Thursday, January 25, 2018

Sweet Valley High A Night to Remember, #95 The Morning After, #96 The Arrest, and #97 The Verdict

Note: This post contains major plot spoilers.

In Sweet Valley High Magna Edition, A Night to Remember, Liz comes up with the idea of having a Jungle Prom.  The Jungle Prom will feature decorations that have a jungle theme.  Jessica suggests having a local environmental group sponsor the Jungle Prom.  The students will vote for a jungle king and queen during the prom, and the jungle queen will receive a trip to Brazil, courtesy of the environmental group.

Both Liz and Jess have their hearts set on being voted jungle queen.  Jessica resorts to dirty tricks, and Liz becomes insanely angry, screaming with rage at Jessica.  At the Jungle Prom, Jessica spikes Liz's drink with alcohol.  Liz leaves with Jessica's boyfriend, Sam.  Liz crashes the Jeep, and Sam gets killed.

While all of this is happening, Lila continues to struggle with the time that John Pfeifer tried to rape her, accusing her counselor of attempted rape.  Bruce Patman falls in love with a mysterious girl, but he doesn't know her name.  And the students of Sweet Valley High get into a huge brawl with the students of Big Mesa High.

In short, everyone has gone crazy.

I did not enjoy this book.  The book is too bizarre.  It was written this way to force a change in the series, but it didn't work for me.

In Sweet Valley High #95, The Morning After, Sam is dead.  Jessica hates Liz, considering Sam's death to be completely Liz's fault; it's not like the drink that Jessica spiked had anything to do with Liz being drunk.  Liz cannot remember anything about the Jungle Prom, so the police believe that she is lying.  Liz is arrested and charged with manslaughter.  Bruce continues to mope about Pamela, who has a horrible reputation.  Margo kills her foster sister and leaves home, beginning her journey west.

This book is better than the previous one, although I still struggled with it.  Having the twins hate each other so much is rather depressing.

In Sweet Valley High #96, The Arrest, Jessica has stolen Liz's boyfriend, Todd, out of revenge for Liz killing Sam.  Liz and Jess still hate each other.  Liz spends the night in jail with a prostitute.  Bruce and Pamela try to make up, but others intervene.  Steven meets his new roommate, Billie.  Lila's mother, Grace, returns to Sweet Valley.  Nicholas Morrow becomes a contestant on a dating show.  Margo kills another child as she continues her journey west.

Even though the title is The Arrest, Elizabeth was arrested in the previous book.

My opinion of this book is about the same as the previous one.  I overall enjoyed it, but the situation with Liz and Jess is way too depressing.

In Sweet Valley High #97, The Verdict, the Wakefields finally consider the possibility that someone might have spiked Liz's punch.  You think?  Of course, they have no idea who did it.  Jessica continues to date Todd.  Liz and Jess still hate each other.  Lila gets to know her mother better.  Liz is acquitted of manslaughter when a man steps forward, stating that he was driving drunk and was the person who forced Liz off the road.  How convenient.

Margo sees a story about Liz in the newspaper and realizes that she looks just like Liz, except that she has dark hair.  Apparently, Margo looks so much like Liz that absolutely every feature is identical except for her eyes and hair.  Wow.  Margo decides that Sweet Valley will be her new home and that the Wakefield family will be her new family.  Margo plans to become Elizabeth Wakefield, and she will let nothing stop her.

I enjoyed this book, but the story is way too dark.  I doubt I will ever read any of these books again.

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