Sweet Valley High #89 Elizabeth Betrayed, Murder on the Line, and #90 Don't Go Home with John

In Sweet Valley High #89, Elizabeth Betrayed, Olivia's boyfriend is obsessed with Elizabeth.  Rod talks about Liz all the time while he is with Olivia, and Olivia begins to resent Liz.  Meanwhile, Liz has trouble with an English essay, and Rod offers to help her.  Rod gives Liz some good ideas, and Liz is able to finish the essay.  Later, Liz is accused of plagiarism and is kicked off of the staff of The Oracle.

This is all ridiculous.  The book's synopsis makes it sound like a mystery about who could have possibly betrayed Liz.  If Liz gets help from Rod and is then accused of plagiarism, then it should be obvious who caused the problem.

This book is mediocre.

In Sweet Valley High Super Thriller, Murder on the Line, it's a new summer vacation, yet the Wakefield twins have the same jobs as interns at the city's newspaper as in the previous Super Thriller editions.  The Wakefields also have the same house guest, Adam, and the girls have the same knack for running into dangerous mysteries.

The phones are messed up in the Western Building, and Jessica's phone allows her to eavesdrop on conversations.  Jessica learns about a planned murder before it happens.  After the murder, Jessica tells the police who connect the murder to a drug ring.  Jessica soon realizes that someone in the newspaper office is part of the drug ring, but she suspects the wrong person.

This book is pretty good, but it's time to drop the summer intern story and go with something else.

In Sweet Valley High #90, Don't Go Home with John, Lila Fowler and John Pfeifer become interested in each other.  On their first date, Lila and John park at Miller's Point.  John suddenly becomes aggressive, trying to force himself on Lila.  Lila is only able to get away after she stabs John in the neck with his keys.

In the following days, Lila blames herself for the attempted rape.  She cannot come to terms with it.  Lila finally blurts out the truth at a party, but John claims that what happened was consensual.  Only some of Lila's acquaintances believe her.  Will Lila ever regain her reputation?

This series actually gets serious about the topic of date rape.  The early books in the series feature several attempted rapes which are made out not to be a big deal.  Bruce tries to rape Liz?  No problem!  Scott tries to rape Jessica?  Whatever!  Finally, a girl reacts like this sort of thing might actually be serious.

I enjoyed this book.