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Bittersweet by Francine Pascal

I just finished the sixth and final installment of The Sweet Life, the new eSeries from Francine Pascal. Bittersweet wrapped up the tales of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their gang of friends. Pascal offered readers a glimpse into their lives at the age of thirty, and I enjoyed this series. Book six is tying up the loose ends. Readers will find out whether Bruce Patman is guilty or innocent of the charges being pressed against him, whether Jessica and Todd will be able to reunite, and how Lila’s fake pregnancy/real pregnancy works out. While I enjoyed the series, I was a bit confused by the ending of the sixth book. It ended in the cliffhanger fashion I had come to expect from the previous books but…what happens next? Will there be more books to help explain the cliffhanger, carry on the stories, or are readers just supposed to take a gander themselves at what happened? I’m not sure and I’m a bit confused. I was also thrown off by the Liam twist – I can’t say I could tell from the previous books that his tale would end the way it did, and I thought it came out of nowhere and was probably only used for shock value. So while I enjoyed the first five books, the sixth left me a bit unsettled. I wish as readers and loyal fans we could have seen more of a resolution.
[Rating: 3]

The Sweet Life eSeries: Books 1 and 2

And Sweet Valley continues! Francine Pascal brought back the Wakefield twins with a vengeance with the release of Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years Later in March 2011, and now Jessica, Elizabeth and the gang is back for more! There is a brand-new eSeries being released July 15- August 12, titled The Sweet Life. This six part eSeries will let readers continue to follow the Wakefield’s through their fab 30’s – or is it so fabulous?
Book #1 starts up with Jessica and Todd separated and headed for a divorce. Quite the difference from the end of Sweet Valley Confidential where they are getting married and are blissfully happy. Oh – and they now have a son together as well! After three years of marriage things have turned sour, and it doesn’t look like a happy ending is in the pages for Jessica. At least she has her job to fall back, her beautiful son, and a renowned strength with twin Elizabeth after their massive feud. And she is ready to be there for Elizabeth when her boyfriend, the immensely wealthy Bruce Patman, is caught in a sexual harassment scandal. A cliff-hanger leads us to book # 2, titled Lies and Omissions, and keeps right on going. Jessica is working Bruce’s PR to spin the story that the female intern just wants her fifteen minutes of fame, but Elizabeth has an off-feeling about Bruce’s story. Is her boyfriend telling the truth – or is Robin, the terrified ex-intern who seems genuinely scared of Bruce telling the truth? Elizabeth uses her reporter skills to get the real scoop – but will she like the outcome? Jessica is now trying to fix her marriage with Todd, but will one costly mistake ruin everything? Another cliff-hanger ending has me eager to read the third novella in this eSeries- Too Many Doubts.
[Rating: 4]

Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

I could not wait to read Sweet Valley Confidential, the new adult novel from writer and creator Francine Pascal. I was a diehard Sweet Valley fan back in the day, reading all the books and eventually watching the shows when they came out. So I was pretty excited to catch up on my favorite twins and their friends, and see how their lives played out. And I was not prepared for what I read….
The story starts off with Elizabeth Wakefield, the shy studious twin in high school, walking into her New York apartment. Readers are instantly aware that some sort of feud is brewing between Elizabeth and twin sister Jessica, the fashionista and selfish one. The sisters are now 27, Elizabeth living in NY and Jessica still in Sweet Valley. Turns out, Elizabeth actually fled to New York because she found out her lovely twin sister stole her fiancé away from her. Yes, Jessica is in love with Todd. And has been since SVU days. Huh? Not what I expected, and sadly, not where I wanted the twins to be in their lives. How could Jessica do such a thing to Elizabeth? And how could Todd possibly be interested in Jessica? Befuddling. So the story goes on to show how the characters got to that point in their lives- Jessica going through two failed marriages, Todd and Elizabeth living together, preparing to get married, how the Jessica/Todd fling got started, friendships that got ruined because of it, etc. I thought it was fun checking in on the other lives- Lila Fowler, who hasn’t changed a bit, Ken Matthews, Winston Egbert, and Bruce Patman to name a few. I liked seeing who ended up with who, what careers they were holding, and how they had grown from high school and college days. But of course, the main chunk of story goes back to the Jessica/Elizabeth/Todd love triangle. It made me sad that a sister would do something so horrible to her own twin and supposed best friend, but the book makes it pretty clear all is fair in love and war. But I hate to say it, it just wasn’t very believable. Jessica’s two failed marriages makes more sense, but not truly madly deeply falling in love with her sister’s future husband. And there were quite a few very obvious mistakes made, such as wrong names and completely omitting people that had pretty big storylines in the past. And I really didn’t get the twist with Steven’s character. That came from left field.
Overall, I thought the book was okay. It was a little disappointing as a Sweet Valley fan to have Pascal choose to make Jessica betray Elizabeth in such a way, and have them fighting throughout the story. And many of the supporting cast characters were changed in such ways that it seemed they weren’t anything like their high school characters. Along with all the errors made, it was tough to be really happy with the book. But it was a bit fun to catch up with old characters, hilarious when Elizabeth talks about orgasms, and I actually gasped when Alice Wakefield dropped the F-bomb. I wish the characters lives would have gone a different direction, but I guess that’s why I’m not the creator. Even with a lot of things that I didn’t like about the book, I will say that I got into the story for what it was, and questioned how it would end. I laughed and wanted to cry for the twins and their now dysfunctional family, and I read with enthusiasm throughout. If you were a diehard Sweet Valley like I was years ago, I would still recommend the book just so you can see how it turns out. But don’t be surprised to find your own mistakes along the way, and wonder why the editors didn’t catch what was missed.
[Rating: 3.5]

GIVEAWAY: Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

It’s been ten years since the Wakefield twins graduated from Sweet Valley High, and a lot has happened. For a start, Elizabeth and Jessica have had a falling out of epic proportions, after Jessica committed the ultimate betrayal, and this time it looks like Elizabeth will never be able to forgive her. Suddenly Sweet Valley isn’t big enough for the two of them, so Elizabeth has fled to New York to immerse herself in her lifelong dream of becoming a serious reporter, leaving a guilt-stricken Jessica contemplating the unthinkable: life without her sister. Despite the distance between them, the sisters are never far from each other’s thoughts. Jessica longs for forgiveness, but Elizabeth can’t forget her twin’s duplicity. Uncharacteristically, she decides the only way to heal her broken heart is to get revenge. Always the ‘good’ twin, the one getting her headstrong sister out of trouble, Elizabeth is now about to turn the tables…

I have one paperback and one audio version of Sweet Valley Confidential to give away! To enter, please leave a comment below answering the two questions:
Are you a Jessica or an Elizabeth?
If this were made into a movie, who would you like to see cast?
For extra entries, please comment on Facebook or RT the contest on Twitter. Please note, this is for US/Canada resident only.

Sweet Valley Confidential is Here!

Sweet Valley fans rejoice! We finally get to meet up with our good friends, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. Francine Pascal has written Sweet Valley Confidential, peeking into the lives of the Wakefield twins ten years later. When I first heard this book was coming out, I was jumping for joy. After I graduated from the Baby-Sitters Club series, I went straight to Sweet Valley High. I’ve read every book, and was also a gradual watcher of the TV show when it was on air. When St. Martin’s Press offered to send me my own copy of Sweet Valley Confidential, I was ecstatic. My package arrived yesterday (same day the book was available in stores) and also came with a t-shirt! Oh boy, my boyfriend was looking at me like I was crazy when I started shrieking and insisted on wearing my shirt all night. Be sure to get your copy, or visit the fun website SweetValleyTenYearsLater.com. I look forward to reading my copy and posting my review!