She likes me for me
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the_oracleRock Star's Girl
February 1991
Jessica can't believe it! Her idol, rock star Jamie Peters, has moved to Sweet Valley. If only she could meet him, her career as a 'star' would really take off! Peeking through the bushes bordering his estate, hoping to find a way to talk to him, Jessica sees something shocking.
Andrea Slade, the quiet new girl at Sweet Valley High, is lounging by the pool with Jamie - and she's acting as if they are more than just good friends. Could a sixteen-year-old nobody like Andrea really be a rock star's girlfriend?
My memory of RSG is pretty flimsy: purple cover with Jess doing her weakest "I'm watching you" face and this is the book where everyone thinks Andrea is Jamie's girlfriend and not his daughter. That's it.
Which isn't to say that I was wrong, just that I'd managed to forget all the great things about the book. Like the fact that Enid pops up all over the place here and Lila's insane and our ghosty does not know how to play the marimba or possibly what one even is. Onward!
We open with Enid being excited to tell Liz who she had lunch with as they get ready for gym. It's a little odd that Liz wasn't at lunch with Enid, and we never find out where she was, but we do get Liz guessing it's some fabulously gorgeous guy. Alas, it was a girl and that girl was Andrea Slade. You know, the new transfer student. Anyway, Enid thinks Andrea is great and she wants to invite her to the beach with them that weekend. Liz agrees and then Andrea appears because her schedule is still being fiddled with and now she's in their gym class. Huzzah!
We have a brief interlude with our B plot and the lusting over Jamie Peters and then we hit the beach with possibly my favorite new trio. Andrea drops possibly the first of her many comments about being woefully pale and the Es try to explain "beach culture" to her. Which sounds less interesting than it actually is. The trio hit it off and Andrea seems to honestly enjoy hanging out with Enid and Liz and the three agree to meet up at the DB later for dinner... but only after Andrea once more avoids letting anyone even know what part of town she lives in. Enid's kind of worried by how secretive Andrea is, but Elizabeth chalks it up to the family not being fully moved in yet or something. Sure. As someone who did a move that was hell incarnate, with boxes everywhere for far too long, I can say that even during the midst of that, I would've been fine with someone picking me up. But maybe in the Valley you invite yourself in first and that's what Liz figures Andrea was avoiding.
We get a moment of Liz trying to get Jessica to agree to meet and hang out with Andrea, because Liz thinks Jess would really like her and Jess just isn't interested. I'm torn on this. On the one hand, Jessica's right. She enjoys people like Lila and Amy and Liz prefers, y'know, Enid. Their friend circles don't really overlap that much when it comes to best friend material. On the other hand, the only reason for Jessica to not agree to meet the girl whose fashion choices she's already admired is because the plot requires no mention of Jamie around Andrea until later. And since Jessica's Jamie Peters obsession is in full swing, she can't really go more than five minutes without mentioning him. Possibly as subtly as, "You know who else likes to breathe? JAMIE PETERS!"
Now, because this wouldn't be SVH without some romance, the book brings us Nicholas Morrow running into the new trio at the mall.
Can we take a moment to discuss the mall? I admit I live in a place with two relatively shitty malls (I laugh any time someone asks about the closest one) but Sweet Valley is mentioned to be a small town about 137 times in this book alone but their mall is three levels? Are you kidding me? I could maybe buy this if we'd been told that it's basically the mall for every surrounding town and everyone goes there to shop but nope. Just small town this, small town that, btw, the mall has three levels.
Back to Nicholas. He and Andrea immediately hit it off, bonding over the fact that they both lived in Boston in the recent past and also both LOVE sailing. Elizabeth is giddy over the thought of Nicholas finally finding someone and I kinda love that. I also feel a little bad for Enid as by the end of the book she's going to wind up the fifth wheel on the first of many an outing. Sorry, Enid.
Nicholas and Andrea make a date to go sailing and when they do hit the water, they find that they both have a lot in common- not the least of which is being kinda dorky around one another. But it's endearing and maybe I'm biased because I want Nicholas to be happy almost as much as the Wakefield twins seem to in this book and also because Andrea is obviously team Enid, so I'll roll with it. They agree to meet back up for dinner, though there is a seriously awkward moment and no, not when Regina is mentioned.
Yet again Andrea suggests just meeting someone somewhere and Nicholas is a little hurt because he thinks maybe she's ashamed of him or something. But when Andrea assures him that it's not that, she just needs a little time, he agrees, though he does hope that sometime soon she'll trust him. I... honestly don't blame him for being a little put off that she's being so evasive about where she lives. While we know she's hiding something (even if you don't know whether she's JP's gf or daughter at this point), Nicholas just knows this girl he spent an amazing afternoon out on the water with won't trust him to pick her up at her house... kinda the most basic of date beginnings.
Andrea and Nicholas dine at a pretty little Italian restaurant that serves angel hair pasta (with cream sauce and herbs, as the running joke between the two goes and I did warn you they were dorks) and they have a delightful time. Thing is, at the end of the date we have Nicholas walking Andrea to her car... which is parked outside of his house. You know where the Morrows live? In the rich part of town, right by Lila and Bruce. He lives in a freakin' mansion. This is a plot point for more than one book, dammit, ghosty. So why, oh why does Andrea get a little squirrelly when Dana later mentions that the Morrows are loaded? She should already know this! It's not like your average teenage boy, at the age of 18, can afford a new sailboat after trading in their Sunfish for it. Seriously, the boy comes from money and it isn't exactly a secret.
Still, Andrea seems to be fitting in pretty nicely with Olivia, Dana (who is sticking around more than I ever remembered her doing for this stretch of the books), Todd, and Winston. Win worries that he's offended Andrea when she runs off rather than discuss her father but Liz and Todd assure him that he was fine, she's just shy, maybe.
I believe I promised you Lila craziness, right? Well, first we circle back to Jessica. The new Jamie Peters album just dropped and so she and Amy go to Lila's to hear it on Li's new CD player that Mr. Fowler just brought back from Japan. Ah, book, you're so dated. I love it. Anyway, Jess can't get over how hot Jamie is, Lila can't get over the idea of how Jamie is moving into movies and possibly moving to California and hey, maybe he'll move to Sweet Valley and Amy can't get over how ridiculous both Lila and Jessica are acting about some 40 year old rock star.
