Treacherous Love: The Diary Of An Anonymous Teenager

by Beatrice Sparks

Fourteen-year-old Jennie's life is turning upside down. Her father has walked out, and her anguished mother seeks solace in pills. Her best friend practically abandons her to be with a boyfriend. It seems like Jennie's real best friend is her diary. Then she meets Mr. Johnstone, the substitute math teacher. Jennie has never met such a charismatic teacher. She feels honored when Mr. J. seems to single her out for special attention, and begins to fantasize about him as her boyfriend. When Mr. J. first reveals his feelings for her, she is thrilled by the relationship that grows outside the classroom walls. Then, slowly, Jennie's diary becomes a record of her loneliness, pain, and confusion. Will it also offer her a way to escape from this treacherous love?

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Teen, Diary, Drama, Mental Health, Realistic Fiction

176 pages, ebook

First published May 31, 2000

About the author

Beatrice Sparks was an American therapist and Mormon youth counselor who was known for producing books purporting to be the 'real diaries' of troubled teenagers. The books deal with topical issues such as drug abuse, Satanism, teenage pregnancy or AIDS, and are presented as cautionary tales. Although Sparks always presented herself as merely the discoverer and editor of the diaries, records at the U.S. Copyright Office show that in fact she was listed as the sole author for all but two of them.
Sparks began working with teenagers in 1955, after attending the University of California at Los Angeles and Brigham Young University. She has worked as a music therapist at Utah State Mental Hospital and taught continuing education courses at BYU.
Critics have called the precise extent of Sparks' qualifications and experience into question. The editorial credit on some of the diaries published by Sparks identifies her as "Dr Beatrice Sparks, PhD". However, when journalist Aileen Pace Nilsen interviewed Sparks for School Library Journal in 1979, she was unable to find any confirmation of where or when Sparks earned her doctorate. Nilsen also wrote that Sparks was "vague about specifics" when asked about her counseling qualifications and professional experience.
Sparks said that her experience working with troubled adolescents made her want to produce cautionary tales that would keep other teens from falling into the same traps. Her first work, Go Ask Alice, was published under the byline 'Anonymous' in 1971.

Reviews

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow-de-wow! Like, this is the most totally awesome book I've like, EVER read! When I was reading, like, all the liquid in my like, body, like TOTALLY CARBONATED!
Stupid me, how DUMB and babyish can I BE all the time? Get OVER IT! GROW UP for once! Like, it's JUST a book!

There- you can basically say you've read this book now. You're welcome.

[Bea Casallecchio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely loveeed this book. Unlike Beatrice's other books, like Go ask Alice and Lucy in the Sky i didnt expect the ending i was just shocked and couldnt believe it. I felt angry and helpless for Jennie, and ughhhh frustrated. I absolutely recommend this book. I read it in a day, and i usually take at least a week to read books

[Kristal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book disappointed me. I was expecting a Young Adult novel that dealt with the serious issue of child sexual abuse, but the majority of the book was mainly about Jennie's friend problems. Also, I know this wasn't actually written by a 14 year old-it's quite obvious in the writing style.

[chelsea grace parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

i regretted it

[Michelle Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was highlighting everything I had a problem with so as to include it in this review, but I chose to stop before carpel tunnel set in. What especially annoyed me were the childish words and tendencies that seemed too young for a 14-year-old scattered throughout the whole book: being happy and saying she could detect the happiness of her pajamas and other inanimate objects, crying because she and her best (and only) friend mutually said they were best friends, and so on; and also, just many instances of language that didn't feel authentic to a more modern teenager (this was published in 2000).

I'm no rape expert, but this didn't feel like an authentic account at all; I know it's a work of fiction, but if an author is going to write something down, it seems to me that it should be convincing, whether the subject matter is elves and orcs or something contemporary. Given that Beatrice Sparks supposedly deals with addicted and victimized teens firsthand, one would think she could write a convincing molestation story from all the stories she's been told. She can't, though.

[Anina · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a whole bunch of these Beatrice Sparks PhD books...in each one something (or, actually, a ton of random) horrible things happen to a teenage girl. The plot of this one involves a decline into boinking the math teacher and vicodin addction after the main character's parents get divorced. The series is told in "based on a real diary" form, and here is where I think I should mention that the author's claim to fame is that she was the "editor" of Go Ask Alice. Now, I really like Go Ask Alice, but these are a few steps down from Alice when it comes to quality writing. There's a lot of filler. And I don't know who would believe this is a diary. The foreshadowing is laid on thicker than I knew was possible.

But seriously, if I were 11, I would gobble these up. Fast paced and wholly scandalous! But because I'm actually in my late 20's, I'm laughing at this book, not with it.

[Kiara · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion this book wasn't well-written. In the book,a fourteen-year old girl,Jennie, falls in love with her teacher who then takes sexual pictures of her and sends them to his friends. The reason why I didn't think this book was well-written was because of how stereotypical Jennie was. Being a teenager I've never heard another teenager or myself talk like her. She's very naïve,which many people can argue that all teenagers are naïve,which I somewhat agree with but,Jennie was very stereotypical.The book really gave teenagers a bad name because of how Jennie acted. With this book a serious issue was attempted to be addressed but,wasn't addressed well. Mostly, the book just talked about Jennie's friends and their problems. Too many issues were trying to be addressed that the main idea of this whole book was rushed.The book is really sounds fake and not like a real life situation. For example,Jennie and her friends get into an argument. She then calls her and her friend,Marcie, says "It's okay for forever friends to get mad at each other." Not many teenagers say that. I understand the point that the author was trying to get across but, it sounds so corny. In conclusion, I think this book could use some improvements and to be written better.

[Leann Waite · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was this really supposed to be from a diary of a 14 year old? Because the voice read like an 11 year old! I don't know ANY teenagers that talk THIS immature. I read this years ago but apparently I must have been sleeping through it then because this time I couldn't get past 30 pages. Horrible.... and if it was really "Edited by Beatrice Sparks", why couldn't she edit out at least some of the grammatical errors? Completely unreadable, this book is going straight to Goodwill.

[Britanny · Rating 1 out of 5]

No, I wasn't expecting much and I only read it because my neighbor let me borrow it but damn was this terrible. Yes, it was for a whole $1 and it definitely read like it.

I'm talking all this crap about the book, but what exactly was wrong with it? For starters, I know I've never been typical, but never has my diary dialogue looked anything like what was in this book. Dialogue like this never matches what an actual adolescent/teenager talks like, and it really took me out of the book for the annoyance.
Another issue is because of the length. It's only 162 pages long so there's not much information given and everything moved so quickly, almost as it the whole book was an afterthought or an idea, which brings me to my last issue.
Why are we continuing to publish books like this? It's not informative, so what's the point? Men are creeps, we get it.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was unlike any of the other books I have read before because this one was a diary of a fourteen year old girl, who talks about her life and how it has changed. It started out with her talking about her best friend and how she felt neglected by her once she has a boyfriend. Then she describes her problems at home, when her father decides to leave her and her mother. Towards the middle and end of the book though, she starts obsessing about her substitute teacher, Mr. J. She talks about how much he inspires her and motivates her. Once she mentioned this, I felt like the diary was weird because it was a relationship between a student and teacher that had a closer connection. Mr. J started writing little notes to her and asking Jennie to be his aid. I feel like this book was overall good because altough it was a true story, the things the girl writes about can be relatable. For example, her relationship with her best friends and the problems the girls faced can happen to other people too. But the part with her relationship with the teacher felt really creepy, in a way, I felt like the teacher was leading her on. I guess I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading non-fiction books.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I won't really write a real review because I picked this book up when I was sixteen and had just fallen head over heels for my history teacher. I even hid it in my room because I was sure if my mom found this book she would be on to me.

I obviously then was not so into the cautionary tale that this book obviously truly was (yes, at 16, I was expecting a romance like a dense fool). So I wasn't that into it.

Now as a teacher and an adult woman, I am glad that a book like this exists, even if I think most sixteen year olds in my position still wouldn't want to hear it. It is a lot more of a realistic slap in the face of the true creepiness if such a situation ever really progressed than any of the teen "romance" books out there right now that seem to glorify such relationships.

Because really, ladies, if your male teacher is reciprocating these feelings of yours, there is something wrong with him, period. He is taking advantage of his power in the situation.

But that being said, such crushes are fun. You learn more than you will in any other class, and it can (most the time) serve as a model for a good man you will meet someday (BUT AGAIN, as long as he does not reciprocate.)

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was my first time reading this one, which means it didn’t have that cloud of nostalgia hanging over it like some of the other ones. But I’m pretty sure I would have found this one awful even as a kid.

This book is truly terrible. The plot of a teacher preying on his 14 year old student is too important to be treated so poorly, but it’s barely even touched upon and then just abruptly ends. Most of this book is actually just drama with Jennie’s friends, and we don’t even find out until the trial (which lasts only one paragraph and is confusingly written) that she went farther than kissing with the teacher. With as much detail as she provides on her friend’s boring lives, you’d think she would have written more about the “love of her life”. She also keeps saying that her mom doesn’t even know the worst of what she did with him, but unless I missed something, neither do we. It was all just completely glossed over.

Since it’s obvious this is a fake diary anyway, I can’t figure out why Beatrice Sparks didn’t put more detail into this. For someone trying to fool people into thinking it’s an authentic diary, she really missed the mark here.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that the pacing of this book was slow, for it being about a girl who gets involved with her teacher a lot of it was spent talking about her friends and family, and the amount that dealt with her teacher was surprisingly small. For a good portion of the book, her teacher isn't even a character.

I didn't feel that this protagonist was as realistic as the protagonist in Go Ask Alice and I didn't much like her. She uses a lot of words I feel like a 14 year old wouldn't know [and states herself that she is bad in English class so its not that she is just smart for her age]. She is also a little annoying. On almost every page she will say something and then take it back in the next journal entry, "I hate my mom," "No, I don't, I'm just being a horrible person." She changes her mind on just about everything and is always talking badly about herself. She develops very little over the year of the story.

I get the moral message behind the story but this one just wasn't strong enough or realistic enough for me to really like it as much as Go Ask Alice.

[Carrie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. I know this is supposed to be the anonymous diary of a teen, and sometimes the writing and topics were SO juvenile, it was completely believable. But other times, I just had a hard time believing this was a real diary written by a real junior high student; it felt more like a cautionary tale written by an adult behind a typewriter somewhere imagining what a teen in this situation would say and do.
I am most certainly not trying to belittle the teen who went through this experience or minimize the seriousness of her victimization! This is simply an observation and meant to serve as an explanation for my rating.
I did sincerely appreciate the Q&A section at the end as well as the hotline numbers for teens in crisis. Very pertinent, valuable information. If this book helps even one teen who is in such a devastating situation, then it actually deserves 5 stars, not 3!

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has probably been the most relatable and realistic book i have read in awhile. It is a true story about a teenage girl's life and all the twists and turns it has taken. She talks about a variety of issues, from her relationship with her bestfriend after she got a boyfriend to her relationship with her substitute teacher. I really thought that the author did a really good job setting the mood of this book. She really did a great job making the reader uncomfortable when talking about the relationship between Jennie and Mr. J.

Overall i really liked this book and i recomend it to just about anyone.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so messed up, but is so good. I couldn't put the book down and read it in one day. It was disgusting, but interesting. The only issue that I had with the book was that Jennie was too moralistic. She would say something about herself and then say how horrible that is and how she should say good stuff about herself. I don't mind that I think like that too, but she would do it every entry. But a very good book overall.

[Zoey Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good. I could not put it down, and I thought it was one of Sparks best. I am very sad that I lost the book right before I finished it, but I think I got the essence of the book from the majority that I read. It was intense and heart breaking, sometimes cheesy, but it was written a long time ago. I definitely recommend it for readers 7th grade and above, because it also has a good lesson in the end.

[Soaring Seahawk · Rating 2 out of 5]

An unrealistic approach to what could have made for in interesting plot. The author of this novel clearly does not comprehend how teenagers act, therefore, their edit of this anonymous diary seems very exaggerated and unrealistic. I give, Treacherous Love, two stars and would not recommend it.

Lauren Nagy

[Emily Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this novel pretty boring. Although the idea that it was a true story does add some substance to the novel, I felt like this novel was not based on any real topic, and had no real plot.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

That, was weird.

[Elyse]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

[Daniella Ivette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete and utter bollocks.

Since I was on a masochistic mood reading real trashy books, I decided to pick this one up. Yes, I've read Go Ask Alice (which by now everyone and their Grandma knows it's a hoax) along with Rick Emerson's Unmask Alice (which I also reviewed here, bloody good book that is!). With those books under my belt, I was well prepared for Ms. Sparks's other fake journals.

First of all: NO TEENAGER writes so much purple prose in a journal that is supposed to see for his/her eyes only. So many adjectives for one thing, when one or two would've been enough (along with the "sameness", "nothingness", anything+ess that we got used to in Go Ask Alice ). Also, Jennie herself lacked any depth to her character, she was sort of there, trying to be your stock teenage girl character from your pic of any 90s TV series.

