Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself. Do NOT continue to read unless you want to know what cold-hearted-bitch move the twins made this book.
Tag Line: Are Elizabeth and Todd heading for disaster?From the Back of the Book: The end of the road for Todd and Elizabeth? One of the strictest rules in the Wakefield house is "no motorcycles". Ever since their cousin was killed in a crash, Elizabeth and Jessica have been forbidden to go near them. So when Elizabeth's boyfriend Todd drives up on a shiny new Yamaha, she knows there's trouble ahead. She can't ride Todd's bike, but other girls can - and do. And the sight of those girls riding with their arms around Todd is making Elizabeth crazy with jealousy. Todd tells her not to worry, but Elizabeth's scared of losing him. Will Todd's new bike drive them apart?
This book was published in 1984 and I
remember reading it way back in 5th grade. I kinda
remember it but nothing too in depth. This cover is something
special. Her fingers are alien-esque and that is definitely not how
you hold onto someone driving a motorcycle. Also, why do they look
30?
Meet the Cast
*Elizabeth Wakefield –
identical twin of Jessica and massive fucking martyr.
*Jessica Wakefield – identical
twin of Elizabeth with narcissistic and histrionic tendencies
*Ned Wakefield – neglectful
patriarch of the clan and successful lawyer
*Alice Wakefield – neglectful
matriarch of the clan and an interior designer
*Steven Wakefield – older
brother, university student and general asshole
*Enid Rollins – Liz's best
friend and generic good-girl type
*Todd Wilkins – Liz's
douchebag boyfriend and star of the SVH basketball team
*Lila Fowler – Jessica's
self-absorbed best friend and representative of SV new money
*Bruce Patman – school dick
and representative of SV old money
*Ken Matthews – star
quarterback and resident jock stereotype
*Winston Egbert –
stereotypical school nerd
There are more but these are the main
characters that plague us book after book.
In the last book, very little happened.
Jess went on one date with an older boy who attempted to
assault her and then refused to take her home so she ended up being
out all night. Liz covered for her at home and school, taking some
test that was supposed to let them both be summer tour guides. Liz
passed her test but failed Jess's because of a fight with Todd that
led to a week-long breakup. And that was literally it. Nothing else
happened. It was the most nothing book in the history of books.
Our book starts with this description
of the twins in case we've forgotten how physically superior they are
to everyone else in the world: “Tan, blond, with a model-sized
waist and a clear, satin-smooth complexion, both she and her
identical twin were among the best-looking students at Sweet Valley
High.” I just want you to
know that it was exceptionally hard for me to type the word “blond”
without an “e”. Sigh. Anyway, Jess and Liz are driving the
Spider to school because Todd now has a motorcycle and will no longer
be giving them rides in his car. Todd still doesn't know that Liz
has been forbidden to ride on motorcycles and he's looking forward to
giving her a ride. She just keeps sidestepping the issue instead of
just telling him which just shows how immature Liz is. Pascal keeps
writing this as if it's the greatest romantic crises ever but it's
just not that deep. Todd can ride his motorcycle all over the damn
place and then use a car when they go on dates. Crises solved.
We get
a little backstory about the no-motorcycles rule. Their cousin Rexy
was killed at just 16-years-old when his motorcycle was involved in a
head-on collision with a car. As a result, Jess thinks they should
be banned from existence and her parents apparently agree. They made
all their children promise never to get on one. Jess encourages Liz
to just tell Todd about their cousin and the rule and it's always
weird when Jess is the voice of reason in one of these books. Liz
frets that he'll break up with her or something. If he does, he
wasn't the person for her anyway.
I
mean, he's NOT the person for her anyway but I don't think she
is the person for him either, so it kind of balances out. Mostly.
We get
a brief mention of Jess's new boyfriend Danny (who I'm sure will never be seen again after this book) and then the two of them arrive to school and go their separate ways.
Todd isn't there yet, so Liz heads over to Enid to pass the time
until he arrives. Enid is annoyed because her mother went out and
bought fancy engraved invitations for her Sweet 16. Poor, poor Enid.
This is a problem we can all relate to, amirite? \sarcasm font/
Enid doesn't want a fancy party. She wants to hang out with her
friends at the Dairi Burger and that part I can actually relate to.
I just went to the zoo with my friends on my 16th
birthday and it was perfect.
