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Sweet Valley Twins #98
The Beast is Watching You
Book Two in the Frightening Four miniseries
On a hill on the outskirts of Sweet Valley sits a beautiful old Victorian house. It stood empty until a few weeks ago, when a big family moved in...the perfect clients for Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield's baby-sitting service....
Identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their friends from Sweet Valley Middle School thought they'd landed their dream job when they started babysitting for the Riccoli kids. But little by little, their dream job is turning into a nightmare.
Andrew Riccoli dreams that someone tried to set fire to his room—and wakes up in a cloud of smoke. Then Gretchen Riccoli dreams she's falling—and wakes up at the bottom of the mansion's dark, winding staircase. The babysitters are getting scared...too scared to close their eyes in the Riccoli mansion.
On a hill on the outskirts of Sweet Valley sits a beautiful old Victorian house. It stood empty until a few weeks ago, when a big family moved in...the perfect clients for Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield's baby-sitting service....
Identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their friends from Sweet Valley Middle School thought they'd landed their dream job when they started babysitting for the Riccoli kids. But little by little, their dream job is turning into a nightmare.
Andrew Riccoli dreams that someone tried to set fire to his room—and wakes up in a cloud of smoke. Then Gretchen Riccoli dreams she's falling—and wakes up at the bottom of the mansion's dark, winding staircase. The babysitters are getting scared...too scared to close their eyes in the Riccoli mansion.
134 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1996
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,149 books1,854 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
November 16, 2017
Man, they honestly could have made this into one book if they had skipped all these inane subplots. They are awful. I think I’m going to have to go back to my haiku review for this one!
One slipper at night /
Children fight to stay asleep /
Increasing terror!!
One slipper at night /
Children fight to stay asleep /
Increasing terror!!
October 20, 2020
Sweet mother of mercy, this was just bad. Like the cover is all you need. Admire it, commend them on a purple cover for Jessica (I might've just put that together this year. Whoops.) and keep on trucking because ugh! I really hope this one wasn't written by the same person as the previous book because so many things don't match up.
I thought I was losing my mind when Eva was suddenly a kid-kid instead of the teenager mentioned at the end of the last book (y'know, the cliffhanger?) and yet no, I triple checked and #97's picture wants us to believe Eva's a teen and here she's most definitely not. I'm assuming we're meant to just assume the teen thing was a mistake but dude, I think I'd rather be dealing with a vengeful SV teen Carrie style than firestarter Eva.
SVT Steven is frequently a butt monkey in service to the B plot of comedy but dude, this is a bit much for even him. I know he's too good to be true in SVH but this? Ruining things every time he even gets near the new mower but still refusing to read the instructions? SERIOUSLY? Also, Steve- things are only gonna get worse for you since California has all these extra caution warnings for everything. I still can't visualize how Steve or Joe's legs would be in the way to work the brakes when they're sprawled across the hood of this mower and I'm too lazy to look it up and figure it out. So it will continue to vex me. I did enjoy the visual of Steve and Joe circling the house a billion times and neither of the twins helping and Jessica wanting to record it.
Winston should sue for being made to be an utter ass for his one appearance and I'm not sure managing to catch Gretchen (thus making the cover a liiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee) without even trying makes up for it. Seriously, when telling parents their kid nearly fell to her doom, maybe don't be a jester at that point. And I know Winston knows better than that. :/
The Riccoli parents are the worst. Maybe when the first kid presents with night terrors it would be a good idea to mention that at least two of the others also have things that might pop back up? I kinda get not mentioning Andrew and the matches as that does seem like something he outgrew (and he did, but they don't know that) but Gretchen being a sleepwalker? Fucking mention that to anyone who's going to babysit your kids at night. Even if it's just a "btw, used to do this years ago, shouldn't be a problem, but keep an ear out just in case" kinda deal. I also get the desire for date night but also... maybe spend the weekend with your family and have snuggle time after the kids go to bed?
Amy was smart to sit this one out and I don't blame Todd for calling off his second appearance in the book. $20 (is that per sitter or do they have to split it?) a night ain't worth it.
