It's the first day of eighth grade for all the main cast. Let's run through a quick who's who.
Jennifer Mann: Tall, pale, black hair, hazel eyes. Jen is really nice, though still figuring out who she is. She loves getting involved in different causes, like saving the whales and volunteering at nursing homes. Her mother died when she and her younger brother Eric were young, and her dad has a live-in housekeeper named Jeff. Jeff is pretty awesome.
Nora Ryan: Short brown hair, brown eyes, shorter than Jen. Nora is very smart and wants to be a doctor, so she's interested in biology and health. Likes health food but also kinda eats anything. Nora is more cynical than Jen and less adaptable. Her older sister Sally wants to be a professional ballerina and is a freshman in college.
Jason Anthony: Redheaded class clown, always on a skateboard. He's in the middle on the cover there.
Lucy Armanson: Well-dressed black girl with an afro. Look, Sweet Valley, they have a black character right away. Lucy's awesome. She's one of my two favorite supporting characters. She's witty and loves to hold her own against bitchy Susan.
Tracy Douglas: Blonde and boy crazy. She's got a million different crushes and is a bit of an airhead.
Susan Hillard: Always got something mean to say. Why these girls put up with her I don't know. She has some scenes where she's not outright mean, but she's always sarcastic and never pleasant. I don't think she ever got a physical description.
Mia Stevens: My other favorite. She's the resident punk girl. Her outfit descriptions are hilarious and her hair is typically orange and spiky. Her hair is described as "tawny" so I think they mean that's her natural color. She has blue eyes. Mia can be a bit boy crazy, despite having Andy.
Tommy Ryder: Sandy brown hair. Class flirt.
Mitch Pauley: Brown eyes. Class jock.
Steve Crowley: Dark brown hair, blue eyes. Family owns a restaurant. Childhood friend of Nora and Jen. Nice guy.
Andy Warwick: Punk guy. Mia's boyfriend.
Amy Williams: Short curly hair. Round face. Wants to teach PE.
Joan Wesley: Class genius.
I think those are all the big names except for two. You see, there's a new girl in the eighth grade. Her name is Denise Hendrix and she's from a rich family that owns a cosmetics company. Denise is the third main character after Nora and Jen. She's struggling to fit into normal American life, but she's used to Europe and Swiss boarding school. So she's definitely got a lot of culture shock. Some of the girls like her (Jen), but others think she's too different from them to be a close friend (Nora). There's some conflict between Jen and Nora with how Jen is learning a lot from Denise and how Nora is kinda mean to her. Each one takes it a bit too far. The other character I'd like to mention is Denise's older brother Tony, who a bunch of the girls think is hot. He seems nice, though definitely has no interest in a bunch of giggling 13-year-olds. (Yeah, most of them are 13. Denise is older at 14.)
The majority of the book is getting to know the main cast and Denise trying to fit in. She throws a slumber party that's mostly a big hit and then takes over the dance committee, which is less so. She kind of peer pressures the girls into more mature decorations and tries to force them to bring dates. Neither Nora nor Jen is interested in dating yet, so each one asks Steve, which leads to a big fight between the girls. That gets resolved and the dance is pretty awkward, though Denise has one moment of niceness that improves her standing in Nora's eyes. My favorite bit was Mia and Andy coming dressed as preps.
These books were written in 1986, so they're from the same time period as the big name series. They've got a lot of the same features, including the frequent use of characters' full names. They do this so much in Sweet Valley! I think I know Lila's last name is Fowler by now, okay? I don't know why this time period has such a trend in full names in writing. It's bizarre.
I remember loving this series more than Sweet Valley High, which is comparable in the book's physical size as well as page total. We'll see how it goes. I haven't reread it in forever. I enjoyed this one, but I didn't love it.
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