Sweet Valley High Super Thrillers

Welcome to the 7th installment of Summer of Fear,  a weekly series of posts where I will review/revisit a classic YA Horror/Thriller from the 70s-90s. This week I’m looking at Sweet Valley High’s Super Thrillers.  Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal (who like James Patterson came up with the stories for all the books then got ghostwriters to actually write them) was a publishing phenomenon in the 80s before ultimately ceasing in 1998 with 181 titles in the series. 

My favorite Sweet Valley High book, Murder in Paradise, is part of the Super Thrillers collection.  Super Thrillers were special editions that were longer than your average Sweet Valley High book and usually involved the twins in mortal peril. 

In May of 1993, the Sweet Valley High series “jumped the shark,” after the publication of A Night To Remember. After that book, the series was kind of like a telenovella with numerous miniseries following that which took normal high school drama to unbelievable, campy heights. 

All the Super Thrillers prior to 1993 were great because they could all conceiveably happen in reality aside from the fact that the twins had summer internships at the local newspaper for four different summers yet it was still a summer following their junior year in high school. Lol. They all revolved around one of the twins either witnessing or investigating a crime they heard about in the newsroom and then getting into disasterous situations as a result. 

After 1993, the Super Thrillers went wild ultimately producing my aforementioned favorite, Murder in Paradise which was published in 1995. Are you ready for the plot??! I’ve got to spoil the ending for once because it’s just THAT bananas and you’ll want to read the book even more because you’re not going to believe it. 

Jessica and Elizabeth’s mom wins a trip to an all inclusive spa resort and  invites her daughters but  instead of also inviting actual friends of her own she invites Jessica’s best friend Lila and Lila’s mother Grace and  Elizabeth’s best friend Enid and Enid’s mother Adele. Adele can’t attend as she couldn’t get time of work which is the only element of reality here. So the group sets off to the spa. Upon arrival the normal SVH shenanigans ensue. Lila hits on an older man and is embarrassingly rejected, Enid has many “woe is me” allow self esteem moments and Elizabeth sticks her nose in everyone’s business. Liz’s nosy nature leads her to uncover the dark truth about the spa - spoiler alert 🚨 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 the spa is run by a deranged former college classmate of Alice’s who is obsessed with plastic surgery. In fact nearly all the teenagers she “rescued off the streets” to employ there have undergone intense (like Heidi Montag) levels of plastic surgery and to top it all off, she wants to murder Alice and STEAL HER FACE!!!  😂😂😂😂.  After the twins and company finally rescue Alice, the book closes with them all making jokes and getting ready to return home to Sweet Valley while Jessica gushes about what was actually good about the spa. No trauma ever lasts long in Sweet Valley. 

Murder in Paradise 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 for snark-tastic fun. I must confess that the “newspaper” Super Thrillers are more realistic they don’t quite rock the entertainment scale. Did you ever read the Super Thrillers? What was your favorite? 

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

Welcome to a TBT Throwback Thursday Review. I am working on reviving this blog and catching up on some long overdue book reviews.

After Anna is a stand-alone domestic thriller by Lisa Scottoline and was originally published in April 2018.

Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she’s even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she’d lost forever, her only daughter Anna.Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules, though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna’s murder may have been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined. —lisascottoline.com

This was one of my favorite Scottoline novels. The story is told through Maggie and Nick’s POV before and after Anna’s murder. It was fun trying to discern the truth between the narratives.  I actually thought I had the mystery solved but then in the last act of the novel, there’s a twist that I didn’t see coming and made the story all the more heartbreaking. It’s been awhile since an ending truly surprised me.   I highly recommend you pick up this book.  

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

After Anna is now available in paperback. Look for it at your favorite local book store or visit the author’s website for more information. 

Special Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Meme Crush Monday

Forget about “Man Crush Monday’s,” here #MCM means Meme Crush Monday! For those who don’t have access or don’t wish to use Instagram, I’ll share a bookish meme right here weekly on the blog.

This Week’s #MCM Meme Crush Monday:

There’s nothing like an hour or two of quiet uninterrupted reading time. What are your favorite spots to read and relax?  Share with us in the comments below. 

Group Post: Fictional Character You’d Like to Have Dinner With

We’re working our way through the alphabet with the A to Z Bookish Survey as created by “The Perpetual Pageturner.”  This week’s question is: F for Fictional Character You’d Like to Dine With. The original survey framed this question as “dated in high school” but I thought dinner was more appropriate.

Rachel wants to dine with Kirk from Gilmore Girls, in his living room with his mom watching.  Hopefully he won’t have any night terrors. 

Jasmina who used to work in our cafe  chose Edward Cullen from Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight series. He doesn’t eat food though 🤔😂. 