I thought I was losing my mind when Eva was suddenly a kid-kid instead of the teenager mentioned at the end of the last book (y'know, the cliffhanger?) and yet no, I triple checked and #97's picture wants us to believe Eva's a teen and here she's most definitely not. I'm assuming we're meant to just assume the teen thing was a mistake but dude, I think I'd rather be dealing with a vengeful SV teen Carrie style than firestarter Eva.
SVT Steven is frequently a butt monkey in service to the B plot of comedy but dude, this is a bit much for even him. I know he's too good to be true in SVH but this? Ruining things every time he even gets near the new mower but still refusing to read the instructions? SERIOUSLY? Also, Steve- things are only gonna get worse for you since California has all these extra caution warnings for everything. I still can't visualize how Steve or Joe's legs would be in the way to work the brakes when they're sprawled across the hood of this mower and I'm too lazy to look it up and figure it out. So it will continue to vex me. I did enjoy the visual of Steve and Joe circling the house a billion times and neither of the twins helping and Jessica wanting to record it.
Winston should sue for being made to be an utter ass for his one appearance and I'm not sure managing to catch Gretchen (thus making the cover a liiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee) without even trying makes up for it. Seriously, when telling parents their kid nearly fell to her doom, maybe don't be a jester at that point. And I know Winston knows better than that. :/
The Riccoli parents are the worst. Maybe when the first kid presents with night terrors it would be a good idea to mention that at least two of the others also have things that might pop back up? I kinda get not mentioning Andrew and the matches as that does seem like something he outgrew (and he did, but they don't know that) but Gretchen being a sleepwalker? Fucking mention that to anyone who's going to babysit your kids at night. Even if it's just a "btw, used to do this years ago, shouldn't be a problem, but keep an ear out just in case" kinda deal. I also get the desire for date night but also... maybe spend the weekend with your family and have snuggle time after the kids go to bed?
Amy was smart to sit this one out and I don't blame Todd for calling off his second appearance in the book. $20 (is that per sitter or do they have to split it?) a night ain't worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2024
Just like the previous book, nothing happens. The first half of the book is a single night of babysitting, wherein Steven and Joe drop by at midnight to scare the life out of the twins and their charges for the lolz.
The next half of the book is just the twins going, “Ooooh, isn’t it scary?” in response to absolutely nothing (scary or otherwise) happening, while Steven rides a lawnmower with ~hIlArIOus~ consequences.
God, I hate this series.
Whoever penned this, I hope you’re ashamed of yourself. This mini-series is the absolute lowest point of the entire SVT run. Believe me, I know. I’ve read the whole thing, at least twice.
The next half of the book is just the twins going, “Ooooh, isn’t it scary?” in response to absolutely nothing (scary or otherwise) happening, while Steven rides a lawnmower with ~hIlArIOus~ consequences.
God, I hate this series.
Whoever penned this, I hope you’re ashamed of yourself. This mini-series is the absolute lowest point of the entire SVT run. Believe me, I know. I’ve read the whole thing, at least twice.
April 13, 2025
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug
This actually ends in a creepy cliff hanger.
The B plot with Steven trying (and failing) to run a lawn mowing business was skippable.
But despite the bland AF writing this is a genuinely scary story for kids - and if this was written today I think would be genuinely creepy (as it stands the writing is so bland I can’t say it’s actually scary by modern standards but I’m also not a child anymore)
This actually ends in a creepy cliff hanger.
The B plot with Steven trying (and failing) to run a lawn mowing business was skippable.
But despite the bland AF writing this is a genuinely scary story for kids - and if this was written today I think would be genuinely creepy (as it stands the writing is so bland I can’t say it’s actually scary by modern standards but I’m also not a child anymore)
Read
March 21, 2020Scared myself to death with this miniseries when I was in middle school, and frankly it was still a little creepy as an adult.
May 26, 2020
Second book down. Two more to go.
April 29, 2009
Loved this mini-series within the series. So dreadful, perfect when you're 13 or so and into reading crappy teen horror!
June 22, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews