Time elapsed in this book: 1.5 weeks
Length of their junior year: 1 year, 8 months
Jessica’s love interest: Marc Marcheiller, Jean-Claude de Willenich
Entertainment rating: 8/10
Let’s start with the cover: I love it!! Liz is reading the world’s thinnest guidebook about France (seriously, it looks about 3 pages long) while Jess stares happily into the distance, opening her jacket to receive whatever France has to offer her. And what does it have to offer her? Two rich guys who fall in love with her in the idyllic setting of Cannes. I remember reading this Super Edition as a kid and thinking how fancy and amazing a trip to France would be for my own spring break. I’ve still never been to the French Riviera (shocking that a program like this didn’t exist at my high school…), so I’m taking this book’s depiction as fact.
Anyway, this is the second spring break of the series so far (the first being when Suzanne Devlin visited) and it’s a different one for sure! This time, the twins are headed to the French Riviera as part of an exchange that Ms. Dalton organized. Flights either used to be way different in the 1980’s, or this book was written by someone who’d never taken an overseas flight. Everyone on the plane is going from California to Nice, but there’s a stop in New York City for 45 minutes to refuel, during which time passengers can get off the plane so long as they’re back in time for the second part of the flight.
Once they get to Cannes, the twins are staying with the Glize family, comprised of a beautiful mom, Avery, and an almost 18 year old son named Rene who’s, naturally, also hot. In the photo they’ve seen of him, he’s wearing tight jeans that make him look very French. There’s also a daughter named Ferney, who’s 16 and spending her spring break with the Wakefields in Sweet Valley. Avery and Rene pick the twins up at the airport. The twins are happy to discover that their hosts speak English well, although Rene is sullen and rude. Annoyed with him, Jess decides to snoop around Rene’s room and finds a photo of Rene and Ferney. She’s shocked to discover that Ferney is the spitting image of Tricia Martin, Steven’s girlfriend who died of leukemia!
In Sweet Valley, you’d think Steven would be grief-stricken or at the very least feel uncomfortable by the fact that Ferney looks like Tricia, but no. He’s thrilled! Ferney doesn’t speak any English, so I’m not sure why she’s in Sweet Valley or what the purpose of this exchange for her is, but Steven doesn’t care. He already feels like Tricia has come back to him. He feels like he’s known Ferney forever. He does feel a little guilty because he has a girlfriend, Cara, but then thinks he deserves a “candy-coated fantasy every once in a while.” Steven assumes Cara will understand because she knows how much he loved Tricia. Cara calls, but Steven tells her he’ll call her later and heads out with Ferney instead. What a catch.
Back in France, Liz convinces Jess to go for a jog together to see the sights (since when do they run?). Jess gets bored and decides to head back to the house early. On her way home, she spots a silver Porsche drive up to a huge house. The driver is a guy her age! He’s short, with frizzy hair, broad mouth, and long nose. Jess thinks he’s funny looking; however, he drives a Porsche and is at a mansion, so she decides he might be worth getting to know anyway. I absolutely love how she just accepts being shallow and doesn’t care. I want Jessica energy!
The guy introduces himself as Marc. Jess tells him about herself, and Marc invites her to a special beach club that afternoon that his family’s a part of. Jess is all too thrilled to accept the invite. When she tells Liz about this later that day, Liz is impressed that she’s already potentially met Mr. Right. Jess says that he’s not exactly Mr. Right but that Marc might be able to introduce her to someone who is Mr. Right. Again, Big Jessica Energy.
Avery forces Rene to take Liz out sightseeing. He zooms around town, makes a few cutting remarks, and then takes her to meet two of his friends. His friends are perfectly pleasant, but every time one of them tries talking to Liz, Rene cuts in and starts talking in rapid French so she won’t understand. Rene then makes fun of Liz’s accent when she speaks French. I’m shocked to discover that Liz doesn’t sound like a native speaker when she talks, since she’s a Wakefield twin and therefore usually perfect at everything. When Rene goes to the bathroom, his friends apologize to Liz for his rudeness and explain that Rene’s dad is American and that he’s hated all Americans since his dad left them years ago.
When Rene drops Liz off at home, Liz grabs her diary and walks over to a nearby orchard to write in it. When she’s done writing, she finds a puppy and goes on a search for his home. The dog’s owner turns out to be someone named Countess de Willenich who lives in a huge villa. She’s happy to have the dog back and invites Liz in for a glass of wine.
Back in Sweet Valley, [Liz] almost never drank wine. Her parents might let her and Jessica have a glass with dinner, but only on very special occasions. The last time had been when her mother had picked up an important new client for her design business.
Since when do Ned and Alice let the twins drink wine like this?!? Aside from them giving the twins a bottle of champagne before a Christmas party, I don’t remember the twins ever having wine with their parents. The main characters in here seem to become teetotalers as the series goes on, so seeing times when they drink is just astounding!
Anyway, Liz has a nice afternoon with the Countess. She tells Jess about her day later. Jess tells her about her afternoon with Marc at the beach club and how most of the women don’t wear tops when they sunbathe so they won’t get tan lines. Jess wanted to fit in but it took her awhile before she “finally removed her tiny top.” She then immediately rolled onto her stomach.
Jess. Topless. WHAT. I absolutely do not remember this part from when I read this as a kid. I am SHOCKED!
Liz goes back to see the Countess the next day. Her grandson, Jean-Claude, is also there and Liz quickly realizes that it’s a set up. Jean-Claude doesn’t speak much English, but Liz is agreeable to practicing her French with him since that’s why she’s here! Jean-Claude takes her out to see some of the sights, and Liz is happy with her new friend. She mentions wanting to go swimming in the Mediterranean, and Jean-Claude says he understands why Rene might not want to take her. He explains that a few summers ago, Rene and his friend were swimming when his friend got a cramp and drowned. Liz feels bad for Rene.
Back in Sweet Valley, Enid finds Cara looking miserable at Casey’s Ice Cream Parlor. Enid says she saw Steve and Ferney at the beach and knows what must be going on. Cara says she can’t compete with a Tricia lookalike. Enid says Cara needs to remind Steven that he can’t go out with a memory.
Back in France, Jess is annoyed because Liz has met the rich hottie while she’s stuck with a weird-looking dude. Jess heads out with Marc. Liz is waiting for Jean-Claude to pick her up when Avery calls. She says she needs Liz to go to the pharmacist and pick up some medicine for her patient (what?). Liz says she’ll take care of it. She writes a note to Jean-Claude saying she’ll be back soon and tapes it to the front of the door.
At the beach, Jess is bored and annoyed with Marc. She heads home early and finds the note that Liz taped to the door. Jean-Claude arrives and Jess is breathless at how gorgeous he is. He thinks Jess is Liz because he doesn’t know Liz has an identical twin. Jess tries to say she’s not Liz, but then Jean-Claude says she looks more beautiful than ever and Jess decides Liz will understand, since it’s love at first sight. She heads out with him.
Jess and Jean-Claude have a great time. He thinks something’s different about her, since she’s more fun than usual and also doesn’t speak French as well as she previously did. Jess does not tell him she’s not Liz. They kiss and make plans to go out together again.
Back in Sweet Valley, Cara goes out for pizza with Maria and Robin. Steven and Ferney are there! Steven looks embarrassed and reluctantly invited her to join them, but Cara says there isn’t room for her and leaves.
Liz wonders why Jean-Claude never called her even though she left a note for him. Jess doesn’t tell her that she posed as Liz to spend the day with him. Jess goes out with Jean-Claude the next day, and Liz briefly reminisces about having Todd for a boyfriend. (Ahh, the Todd days… be still, my 12-year-old heart!) She comes home just in time to see Rene throw out a letter from his father. Liz asks why he didn’t open it. Rene scoffs and says his dad said everything there was to say by leaving and that every month, when his dad writes, he throws the letter in the trash. Liz can’t help but get involved, and she chides Rene for his reaction to his dad’s abandonment, saying he’s acting like an angry little boy. Rene, naturally, doesn’t take this well.
Back in Sweet Valley, Steven introduces his friend David to Ferney. David’s a French major and Steven hopes he can help translate so Steven can confirm that Ferney really is exactly like Tricia. David asks how they’ve been communicating so far, and Steven says it’s actually been easy and that he’s been able to figure stuff out, like how Ferney wants to be a scientist, just like Tricia wanted. David asks Ferney about this, and Ferney says yes, science is her favorite subject, but she doesn’t want to be a scientist. She created some new lipstick color in her science lab. David asks Ferney about some book Steven loved and saw her reading; Ferney says she’s only reading it for school and prefers reading magazines. Steven is crushed that she’s not the person he imagined her to be. He tells David he feels like a fool, and David says he understands Steven was hoping he had Tricia back but that Ferney is clearly not his “emotional equal.” Steven says Cara is and hopefully he’ll get her back!
Liz tells Avery about Rene throwing away the letter, and Avery says yes, her ex-husband left years ago and she was mad about it for ages but she now realizes they weren’t a good match and that he’s trying to make it up to the kids by writing them regularly. Avery apologizes that Rene’s anger at his American dad has made him be rude to Jess and Liz.
Later, while Liz is home, the doorbell rings. It’s Marc, looking for Jess. Liz is surprised because she thought Jess was out with Marc. Marc and Liz both realize that Jess clearly met someone else. Liz realizes that “someone else” is likely Jean-Claude, and that Jess is pretending to be Liz, which is why she hasn’t heard from Jean-Claude; he thinks he’s spending time with Liz.
Marc is embarrassed and says that he was going to invite Jess to an art exhibit. Liz says she’s into art more than Jess so she’s up to go with him! They have a great time at the exhibit together, and Liz is even complimented by the artist, who tells her she’s very intelligent and perceptive. Liz blushes because she’s so modest and not at all accustomed to being complimented regularly.
Liz gets home, and Jess is still not back from her date with Jean-Claude. Liz is a little worried so she calls the countess to ask where Jean-Claude is, knowing that Jess will be with him. The countess says that Jean-Claude and “Liz” went sailing. There’s a storm coming in, so Liz asks Rene to drive her to the beach. Rene is incredulous and asks why Liz isn’t mad at Jess for stealing her boyfriend. Liz says there’s no time to be mad, this is an emergency! Rene only has a moped, and even though Liz isn’t supposed to be on a motorcycle, she hops on immediately and they speed off.
We cut to the last (thankfully) bit of the Cara/Steven drama. Steven goes to Cara’s house and apologizes for treating her so poorly. He tells her she’s the only one for him, and Cara forgives him. They kiss. I don’t know what else to say about this subplot because honestly, WTF?
Liz and Rene spot Jean-Claude and Jess in a little sailboat. It’s stormy. A huge wave hits the boat and it tosses Jean-Claude and Jess into the water! Liz dives in and swims toward her sister. Jean-Claude tries to swim toward Jess too. Neither is strong enough or fast enough. But then Rene appears! He’s gotten over his fear of swimming to help rescue Jess! Everyone manages to safely get to dry land. Liz realizes that Jess and Jean-Claude are in love, and she doesn’t want to come between them.
The twins talk later, and Jess says she only lied to Liz and Jean-Claude because she was falling in love. Liz forgives her because that’s what she does.
Liz thanks Rene for saving them. Rene apologizes for treating them so poorly. Liz says she retrieved his dad’s letter from the trash, and Rene says he’ll read the letter if Liz spends the day with him since he wants to start making things up to her. Good to see Liz is able to successfully be a busybody even overseas.
Jess tells Liz she told Jean-Claude everything and that he and the countess both totally forgive her. They also want to see the real Elizabeth again before she leaves. Jess teases Liz about possibly dating Rene after he was so awful to start. Liz says they’re just friends for now and they only have a few more days in France, so who knows what will happen!