Claire ultimately choose Alex Cross from James Patterson’s best selling series. She’s a crime book fan like myself. 

I really want to have dinner with Harry Bosch from

Michael Connelly’s best-selling series. I’d like to go to Musso & Franks with him, a historic LA restaurant mentioned in the novels followed by drinks at his house to see the gorgeous view. 

What about you? What fictional characters would you like to dine with? Share with us in the comments below.  * Jenn N. 

Summer of Fear 1978 TV Movie

Welcome to the sixth installment of Summer of Fear,  a weekly series of posts where I will review/revisit a classic YA Horror/Thriller from the 70s-90s. This week I’m changing things up a bit by looking at the 1978 TV film version of Summer of Fear based on the novel by Lois Duncan.  

Summer of Fear stars Linda Blair as Rachel with Lee Purcell as creepy cousin Julia and was directed by Wes Craven before he went on to achieve horror legend status with Nightmare on Elm Street. Fran Drescher in one of her earliest film roles plays Rachel’s best friend, Carolyn.  

The film follows very close to the book with a few changes that to me actually benefited the story. In the book, Rachel’s beloved pet dog passes away under mysterious circumstances. In the film, it’s established that Rachel is a talented Equestrian whose normally horse timid horse goes wild when meeting Julia. The action with the horse continues to build with a devastating outcome. 

An awkward moment in the book for me was Rachel’s brother, Peter’s  romantic interest in Julia. It’s even more overt here. Julia ultimately sets her sights on Rachel’s boyfriend whom Julia hilariously referred to as Rachel’s “special feller.”  Also unintentionally hilarious was the photo Rachel had of her boyfriend. It wasn’t just framed, he’d signed it like an autograph. My boyfriend was watching this with me and I told him he’s clearly not my “solid feller” as he hadn’t gifted me an autographed portrait of himself yet. 

Blair does a great job at showing Rachel’s frustration at trying to get everyone to see that something isn’t quite right with Julia and that the cousin is the cause of all this misery. 

If you loved the novel Summer of Fear, you’d love the film. It’s a faithful but more dramatic adaptation plus the passage of time has added humor by way of corny dialogue and dated hairstyles. The 70s score that sounds straight out of an episode of Charlie’s Angels was a delight. It’s currently availabile for “free” with an Amazon Prime subscription. 

🌟🌟🌟.5/5 

The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz

Welcome to another Totally Overdue Tuesday book review.  I am working on reviving this blog and catching up on some long overdue book reviews. 

The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz, a stand-alone Southern Gothic novel and a departure from Erotica and The Original Sinners series was published in June 2016. 

When Cooper McQueen wakes up from a night with a beautiful stranger, it's to discover he's been robbed. The only item stolen—a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it's property of the Maddox family who owned and operated Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War until the company went out of business for reasons no one knows… No one except Paris.
In the small hours of a Louisville morning, Paris unspools the lurid tale of Tamara Maddox, heiress to the distillery that became an empire. But the family tree is rooted in tainted soil and has borne rotten fruit. Theirs is a legacy of wealth and power, but also of lies, secrets and sins of omission. The Maddoxes have bourbon in their blood—and blood in their bourbon. Why Paris wants the bottle of Red Thread remains a secret until the truth of her identity is at last revealed, and the century-old vengeance Tamara vowed against her family can finally be completed. - tiffanyreisz.com

If you follow my reviews, you know that I adore Tiffany Reisz. I never want any of her novels to end. She’s not only a master at creating characters to fall in love with despite their imperfections, her world building is impeccable. Her strengths are on full display with this dark, twisty love story. Outside of the Original Sinners universe, Tamara is my favorite of all Reisz’s characters. I loved her relationship with Levy. I also loved learning about Bourbon. This book is also a bit of a love letter to Bourbon, I was left thirsting for a drink that I don’t even care for. 

Definitely pick up The Bourbon Thief and every single one of Tiffany’s books while you’re at it. 

Special Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for a fair, honest review. 

🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃/5

 

Meme Crush Monday

Forget about “Man Crush Monday’s,” here #MCM means Meme Crush Monday! For those who don’t have access or don’t wish to use Instagram, I’ll share a bookish meme right here weekly on the blog.

This Week’s #MCM Meme Crush Monday:

I’m a pretty fast reader. I can easily read a standard novel in one day if I’m off work for the day. It’d take me 4-5 hours. Otherwise, I read on my lunch break and at night and I read about 2 books a week. It’s one reason that I can’t get into audiobooks. I can read it to myself much quicker than I could listen to narration.

But what about you? What’s your reading speed/style? Share with us in the comments below.