My Life in…

I love all of Deb Caletti’s books, but I think I was reading this one at exactly the wrong time**. But Clara is a lovely character and her increasingly complex relationship with her father was a highlight of the story. Caletti writes excellent bit characters, and this book was no exception. I loved the alternating chapters and how it helped the story unfold. It was interesting to read so soon after Dreamland; the characters of Christian and Rogerson have much in common, although Christian certainly begins the story as a much more likable character.

**Christian’s behavior seemed analogous to a character on my favorite TV show, down to a few common lines of dialogue, and while Eli – from Degrassi – is portrayed more sympathetically and just in need of help, Christian seemed dangerous. Just made me scared for my favorite TV couple.

Reviewed partly from e-galley provided by Simon and Schuster and finished by library book.

This book was every bit as amazing as If I Stay. I haven’t returned it to the library yet because I don’t want to part from it. The emotions in this book feel so true. Adam and Mia feel like the same characters, but more grown up. They’ve had more life experience and it shows. It hasn’t been easy for them, and the book doesn’t gloss over their pains. But it also never feels maudlin or too heavy. Every emotional beat in this story is perfection.

(It has even inspired me to write a “future fic” in my fandom, so I owe this book a great deal of debt!).

Elizabeth is in New York City, working as a writer for a low-budget Off-Broadway review guide. She has left Sweet Valley after Jessica’s latest shocking act of betrayal – She slept with Todd, Elizabeth’s boyfriend, and after Elizabeth left, they started dating and are planning to get married. Elizabeth has cut ties with her sister, but at her mother’s insistence comes back for her grandmother’s birthday party. She does not come back with playwright and Todd-lookalike Will, but with Liam, a hot bartender that she knows is just her sister’s type. Elizabeth insists she’s not trying to break up Jessica and Todd, but in Sweet Valley, everyone has a motive.

This was pretty much the worst book ever written. And I say this as someone who has read every single Sweet Valley High, Sweet Valley University, and Sweet Valley: Senior Year (not to mention the vast majority of the Twins and Unicorn Club books), and only stopped when I was 20 because they stopped publishing them. It’s boring; the sentence level writing is dreadful. Most of the characters don’t even feel like the same ones from the previous books (which isn’t to say they were well-developed in the first place). The last chapter which recounts what has happened to characters from the past is painful and unnecessary. Some of the characters included barely merit a mention in a list of every Sweet Valley character ever, let alone a paragraph in this book. And why on earth is Steven gay and dating Aaron Dallas? Who thought that was a good idea?

Terrible. I’ve probably spent thousands of dollars on Sweet Valley books in my life, but I wouldn’t mind getting a refund for this one.