Todd arrives on his
motorcycle and Liz tells us how sexy he looks on the thing. He
probably does since his entire head is covered with a helmet. That's
how I prefer to look at Todd, too. I'm glad he actually has a helmet
since the cover art didn't bother to depict one. He tells her what
kind of bike it is and, when I went to look it up, it looks exactly
like the bike my dad had when I was growing up. I spent a lot of
time riding around on one of those things.
Guy
and Max
rock up to admire the bike. We've met them before – they're
members of The Droids. It's okay if you don't remember them because
they really don't have personalities to speak of. Todd points out a
hot pink helmet strapped to the side and asks Liz if she wants to
take a ride before class. She says she needs to talk to Mr
Collins and then
literally runs away from him. Smooth, Liz.
At lunch, Liz
finally grows the balls to tell Todd that she can't ride on his
motorcycle. He's a little annoyed that she didn't tell him before
but that's about the extent of it. He says he understands the way
her family feels about them but he wishes she could ride with him
because he really thinks she'd love it. He asks her if he can talk
to her parents about it and see if they'd lift the restriction and
she says 'yes' even though she's not sure she wants them to lift the
restriction. They decide to do it after dinner that night.
After school, Liz
heads to the Dairi Burger to check out it's renovation/grand opening.
We get two pages of description about what it looks like now and
what's new on the menu but I seriously couldn't care less. If you
want to know, you'll have to buy the book yourself. Liz is waiting
for Todd and imagining him smeared all over the road when Jess and
Danny squeal into the driveway. Danny doesn't stop in time and bumps
the bumper of a van owned by some dude they all call Crunch.
Crunch was a star something or other on the football team until a
knee injury permanently sidelined him. After that, he dropped out of
school, started drinking and got a job in construction. He's
known to be a bit of a brawler, especially when he's drunk.
Crunch pushes Danny
around a bit but gets distracted when Todd pulls in on the
motorcycle. He goes from menacing to admiring in two seconds flat
and, for some reason, despite the fact it's well known that Crunch
has a drinking problem, Todd tells him he can take the bike for a
spin. Liz is more concerned with the fact that Todd hasn't arrived
alone. A girl named Mandy is on the back of his bike. She's
instantly jealous. Todd explains that he and Mandy were working on a
school project together and he just gave her a ride but Liz still
feels some kind of way about it.
Later, Jess grills
Liz about Todd and Mandy. Jess doesn't think it's as innocent as
Todd made it sound. Liz tells her that Todd is coming by to see if
the motorcycle rule can be amended and that infuriates Jess who can't
believe Liz would ever consider riding on one. Liz says she wasn't
really considering it. She's betting on her parents saying 'no'.
She's not sure what she'll do if they say 'yes'.
She needn't have
worried though. Ned and Alice are barely parents at all but they do
stick to their guns. They make Todd promise that Liz will never be
on the back of his bike. I don't know why it's Todd's responsibility
all of a sudden. It should be Liz who is asked to promise. Todd
leaves and then Pascal suddenly decides to introduce a side plot.
All of a sudden, Jess is interested in being introduced to Enid's
cousin Brian who goes to UCLA. He's going to be at Enid's
party and Jess wants to be his date. I have no idea what happened to
Danny. Maybe Pascal forgot he existed for a minute or two because
neither of the twins mention his name.
Liz meets Enid at
the bus stop the next morning. She's back to riding the bus to
school since she can't ride with Todd anymore and she only gets the
Spider once in awhile. Enid is grumbling about the party planning
and how over-the-top her mom is being about it. Liz sees the
opportunity to bring up Brian and Jess but backs out at the last
second. Todd roars up on the bike. He tells Liz that he
automatically turned down her street just like he used to do every
morning. She's happy to see him and rips off his visor to stick her
tongue down his throat. He likes that. Enid gives them their
engraved invitations and then Todd offers her a ride around the block
on his bike. Enid hands her backpack to Liz and hops on. Liz is
jealous all over again and crushed that people are going to see Todd
riding around with another girl. The bus gets there before Todd and
Enid get back so Liz rides to school on it alone, feeling very sorry
for herself.
I mean.....it's
Liz's very favorite way to feel so I don't feel too bad for her.
At one point during
school, Liz sees Todd and Mandy huddled together in the library.