Lila decides to drop the bombshell that she's getting into music and has a music teacher, Max Sharpe, and soon they'll be deciding which instrument she should start to play. Lila's not prepared for how amused Amy and Jessica are by this and even less prepared when they go all in on her once she announces that her new musical focus will be... the marimba. Which we're told is a cousin of the harp but Wikipedia would very much beg to differ. Pretty sure you don't pluck the marimba, ghosty.
Anyway, Lila won't hear of them mocking her new musical pursuit and won't they be sorry when she's rich and famous! Well. More rich and more famous, I suppose. Amy and Jessica decide they can risk it.
Until later, that is, when Lila announces that she's seen Jamie Peters... in Sweet Valley! Amy's still busy rolling her eyes while Jessica wonders if it's possible that maybe Lila did. He wouldn't be the first (or last) star to swing by the Valley. Later that evening, Lila calls the Wakefield house during dinner, and we're treated to a fabulous quote:
Such sass. ♥
Lila claims to have seen Jamie on her way home from Max's house again. She followed him this time and found out that he must've moved into the old Kitterby estate, which is only five doors down from Lila! Also that neither Lila nor her father expected it to sell so long as the estate was asking $2 million for it, but that's not the point.
Jessica is super jealous that Lila's now seen him twice and not happy that she's going to miss seeing him again because she has to finish dinner. Lila suggests a way onto the estate, as she used to be friends with Alexis Kitterby and knows the grounds fairly well, and the two agree to meet for lunch the next day to discuss it. So Jess grumpily goes back to dinner while Lila continues her stakeout.
Lila, Jessica, and Amy sneak onto JP's property and are almost immediately rewarded with the sight of JP talking on the phone out by the pool. It's amazing that each time we hear about them spying on the star, he's always out by the pool. It's so amazing that the ghosty has to give us a reason to believe it and that's that JP's remedy for everything is to spend time baking in the sun.
Funny that Andrea makes numerous mentions of her lack of tan then, but hey. Maybe JP moved to California just for the year round tanning opportunities.
Anyway, the girls run away when Amy and Jessica make too much noise and Lila puts the kibosh on Amy telling everyone in SV about the new star in their midst. She points out that once everyone knows, they'll all be clamoring for JP's attention and then they won't be special. It works and the girls agree to keep the secret from everyone but Cara.
And I take a moment to howl with laughter at how much Cara's changed, because it wasn't that long ago that telling Cara was akin to just putting up a billboard, only Cara's mouth might've been faster. Now she's capable of keeping a secret without it being a thing.
When the foursome spy on Jamie next, they're surprised by the sight of the ever elusive girl in so many of Jamie's songs: Andrea! GASP. She kisses him on the cheek and all four are sure that Andrea's his girlfriend and are all scandalized.
I laugh some more because these days, and even then, it's really not uncommon to hear of a middle aged rock star having a teenage girlfriend. Sure, her being 16 is weird but not the teenage aspect exactly. Also, for someone who has been kind of the voice of reason where Jamie Peters is concerned, Amy never once suspects that Andrea is his daughter even though she's sure the man's pushing 40 and I suspect that's about the average age for their parents. But complaining about the lack of logic in a SVH book is kinda pointless. :P
The next day Andrea is sick from school with a cold and Penny tells Liz that she's got an in with someone at the Entertainment section of the Sweet Valley News and thus she knows Jamie Peters has moved to town. The real estate agent blabbed and it should be all over the news by that evening. You can't convince me that JP's agent didn't at least give him a head's up at some point so that Jamie would warn Andrea before she returned to school but fine. Enid and Elizabeth are pretty sure the rumor mill is wrong and that Andrea is his daughter, not his girlfriend but who listens to them? Not when the gossip is this juicy, anyway.
Andrea returns to school the next day to find that everyone is treating her very strangely. Amy is super solicitous despite never giving her the time of day beforehand. Caroline is pretty much stalking her and trying to con her into confiding in her (Caro, if Andrea could peg Bruce Patman as an egotistical blow hard at first brush, I'm sure she's heard what a gossip you are by this point), and girls are basically just acting weird around her. She puts two and two together and figures somehow the news broke. She's nervous that Enid and Elizabeth will treat her differently but at lunch they're just happy to see their friend. Awww.
Until Lila shows up and wants Andrea to put in a good word for her with Jamie. When Andrea doesn't leap for joy, Lila says she wouldn't be thrilled if her boyfriend didn't value her opinion on such matters. Andrea is ticked and instead of correcting Lila, she coldly tells Lila it's no business of hers who JP is to Andrea. She's not wrong but this will bite her on the ass very, very shortly.
After school, Lila and Jess go shopping but Jess is ticked that Lila played the favor card too early. She's sure that she would've been able to finesse Andrea better and when Lila's like "who cares, he'll dump her soon anyway", Jess heads outside to people watch. She runs into Nicholas who just bought Andrea a bouquet of blue hydrangeas since blue is her favorite color. Jess feels funny when she realizes how smitten Nicholas is and I love this for reasons I can't fully articulate. When Lila comes out and wonders who the flowers are for, Jess tries to get Lila to not spill the beans about Andrea but Lila's not really picking up on any social cues today, so she tells Nicholas that Andrea is shacking up with Jamie Peters and he shouldn't get too serious. Nicholas is heartbroken and gives the flowers to a delighted Lila before heading off to break his date with Andrea. Sorta. Jess is worried that maybe they did something wrong, but Lila's sure that she just saved Nicholas from a world of heartache and he should really be sending her flowers for the next year as thanks.
Oh, Lila.
Andrea shows up late for her date with Nicholas and finds that he's left a note that calls her out for possibly two-timing him. She's upset, mostly at herself, because if she'd just bothered to correct Lila instead of getting the last word in, she wouldn't be in this mess. She can't go home because she's mad at her father for even entertaining the idea of breaking his promise to not go on tour again anytime soon and so she disappears.
Which we only know because around 8:30, the phone rings at the Wakefield's and Jessica answers, only to find Jamie Peters on the line. He wants to talk to Liz because Andrea hasn't come home and he's not exactly worried, he just wants to make sure she's with friends. Liz tells him that Andrea isn't there, but she'll call Enid (uncool, Liz, let Enid talk to the rock star, too!) and Nicholas and then maybe they can go out looking for Andrea. After she hangs up, Jessica confesses that before anyone calls Nicholas, maybe Liz needs to know what happened that afternoon.
Liz picks Nicholas up in the Fiat and I think at this point in the series we're starting to hint at the Jeep coming given that the Fiat isn't great for more than two people and this point is hammered home multiple times during the book. In any case, Nicholas is relieved to know that he only made an ass of himself with his assumption and that the girl he's interested in ISN'T a two-timing groupie. Huzzah? We stop at Enid's and climb into her mother's car and head off in search of Andrea. Nicholas finally remembers the third thing we know about Andrea (behind love of blue and angel hair pasta) and that's her love of water/sailing. Off to the marina they go!
There's a joyous reunion and misunderstandings are cleared up and everyone heads back to Andrea's house... where Lila and Jessica are hiding in the bushes again. There's an incredibly stupid moment where, after Jamie and Nicholas yank Lila and Jess from the bushes (after Jessica basically falls out of her hiding spot) Jamie says to Elizabeth, "Sounds like you know these two." DUDE. THEY ARE IDENTICAL TWINS and you have both of them standing right in front of you. It's not until Liz asks how cool Jess is with the blackmail that's going to take place later to keep this from their parents that he realizes they're, y'know, twins. Oi. Maybe the sun has damaged his eyes even with the ever present sunglasses?
I do have to hand it to Lila, who plays it super cool to the degree that she manages to lay the blame at Jessica's feet without anyone really catching it AND she gets a bit part in Jamie's upcoming movie. Sure, it's comedic and will be mocking her lack of marimba skills, but still. Considering she was just busted spying on the neighbors, she came out smelling like a rose. All hail queen Lila.
Jessica, however, winds up having to do all of Liz's chores all weekend and Liz is still figuring how else to properly make Jessica pay. It doesn't happen nearly often enough, but I do love when Liz comes out on top in the blackmail department.
There's a bit at the end where Enid and Elizabeth discuss how nice it'll be for Andrea to be around and then Liz runs into Skye Morrow, Regina's mother, who says she's finally been able to go through Regina's things and found something she knows Regina would want Liz to have. She'll bring it by tomorrow and we're left on that cliffhanger.
Oh what could it be, dear reader. What could it be?
Trivia:
Quotes:
Andrea's smile widened. "Great! That makes two people I've met today. I'm not sure I count Bruce as a 'person.'" - Patman's charm must be slipping. Maybe he needs to re-read his book? :P p5
But Jessica always had to turn liking into adoring. That was just the way Jessica was. She didn't get interested- she got obsessed. - Liz, you do the same damn thing, only not usually over celebs. p11
Amy shook her head. "I can't believe you two! What do you think, if he happens to be free, you could just call him up and ask him out?" - Amy nails why I've never been good at celeb crushes. p17
"What's a marimba? It sounds like something you eat for dessert," Cara said.
Jessica giggled. "Or something to wrap your hair in."
"I think it sounds like what you yell when you're chopping down trees," Amy added with a grin. "Ma-rim-ba!" - p49
"I happen to have natural talent for the marimba. That's what Max Sharpe thinks. Besides, I'm not crazy. I'm not going to play for Jamie until I'm much better. At least not for another week or two!" - Yes, that's all the additional time you'll need, Lila. p83/84
"You know, people who know me think I'm a really good listener. They think I'm the sort of friend you can really confide in." - Yes, confide in Caroline if you want your news spread all over town without any effort on your part, Andrea. p110
"Once she wakes up out of whatever daze she's in, she'll realize that there are better people to be friends with than Enid Rollins."
"Watch it," Jessica said. It was all right for her to disapprove of Elizabeth's friendships, but family loyalty ran deep. And right now, she was not in the mood to hear her twin's friend criticized, even indirectly. - my heart, she can't take much more of this, Captain. D'aww. p119
Elizabeth sighed. "So maybe that was it. On top of everyone at school treating her so strangely, your reaction must've been the last straw." - That was way harsh,Tai Liz. p131/132
Elizabeth couldn't see how Jessica could possibly prefer a whole evening cooped up with Lila to a lively night with a group of friends. - Oh how the tables have turned. p34
"Well, you've met my special girl. They don't come any more special than Andrea."
"Yeah, I agree with that," Nicholas said fervently. - Ick and aw at the same time? p144
"Before you go, let me just thank you two," Andrea said warmly. She put one hand on Enid's shoulder and the other on Elizabeth's. "Something tells me that the three of us are going to have a lot of fun together." - And then she was never seen again. Well, almost. p146
In Which I Nitpick:
"Why don't we come over and get you after Enid? Or Enid, then you?" - How is that different, Liz/ghosty p30
Her father hadn't understood why she had been so insistent on keeping her identity a secret.
Two paragraphs later: The great thing about her father was that he understood. - Sigh. p102/103
I really found myself liking Rock Star's Girl way more than I was expecting. We start off right away with Enid and keep her around for a good chunk of the book, and you know that's an easy way into my heart. I snickered at quite a few lines I'm pretty sure I was supposed to (looking at you, Ned) and while this is pretty much the definition of a cotton candy book, I also happen to love cotton candy.
So let's examine the good stuff.
Lila's musical fixation. One of the first things dropped in the series is the fact that Lila has a lovely voice and seems at least a little bit interested in music. So it makes sense to me that she'd try and pick up an instrument, even if I don't believe for a second she'd go with the marimba... or whatever the ghosty thought a marimba was. This is especially makes sense when you consider that she's probably imagining this as part of the ongoing competition with Jessica who is usually considered a failure at all things musical. Of course she's going to pick the one area she's been proven to be at least passably decent at that Jessica routinely fails at whenever the ghosties pay attention. I do wish she'd been given something she could actually excel at but baby steps, I suppose. It's not easy to come out on top when you're forever in competition with one of the stars of the series.
