**This blog contains adult language.**
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.
NOTE: I am very aware that these books were written by ghost writers but since Pascal put her name on the cover, I'm holding her solely responsible for everything that happens on these pages.
From the Back of the Book: When Todd Wilkins moved to Vermont, Elizabeth Wakefield’s heart was broken. She thought that she would never get over losing him. But after months passed, Elizabeth fell in love again. Now she and Jeffrey French are one of the happiest couples at Sweet Valley High. Then Todd writes to Elizabeth and tells her that he is moving back to Sweet Valley and that he still cares for her. Although she loves Jeffrey, Elizabeth realizes she still has strong feelings for Todd. Suddenly she is faced with a very difficult choice – a choice between the only two boys she has ever loved. What will Elizabeth do?
Meet the Cast
*Elizabeth Wakefield – identical twin of Jessica and massive fucking martyr.
*Jessica Wakefield – identical twin of Elizabeth with narcissistic and histrionic tendencies
*EvilNed Wakefield – neglectful patriarch of the clan and successful lawyer
*VileAlice Wakefield – neglectful matriarch of the clan and an interior designer
*CreepySteven Wakefield – older brother, university student and general asshole
*Enid Rollins – Liz's best friend and generic good-girl type
*Todd Wilkins – To be determined.
*Lila Fowler – Jessica's self-absorbed best friend and representative of SV new money
*DisgustingBruce Patman – school dick and representative of SV old money
*Winston Egbert – stereotypical school nerd
*Jeffrey French – To be determined.
There are more but these are the main characters that plague us book after book.
This book was published in 1989 and this is my first time reading it. You know, I have no idea who that is on the cover? Is it supposed to be Jeffrey? Todd? Either way, it looks dumb. The models look like siblings. We're having a real Flowers in the Attic moment here.
{{{Note from future me: Todd is described later in the book as having dark hair so I guess this is Jeffrey.}}}
In the last book, Jess built a lie detector so she could prove Lila was lying about her father’s famous girlfriend (she wasn’t). Oh, and Olivia developed a crush on her art teacher. Said art teacher bordered on creepy and I did not enjoy my reading experience.
Missing, Presumed Dead: KirktheJerk, Jade and Roger remain buried deep under the Wakefield Compound. At this point I’m going to take them off the milk cartons because I suspect they are gone forever. Unfortunately Prince Albert was also kept below ground. Not one of those Wakefield bastards thought to bring him along when they made their escape. I’ve also just realized that we haven’t seen Recorder in a few books. I guess he ended up in the dungeon as well.
Escaped From the Wakefield Compound: EvilNed, VileAlice and CreepySteven unfortunately made their great escape. None of them brought the dog.
#freethedogorweriot
We start with Liz tossing and turning in bed because of the news that Todd is returning to Sweet Valley. We get a recap of all their “special times” and then a recap of when Todd moved to Vermont and he and Liz failed at having a long distance relationship. Liz tells us that he’s not dating Suzanne anymore. I kind of forgot that was a thing.
Liz still hasn’t said anything to Jeffrey about Todd's reemergence. He’s been away visiting relatives so he hasn’t heard the gossip yet but she knows it won’t take long for word to reach him. She agonizes over how to tell him and whether she wants to date him or Todd. She doesn’t think her feelings for Jeffrey have ever been as strong as her feelings for the douchebag. I mean Todd.
I love how she’s just assuming that Todd will want to date her when he gets back.
We skip to the twin descriptions and I’ll spare you the love poem to their physical beauty. In this one, Liz is called the twin that prepares for the future while Jess is the twin who lives for the moment.
That was less inaccurate than usual. Do we have a new ghostie filling in?
Jess comes in and asks Liz what she’s going to do about Todd because Jess also assumes Todd wants Liz back. Liz says she doesn’t know. Jess suggests Todd and Jeffrey duel for Liz's affection.
I could be on board with that.
Liz thinks it’s odd that Todd never wrote to her to tell her he was moving back. Most people would take that as a possible sign that he’s not interested in a reconciliation but not our confident queen.
We skip ahead an hour or two. Liz breaks the news of Todd’s return to Jeffrey before school. He’s clearly shocked but he tries to recover. He says he looks forward to finally meeting Todd because everyone has such nice things to say about him. I don’t. He’s clearly upset but trying to hide it. Liz can tell that he wants some kind of reassurance from her that they’ll stay together but she can’t give it to him because she doesn’t know what she’ll do.
Liz is the worst. The fact that she's even considering getting back with Todd means it's time to break up with Jeffrey. He deserves better.
And Todd deserves Liz. I say that with absolute malice.
We skip ahead a couple of days. Liz goes to the Dairi Burger after school with Enid hoping to trauma dump all over her but they run into Jess, Ken, Lila, Aaron and Jeffrey. Lila is telling the entire table about Todd’s dad being made the president of some tech company. He’s going to be super rich now and they’ve bought a mansion just down the road from her house. Liz can’t picture Todd living in a mansion.
Sounds like Lila got a letter from Todd. We know Winston did as well. Interesting.
