The Other Side of the School: Olivia Davidson

Olivia Davidson is, of course, the zombie I was alluding to earlier.  I did not have that much of a connection with Olivia Davidson.  I read Olivia’s Story when I was 9, and the only thing I really remember from that one was a reference to My Fair Lady, because I managed to read the book the day after I’d seen that movie for the first time.  I like My Fair Lady and quote it often.  I remember Olivia being weird, not artsy.

So the thing that bothered me about Olivia was, you know, her dying.  Not because I had any affinity for the character, obviously.  But because I’d been reading SVU since I was ten and the earthquake in Sweet Valley happened when I was sixteen, and learning that Olivia died, I had one very serious question.

“How the hell was she in that one SVU book for Christmas?” 

This was actually the first time in my life I very seriously questioned the world of Sweet Valley.  Yes, even with vampires and werewolves – those were obviously a very wild acid trip, even though you think the book would let us in on that so we’d see how bad acid is – but it’s not like anyone in book learned their lesson, so why should we?

You know, it is Sweet Valley, though.  She was obviously pretend dead, like Margo Black or Nick Fox.  But you would think someone would call her out on it!  “Hey, Olivia… you died.”  Was this resolved in the summer in between senior year and university?  Or did they meet another Olivia Davidson to fill a void in their lives and make her pretend like she was there the whole time?  It is seriously disturbed.

You know who could have died was Maria Slater.  Or, you know, someone that they brought back from the other side of the school just to die since we were never going to see them again anyway.  Not somebody that it’s already been established that she’s still alive when the twins go to University.  This is all kinds of messed up, even for Sweet Valley.

I’m going with pretend dead, to teach Ken Matthews a lesson in being a douche.  Which is a harsh lesson, but – it’s better than she came back from the dead for Christmas.  That is just freaking creepy.

The Other Side of the School: Janet Howell

I have decided that The Other Side of the School will be my own little “segment” to discuss characters that were put on a bus/sent to the other side of the school/made zombies and hope that maybe readers will correct me, because I swear with some of these things I really hope I’m wrong/missed a book somewhere.

That said, I know that characters being put on a bus or sent to the other side of the school to never return is just normal in Sweet Valley. It kind of always disturbed me in the case of Janet Howell from Sweet Valley Twins.

Janet Howell is two years older than Elizabeth, Jessica, and Lila, so I can’t call shenanigans on this one, really. She’d have already been at college, or something more epic, or dead, by the time SVH took place. The biggest problem I have with this is that Janet Howell is Lila’s cousin. I know the Fowler’s are like the crappiest family ever (unless money equals love, because I would definitely sign up to be a Fowler to have Lila’s monetary clout), but every other extended family member in Lila’s family managed to get a mention in SVH and SVU, but there’s no mention of Janet, ever.

I live in the same town as my cousin who’s two years younger than me. We didn’t even go to the same high school and we would still run into each other in public places. What, did Janet give up the mall?

Ooh! Janet became a nun right out of high school. That’s the only way I’m going to accept that she is never mentioned again despite being a relative to the most important character who’s last name isn’t Wakefield ever.

I mean, they brought Maria Slater back from the other side of the school New York, and I didn’t even care that much about her. Maria made me feel “less than”, I’m not going to lie. Plus, they already had Maria Santanelli, so that was just confusing. Can’t even say Maria S.

Basically, Janet Howell is the one character I need to know what happened to her RIGHT NOW or my brain will implode. Did she really even have to be related to Lila at all? I know they used it as a plot device in Best Friends because that’s how Lila got an in to the Unicorns, but – she’s Lila Freaking Fowler. If they didn’t let her in, she would have started an even more exclusive club that made the Unicorns look less popular than Lois Waller. Plus, Janet wasn’t even rich. I always had a feeling that the Fowler’s had old money, so I just imagined Janet would be a little better off than the Wakefields.

I bet the other kids of Sweet Valley disowned her for having a crappy car. It was probably a Toyota with the T fallen off and missing part of the bumper and one of the headlights didn’t work. Or worse, she didn’t have a car at all and had to TAKE THE BUS. That, or the nun thing.

Do You Want to Win a Free Copy of Sweet Valley Confidential?

There’s a contest to win a free copy of Sweet Valley Confidential once it is released!  The contest is being run on Addicted 2 Novels, and you only have until August 9 to enter!  To enter, you have to comment on their blog – all the rules are listed there.  Other things also qualify you for extra entries into the contest!  Good luck to you!

WWJWD – What Would Jessica Wakefield Do?

In all honesty, this really is just going to be another fan blog because I can no longer contain my excitement for Sweet Valley Confidential or the Diablo Cody movie.  Pay attention – I fully plan on doing things for the fans of Sweet Valley, and I already have some contests and stuff planned, even though they’re for much later.

But, I really would give my left leg just to be on set of the Sweet Valley High movie – when I was only 11 and the TV series barely came out, I was already casting a Sweet Valley movie in my head – granted it was Twins and I wanted to be Patty and thought Mary-Kate and Ashley should be Elizabeth and Jessica, but that’s besides the point.  At three in the morning, because that’s when all great ideas are born, I had the awesomest of ideas – WWJWD?  What Would Jessica Wakefield Do?

Jessica Wakefield would scheme and campaign to get her way.

And I do plan on doing a little of that now and again.  Do I expect it to work?  No.  But it’ll still be entertaining.

I have started a Facebook group – I haven’t advertised it on Facebook, so there’s probably no members, but I plan on using it in conjunction with this blog.  You can also follow me on Twitter @AmandaSVH.