July 23rd, 2010
11:24 AM ET
'Sweet Valley' twins are back...and much more adultThe heroines of the "Sweet Valley" franchise, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, are ready for a comeback. The book "Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later" is set to hit shelves in early 2011. The original "Sweet Valley" books chronicled the girls' lives in the often idealized, always ridiculously melodramatic town of Sweet Valley, California. Francine Pascal created the world of "Sweet Valley," which included several incarnations, including "Sweet Valley University" and "Sweet Valley Kids" (chronologically, they were all over the map). This resulted in, quite literally, hundreds of books. Merchandise and a couple of TV series existed as well.
Chapter one of "Ten Years Later" is available online, and we don't want to give too much away, but if you're looking for Unicorn Clubs and mall outings, you're out of luck - chapter one alone contains two instances of the word "orgasm." Anyhow, here are the proverbial Cliffs Notes on the first chapter: The twins are 27 and still drop-dead gorgeous. Elizabeth - after four years at the Sweet Valley Times - is working as a reporter in New York City for an online theater magazine. She moved to New York after a bitter break-up and has been on the east coast for eight months. She's lonely and living in a tiny, dingy apartment. Back in Sweet Valley, Jessica is in the midst of a divorce and apparently has done something unforgivable to her twin, who refuses to speak to her. There are references to Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake (we get it, it's not the '80s anymore). There are even references to uniquely New York things such as Con Edison (the city's power supplier), pre-war buildings, and counterfeit Prada bags from Chinatown. One thing's for sure, the "Sweet Valley" franchise will not die. Not unlike the roach population that probably resides in Elizabeth's stereotypical midtown Manhattan apartment building. Up next on the "Sweet Valley" radar is Diablo Cody, who has signed on to write a "Sweet Valley" film adaptation for Universal.
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omw thy ar so many of these bukz dat idnt evn knw were im dae hv 2 be the greats ever expcly college weeken sweet valley 4 lyf
i read the books and watched the series so this book is goin to be intrestin
grabe gayod ang writerha!!!!as in damo gayod iya maisip!!!!
I loved all the SV series' from the time I was around 10 or 11 til the time Francine Pascal ended them. I had every book in every series except SVT and SVH but lost them all somewhere along the way. I managed to get the entire SVH series back via Ebay & Amazon and plan on getting the others I am missing ASAP. The books age shows by the fact that there are no iPods, computers, cell phones or DVD/Blu-Ray players but often times these books were my only "friend" growing up. I still remember begging my uncle to buy me SVK #19 or 20, whichever was the one with Jessica and a big fish on the cover. I NEVER begged my uncle for anything but I did for that book but I didn't get it til a few weeks later. It'll be nice to reminisce on days when I used to have my nose stuck in a book 24/7. I definitely will buy this book or series, whichever it is.
I was definitely a fan of the series growing up. I can't even imagine the pass due fees on all the library copies I never returned. This could be interesting and I'm more than a little excited.
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO
ohmygosh im so excited. im currently trying to find more sweet valley twins to buy after all these years. haha.
Join the online group - over time they will send you more tidbits from the book. J is divorcing.
The writer of this blog might want to work on his/her reading comprehension.
Uh, not sure if you misread chapter one, but it definitely says nothing about Jessica going through a divorce. It mentions Elizabeth's boss's sister going through one, but not Jessica.
If you become a SV super fan online, over time they send you more tidbits from the book. J is indeed divorcing.
Love that there will be a newer adult series, and I'm older than the twins are supposed to be! But I grew up with them, so now I can be an adult with them.
Not happy to hear Diablo Cody got her grimmy, untalented hands on the twins. Ugh! I swear, if she makes them say stupid things like all the people in Juno... Seriously, who in Hollywood decided she was "clever"? Maybe whatever she is writing won't go anywhere. We can hope.
This is so ironic. I was just talking about the SVH book series to someone yesterday and now I find out that this book is coming out. I'll definitely check this book out to see what these Wakefield twins have been up to.
am i the only one that expected to see a current pic of the twins? that's the only reason i clicked the link...
LOL. You could just watch the old TV show. Those girls looked about 27. Very pretty, but no way were they teenagers.
I used to buy my Sweet Valley books from the Scholastic catalogue that we used to get in school. Getting a new Sweet Valley book, to me, is like similar to getting a new cell phone.
OMG I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so effin' ridiculously excited about this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Diablo Cody and I am going to the first showing of that movie when it's out. I LOVED Sweet Valley Kids, Twins, High, University, Unicorn Club, etc. I have read every single book in every single series and rock my Sweet Valley High t-shirt like it's my job. SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!!!
Pull the response over. Lady, get out of the blog with your hands up. You are under arrest for too many "!"
"!" Police, on a Friday afternoon with that kind of comment... this is my response...
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL.
Call the LOL police for me, too 😛
I think it is funny. We might grow up but I still have fond memories of these books to keep me busy when I was a nerdy teenager that read for fun. I don't think I will be rushing out to get the book but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I bet there are plenty of people that will be interested in reading it!
I am ridiculously excited about this. I was a die-hard Sweet Valley fan growing up; a friend gave me a couple of the first two Sweet Valley Kids books for my seventh birthday and it didn't take long for me to wish that I had a twin and to pretty much force any friend that came over to pretend to be my twin. I had all of the Sweet Valley Kids and Sweet Valley Twins books (and a lot of the Sweet Valley High ones; never really got into Sweet Valley University), but sold them at a garage sale in high school. I wish I still had them.
I loved these books growing up and now my 9 year old is reading them so I can't wait for this one to come out.
THIS MADE MY YEAR! I grew up reading every single on of the Sweet Valley books. The original phenomenon, before Twilight and Harry Potter and all the other pop culture stuff that exists today.
awesome! i loved these books, especially the college series, I cant wait to read this and see the movie!
Sweet. I loved these books. I used to read them all summer as a kid.
i would totally go for an adult version of goosebumps!
They already have those, they're by Stephen King. Check him out sometime. 😉
May sound silly, but I am quite excited about this!! Having read so many of the books in this series when I was younger, I can't wait to read a more adult version of a story involving characters I loved growing up. And I'm 25. 🙂
I am beyond excited. It's like a guilty pleasure!
Interesting. I never could get into the books as a kid, so I doubt I'll be rushing to pick this one up. Having said that though, I do think that the concept is interesting, and I hope that some other authors don't try to capitalize on this (i.e., The Baby-Sitters Club).
Ann M. Martin already started re-issuing BSC originals in "updated" versions this year, including a new prequel.
The BSC had a prequel released in april and the books are being rereleased. SV is late to the party.
So very excited about this! 🙂 I loved these books growing up!
Me too. But then I grew up.
I loved them too- but 10 years??? really??? Isn't it more like 15-20?
I can't decide who I want to slap more, the writer of this article, or myself for reading it. Probably myself.
Please slap me too while you're at it..
Can I get a fresh one too?
yay?