Sweet Valley Twins Read Along | Frightening Four Miniseries - #097: Too Scared to Sleep

[luxken27]

Read-along master post here





Pre-read initial thoughts: First of all, holy hell I never realized my childhood fannish desire for a Sweet Valley/BSC mashup actually happened, LOL. I gave up on SVT long before BSC, so I never would've even fathomed looking to see if it happened in Sweet Valley instead of Stoneybrook. I look forward to watching the Sweet Valley denizens to set up a baby-sitting service, and seeing how much was stolen ~borrowed~ from their fellow popular series.

As far as the frightening part, there are two equally likely possibilities, based on that back cover summary. I've watched too many episodes of The Dead Files to dismiss scratches that appear during sleep as nonsense. So are these kids being haunted? Or are they being abused (shades of Very Special Episode BSC #117 Claudia and the Terrible Truth)? I'm gonna hazard a guess that it's Option 1, but am curious to see if Option 2 is even considered by anybody in the Valley, kids or adults.

Comments

[impy]

I had no memory whatsoever of the Winston subplot. Now I'm trying to remember when microwaves became such a thing that anyone who noticed metal on an object would just KNOW not to put the damn thing in said microwave.


I'd also forgotten Alice's reaction to the house and Jessica's reaction to it.

[luxken27]

The Karstens refusing to pay Win because he accidentally blew up their microwave (who the hell has Tiffany bowls in this casual service set???) was super harsh. It was 1996, not 1966. Microwaves weren't that fucking expensive!

[impy]

Seriously, if you've got a Tiffany bowl just out and to be used by the babysitter, you can afford to replace your own microwave. I could see them using it as a justification for not hiring Winston again and even mentioning why, but dude.

I feel like this isn't the first time SVT made a big thing about microwaves long after it was kinda a thing everyone had.

[luxken27]

I find it more than amusing that they are more upset about his blowing up their microwave than about him being an inexperienced 12-year-old boy left to watch two 8-month-old twins, up to and including giving them soda to drink 😂😂😂

Its been so long since I've done any sustained SVT reading that I have no idea about how far behind they are on technology. It wouldn't surprise me, though.

[luxken27]

Argh, I wanted to get to this sooner this week but LIFE!

Anyway. Well this book was full of ridiculousness, of the sort I've come to expect from the Valley :D First of all, I'm a little sad that the baby-sitting business isn't organized in any sort of way: Five Friends Baby-sitting Business (LOL @ that name) just sounds like an afterthought in so many different ways, LOL. Love that Elizabeth's Great Idea was to pay off her ice cream debt at Casey's! Way to start a habit running a tab, Liz.

So the Five Friends are Liz, Jess, Todd, Amy, and Winston, and in this book they have 2 clients: the uber-busy Riccoli family (with a Mrs. Barrett-in-overdrive mom who apparently has little time for her kids because WTF), whom the first four baby-sit for in various pairings, and the Karstens, who are Win's exclusive client.

Major plot: so Juliana of the nightmares is basically a physical medium, at least according to The Dead Files terminology. Interesting that she can only see the dead girl in her dreams (or that's all she reporting so far). The scratches came up at literally the end of the book, so no worry about a swing into Very Special Episode territory.

Mr. Brangwen, the creepy old gardener who stalks Liz and gives her random ominous warnings, was a decent red herring, I gotta admit. I'm very curious about his ties to the old Sullivan family.

Subplot: poor Winston! Its bad enough having to learn how to play such an uncool instrument, but then to have Charlie Cashman of all people find out?! UGH UGH UGH. Of course Charlie would blackmail Win to keep his mouth shut. I was kinda hoping the end of this particular subplot would be that Win's accordion turned out to be super-hip or super-useful, in that only-in-a-YA-novel way. Charlie Cashman being legit afraid of the dark is not believable.

And yeah, the Karstens were super harsh to not pay Win for baby-sitting just because he blew up their microwave!! WTF?? This book was published in 1996 - I'm pretty sure microwaves stopped being expensive sometime in the 80s.

Let's see, what else? Oh, yeah, the weird Alice Wakefield reaction to the Sullivan house! Talk about OTT, LOL. Excellent final chapter, tho, with Jessica finding the "hidden" bedroom on the third floor that our currently nameless ghost haunts, and finding a piccie of her mom as a teeanger with someone named Eva! Hmmmmmm! Alice has got some explaining to do!

[impy]

It took me another re-read, but it's weird that these are the five friends to do the sitting service. This is definitely a Elizabeth core group (her best friend, her twin, her sorta boyfriend, and his best friend) and yet Jessica's the one who couldn't fly to the beach fast enough. I suppose it's possible all her friends disappeared on the way home but it's still odd.

Kristy would not approve of this service. Winston getting an exclusive client flies in the face of all the BSC holds dear! But also killing the microwave does too.

If they'd made Charlie claustrophobic, I'd buy it. It's honestly what I thought they were going to do originally. Agreed on not believing the school bully is afraid of the dark.

The plot most definitely thickened with the ending. Alice intrigue!

[luxken27]

(It's like RL knew that I wanted to do something fun this week because its slammed me liek woah 🥴🥴🥴 I am determined, however!)

Its weird enough that this is the friend group, but the set up was super-stupid. Why are the girls going through the hills to get to the beach if that isn't the normal way they get around? Just so they can oh-so-conveniently swing by this heretofore unmentioned haunted house? I mean.

And, well, who from Jessica's friend group would voluntarily baby-sit? Lila? The Unicorns?

There was a mention of Jessica and Todd baby-sitting together but alas, it happened off page. I'd love to see more of the "weird" pairings, if only for the awkwardness.

Kristy definitely would not approve of this business!! When the Karstens call up Winston and ask about his experience, the whole time I was thinking about that BSC sub-plot where they had to get that infant care certification before they could take care of babies, LOL.

Speaking of BSC standards, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Liz & co were tag-team baby-sitting the Riccolis. Even though one of the Riccolis is 10 and could probably serve in some sort of "junior sitter" fashion. Gee, if only Liz had thought of that when she was trying to find someone to take her place after the creepy gardener's death! LOL.

I hope this is the last we see of the Charlie Cashman plot thread, tbh. I hate it when the bullies show up for basically no reason. If we must have an older student picking on the gang, why can't it be Bruce?

Tho I enjoyed the final chapter, I am surprised that the ghost didn't recognize Jessica as Alice's daughter. Is this one of the book(s) where the twins aren't carbon copies of their mother?

I am curious as to why that bedroom on the third floor was boarded up. Seems an odd thing to do.