I also happen to love just how she rolls with being busted by Jamie and company. Who isn't busted spying on their famous neighbors from time to time? Pfft. Lila plays it off as being shy and while I'm not 100% sure it really works, the fact that she gets away with it and even thought to try is kinda awesome.
Enid! Enid is the one to make friends with Andrea initially and seems to be slightly better friends with her than Liz is and I love that Enid's shown to have a social life outside of Liz and Hugh. She hears from two sources, neither of which seem to be Liz, that Andrea had dinner two nights with Nicholas, and she's just fine hanging out with the rest of the semi usual lunch crowd. She snarks at Lila without being a big thing and I will forever love any interaction between those two because of course they'll find themselves thrown together way more often than either would like given their friendship with the twins.
Also? I like that for some reason we get Jessica not being here for Lila mocking Enid. Mostly it's because it's a reflection on Liz and only Jessica gets to talk shit about her family, but still. This means that for at least one book, it also extends to Enid. Aww.
Nicholas! My god, he comes across as a dork in this book and it's adorable. It's got to be hard trying to figure out when to tell someone that the biggest thing in your life recently was the death of your little sister, especially when that's basically his defining characteristic in these books: Regina's brother. But the way he's easily flustered by Andrea and wants to impress her to the point of buying hydrangeas is just cute somehow. And I know I mentioned it already, but I also really do love how Jessica and Elizabeth both want him to be happy to the point that Liz is gleefully clapping her hands at the idea of him dating Andrea and Jess is willing to admit to herself that maybe, just maybe, they don't have all the facts and shouldn't destroy his chance at happiness until they do.
Anyway, as the anti-Bruce, I always wanted more for the guy.
Andrea herself is actually pretty sweet. She's basically a stand in for the reader in that she looooooooooooves Sweet Valley to a possibly unhealthy amount. But she's reasonably funny, sweet, and a touch on the dorky side so I'm a bit biased. I will say that I would not call her cover hair curly to the degree the book does and also I'm not sure why she'd think her secret would last at all in a small town. Isn't one of the most well known things about small towns- that everybody knows your business, possibly even before you do?
I have my fair share of quibbles, including the fact that there's no reason for Andrea to be holding a guitar on the cover other than to really hammer home the idea that she's with a rock star in some way. We're never given any indication that she's interested in music AT ALL. But she is friends with Dana, so I wonder if any connections were formed after this? We're repeatedly told how good they are, after all. Hrmm. Anyway, this is also one of the few SVH books I really found myself enjoying Amy in more often than not. Sure, she's snotty to Lila, but I tend to think of SVH Amy as a snotty brat anyway so it was nice to have glimpses of the brain we know she had back in SVT resurface.
So yes, Rock Star's Girl is fluffy and I'm not sure how much any of this sticks in the series proper, but it's fun fluff and pretty much perfect for a summer read.
February 1991
Who's the new girl at Sweet Valley High?
Looks can be deceiving...
Looks can be deceiving...
Jessica can't believe it! Her idol, rock star Jamie Peters, has moved to Sweet Valley. If only she could meet him, her career as a 'star' would really take off! Peeking through the bushes bordering his estate, hoping to find a way to talk to him, Jessica sees something shocking.
Andrea Slade, the quiet new girl at Sweet Valley High, is lounging by the pool with Jamie - and she's acting as if they are more than just good friends. Could a sixteen-year-old nobody like Andrea really be a rock star's girlfriend?
My memory of RSG is pretty flimsy: purple cover with Jess doing her weakest "I'm watching you" face and this is the book where everyone thinks Andrea is Jamie's girlfriend and not his daughter. That's it.
Which isn't to say that I was wrong, just that I'd managed to forget all the great things about the book. Like the fact that Enid pops up all over the place here and Lila's insane and our ghosty does not know how to play the marimba or possibly what one even is. Onward!
We open with Enid being excited to tell Liz who she had lunch with as they get ready for gym. It's a little odd that Liz wasn't at lunch with Enid, and we never find out where she was, but we do get Liz guessing it's some fabulously gorgeous guy. Alas, it was a girl and that girl was Andrea Slade. You know, the new transfer student. Anyway, Enid thinks Andrea is great and she wants to invite her to the beach with them that weekend. Liz agrees and then Andrea appears because her schedule is still being fiddled with and now she's in their gym class. Huzzah!
We have a brief interlude with our B plot and the lusting over Jamie Peters and then we hit the beach with possibly my favorite new trio. Andrea drops possibly the first of her many comments about being woefully pale and the Es try to explain "beach culture" to her. Which sounds less interesting than it actually is. The trio hit it off and Andrea seems to honestly enjoy hanging out with Enid and Liz and the three agree to meet up at the DB later for dinner... but only after Andrea once more avoids letting anyone even know what part of town she lives in. Enid's kind of worried by how secretive Andrea is, but Elizabeth chalks it up to the family not being fully moved in yet or something. Sure. As someone who did a move that was hell incarnate, with boxes everywhere for far too long, I can say that even during the midst of that, I would've been fine with someone picking me up. But maybe in the Valley you invite yourself in first and that's what Liz figures Andrea was avoiding.
We get a moment of Liz trying to get Jessica to agree to meet and hang out with Andrea, because Liz thinks Jess would really like her and Jess just isn't interested. I'm torn on this. On the one hand, Jessica's right. She enjoys people like Lila and Amy and Liz prefers, y'know, Enid. Their friend circles don't really overlap that much when it comes to best friend material. On the other hand, the only reason for Jessica to not agree to meet the girl whose fashion choices she's already admired is because the plot requires no mention of Jamie around Andrea until later. And since Jessica's Jamie Peters obsession is in full swing, she can't really go more than five minutes without mentioning him. Possibly as subtly as, "You know who else likes to breathe? JAMIE PETERS!"
Now, because this wouldn't be SVH without some romance, the book brings us Nicholas Morrow running into the new trio at the mall.
Can we take a moment to discuss the mall? I admit I live in a place with two relatively shitty malls (I laugh any time someone asks about the closest one) but Sweet Valley is mentioned to be a small town about 137 times in this book alone but their mall is three levels? Are you kidding me? I could maybe buy this if we'd been told that it's basically the mall for every surrounding town and everyone goes there to shop but nope. Just small town this, small town that, btw, the mall has three levels.
Back to Nicholas. He and Andrea immediately hit it off, bonding over the fact that they both lived in Boston in the recent past and also both LOVE sailing. Elizabeth is giddy over the thought of Nicholas finally finding someone and I kinda love that. I also feel a little bad for Enid as by the end of the book she's going to wind up the fifth wheel on the first of many an outing. Sorry, Enid.
Nicholas and Andrea make a date to go sailing and when they do hit the water, they find that they both have a lot in common- not the least of which is being kinda dorky around one another. But it's endearing and maybe I'm biased because I want Nicholas to be happy almost as much as the Wakefield twins seem to in this book and also because Andrea is obviously team Enid, so I'll roll with it. They agree to meet back up for dinner, though there is a seriously awkward moment and no, not when Regina is mentioned.
Yet again Andrea suggests just meeting someone somewhere and Nicholas is a little hurt because he thinks maybe she's ashamed of him or something. But when Andrea assures him that it's not that, she just needs a little time, he agrees, though he does hope that sometime soon she'll trust him. I... honestly don't blame him for being a little put off that she's being so evasive about where she lives. While we know she's hiding something (even if you don't know whether she's JP's gf or daughter at this point), Nicholas just knows this girl he spent an amazing afternoon out on the water with won't trust him to pick her up at her house... kinda the most basic of date beginnings.
Andrea and Nicholas dine at a pretty little Italian restaurant that serves angel hair pasta (with cream sauce and herbs, as the running joke between the two goes and I did warn you they were dorks) and they have a delightful time. Thing is, at the end of the date we have Nicholas walking Andrea to her car... which is parked outside of his house. You know where the Morrows live? In the rich part of town, right by Lila and Bruce. He lives in a freakin' mansion. This is a plot point for more than one book, dammit, ghosty. So why, oh why does Andrea get a little squirrelly when Dana later mentions that the Morrows are loaded? She should already know this! It's not like your average teenage boy, at the age of 18, can afford a new sailboat after trading in their Sunfish for it. Seriously, the boy comes from money and it isn't exactly a secret.
Still, Andrea seems to be fitting in pretty nicely with Olivia, Dana (who is sticking around more than I ever remembered her doing for this stretch of the books), Todd, and Winston. Win worries that he's offended Andrea when she runs off rather than discuss her father but Liz and Todd assure him that he was fine, she's just shy, maybe.
I believe I promised you Lila craziness, right? Well, first we circle back to Jessica. The new Jamie Peters album just dropped and so she and Amy go to Lila's to hear it on Li's new CD player that Mr. Fowler just brought back from Japan. Ah, book, you're so dated. I love it. Anyway, Jess can't get over how hot Jamie is, Lila can't get over the idea of how Jamie is moving into movies and possibly moving to California and hey, maybe he'll move to Sweet Valley and Amy can't get over how ridiculous both Lila and Jessica are acting about some 40 year old rock star.
Lila decides to drop the bombshell that she's getting into music and has a music teacher, Max Sharpe, and soon they'll be deciding which instrument she should start to play. Lila's not prepared for how amused Amy and Jessica are by this and even less prepared when they go all in on her once she announces that her new musical focus will be... the marimba. Which we're told is a cousin of the harp but Wikipedia would very much beg to differ. Pretty sure you don't pluck the marimba, ghosty.
Anyway, Lila won't hear of them mocking her new musical pursuit and won't they be sorry when she's rich and famous! Well. More rich and more famous, I suppose. Amy and Jessica decide they can risk it.
Until later, that is, when Lila announces that she's seen Jamie Peters... in Sweet Valley! Amy's still busy rolling her eyes while Jessica wonders if it's possible that maybe Lila did. He wouldn't be the first (or last) star to swing by the Valley. Later that evening, Lila calls the Wakefield house during dinner, and we're treated to a fabulous quote:
"Your friend Lila is calling from her car phone," he said, half amused and half annoyed. "Apparently something earth-shattering has come up, and unless she can talk to you this very second, she claims she will die."
Such sass. ♥
Lila claims to have seen Jamie on her way home from Max's house again. She followed him this time and found out that he must've moved into the old Kitterby estate, which is only five doors down from Lila! Also that neither Lila nor her father expected it to sell so long as the estate was asking $2 million for it, but that's not the point.
Jessica is super jealous that Lila's now seen him twice and not happy that she's going to miss seeing him again because she has to finish dinner. Lila suggests a way onto the estate, as she used to be friends with Alexis Kitterby and knows the grounds fairly well, and the two agree to meet for lunch the next day to discuss it. So Jess grumpily goes back to dinner while Lila continues her stakeout.
Lila, Jessica, and Amy sneak onto JP's property and are almost immediately rewarded with the sight of JP talking on the phone out by the pool. It's amazing that each time we hear about them spying on the star, he's always out by the pool. It's so amazing that the ghosty has to give us a reason to believe it and that's that JP's remedy for everything is to spend time baking in the sun.
Funny that Andrea makes numerous mentions of her lack of tan then, but hey. Maybe JP moved to California just for the year round tanning opportunities.
Anyway, the girls run away when Amy and Jessica make too much noise and Lila puts the kibosh on Amy telling everyone in SV about the new star in their midst. She points out that once everyone knows, they'll all be clamoring for JP's attention and then they won't be special. It works and the girls agree to keep the secret from everyone but Cara.
And I take a moment to howl with laughter at how much Cara's changed, because it wasn't that long ago that telling Cara was akin to just putting up a billboard, only Cara's mouth might've been faster. Now she's capable of keeping a secret without it being a thing.
When the foursome spy on Jamie next, they're surprised by the sight of the ever elusive girl in so many of Jamie's songs: Andrea! GASP. She kisses him on the cheek and all four are sure that Andrea's his girlfriend and are all scandalized.
