Sweet Valley High, Three Novels: Double Love, Secrets & Playing with Fire

Sweet Valley High, Three Novels:

Double Love, Secrets & Playing with Fire

by Francine Pascal

Double Love

In Double Love, Elizabeth and Jessica both have their eye on Todd.  Todd likes Elizabeth, but Jessica keeps getting in the way, flirting with him, telling him how popular Elizabeth is, seeing other boys, etc.  It makes you wonder if the only reason Jessica wants Todd is because she knows her sister likes him.

Jessica also goes out with a troublemaker one night that ends up her being taken home by the cops.  In a mix-up, they think she is Elizabeth and soon rumors are going around school about Elizabeth being in trouble with the cops.  

I didn't really like Jessica in this novel, she just seems so self-centered.  In other books in the series, she's decent, just not this one.

Secrets

In Secrets, Jessica is nominated to be the prom queen.  Jessica worries that another girl, Enid, will win, so she tries to sabotage Enid from winning.  Enid has a secret, and Jessica tells Enid's boyfriend, Ronnie.  Ronnie becomes jealous and angry and they break up.

Luckily, Elizabeth steps in and fixes things so in the end Jessica has a surprise herself.  It's been a while since I read these books, I don't remember how selfish Jessica always was.  Elizabeth was my favorite as a kid.

Playing with Fire

In Playing with Fire, Jessica is dating Bruce.  Bruce is popular and very rich.  It was odd to see Jessica running around getting treated like dirt.  I don't know why Jessica wants to be with him when he doesn't treat her very well.

This was a change from the last two stories in this book as Jessica wasn't being selfish.

Overall I enjoyed this book, it was fun to read these again since I read them as a kid.  I have read a couple of Francine Pascal's novels where Elizabeth and Jessica are in their thirties and it's interesting to read who they end up with down the road and how the author switches things around.