Oh, back cover. You are so weird. Usually for these things you're a recap of what's happened in previous books and then the dramatic "but what will happen NOW" so imagine my poor brain trying to remember any of this stuff happening in the last book.
Seriously, the back cover blurb writers blew it big time with basically every book in this mini-series except the first one. It's all been downhill since #97...I don't know if I even want to know how they're gonna explain this.
This is slow going since I keep having that panic of "ohno, I'm on vacation and I've accomplished nothing!" which paralyses me (so helpful) but also because I keep shouting WTF at this poor book. I keep wanting to look up things because I feel like continuity (never really SV's strong suit to begin with) has been ripped to shreds, set on fire, had that fire put out by a pool push, dragged out of the pool and then fed to all the lost siblings of the Valley. Didn't the twins quit and then immediately get guilted into babysitting like... the same day? Didn't Mr. R go to Florida to be with his wife? It's even worse if he stayed in California but didn't come to be with his kids after a brush with death by fire and also with their grandmother being ill, ghosty! WTF! Nothing makes sense. Why are they acting like everything is fine just because they managed to nap for an hour, while the kids were around and very much awake in the same room?
I almost want to look up who the ghosty was for this but I'm afraid that instead of the dudes who would late proudly proclaim how little they gave a shit while writing like, SVU (dude, we noticed), it'll be someone I actually like. And I cannot forgive this. I'm not sure I forgive past!me for forgetting this and not slapping a warning label on it.
Also fuuuuuuuuuuuuck the retcon of Alice not liking Halloween. Am I biased because the first (and for awhile only) SV Kids book I read was their Halloween one where Alice was just as into the holiday as the girls? Duh.
So sorry to rant. Back to the pain I go. (loving the read-along though!)
I haven't started reading this yet (I keep telling myself its because I want to save it for Halloween, but in reality its been a combination of crazy work week + the WTFery of the earlier books), but I can answer the following:
Didn't the twins quit and then immediately get guilted into babysitting like... the same day?
Yes, it was indeed a same-day decision. I don't think they told Mrs. Riccolli before they quit, but she called them up and begged them to emergency-sit because of her mother being sick and, oh yeah, her mother was in FL.
Didn't Mr. R go to Florida to be with his wife?
Yes.
Its pretty sad that they couldn't even get a consistent ghostwriter for this four-book arc. Its pretty obvious to me that the first book was written by one person, the next two by someone else, and from your notes so far obviously this last one was written by yet another person. WTFery indeed!!
Well, I finished it. This book was bad. Like, beyond so-bad-its-good right back into terrible territory. Everyone is so painfully, willfully stupid that it's just - ugh. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
And the twist of Eva really being alive? Even dumber! I guess it was the only way to get themselves out of the corner they'd painted themselves into, but still. And I love that the writers gave up in the end and just flat out wrote "I guess we'll never know the whole truth" because obvs there's nothing they could write that'd make even Sweet Valley sense, much less earth sense!
And whatever happened to the Riccolis? The parents are just as useless as they were before, but now that their house has been burned to the ground...? Talk about leaving dangling loose ends! 🙄🙄🙄
I'm about 75% done and I hate that there are moments of actual creeping dread in this book because it just highlights how horrible the rest of it is. Clearly the potential is there and yet nooo. We can't have nice things.
The Riccolis were just a figment of everyone's imagination and Lila should really learn to eat better junk food before bed so she's not plagued with such terrible dreams like this. (It was all a terribly meh nightmare?)
Mebbe we should've gone with Evil Elizabeth instead. This book was just unforgivably bad most of the time, and when it wasn't, it was just painful to realize that clearly there were parts that could (and kinda did) work, but someone chose to bury them under so much crap.
I cannot forgive this arc for the total lack of continuity from book to book in general, but particularly not this retcon of Mr. R going to Florida. If he didn't go, he should've come to SV to be with his kids. UGH.
Why did Eva's parents have her bedroom connected to the balcony if they weren't going to build up the widow's walk to make it safer for their sleepwalking child? I get that maybe she wanted that room for whatever reason, but she's 8 and if the second floor can comfortably sleep all five Riccoli kids, Eva's bedroom could've been on the second floor and her playroom could've been the balcony room. It's still stupid (please say this in your best Julia Sugarbaker voice) but it's not AS bad. And even if one assumes that meek Eva put up such a fuss that she absolutely HAD to have this third floor bedroom, why the FUCK didn't Jim, Walter, and Dyan know that the kid that Alice was babysitting was sleeping in the third floor bedroom? Who peeks in and doesn't close the goddamn door and also also, doesn't Alice make a big deal about locking the door to the balcony every time she tucks Eva in? So how the hell did they manage to open it anyway? If they walked through the bedroom, they'd have seen Eva, and if they STILL left the door open, JFC, those three idiots were more responsible for Eva's fall than Alice ever was.
Alice has a really nasty habit of losing her marbles any time her kids actually need her if the series hits 100, huh? :P
Finally, I don't know if this is a regional difference thing but Lila's boasting about ToT-ing not even starting til 9 was just weird. Here, by 8pm you've basically wound down and 8:30 everyone has closed up shop. I'm willing to push it back a bit for when I was younger but still. By 9, your ass would be at home or on the way home.
How the hell did the Riccolis run all the way to the Wakefields and why did they instead of going to the next door neighbor's house? They were told to get help and help is right next door! Do they even know where the twins live? What the hell?
I cling to you, scene with Jessica and Aaron working against Lila at the lake. You might've brought me the stupid ToT time, but you were also one of the only spots of true joy.
Honestly, when I first thought about this readalong idea, I thought Evil Elizabeth was part of this little mini arc. Ah, well, lesson learned, LOL. We can read that one next year - hopefully its better! (Or at least has some sort of internal logic.)
Yeah, the 'past' plot idea didn't make much sense for all the reasons you listed, plus the idea that somehow Eva survived and everyone knew that her doll (????) was buried instead of her body. Why didn't anyone think that maybe, just maybe, that meant she wasn't actually dead? Who buries someone without a body?
Lila is way too good for her weird little mini subplot in this final book. Is the dude she was hanging out with an actual character or just some weird one-off? And yeah, that whole trick or treating stuff was weird. Maybe they do things differently in California? Like how they apparently plant new plants in October and expect them to grow?
And speaking of secondary characters, Steven was absolutely awful in this series. I don't remember him being such an asshole, in such a consistent fashion, in SVT. And gruesome! Scaring so many people with his weird Eva costume *shudder*
EE will win simply because the cover is absolutely one I can't look at without freaking out a little bit.
I'm not sure I get why they buried the doll. I get having a funeral/grave for a child you assume died in a river and whose body was simply never recovered (if nothing else, fiction relies heavily on this trope) but good lord, why is there a raging river behind the rehab hospital?
I'm pretty sure the dude Lila's hanging out with is a regular character. I could not tell you a thing about him because I couldn't tell you a thing about any of the Unicorn Boyfriends other than Janet's (Denny?) is an idiot because who willingly spends time with Janet and Aaron.
Oh good, at least the ToT thing wasn't just me then. Clearly California magic allows the gardening to work.
Regular Steven should probably sue this arc's version for character assassination. It is not a good look for him across the board. :/
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
no subject
I almost want to look up who the ghosty was for this but I'm afraid that instead of the dudes who would late proudly proclaim how little they gave a shit while writing like, SVU (dude, we noticed), it'll be someone I actually like. And I cannot forgive this. I'm not sure I forgive past!me for forgetting this and not slapping a warning label on it.
Also fuuuuuuuuuuuuck the retcon of Alice not liking Halloween. Am I biased because the first (and for awhile only) SV Kids book I read was their Halloween one where Alice was just as into the holiday as the girls? Duh.
So sorry to rant. Back to the pain I go. (loving the read-along though!)
no subject
Didn't the twins quit and then immediately get guilted into babysitting like... the same day?
Yes, it was indeed a same-day decision. I don't think they told Mrs. Riccolli before they quit, but she called them up and begged them to emergency-sit because of her mother being sick and, oh yeah, her mother was in FL.
Didn't Mr. R go to Florida to be with his wife?
Yes.
Its pretty sad that they couldn't even get a consistent ghostwriter for this four-book arc. Its pretty obvious to me that the first book was written by one person, the next two by someone else, and from your notes so far obviously this last one was written by yet another person. WTFery indeed!!
no subject
And the twist of Eva really being alive? Even dumber! I guess it was the only way to get themselves out of the corner they'd painted themselves into, but still. And I love that the writers gave up in the end and just flat out wrote "I guess we'll never know the whole truth" because obvs there's nothing they could write that'd make even Sweet Valley sense, much less earth sense!
And whatever happened to the Riccolis? The parents are just as useless as they were before, but now that their house has been burned to the ground...? Talk about leaving dangling loose ends! 🙄🙄🙄
no subject
The Riccolis were just a figment of everyone's imagination and Lila should really learn to eat better junk food before bed so she's not plagued with such terrible dreams like this. (It was all a terribly meh nightmare?)
no subject
I cannot forgive this arc for the total lack of continuity from book to book in general, but particularly not this retcon of Mr. R going to Florida. If he didn't go, he should've come to SV to be with his kids. UGH.
Why did Eva's parents have her bedroom connected to the balcony if they weren't going to build up the widow's walk to make it safer for their sleepwalking child? I get that maybe she wanted that room for whatever reason, but she's 8 and if the second floor can comfortably sleep all five Riccoli kids, Eva's bedroom could've been on the second floor and her playroom could've been the balcony room. It's still stupid (please say this in your best Julia Sugarbaker voice) but it's not AS bad. And even if one assumes that meek Eva put up such a fuss that she absolutely HAD to have this third floor bedroom, why the FUCK didn't Jim, Walter, and Dyan know that the kid that Alice was babysitting was sleeping in the third floor bedroom? Who peeks in and doesn't close the goddamn door and also also, doesn't Alice make a big deal about locking the door to the balcony every time she tucks Eva in? So how the hell did they manage to open it anyway? If they walked through the bedroom, they'd have seen Eva, and if they STILL left the door open, JFC, those three idiots were more responsible for Eva's fall than Alice ever was.
Alice has a really nasty habit of losing her marbles any time her kids actually need her if the series hits 100, huh? :P
Finally, I don't know if this is a regional difference thing but Lila's boasting about ToT-ing not even starting til 9 was just weird. Here, by 8pm you've basically wound down and 8:30 everyone has closed up shop. I'm willing to push it back a bit for when I was younger but still. By 9, your ass would be at home or on the way home.
How the hell did the Riccolis run all the way to the Wakefields and why did they instead of going to the next door neighbor's house? They were told to get help and help is right next door! Do they even know where the twins live? What the hell?
I cling to you, scene with Jessica and Aaron working against Lila at the lake. You might've brought me the stupid ToT time, but you were also one of the only spots of true joy.
no subject
Yeah, the 'past' plot idea didn't make much sense for all the reasons you listed, plus the idea that somehow Eva survived and everyone knew that her doll (????) was buried instead of her body. Why didn't anyone think that maybe, just maybe, that meant she wasn't actually dead? Who buries someone without a body?
Lila is way too good for her weird little mini subplot in this final book. Is the dude she was hanging out with an actual character or just some weird one-off? And yeah, that whole trick or treating stuff was weird. Maybe they do things differently in California? Like how they apparently plant new plants in October and expect them to grow?
And speaking of secondary characters, Steven was absolutely awful in this series. I don't remember him being such an asshole, in such a consistent fashion, in SVT. And gruesome! Scaring so many people with his weird Eva costume *shudder*
no subject
I'm not sure I get why they buried the doll. I get having a funeral/grave for a child you assume died in a river and whose body was simply never recovered (if nothing else, fiction relies heavily on this trope) but good lord, why is there a raging river behind the rehab hospital?
I'm pretty sure the dude Lila's hanging out with is a regular character. I could not tell you a thing about him because I couldn't tell you a thing about any of the Unicorn Boyfriends other than Janet's (Denny?) is an idiot because who willingly spends time with Janet and Aaron.
Oh good, at least the ToT thing wasn't just me then. Clearly California magic allows the gardening to work.
Regular Steven should probably sue this arc's version for character assassination. It is not a good look for him across the board. :/