I laugh some more because these days, and even then, it's really not uncommon to hear of a middle aged rock star having a teenage girlfriend. Sure, her being 16 is weird but not the teenage aspect exactly. Also, for someone who has been kind of the voice of reason where Jamie Peters is concerned, Amy never once suspects that Andrea is his daughter even though she's sure the man's pushing 40 and I suspect that's about the average age for their parents. But complaining about the lack of logic in a SVH book is kinda pointless. :P
The next day Andrea is sick from school with a cold and Penny tells Liz that she's got an in with someone at the Entertainment section of the Sweet Valley News and thus she knows Jamie Peters has moved to town. The real estate agent blabbed and it should be all over the news by that evening. You can't convince me that JP's agent didn't at least give him a head's up at some point so that Jamie would warn Andrea before she returned to school but fine. Enid and Elizabeth are pretty sure the rumor mill is wrong and that Andrea is his daughter, not his girlfriend but who listens to them? Not when the gossip is this juicy, anyway.
Andrea returns to school the next day to find that everyone is treating her very strangely. Amy is super solicitous despite never giving her the time of day beforehand. Caroline is pretty much stalking her and trying to con her into confiding in her (Caro, if Andrea could peg Bruce Patman as an egotistical blow hard at first brush, I'm sure she's heard what a gossip you are by this point), and girls are basically just acting weird around her. She puts two and two together and figures somehow the news broke. She's nervous that Enid and Elizabeth will treat her differently but at lunch they're just happy to see their friend. Awww.
Until Lila shows up and wants Andrea to put in a good word for her with Jamie. When Andrea doesn't leap for joy, Lila says she wouldn't be thrilled if her boyfriend didn't value her opinion on such matters. Andrea is ticked and instead of correcting Lila, she coldly tells Lila it's no business of hers who JP is to Andrea. She's not wrong but this will bite her on the ass very, very shortly.
After school, Lila and Jess go shopping but Jess is ticked that Lila played the favor card too early. She's sure that she would've been able to finesse Andrea better and when Lila's like "who cares, he'll dump her soon anyway", Jess heads outside to people watch. She runs into Nicholas who just bought Andrea a bouquet of blue hydrangeas since blue is her favorite color. Jess feels funny when she realizes how smitten Nicholas is and I love this for reasons I can't fully articulate. When Lila comes out and wonders who the flowers are for, Jess tries to get Lila to not spill the beans about Andrea but Lila's not really picking up on any social cues today, so she tells Nicholas that Andrea is shacking up with Jamie Peters and he shouldn't get too serious. Nicholas is heartbroken and gives the flowers to a delighted Lila before heading off to break his date with Andrea. Sorta. Jess is worried that maybe they did something wrong, but Lila's sure that she just saved Nicholas from a world of heartache and he should really be sending her flowers for the next year as thanks.
Oh, Lila.
Andrea shows up late for her date with Nicholas and finds that he's left a note that calls her out for possibly two-timing him. She's upset, mostly at herself, because if she'd just bothered to correct Lila instead of getting the last word in, she wouldn't be in this mess. She can't go home because she's mad at her father for even entertaining the idea of breaking his promise to not go on tour again anytime soon and so she disappears.
Which we only know because around 8:30, the phone rings at the Wakefield's and Jessica answers, only to find Jamie Peters on the line. He wants to talk to Liz because Andrea hasn't come home and he's not exactly worried, he just wants to make sure she's with friends. Liz tells him that Andrea isn't there, but she'll call Enid (uncool, Liz, let Enid talk to the rock star, too!) and Nicholas and then maybe they can go out looking for Andrea. After she hangs up, Jessica confesses that before anyone calls Nicholas, maybe Liz needs to know what happened that afternoon.
Liz picks Nicholas up in the Fiat and I think at this point in the series we're starting to hint at the Jeep coming given that the Fiat isn't great for more than two people and this point is hammered home multiple times during the book. In any case, Nicholas is relieved to know that he only made an ass of himself with his assumption and that the girl he's interested in ISN'T a two-timing groupie. Huzzah? We stop at Enid's and climb into her mother's car and head off in search of Andrea. Nicholas finally remembers the third thing we know about Andrea (behind love of blue and angel hair pasta) and that's her love of water/sailing. Off to the marina they go!
There's a joyous reunion and misunderstandings are cleared up and everyone heads back to Andrea's house... where Lila and Jessica are hiding in the bushes again. There's an incredibly stupid moment where, after Jamie and Nicholas yank Lila and Jess from the bushes (after Jessica basically falls out of her hiding spot) Jamie says to Elizabeth, "Sounds like you know these two." DUDE. THEY ARE IDENTICAL TWINS and you have both of them standing right in front of you. It's not until Liz asks how cool Jess is with the blackmail that's going to take place later to keep this from their parents that he realizes they're, y'know, twins. Oi. Maybe the sun has damaged his eyes even with the ever present sunglasses?
I do have to hand it to Lila, who plays it super cool to the degree that she manages to lay the blame at Jessica's feet without anyone really catching it AND she gets a bit part in Jamie's upcoming movie. Sure, it's comedic and will be mocking her lack of marimba skills, but still. Considering she was just busted spying on the neighbors, she came out smelling like a rose. All hail queen Lila.
Jessica, however, winds up having to do all of Liz's chores all weekend and Liz is still figuring how else to properly make Jessica pay. It doesn't happen nearly often enough, but I do love when Liz comes out on top in the blackmail department.
There's a bit at the end where Enid and Elizabeth discuss how nice it'll be for Andrea to be around and then Liz runs into Skye Morrow, Regina's mother, who says she's finally been able to go through Regina's things and found something she knows Regina would want Liz to have. She'll bring it by tomorrow and we're left on that cliffhanger.
Oh what could it be, dear reader. What could it be?
Trivia:
- Liz, Enid, and Andrea have gym last period.
- They're playing softball in case you wondered, and gym is a little more than 40 minutes.
- Enid mentions the idea of Liz cutting back on her extracurriculars.
- Andrea Slade is slender and tall with a wonderful mop of blond curls that cascade to her shoulders, wide set blue eyes with dark eye lashes, and a peaches and cream complexion. Liz thinks she seems a bit older than her other friends, possibly due to living in NYC (so sophisticated?) previously. Before NYC, she lived in Boston and then, in no order given, Dallas, Miami, and Detroit. She's prone calling things culture like "beach culture" and "mall culture" and she's got a fixation on tanning. She drives a small white Honda, her favorite color is blue, she loves pasta, especially angel hair pasta served with cream sauce and herbs, and she's nuts about sailing. Dislikes gym, moving vans, and elevator Muzak.