Second point: Not even teachers speak in such a syrupy way like "Mr. J**k me off" did to Jennie, even if they're grooming her, which was actually the case. Also, I'm not sure if this was supposed to take place in the late 90s (the book was published in 2000, if I recall correctly), but how can a teacher nibble a student's neck in a classroom without at least a kid noticing (unless the classroom was vacant, and even then, maybe a passerby would've seen)? OK, a touch/grope here and there can go unnoticed, but a NIBBLE on the neck/ear? That shows some serious negligence in the school's part. And as we can read further into the book, Jennie was not the first "chickie little" (yes, I'm quoting verbatim here) Mr J got involved with. Maybe with the budding Internet, background checks weren't all that great - but here it seems like the school didn't even bother with that. However, I do applaud that Jennie kept the notes and diary entries for the trial.

Ms. Sparks claimed to be a youth therapist, but it doesn't show here. Either these teens she supposedly treated write the same way, same sentences lifted word by word from each other's "diaries", or she made everything up. These teens (save for Alden Barrett, the main inspiration for Jay's Journal ) weren't real.

A youth therapist would know how to deal with a r*pe survivor. The issue is merely glossed over, and the book focuses on Jennie's friends' issues and her parents' fights. If any of you expect an honest, truthful story of a r*pe victim and her treatment, go look elsewhere.

All in all, it's painfully obvious this journal is not written by an actual teen. And don't give me the "it was edited from her notes" either. I didn't buy it in Alice's diary, and I won't do it here either.

I will, however, try and read the Nancy and Annie's books. Just for the lulz, if I can find them.

[Beckelea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a teenage girl who hates to read books, but I had to choose a book for class. I chose Treacherous Love because it looks like a pretty short book and I thought it was going to be about a teenager who has problems with love. It was an easy read and it was kind of about a teenage girl finding love. Have you ever had a crush on one of your teachers, and ever wondered if he or she liked you back? In Treacherous Love, a teenage girl has a substitute and ends up getting a crush on him and he likes her back. I liked this book because it has to do with teenagers close to my age that go through divorces that affect the whole family and I liked that it was easy to read.

I liked that the book was an easy read because the chapters aren’t very long and the grammar and words were really easy to read. I also liked how it was easy to connect to because she is pretty close to my age and her divorce she went through was easy to relate to because her dad just walked out on her and her mother. For example, her dad walked out on her, and never called them, or came back to say sorry for just walking out on them. Divorce can be hard on teenagers and this book helps because it goes through how the girl and here mother get through it even when there's rough patches through it.

If your not a fan of students having crushes on their teachers and then there teachers liking them back then you might not like this book. This can be a difficult topic because most people don't like the idea of that at all and find that very weird and inappropriate for the teacher to be acting that way toward the students. This might be especially true if you are a parent of a student around the age of 14 or if you children go to school in general. Maybe this wouldn't be as uncomfortable if the students were older than 14 years old.

Most teenage girls would like this book because it deals with her liking the teacher but also like a boy her age and towards the end of the book she tries to decide if she wants to be with that boy or not. A couple of other things i like about this book was that it when over some ways how her mom got addicted to pills once her dad left then, it also went through so ways on how they dealt with the issue also and it showed how it affected the teenage girl as well when her was on the pills. This is why i believe that most girls and people in general might really like this book.

[Christina Chilelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Treacherous Love” follows the story of a fourteen year old girl as she falls in love with her substitute teacher. It documents the change in her feelings for and about him as he seduces her. She starts out a normal girl, always writing about her close friends, but slowly, as her substitute teacher manipulates her, starts to become closed off from them. Furthermore, she struggles with more “common” problems, such as second-hand boy drama from her friends, her friends moving away, her parent’s divorce, and drug use (both her and those around her). Her teacher starts to show her affection, beginning with just making her his classroom aid and the like, but eventually, they begin an illegal and secret relasonship. The main character is believable, constantly swinging from mood to mood and obsession to obsession as most teenagers do. While she does lack some emotional access towards the end, overall, she is a fairly realistic and normal teenage girl, which enables the reader to consider the dangers of child abuse-it can happen to anyone.
I feel I should mention early on that the story is meant to illuminate all the methods in which child predators attempt to prey on children and teenagers to help inform them of the dangers of such people, not to suggest that such behavior is acceptable. The author includes several notes to teenagers and adults, as well as a Q and A, and help hotlines encouraging possible victims to reach out. In other words, it warns children to set healthy boundaries and alerts them to some signs. Occasionally, the use of all upper case writing to emphasis a point gets distracting, but it does add a level of realism to the character. It’s definitely something a teenager would do. Furthermore, the story is believable. It happens in a way that the reader can see “actually happening” and gives them a bit of a peak into the mental state of victims, which is something most “safe environment” trainings don’t do. It does, however, let the reader better understand the mental state of such teenagers and children, because they get to watch it play out in the book.

[Jessica Kuzmier · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Treacherous Love’ is a short diary-styled book recording the abuse of a teenager who is sexually exploited by her substitute teacher.

If this book had been a fictional diary written by an adult, I would say that it was not particularly well-written. Many of the characters seemed one-dimensional, and the narrative was very uneven. But as the book was marketed as a real-life diary edited by Beatrice Sparks of ‘Go Ask Alice’ fame, I found myself taking a softer approach in analyzing the writing.

I read ‘Go Ask Alice’ many years ago, and that book’s message resonated more with me than ‘Treacherous Love’ did. But a book like ‘Treacherous Love’ does not seem to be intended as high literature or entertainment. Instead, it comes of as more a polemic or a public outreach document. It certainly read better than a list of dos and don’ts handed out in a junior high health class, and perhaps would be more accessible to a teenager that is in the position as the protagonist in ‘Treacherous Love’.

Because the book was written in 2000, relevant issues such as sexting, social media and online predators are not specifically addressed. But in the wake of the #MeToo movement, addressing sexual predation in any form towards underage adolescents is an important issue, and ‘Treacherous Love’ does exactly that.

Whether this diary was actually a true-life account or an edited document based on piecemeal testimonies of several teenagers to protect their anonymity, if the book’s message helps one teenager to avoid being in the same position as the main character in ‘Treacherous Love’ ( or at least come forward to a trusted adult), then the book was worth it. The intended message of the book is why I chose to give the book three stars, despite any shortcomings of its context or contents.

[Jo Besser · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank the lord this was a quick read. Because I honestly can't believe that this was written by a 14 year old. (Because it wasn't.) The slang was so outdated, even by 2000 standards. Not only that, there is no way that a 14 year old would write like that even in a diary. The whole thing was super cringy to be honest.

I mean, also Beatrice (Sorry I have no reason to be respectful to them) must really hate durgs. Because I feel like this is a trope in almost every single book she writes. I'm sorry, I mean edits. And then the fact that it wasn't even sexual abuse. It was grooming more or less.

I'll continue to read all of Beatrice's books, because I want to see if they are all the same. Which I bet they are.

[Gabriella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Beatrice Sparks book I’ve read after “Go Ask Alice”. The book is written in diary entries like the rest of the teenage books Beatrice Sparks has written. This book was quite captivating page-turner when I was in middle school due to the nature of the Jennie’s life when she gets involved with her teacher, but I’m not exactly sure I would feel the same way about the nature of the book as an adult. The book isn’t bad by any means but my POV has changed about how I feel about the subject of the book. This read is targeted to the young adult audience who will be intrigued by the story.

[Danalee Krzuk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally started and finished it in about an hour if you’re looking for a quick read. That’s about all the positives I can say about it. Was I that annoying and self centred as a teenager? The language doesn’t ring true to a teenager, and it’s a slow read story wise. If one more book preaches to me about going to church - guess what?! Churches and religion fuck up people more often than not, so stop trying to shove her belief that god will save her down my throat. If he was going to, he would have. Dull, and insulting to a very important, very serious topic.

[Alexa · Rating 1 out of 5]

too short. incredibly juvenile. it is astonishingly sanitized for the topic of an illicit relationship between a teacher and his student, the approach to which i found dull and filled with potential that unfortunately remained untapped. i felt nothing while reading this book, compared to the rage and discomfort i felt while reading jacqueline wilson's love lessons. good books make you feel things. they make you feel for the protagonist. this just made me want to go to sleep. i had zero connection with jennie or mr. johnstone. and by god jonathan johnstone is such a stupid name.

[Kerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s become well known that most of Beatrice Spark’s “edited, anonymous” journals were actually entirely or almost entirely written by Sparks and not actual teenagers. This book has the exact same tone and style as so many of the other “anonymous diaries” by Sparks.

I thought the plot could’ve been interesting but overall, while I wanted to see how it ended, it was pretty blah.