Ken says he got a letter from Todd saying that he’s not going to be returning to Sweet Valley High. Now that they’re rich, his parents have enrolled him in some private prep school. Liz is hurt that Todd’s apparently written letters to everyone but her. She goes off on a panic spiral that Todd will be more popular now that he’s rich and she might have competition for his time and attention.
Liz makes me tired.
We’re in Jeffrey’s head. He’s very anxious about Todd coming back and taking Liz away from him. He considers that a loss but I consider it a blessing. He can tell that Liz is conflicted and that makes him even more anxious. When Liz and Enid leave, he asks Ken and Aaron what kind of guy Todd is. Ken starts singing his praises but Aaron shrugs and says Todd is just a regular guy.
He pronounced 'douchebag' wrong.
We’re back with Liz. She gets home from school on Friday to find a letter from Todd. It’s clear it was written quite awhile ago but it got hung up in the mail somewhere. He writes about how excited he is to be coming back to Sweet Valley. He tells her that he still cares about her and he’d like to start dating her again but he knows she’s seeing someone.
Clearly that’s not going to deter him much.
I hate Todd.
We get endless pages of Liz talking to Enid about her Big Choice and taking to Jess about her Big Choice and Taking to herself about her Big Choice.
Haven’t had to use that one in awhile.
Jess encourages Liz to choose Todd because she really wants to meet a rich private school boy.
We skip to Sunday. Todd comes over to the compound as soon as his feet touch Sweet Valley soil. Liz puts on a locket he gave her with his picture in it so RIP Jeffrey I guess. Todd is excited to see the locket and they hug. He makes his intentions to win her back pretty clear and they almost kiss.
These are not nice people and they deserve each other.
We skip ahead a few days. Todd comes to dinner at the compound at the invitation of EvilNed and VileAlice who have apparently missed him. Jeffrey is really hurt about it and I can’t blame him.
Jess pumps Todd for details about his new private prep school. Todd tells them all about the amazing campus and all the rich people things he now has access too. Liz frets that she’ll never be able to fit into his new life.
Seriously?
Liz, you’re fucking rich too. You live in a massive house with an in-ground pool and you have every advantage you could possibly need. Miss me with this ‘I’m just a poor girl in love with a rich boy’ bullshit.
Later Todd tells Liz that he’ll wait for her to figure out whether she wants to date him or stay with Jeffrey. He just needs some kind of sign from her that there’s hope. She implies that there is without actually saying anything definitive.
Liz dithers some more about her Big Choice. I want to smack her. With a shovel.
We skip to Friday. Jeffrey brings Liz flowers and takes her to the Valley Inn for a romantic date. He’s trying very hard here to hold onto something that isn’t good for him in the first place. He’s an absolute mess thinking of losing her.
We skip ahead again to some party that Winston is having. People are gathered around taking bets on who Liz will choose. We see Hugh at this party. I almost forgot he existed. He’s Enid’s boyfriend, by the way, in case you also almost forgot he existed.
Todd and Jeffrey have a very awkward first meeting while Liz stands there and looks miserable. Todd seems uneasy and Jeffrey seems terrified.
Is this over? I want this to be over. Where do we stand on that whole quitting the blog thing?
No?
Sigh.
We skip ahead to Thursday. I can’t believe how quickly we’re flying through the days. You know, with the amount of calendar skipping we do in these books, the twins should be 35 by now. Anyway, Jess convinces Todd and she and Liz absolutely need a tour of his new school and he’s happy to oblige. Liz is intimidated by the place. She’s heard rumors from Lila that Todd has been seen at the country club playing tennis with a classmate named Courtney several times.
Another name for the spreadsheet. Sigh.
So when I went to add her, I realized we’ve encountered a Courtney before. She was the daughter of one of Bruce’s dad’s friends. We met her in that super edition where they went on the bike trip and she spent her time flirting with Todd. I thought for a minute it might be the same girl but Liz is acting like they’ve never met so it must be a different Courtney who is rich and flirts with Todd. Seriously, Pascal?
Todd introduces them to another spreadsheet addition named Sheffield. Jess flirts with him pretty heavily and he seems receptive. A beautiful girl comes up and Liz realizes that it’s the Courtney that Todd’s been playing tennis with. Apparently he’s also escorted her to several rich people events as a favor to his father (his dad works with her dad). Liz thinks that Todd belongs to Courtney and the school now and she could never compete. Todd seems to sense her discomfort and he reassures her that he hasn’t changed and he’s the same douchebag he was before his dad got rich. They almost kiss again.
Later Jess advises Liz to do what’s best for her and to put her feelings first. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what Liz was going to do anyway. It’s all she ever does.
We skip ahead to Saturday. Liz talks to VileAlice about her Big Choice and VileAlice basically says that everything will become clear in time. Liz just has to wait it out.
That's not helpful but I'm not surprised.
Lila, Cara and Enid come over to use the pool. Lila is full of news about a party Todd is having to show off his new house. She says that he asked Courtney to be his date and she’s going to act as co-host. Liz is crushed.
