Culture

Author: Francine Pascal. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, (3.5/5).
This is a must-read if you ever read the Sweet Valley High series. Set 10 years on, twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield from sunny Sweet Valley, Southern California, are now archrivals. Jessica, the ever flirtatious, popular and fun-loving 16 year old, has grown up to be exactly as you’d think she’d become: conniving, deceitful and selfish. And of course, lovely Elizabeth, the intelligent, caring and thoughtful twin, grows up being the same as she was at 16, until her twin Jessica pushes her too far and ruins Elizabeth’s life.

 
Broken and hurt, Elizabeth moves to New York City, and plans her evil revenge on Jessica, proving that the twins are not so different after all. What did Jessica do to make Elizabeth turn into a monster like her? You’ll have to read this book to find out (though you can easily guess if you’ve read even one Sweet Valley High book).
 

It’s a light, easy and smutty read, and I have to admit that I had a very guilty satisfaction reading it (but then again, I was a HUGE fan of Sweet Valley when I was in intermediate school). This book brings back all the old characters from the series, and is full of twists, lies, cheating, divorce, and even homosexuality and is a rather funny parody of the “American Dream”. If you aren’t familiar with the Sweet Valley series, than give it a pass. But if you’re like me and you know the series well, run out and get this book, read it in a day, laugh at the silliness of it all, and be grateful that it’s just fiction and that the characters in this book don’t actually exist somewhere in this world (or at least hope that they don’t).