They're at some Save the Whales meeting or something but she doesn't
like the way Mandy is leaning into Todd with her arm around his
shoulders. She wishes she was Jess and she could go in there and
take charge of the situation but she just slinks away and goes to
whine to Mr Collins instead. Mr Collins, rubs her shoulder
pervily....ahem....I mean reassuringly and tells her that Todd won't
trade her in just because she can't ride his bike. Then he talks a
bit about his ex-wife and their custody battle which is wildly
inappropriate but what else do we expect from this guy?
Liz talks to Enid
at lunch about the motorcycle and I'm already sick to death of this
topic. It never, ever ends. Liz asks Enid to set Jess up with Brian
and Enid gives her a hard fucking no on that one. She tells Liz that
she will never forgive Jess for what she did several books ago when
Enid was dating that psycho Ronnie. Liz defends Jess and says
that Enid is better off without Ronnie anyway which is true but not
the fucking point. Enid refuses to budge and Liz is annoyed.
Because she's a terrible person.
After school, Guy
volunteers to give Liz a ride to the Dairi Burger so she doesn't have
to take the bus. He links arms with her and offers to carry her
books. He talks a little about the band and then does some light
flirting with her, telling her how lucky Todd is to have her and
putting his arm around her shoulders. He asks why Liz isn't riding
around with Todd and she just says “personal reasons” so
maybe I'm going to be spared reading the exact same conversation for
the millionth time in a row.
Todd isn't happy to
see her with Guy when they get to the Dairi Burger and tells her that
he doesn't like her riding around with other guys. Which is just
hypocritical and controlling of him. She says she feels the same way
about him giving rides to girls on his bike and they both have a
laugh at how stupid they sound. Todd tells her not to worry about
Mandy because she and Winston are a thing all of a sudden. That's
news to Liz and to us. Thanks for having Todd tell us what you could
have easily just shown us, Pascal.
Enid calls that
evening and tells Liz that she's decided to leave the past in the
past. She'll fix Jess up with Brian because she thinks he'll have a
fun night with her. They talk a little about the party. Enid
complains that her mom isn't really listening to what she wants. She
feels like the party is way more important to her mother than she is
and that it's turning into her mother's party. Liz reassures Enid
that her mother loves her and that she's probably just excited. When
the phone call ends, she goes to tell Jess that Enid's going to set
her up with Brian after all. Jess is super excited. Liz smugly
thinks that her life is just perfect now.
We skip to Enid's
party. Liz hitches a ride with Jess and Brian because Todd couldn't
borrow a car. I really don't know what happened to the one he had
before. Maybe he sold it when he got the bike? Anyway he's supposed
to meet her there but he never shows. Midnight comes and the party
breaks up. They're all going somewhere else and Enid offers to give
Liz a ride but she wants to wait for Todd for some reason. He
finally shows up after everyone else has left. He tells her that he's
late because he's been talking to Crunch. He's decided to sell the
motorcycle because he knows it bothers Liz so much. He tells her
that he doesn't like not being able to take her places and he hates
seeing her go home with other people. The motorcycle was always his
dream but so is she and he doesn't like it that one is interfering
with the other.
Liz and Todd kiss
for a bit and then Enid's mother interrupts to ask if Liz wants her
to call a cab or something. Liz says she'll just ride with Todd
since it's the last chance she'll have. Todd doesn't like this idea.
One, he promised his parents and, two, he doesn't have the extra
helmet. She says that they're just going a few blocks and she'll be
fine. He eventually gives in but he's still not happy about it.
On the way to the
club, an intoxicated Crunch runs into them. Liz is seriously injured
and ends up in a coma. In the waiting room, the Wakefields scream at
Todd and Steven pretty much tries to choke him. They blame him
entirely even though he didn't force Liz on that bike. He's crushed
and sobs in a corner alone.
Liz survives the
night and tests show that there's no brain damage. Still, she
remains in the coma. The book ends with Todd and Jess sitting by her
beside feeling horribly guilty.
This book didn't
really set up the next one except for the fact that we know it will
continue the story of Liz's recovery. Because you know she'll
recover. There's 3000 of these books.
A little more
happened than the last time at least but it was still pretty padded.
She could have cut last book and this book down a bit and combined
them into one. It would have been less boring to read. Marginally.