Stupidly, we’re in Courtney’s head. She’s at the school getting ready to ride one of the horses that apparently live there and are available to the students. She thinks to herself that Lila has been very useful in her quest to get Todd from Liz. Courtney is sure that Todd really wants to be with her deep down and she just has to remove the distraction of his ex-girlfriend.
As she’s riding, Courtney comes across Sheffield playing tennis with his brother. She stops to talk to him – telling him that she’s worried Todd is going to get hurt when he finds out that Liz has no intention of leaving Jeffrey. She says that she heard from a Wakefield family friend that Jeffrey gave Liz a promise ring. She's hoping Sheffield will run right over to Todd to relay this completely made up information.
Now we’re in Todd’s head. Sheffield finds him and tells him about the promise ring just like Courtney had hoped. Todd is devastated. He decides he needs to step aside and admit defeat. He was hoping Liz might be his date for his party but since that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, he decides to ask Courtney. It will make his father happy at least.
We’re with Jess. She goes on a date with Sheffield who seems very nice but she finds him boring.
We skip head several days and now we’re in Liz’s head. She gets the invite to Todd’s party and it’s addressed to “Elizabeth Wakefield and friend”. She assumes this means Todd doesn’t want her back anymore because he’s encouraging her to date Jeffrey.
Or maybe he figured you’d bring your actual boyfriend that you haven’t bothered to break up with to the party, Liz.
Liz finally admits to herself that she loves Todd and she’d rather be with him than Jeffrey. But since she thinks Todd doesn’t want her anymore, she doesn’t break it off with poor Jeffrey.
I hate her. I hate her so much.
We skip ahead to the day of the party. We’re hopping back and forth between Liz and Jeffrey and it’s really annoying. He feels physically sick because he can tell she doesn’t really want to be with him. He’s heard the rumors about Todd and Courtney and he thinks Liz is only with him because she can’t have Todd.
Jeffrey is perceptive.
Hang in there, buddy. Maybe Enid will break up with Hugh who barely exists and then she can buy a wagon full of canned peaches to repurchase you. It worked once before after all.
We see most of the cast at the party, including CreepySteven who emerged from the basement of the compound in order to dance with his underage girlfriend. He’s not the only fully adult man at the party dancing with an underage girl. Lila is there with someone named Drake who is way too old for her.
At some point in the evening, Jeffrey witnesses Courtney slip a piece of paper into Liz’s unattended jacket pocket. Liz is in the bathroom so Jeffrey follows Courtney to see what she’s up to. He does not, however, remove the piece of paper from Liz’s coat. Courtney approaches Todd and claims to have a horrible headache. She asks him to take her to the gazebo where it will be more quiet. Todd agrees to walk her out there. Jeffrey follows.
We slide over to Jess. She’s enjoying showing Sheffield off to all her friends. They seem impressed by him….or at least by his money. Somehow the topic gets turned around to his senior class project and Jess is dismayed when he says he’ll be living and working in a homeless shelter for the entirety of his senior year. He’s also going to sell his Mercedes and donate the money.
I like Sheffield. I assume this is his last appearance in the Sweet Valley universe and I’m grateful for that. He’s too good for this series.
Back to Liz. She finds the note in her jacket pocket. It appears it's from Todd asking Liz to meet him in the gazebo. She thinks it’s weird that it’s printed instead of written in cursive because apparently Todd is a cursive boy. She’s too excited to question it much and she rushes out the door.
How does she know where the gazebo is?
We’re with Todd. He ends up half carrying Courtney to the gazebo after she fakes an ankle injury. She clings to him when he tries to leave her there and then she forces a kiss on him.
Not cool, Courtney. He's a douchebag but consent still matters.
We’re with Liz. She sees Todd and Courtney kissing as she’s meant to. She starts crying and runs off.
Now we’re with Jeffrey. He watches Liz’s dramatic reaction and realizes that she still loves Todd. He finds the note on the ground where Liz dropped it and figures out what happened. He knows he can keep his mouth shut and he won’t lose Liz but he wants her to be happy even if it’s not with him. He goes to talk to Todd.
Jeffrey has always been too good for Liz. Which isn’t hard. Be free, Jeffrey. Be happy.
Maybe you should move to Vermont.
Or start dating Annie. We haven't seen her in like a hundred years at this point. I'm pretty sure Pascal forgot she exists.
Liz drives away from the party and ends up at Secca Lake. There’s an abandoned boathouse where she and Todd used to make out so she heads for that. She realizes she needs to break up with Jeffrey because she “can’t give him her whole heart” anymore. As she’s sitting out there sobbing, she hears a car. It’s Todd. They run into each other’s arms.
Todd explains the whole gazebo incident to her. Liz realizes that Jeffrey sacrificed his own happiness for hers. Todd and Liz make out for awhile and then head back to the party so she can talk to Jeffrey.
The book just fucking ends there. I guess the next one will pick up where this left off? I hope? I can’t believe Pascal cheated us out of an ending. She made us slog through a hundred plus pages of Liz going back and forth between the boy we all knew she was going to pick and the boy who was too good for her anyway and she didn’t even give us a resolution.
I hate Pascal.
Coming Up Next: I don’t fucking know. It’s called “In Love Again”.