- Nicholas and Andrea both like baseball, reggae music, Italian restaurants, anyplace warm, and think the best place to be alone is by the ocean.
- Jessica picks up her Jamie Peters Pride CD from Records Plus in the mall.
- Jamie Peters has shoulder length blond hair, is lean with muscular arms, a cleft chin, and a voice Jessica thinks of as a mixture of velvet and gravel. He married his childhood sweetheart, fellow singer Karen Ross and that same year they recorded an album together. 12 years ago Karen died when her private jet crashed in the Adirondacks. He drives an old white mustang convertible.
- Todd owns 2 Jamie Peters albums.
- We keep hearing about two of Jamie's songs: Doing It All For You, Little Girl
- Amy seems repulsed by the idea of guys at a health club "having stuff put on their skin to take away wrinkles." To be fair, when put like that I wrinkled my nose, too.
- According to this book, Amy and Lila fight frequently.
- While Lila and Jessica swoon at the thought of having a star write them love songs, Amy points out that Jamie might not even write his own lyrics.
- Lila's music teacher is Max Sharpe.
- Jess camps out in front of the TV Friday evening to watch an MTV special interview with Jamie Peters. One of the women VJs is interviewing him.
- Jamie Peters is considering a move from music to movies and somehow expects this to allow him to be home more and have more control of his schedule.
- When asked what some guys were doing on the beach, Enid tells Andrea they're doing the Sweet Valley version of volleyball. What does that even mean?
- Jessica declines going to the DB with Liz in favor of hanging out with Lila at Fowler Crest because Mr. Fowler is out of town and Eva, the housekeeper, goes to bed really early and Lila gets lonely. This is why I love you, book.
- Andrea says she's not a good writer when Olivia asks her to write a piece comparing NYC and SV.
- Olivia's father works at the Phillips Corporation in this book.
- In case you wondered, Liz and Jess live near the middle of town according to this book. Shocking that they'd be at the center of things.
- Lila finds out which instrument she'll be playing at her third music lesson.
- Lila offers to play the opening notes to 'Jesu, Son of Man's Desiring' on the marimba for Amy and Jessica.
- The Garden Cafe is located on the main level of the SV mall.
- Nicholas picks up a program for his father at Computer Whiz in the mall.
- Nicholas knows some of Andrea's Boston friends.
- Lila had a dentist appointment at 11:30am Thursday morning and saw Jamie Peters leaving the drugstore afterward. She tells Amy and Jessica about this at lunch.
- There's a strict no calls at dinner rule at the Wakefield house. I'm not sure why Ned answers the call at all other than to amuse me.
- The Kitterby Estate is five doors down from Fowler Crest. Lila asks Jessica if she remembers the place with 2 stone posts with coral colored stone lions. The asking price was $2 million. Lila used to be friends with Alexis Kitterby.
- Nicholas Morrow's boat is the Morning Glory and he's only had it for a couple of months. He traded in his Sunfish for it.
- Nicholas takes Andrea to Oggi, an Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Sweet Valley.
- Lila draws a detailed map of the layout of the Kitterby estate. There's a swimming pool behind the house, with a Mexican-tile patio around the pool, and "behind that a bunch of thick bushes. Calla lily" Lila thinks. Behind all that, there's a long trail which leads to the parkland behind their house, which is how the girls sneak onto the property. The Kitterby estate "was a beautiful Spanish-style villa, a sprawling stucco house with red tiles on the roof. The back doors were sliding glass."
- Dana thinks Nicholas is hunky. I find it hard to believe Dana would ever use such a word but, y'know, 1991.
- While camped out with Cara, Amy, and Lila, Jessica imagines what would happen if someone, say Jessica, made a noise. The other girls would run off but Jamie would investigate and instead of, I dunno, calling the cops, would offer her a drink and be completely fine with the invasion of privacy.
- Penny has a friend who works in the Entertainment section of the Sweet Valley News.
- A real estate agent blabbed about Jamie Peters moving to the news.
- Enid and Andrea have the same social studies class.
- Lila suggests that she'd be down for a double date with Andrea, Jamie, and Bruce Springsteen.
- Jamie Peters has a remedy for everything, including colds: baking in the sun.
- Andrea overhears her father talking to his agent Leo, on the phone, about a tour in Italy.
- Diana Cushing was Andrea's best friend in Boston two years ago. Her mother was a reporter for an entertainment magazine and once she had the story she wanted on Jamie, Diana dumped Andrea. I wonder how much of her dislike of NYC was because she was still holding onto that pain.
- Despite never seeing Lila interact with Andrea, ever, and knowing that Lila described her as weird, Lila pops up at lunch and says, "I feel like we know each other pretty well." I cackled.
- Mata Hari's is a downtown boutique at the corner of the intersection of two main streets.
- The Flower Shoppe is just across the street.
- Nicholas buys Andrea blue hydrangeas for their afternoon tea date at the Fairmont Inn, which overlooks the marina and is famous for their afternoon teas.
- Jamie has a sister, Donna, who lives in LA.
- Lila gets a bit part in Jamie's new movie as a bad marimba player.
- Liz runs into Skye Morrow who offers to drop off something of Regina's the following day for Liz.
Quotes:
Andrea's smile widened. "Great! That makes two people I've met today. I'm not sure I count Bruce as a 'person.'" - Patman's charm must be slipping. Maybe he needs to re-read his book? :P p5
But Jessica always had to turn liking into adoring. That was just the way Jessica was. She didn't get interested- she got obsessed. - Liz, you do the same damn thing, only not usually over celebs. p11
Amy shook her head. "I can't believe you two! What do you think, if he happens to be free, you could just call him up and ask him out?" - Amy nails why I've never been good at celeb crushes. p17
"What's a marimba? It sounds like something you eat for dessert," Cara said.
Jessica giggled. "Or something to wrap your hair in."
"I think it sounds like what you yell when you're chopping down trees," Amy added with a grin. "Ma-rim-ba!" - p49
"I happen to have natural talent for the marimba. That's what Max Sharpe thinks. Besides, I'm not crazy. I'm not going to play for Jamie until I'm much better. At least not for another week or two!" - Yes, that's all the additional time you'll need, Lila. p83/84
"You know, people who know me think I'm a really good listener. They think I'm the sort of friend you can really confide in." - Yes, confide in Caroline if you want your news spread all over town without any effort on your part, Andrea. p110
"Once she wakes up out of whatever daze she's in, she'll realize that there are better people to be friends with than Enid Rollins."
"Watch it," Jessica said. It was all right for her to disapprove of Elizabeth's friendships, but family loyalty ran deep. And right now, she was not in the mood to hear her twin's friend criticized, even indirectly. - my heart, she can't take much more of this, Captain. D'aww. p119
Elizabeth sighed. "So maybe that was it. On top of everyone at school treating her so strangely, your reaction must've been the last straw." - That was way harsh,
Elizabeth couldn't see how Jessica could possibly prefer a whole evening cooped up with Lila to a lively night with a group of friends. - Oh how the tables have turned. p34
"Well, you've met my special girl. They don't come any more special than Andrea."
"Yeah, I agree with that," Nicholas said fervently. - Ick and aw at the same time? p144
"Before you go, let me just thank you two," Andrea said warmly. She put one hand on Enid's shoulder and the other on Elizabeth's. "Something tells me that the three of us are going to have a lot of fun together." - And then she was never seen again. Well, almost. p146
In Which I Nitpick:
"Why don't we come over and get you after Enid? Or Enid, then you?" - How is that different, Liz/ghosty p30
Her father hadn't understood why she had been so insistent on keeping her identity a secret.
Two paragraphs later: The great thing about her father was that he understood. - Sigh. p102/103
I really found myself liking Rock Star's Girl way more than I was expecting. We start off right away with Enid and keep her around for a good chunk of the book, and you know that's an easy way into my heart. I snickered at quite a few lines I'm pretty sure I was supposed to (looking at you, Ned) and while this is pretty much the definition of a cotton candy book, I also happen to love cotton candy.
So let's examine the good stuff.
Lila's musical fixation. One of the first things dropped in the series is the fact that Lila has a lovely voice and seems at least a little bit interested in music. So it makes sense to me that she'd try and pick up an instrument, even if I don't believe for a second she'd go with the marimba... or whatever the ghosty thought a marimba was. This is especially makes sense when you consider that she's probably imagining this as part of the ongoing competition with Jessica who is usually considered a failure at all things musical. Of course she's going to pick the one area she's been proven to be at least passably decent at that Jessica routinely fails at whenever the ghosties pay attention. I do wish she'd been given something she could actually excel at but baby steps, I suppose. It's not easy to come out on top when you're forever in competition with one of the stars of the series.
I also happen to love just how she rolls with being busted by Jamie and company. Who isn't busted spying on their famous neighbors from time to time? Pfft. Lila plays it off as being shy and while I'm not 100% sure it really works, the fact that she gets away with it and even thought to try is kinda awesome.
Enid! Enid is the one to make friends with Andrea initially and seems to be slightly better friends with her than Liz is and I love that Enid's shown to have a social life outside of Liz and Hugh. She hears from two sources, neither of which seem to be Liz, that Andrea had dinner two nights with Nicholas, and she's just fine hanging out with the rest of the semi usual lunch crowd. She snarks at Lila without being a big thing and I will forever love any interaction between those two because of course they'll find themselves thrown together way more often than either would like given their friendship with the twins.
Also? I like that for some reason we get Jessica not being here for Lila mocking Enid. Mostly it's because it's a reflection on Liz and only Jessica gets to talk shit about her family, but still. This means that for at least one book, it also extends to Enid. Aww.
Nicholas! My god, he comes across as a dork in this book and it's adorable. It's got to be hard trying to figure out when to tell someone that the biggest thing in your life recently was the death of your little sister, especially when that's basically his defining characteristic in these books: Regina's brother. But the way he's easily flustered by Andrea and wants to impress her to the point of buying hydrangeas is just cute somehow. And I know I mentioned it already, but I also really do love how Jessica and Elizabeth both want him to be happy to the point that Liz is gleefully clapping her hands at the idea of him dating Andrea and Jess is willing to admit to herself that maybe, just maybe, they don't have all the facts and shouldn't destroy his chance at happiness until they do.
Anyway, as the anti-Bruce, I always wanted more for the guy.
Andrea herself is actually pretty sweet. She's basically a stand in for the reader in that she looooooooooooves Sweet Valley to a possibly unhealthy amount. But she's reasonably funny, sweet, and a touch on the dorky side so I'm a bit biased. I will say that I would not call her cover hair curly to the degree the book does and also I'm not sure why she'd think her secret would last at all in a small town. Isn't one of the most well known things about small towns- that everybody knows your business, possibly even before you do?
I have my fair share of quibbles, including the fact that there's no reason for Andrea to be holding a guitar on the cover other than to really hammer home the idea that she's with a rock star in some way. We're never given any indication that she's interested in music AT ALL. But she is friends with Dana, so I wonder if any connections were formed after this? We're repeatedly told how good they are, after all. Hrmm. Anyway, this is also one of the few SVH books I really found myself enjoying Amy in more often than not. Sure, she's snotty to Lila, but I tend to think of SVH Amy as a snotty brat anyway so it was nice to have glimpses of the brain we know she had back in SVT resurface.
So yes, Rock Star's Girl is fluffy and I'm not sure how much any of this sticks in the series proper, but it's fun fluff and pretty much perfect for a summer read.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-11 09:23 pm (UTC)I'm pretty sure Lila and Enid never got over their tiff over Jeffrey French, either, which might be another reason Lila was mocking her with extra acid.
I certainly don't remember Andrea popping up...ever after this book, but it would've been nice to see End extend her social circle to include another good friend =) Let us hope we are pleasantly surprised in this home stretch of the regular series books!
no subject
Date: 2019-08-12 05:31 am (UTC)Lila vs Enid is forever a thing of beauty and I love it. I also love Lila's feud with Liz, which probably feeds into it as well.
I'm glad I'm not the only one blanking on Andrea popping up again! We're gonna hit a bit of a detour before we find out though because apparently I skipped Enid's Story, so we gotta circle back and read that one.