Book Review: Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

My love and obsession with the Sweet Valley Twins Series started when I was in middle school, and continued until I was in high school. Nostalgia kicks in everytime I think about how I used to love laying across my bed, the radio on, reading about Liz & Jess and their crazy escapades, while eating a bowl of ice cream. Those were truly some of the best times of my life, and if I could go back to being a carefree, sixth grade student, I would....maybe for a little while. So, coming across this series, which fast forwards to the twins in their 30's, made me happy as hell....

Blurb:

What terrible secret has torn Jessica and Elizabeth apart?

Ten years after Sweet Valley High, the Wakefield twins have had a falling out of epic proportions. When Jessica commits a complete and utter betrayal, Elizabeth flees to New York to escape the pain. Jessica remains in California, dealing with the fallout of her heart-wrenching choices. But with Elizabeth as her enemy, Sweet Valley is no longer the idyllic town of their youth.

Elizabeth soon decides the only way to heal her broken heart is to get revenge for Jessica’s duplicity. Always the “good” twin, Elizabeth about to turn the tables…

Francine Pascal finally unfolds the continuing story of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield—and the whole gang from Sweet Valley—that will delight and surprise the millions of fans of these beloved characters.

Review:

I picked up my first Sweet Valley book when I was in 6th grade. It was Book 3 in the series: The Haunted House. These quickly became my favorite books. Now, I'm almost 37, I was happy to find that books had been written about the twins now in their 30's. Disappointed doesn't begin to describe how I felt while reading. I have never been so bored while reading any book...like, EVER! And speaking of the word 'like', I don't care if I never see that word again. Jessica's valley girl talk, with all the, "I so hated that," and "Like, Oh my God...I can't believe she totally said that," irked my soul and I gave myself a headache from rolling my eyes so much. I know they're supposed to be adults now, but she still speaks as if she's a kid. From the first page, it was clear what big thing had happened that caused Liz to run off to New York, vowing never to speak to Jess and Todd again, but while we kept getting flashbacks leading up to it, we didn't get the whole story until around 65% of the book..and even then, it was tame compared to how I had been imagining Liz would find out about Jess and Todd's secret. 

I pride myself on speaking proper English and being a spelling whiz, but even I had a hard time trying to pronounce and comprehend the meaning of all the big words the author used. I found myself skipping over a lot of Liz's dialogue when she was in New York and all that was happening with the theater, because it was just boring...but I suppose she had to have something to do while she was there, avoiding her family back home. I don't like to leave bad reviews, and normally if I can't rate at least 3 stars, I won't...in an attempt not to be rude just for the sake of being rude...like some reader's love to do. But seeing as how instant nostalgia kicked in when I came across this and the excitement I felt to be reading Sweet Valley again, only to be let down, I couldn't let this one ride. I forced myself to finish this book, only because I hate starting things and not finishing; but I feel absolutely nothing now that I'm done...other than relief that it's over. I have the first 3 books that followed this one, but I highly doubt I'll read them after this. I rarely ever base my decision to read or not read a book based on other customer reviews, because as an author myself, I know that some of those reviews- both good and bad- are mostly baised, and could be from people who just don't care for the author personally; but this is one time I should have paid attention to the fact that on both Amazon & Goodreads, this book struggled to get 3 stars, even with hundreds of reviewers. 

As with movies and tv shows that Hollywood keep trying to remake and recreate, Francine Pascal should have left this series alone, because this was bad...really bad. That is all!

Rating: