intense attraction. It’s a whirlwind romance (sorry Bruce!) but perhaps they’re rushing in too deep too quickly. Technically, Damon’s the man of her dreams – but that’s not necessarily a good thing. In Lila’s dreams, she’s in a different time period and living as Damon’s wife. He’s a volatile artist and she fears his temper. Are these dreams real? Have they known each other in a former life? If so, does he still have the same wild spirit, and is she in danger? Someone will be in danger; after all, it’s a thriller edition. Enjoy!
https://hottoastyrag.weebly.com/svu-4...
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September 6, 2010I read it like 5 years ago. The story was unique ans I love the thrilling effect! :)
April 22, 2018
This is one of the most absurd SVU books ever - and that's saying a lot. Yet, somehow, that never stopped me from loving this book, and I had way too much fun re-reading this.
August 12, 2012
The plot was centered on Lila Fowler and not on the twins but it's good. Better than I expected. There was art history and a twist especially on the closure part.
July 9, 2013
I have read so many of these books I can't remember all of them.
August 13, 2020
I read this in high school. I didn't know it was a series, but I remember thinking that it was a romance with a dark twist. Need to do a re-read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews