Time elapsed in this book: 1 month
Length of their junior year: 1 year, 3 months, 2 weeks
Jessica’s love interest: Robbie October
Entertainment rating: 8/10
We’ve come to the point of the Sweet Valley High series where regular books no longer suffice. With this book, fans were treated to the first ever Sweet Valley High Super Edition! This is a book that takes place outside the normal SVH school year timeline (however loose that timeline might be…). This is basically what their summer would have been like if it happened directly after SVH #21, as that’s when this was published chronologically. I need to also note that this particular Super Edition was the first-ever young adult paperback to hit the New York Times bestseller list! Talk about an honor!! I loved this book as a kid and remembered it fairly well… or at least I remembered the drama between Liz and Todd well. The book was just as good as I remembered! The Liz/Todd drama, on the other hand, was more tedious to read about as an adult, although the ending was excellent!
Before I get into the recap, let’s talk about the cover. AMAZING. 10/10 for sure. As an adult, I can’t help but think, who goes on a bike tour wearing outfits like these? But as a kid, all I could think about was how carefree they look and how incredible the outfits were. I mean, Liz is wearing a collared pale yellow top over high-waisted matching shorts. Jess is wearing a pink tank top over pink and white striped shorts. Both are inexplicable biking in these outfits and looking carefree as can be. Incredible!!! This book (both the cover and the plot) made me want to go bike touring along the California coast, a summer trip not offered through my own high school. Imagine that.
It’s summer in Sweet Valley, and Jess and Liz are going on a month-long bike tour along the California coast with a bunch of their friends, plus Mr. Collins and Ms. Dalton as chaperones. The two teachers had been dating but recently broke up without warning and Ms. Dalton went back to dating George Fowler, Lila’s dad. So much drama already! Jess isn’t sure how she’s supposed to get through the month with only two pairs of pants and says she’ll bring extra jeans (not ideal clothing for a bike touring trip) and then tries to borrow a pair of Liz’s silk pants (even worse). She figures she needs to look good in case they run into boys. Liz convinces her to rethink these options.
The twins head to the school, where they meet up with everyone else going on the trip. There’s Roger, Bruce (who I guess has now graduated SVH since he’s a year older than the twins, so why is he still on a school trip?), Lila, Olivia, Annie, Charlie Markus (Bruce’s friend from the tennis team who is making his debut in this book and probably won’t be heard about again), Todd, and Barry Cooper (Chrome Dome Cooper’s nephew, who was so excited when he heard about this trip that he’s flying out from Ohio to join them). Barry turns out to be “roly poly,” in the words of nonjudgmental Liz, and she worries that he’ll have trouble on this trip because he’s clumsy and not a hottie.
After the first stop, Liz writes Enid a letter about the trip. Enid is spending her summer working at Casey’s Ice Cream Parlor at the mall, a surprisingly typical summer job. Liz says everyone’s been on their best behavior so far, although Charlie seems to have a crush on Annie (who, Liz recaps to Enid, recently broke up with Ricky Capaldo), Barry is constantly at the back of the pack, and Jess and Lila have already met some boys at the beach to flirt with.
Their next stop is Los Angeles, where they set up camp for three nights in the backyard of some friends of the Patmans. Mr. Thomas is a Hollywood agent and his daughter, Courtney, is a piece of work. Mr. Thomas greets everyone warmly and tries to make up for Courtney’s rudeness. Suddenly a dude on a dirt bike roars up. His name’s Nolan. Courtney flounces off with him, telling her dad in front of everyone that compared to Nolan, everyone else is dull. They zoom off, and Mr. Thomas is mortified. Liz tells Todd she feels sorry for Mr. Thomas and also for Courtney, since she must be miserable inside if she has to act this way. Todd says she shouldn’t feel too sorry for Courtney since she’s probably spoiled rotten.
Mr. Thomas takes the two teachers aside one night and tells them he’s at the end of his wits with Courtney. He begs them to let Courtney to join their bike tour so she can get away from Nolan. The teachers agree they don’t have any choice but to help out and that they’ll rotate who has to sleep three to a tent in order to make room for her. I mean, what can go wrong?!
The next morning, when Courtney joins their tour group, she has a new personality. She tells them she’s sorry they got off on the wrong foot and starts being super helpful and pleasant. Liz is skeptical of her change in demeanor, and Todd says it’s probably because Courtney doesn’t want to have a rotten time on the trip now that she’s joining them. He tells Liz to give her the benefit of the doubt. Jess and Lila also don’t buy Courtney’s change in attitude. While eating their last dinner in Los Angeles, someone mentions how they’ll be eating canned stew, and Courtney looks disgusted for a moment before forcing a smile and then later gushing all over Todd. Liz is jealous, but when she brings it up to Todd, he says that Liz is imagining things.
They hit the road again. Courtney is slow on her bike, almost Barry’s speed. Jess and Lila make fun of her behind her back and discuss how Courtney seems to be fawning all over Todd, who’s too thick to notice. Jess isn’t a fan of Todd, but she’s even less of a fan of Courtney. Lila also brings up the fact that Barry has a crush on Jess. This doesn’t make Jess happy although she says that Barry does have great taste. I love her confidence! Jess and Lila decide to make Courtney feel unwelcome on the trip and plan to put something cold and clammy in her sleeping bag.
More drama starts in the group later that day. Charlie compliments Annie on her cooking (cheese fondue and salad for lunch, followed by chocolate fondue for dessert… I want to eat this!) but Bruce can’t handle his friend having a crush on Annie so he makes snide remarks about Annie’s talents being well known by the guys in town. The group hits the road again. When they stop, Liz admires the view from a mountain with Todd, who starts talking about how he’s been giving Courtney pointers on her riding. I’m not sure what kind of pointers he’s giving her, since Olivia and Roger are the only ones who did any kind of training for this bike tour, but Todd loves the attention from Courtney and says Liz shouldn’t be jealous. Later, Bruce makes a snide remark about Barry. Roger defends Barry, so Bruce insults Roger too. Charlie tells Bruce he’s put down enough people for the day.
They stay at a hostel one night, where Jess sees a guy who’s “too gorgeous for words.” She immediately starts to scheme about how to land him. Bruce asks if Jess is engaging in her “favorite sport,” and Jess points out that Bruce likes to ogle too and there are enough hotties at the hostel for everyone. Bruce says she’s right and wanders off to hit on some of them. I love this Jess/Bruce dynamic! Jess asks a girl at the hostel for the lowdown on the other guests, and somehow this girl seems to know everything about everyone. The hottie that Jess spotted earlier is Robbie October, who’s biking up the coast with his brother, Danny. The girl says she hears their trouble and that they got kicked out of another hostel for throwing beer bottles out the window. Jess doesn’t care and hopes she’ll see them at another stop.
We cut to Courtney’s point of view. She’s writing a letter to Nolan and tells him that the trip is terrible but that her plan is off to a good start. She says it’ll only be a week until she can be home and back together with Nolan (who, I’m pretty sure, is not the kind of guy to write letters back to her; he’s probably written off Courtney by now or at least be trying to get with someone else). Her plan: cozy up to Todd and feed Todd all sorts of tales about what an awful home life she has, then return home to her dad with Todd at her side as her “new boyfriend” so he’ll think she’s changed, and then she and Nolan can be together again. She says she’ll figure out a way to keep Todd out of their hair. It’s a crazy scheme, but my twelve year old self didn’t question it because this girl has a plan!
At the next campground, there’s a jukebox in the campground canteen, and Todd and Liz dance energetically to a Jackson Five song. I don’t know how they have this energy to dance, since that sounds exhausting after weeks of hard riding, but I like the vibe. Courtney saunters over and cuts in. Todd shrugs at Liz because obviously, what can he do? He’s helpless! Liz pretends she doesn’t care and walks off.
That night, there’s a shriek from the tent that Courtney and Ms. Dalton are sharing. Someone put something cold and clammy at the bottom of Ms. Dalton’s sleeping bag! Mr. Collins comes running out of his own tent, clad only in a pair of shorts. Thank you for that visual, ghostwriter. He discovers that it’s lime Jell-O from the canteen. Ms. Dalton calms down, but Mr. Collins is furious and tells everyone it was not a funny joke and that her sleeping bag could have been ruined. I don’t think I grasped the concept of this as a kid, but as an adult I’m shuddering to think of Jell-O in my own sleeping bag! Mr. Collins suspects it’s Lila, since she doesn’t like Ms. Dalton dating her dad, and later chews her out without evidence. Jess is mad at Lila too, since she was supposed to put the Jell-O in Courtney’s sleeping bag. Jess thinks Lila put it in the wrong sleeping bag on purpose, since she doesn’t like her dad dating Ms. Dalton.
The group makes it to Santa Barbara. Liz is finally enjoying time with Todd at dinner because Courtney’s not around. She said she had a headache and wanted to stay at camp. Todd offered to stay with her because he’s just that helpful, but to Liz’s relief, Courtney told Todd she didn’t need him. It’s a nice evening for everyone without Courtney there.
That evening, Mr. Collins worries about Courtney. He doesn’t buy her quick turnabout in personality. He also worries about Barry, since he’s clearly not in shape (why did Barry get excited about a bike ride up the coast if he wasn’t in shape for it??) and has no doubt heard others laugh at him. But mostly, he thinks about Ms. Dalton and how much he loves her and how he needs to get her out of his system!
Liz and Todd go for a swim in a lake. It’s a nice time until Todd starts talking about Courtney and how it’s too bad she missed out on that evening’s fun. Liz is annoyed that he’s bringing up Courtney (come on Todd, read the room!). Todd starts defending Courtney and says that she told him her dad’s a secret alcoholic and that she’s lonely at home. Liz is skeptical, pointing out that Mr. Thomas has a super hectic schedule and does Todd really believe no one else would notice if he had a drinking problem? Todd is furious that Liz would imply Courtney’s a liar. Todd says Liz is being as non-compassionate as her sister, which makes Liz mad. They make up and kiss, but Liz worries they’ll keep having this fight.
Jess writes Cara a letter about how the trip is going. Cara is spending her summer working as a camp counselor in Oregon. Jess shares gossip about how everyone’s getting along and gushes about Robbie October, leaving out the fact that they haven’t actually met yet.
At their new hostel, Lila pulls Jess aside and says she’s heard the story that Courtney is spreading about her dad being an alcoholic and her home life being super sad. Lila now doesn’t want to help Jess ruin Courtney’s experience on the trip. Jess doesn’t buy Courtney’s story for a second. But then she spots Robbie in the hallway. Jess runs over and flings her arms around him, calling him “Bart Templeton.” He says he thinks she has the wrong guy, but this is the perfect opportunity for him to introduce himself and for her to introduce herself. She mentions she’s on a group trip, and Robbie acts cooler than cool, saying he did one of those once but never would again because it was a total drag. She says she can do whatever she wants and he asks if she’d leave the hostel with him right now to go to a bar. Jess is tempted, but Bruce calls to her because they’re supposed to be cooking dinner together. Robbie tells Jess it could have been fun if she wasn’t with the whole group scene and then leaves. Jess is mortified that Robbie left without a second glance. Lila and Bruce are delighted to have witnessed this humiliation.
Later at the hostel, Lila chats with a couple of guys from Arizona who tell her that Ms. Dalton looks like Beth Curtis, a former French teacher at their high school in Arizona, who disappeared a year and a half ago. Lila senses that she’s onto something and asks for more details. At their stop that night, she confront Ms. Dalton with what she’s learned, and Ms. Dalton looks terrified that someone knows her secret history!
The group sleeps in a greenhouse that night, and Liz wakes up to the sound of Courtney crying. She finally starts to crawl over to see what’s going on, but Todd beats her to it and immediately comforts Courtney. He holds Courtney’s hand and they drift off to sleep again. Liz can’t believe it and she tries not to cry but can’t hold the tears back. Todd does not wake up to soothe her.
When they load up their bikes the next morning, Jess sets the pots and pans by Lila’s bike. Everyone takes turns carrying these; it’s the worst communal chore because they’re heavy and bulky. Lila says it’s not actually her turn to carry them, it’s Ms. Dalton’s turn. Ms. Dalton agrees. Mr. Collins says it’s not Ms. Dalton’s turn, but Ms. Dalton snaps at him and says she knows her own schedule. Jess is also positive that it’s Lila’s turn and doesn’t know what’s happening or why Ms. Dalton looks scared of Lila.
At their next camp, while Liz is preparing food, Todd begs her to talk to him and explain what he did wrong. Liz tells her that she saw him holding Courtney’s hand. Todd says he was just comforting a friend and that it’s no different than Liz having male friends like Ken. Liz says she’d never hold hands with Ken, and Todd says that’s because Ken hasn’t cried in front of her like Courtney has. They argue a bit more and Todd calls her insensitive. They break up.
The group makes it to Big Sur, and Jess runs into Robbie October on the beach! Robbie tells her about a nearby waterfall, and Jess suggests he shows it to her that night. She says she’ll meet him at the campground entrance at midnight.
Jess seeks out Lila and apologizes to her for the argument they had about Courtney. She says it’s not fun fighting with her, so they make up and decide to share a tent that night. The next morning, however, Lila wakes up to discover that Jess is missing. She realizes that Jess only wanted to make up so Lila would cover for her sneaking out to see Robbie. Lila is mad but doesn’t snitch on her because that’s not how their friendship works. Others soon realize that Jess is gone, however, and they can’t leave without her, so Lila is forced to admit that Jess might have left to meet up with Robbie.
Liz is in a search party with Todd and Courtney. Courtney is annoyed with the search. She says she is getting a cold and that they should just go back. Liz can’t believe what she’s hearing, but Todd tells Courtney that she shouldn’t go back alone if she’s not feeling well so he’ll go with her. I can’t believe what a dummy Todd is in this book. The number of times I want to slap him probably exceeds the number of times his name appears in this book.
We cut to Jessica’s perspective. She and Robbie went into a cave and are now stuck there (how did we not get any mention of how the group fared in their tents in the rain??). Apparently Robbie didn’t bring a flashlight, got lost, and then they went into a cave to get out of the rain, not noticing two bear cubs sleeping there until the mama bear returned! They’re now facing off against the mama bear as she protects her cubs! Jess and Robbie are hiding behind a rock. Every time they move, the black bear roars at them and takes a step closer. Realistic? No. Exciting? Yes! Jess is less excited about Robbie every time he opens his mouth.
Suddenly, Jess hears her name being called. It’s Barry! She warns him that there’s a bear in there, and Barry knows there’s no time to lose. He finds the rest of the group and tells them he’s located Jess but that there’s a bear preventing her immediate rescue. He says it’s a black bear, which won’t attack unless provoked, so he decides to draw the bear out of the cave. Barry gets close and swats at the bear, angering her. The bear lunges at Barry, who takes off running and the bear follows in pursuit! 100% not realistic, considering the speed at which bears can run compared to the speed at which humans (even ones faster than Barry the slowpoke) can run. Anyway, with the cave entrance now clear, Jess and Robbie escape! Meanwhile, the bear is fast and is gaining on Barry (how much of a head start did he have?). Just then, there’s a cry from one of the cubs! The mama bear is distracted and returns to her cubs, letting Barry go free! The ordeal is over! Liz kisses Barry’s cheek to thank him, and Jess kisses his other cheek.
Lots of stuff happens that night. First, Annie and Charlie have gotten over all their awkwardness and some minor drama that wasn’t worth recapping; they are now a couple. Then, Jess and Lila hash things out. Lila is mad that Jess tricked her into covering for her in the tent, but Jess convinces her she really did want to make up. Lila agrees they’re better as friends than enemies. Plus, she’s been dying to tell someone the gossip about Ms. Dalton and spills all about it to Jess. Apparently Ms. Dalton used to be Beth Curtis and was married to some guy named John Curtis. They got divorced, John killed himself, Beth didn’t go to the funeral, and then left town. Apparently this was a huge scandal. Lila thinks this means that Ms. Dalton is dangerous. Jess is more skeptical.
But the most dramatic part of the night happens after Liz puts the fire out and goes to bed. Courtney wakes Todd up and smokes a cigarette as she waits for him to join him outside. You know she’s a bad girl when she’s smoking! When Todd appears, she flicks the cigarette into the bushes. She tells Todd that her dad is in bad shape so she needs to leave to be with him. Courtney says the only thing is that she doesn’t want to be alone in the big house so would Todd join her? Todd thinks about it and then agrees that he should stay with her for the rest of the summer. They decide they’ll leave first thing the next morning. As an adult, I can see the glaring plot hole here: they’re somehow able to just leave this trip and hang out in Los Angeles without parent approval or anything? Courtney kisses him. She pretends she’s kissing Nolan but has to admit Todd isn’t a bad kisser.
The next morning, they wake up to something burning. There’s a fire!! Everyone pitches in to fight it. They throw water on the flames, anything they can think of. Lila freaks out when Ms. Dalton tries to help and yells that she’s helping them as much as she helped her husband. Mr. Collins tells them that their only hope to put it out is to strip the ground bare so the fire has nowhere to spread. Bruce says he’ll help pull nearby bushes. Roger says he’ll help too. We get this beautiful quote from Bruce:
“No! We’re not going to risk more than one Patman at a time!”
I love the bromance in this moment between the two cousin-brothers. Bruce and Charlie start clearing the ground. It’s a lot of work, but they manage it and finally the fire extinguishes. Everyone cheers!
The drama doesn’t end there. Liz says she was the only responsible for putting out the fire the night before so she needs to leave the trip since clearly she didn’t do it well, as a fire flared up.
Mr. Collins confronts Ms. Dalton about what Lila said, and Ms. Dalton tells him about how controlling her husband was and how she decided to get a fresh start after his family started blaming her for his death and threatening to ruin her life. She says that somehow, George Fowler found out about her history and blackmailed her into dating him again. As an adult, I can see how this reflects way worse on Mr. Fowler because not only is he basically bullying Ms. Dalton but also… this is how he gets dates? What a catch. Mr. Collins understands and is sympathetic. He and Ms. Dalton proclaim their love for each other. Mr. Collins says she needs to stay in Sweet Valley and that he’ll help her weather this.
Courtney and Todd announce to the group that they’re leaving and that Todd is going to be her guest in Los Angeles for the rest of the summer. Liz runs away and tells Mr. Collins that she’s leaving too. He doesn’t understand what’s going on. Liz mentions that she and Todd broke up, and Mr. Collins is shocked. We get this nauseating sentence, which I fully internalized as a kid:
Elizabeth and Todd had been the first to agree when people said they were a perfect couple.
Liz says Courtney needs Todd more than she does and tells Mr. Collins what Courtney’s said about her dad’s drinking problem and how her dad sent her on this trip to toughen her up. Mr. Collins tells Liz the real reason Courtney is on this trip is because her dad wanted to get her away from Nolan. Liz realizes that Courtney is full of BS. Mr. Collins tells Liz to fight for what she wants, so Liz goes back to the group to fight for Todd. He’s totally not worth fighting for, I can see that now, but I was absolutely rooting her on as a kid, hoping she’d snap him out of the trance Courtney had him in!
Ms. Dalton tells all the kids her life story. They all support her and tell her they have her back! It’s a sweet moment, even though her sharing all this is wildly unprofessional. Par for the course, I suppose. Then Liz tells everyone that Courtney’s been lying to them all. Courtney says she’s just jealous that Todd is going to leave with her instead of stay with Liz. Liz says she’s wrong because Liz is leaving the group too and confesses that putting out the campfire had been her responsibility so the fire was her fault. A light goes on in Todd’s empty brain and he realizes that Liz wasn’t the last one out! He voices this and says that when he and Courtney were out, Courtney had been smoking! Courtney says Todd is lying, but Todd says he knows what he saw. He also saw Courtney flick her cigarette into the bushes where the fire originated! Todd apologizes to Liz for what he put her through, and they make up in front of everyone. He tells Liz how much he loves her!! They kiss and others start to applaud, led by Jess. Courtney’s mask drops off and she yells at them. She says Todd and Liz deserve each other. Liz says that she can’t agree more. I’m sure I swooned at this as a kid.
Mr. Collins puts Courtney on the first bus of the morning to Santa Cruz, where her aunt lives. The group has a great rest of the trip. They run into Robbie and his brother once more on the road; Robbie’s brother has a flat tire, and neither of them knows how to fix it, so Barry does it for them. When the trip ends, they go back to Sweet Valley, and Liz tells Enid about the whole experience. Enid apparently met some guy named Hank who was visiting his grandparents from Boston and came into Casey’s for ice cream. They’ve promised to write each other. No additional details given about that, but I’m not especially invested in Enid’s love life anyway, so it’s okay that this is obviously going nowhere. Liz says she had a perfect summer (oh hey, that’s the title!) but that it’s good to be back in Sweet Valley.