Double Love

This week we take a trip down memory lane as Liz shares the contents her secret diary - and it's surprisingly steamy stuff! Diary Liz is a lot more bitchy and much more of a horndog than regular Liz, and we are here for it. Join us as we head back to a golden age of SVH and see the events of classics like Alone in the Crowd and Heartbreaker through Liz's eyes - and most importantly, find out about...

It's the end of an era, folks! We've finally reached the last in the classic SVH run - after this, it's all mini-series and evil twins. So it's a shame this book is both boring and depressing. Steven and Cheryl are just good friends - but after they're targeted by racist thugs, emotions run high and they end up kissing. But is there any real chemistry between them? No, but it takes them a whole bo...

There's a new girl in town - and she's the most relatable character in the series so far. When Annie Whitman's mom marries Walter Thomas and announces that her new husband and his daughter are moving to Sweet Valley, Annie finds herself with a new stepsister. Cheryl, a talented pianist, and Walter, a photographer. are black, and Annie is all too eager to ensure Cheryl fits in in the WASPiest town...

It's a particularly dramatic episode this week, in more ways than one! Jessica is determined to play Lady Macbeth in the school play, which is inexplicably being produced by a famous director. Shy new girl Paula is apparently eager to help the psychotic Wakefield twin step into the spotlight and quickly wins the hearts of the whole Sweet Valley gang - even Lila. An increasingly isolated Jessica is...

Hola amigas! Salut les copines! Prince Arthur of Santa Dora is coming to town, and while we have many questions about that mysterious Mediterranean country, the girls of Sweet Valley just care about one thing: winning the handsome prince's heart. Arthur's fans include Jessica (Sam who?) and Lila, but not Dana Larson, who makes her anti-monarchy feelings known. The prince is impressed by the strong...

We're back! And we're heading on a bike road up the California Coast as the SVH gang - plus 🎶 Mr Collins 🎶 and Ms Dalton - take to the open road. But things don't go smoothly - newcomer Barry Cooper is bullied (Saint Liz does f-all to stop this), there's tension between the two teachers, Jessica is getting nowhere with the amazingly named hunk Robbie October, and worst of all, hilariously villai...

Sorry gang, Covid said it's Anna's turn to catch it so we won't have a new episode for you this week. But we'll be back soon to chat about Blunder Alley and the Moon Beach diner's new fortune telling machine! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, this day was always going to come. We've been booing his name for over 100 episodes and now you get to hear why we loathe John Pfeifer. When John asks Lila out on a date, she's thrilled - she's had a crush on him for some time. But things turn very nasty when he sexually assaults her at Miller's Point. A shattered Lila is initially too traumatised to speak out - and when she does, not everyo...

We feared this would be another convoluted tale of pointless misunderstandings but we were surprised yet again because this book was an absolute delight! When Penny heads to DC, there's only one Oracle staffer who's fit to take her place: Elizabeth. At least, that's what Rod Sullivan thinks. Olivia's boyfriend has become worryingly obsessed with Liz. When a flu epidemic (yikes) leaves her shortsta...

Well, we knew that a dud was coming in this run of books, we just didn't realise it was this one! Jessica and Elizabeth set up a letter writing service for the troubled denizens of Sweet Valley and against all logic, it's a runaway success. But when Shelly Novak writes in to request a love letter for none other than Todd Wilkins and his coffee coloured eyes, Jessica has to spring into action with...

For weeks we’ve been assuming that this book would be a drop in quality after a run of bangers - but we were wrong! When Ginny becomes the latest ill-trained recruit at Project Youth, she bonds with one of the callers, a boy called Mike. But when Mike wants to meet up, Ginny fears he’ll be disappointed by her, so persuades her super-hot friend Denise to take her place. But she finds herself regret...

The sexual tension is off the charts in this one, as Jessica faces off against her ultimate foe 1BRUCE1. When Bruce starts a new club whose members have to prove themselves in (frankly stupid) dares, he announces that no girls are brave enough to join. Jessica's determined to prove him wrong - and soon she's a member of Club X, a gang comprised of the worst dickheads in school, all wearing embroid...

Sorry we won’t have a new episode for you this week. But we’ll be back next week!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's our 100th episode! And what better way to celebrate than to head to Walkersville, Kansas, where the Wakefield twins are spending spring break with their great-aunt and uncle. Liz wants some R&R, while Jess wants to pick up some local hunks and dazzle the locals with her truly exceptional outfits. To the twins' shock the local girls, led by the terrifying Annie-Sue, give them the cold shoulder...

When Jessica sees that her fave soap opera is looking for identical twins to appear in the show for a week, she's determined that she and Elizabeth will get the parts. But Liz despises soaps and their ridiculous plots, silly characters and contrived misunderstandings (pot, kettle etc etc). Of course Jessica tricks her (twice!) into taking part in the show and soon the twins are stars. But when Jes...

Elizabeth is devastated when Todd tells her he wants to take a break - and then immediately starts dating dimwitted Peggy. So when moody artist Kris Lynch asks her to the big dance (yes, yet another one), she takes him up on his offer. But when an angry Kris realises Liz has been using him to get over Todd, he decides to get revenge - with a little help from Liz's beloved journal. This book has it...

We're back! And we've gathered here today to witness the nuptials of Steven and his child bride Cara. Cara and her mom are going to live in London, and Jessica decides the only way to stop this move is for her friend and Steven to tie the knot. The lovebirds are up for the idea - but when Cara really thinks about what married life will mean for both their future prospects, she starts to feel trapp...

It's Christmas! And that means we're breaking out the jingle bells for one last trip down memory lane, as we finally delve in to the Wakefield Legacy: the Untold Story. Yes, it's Ned's ancestors' turn to take centre stage, complete with a LOT of revisionist family history! Saddle up Theodore Wakefield's stallion Raven and gallop into the past, from the Yorkshire moors to the American mid-west, fro...

You know and love them as Enid and Winston on the Sweet Valley High TV series, and now Amy Danles and Michael Perl join us for a very special interview! Find out what iconic character almost made it to the screen, what special gifts Francine Pascal gave the cast, how a pair of borrowed glasses helped Michael get the part of Winston, and much much more. We absolutely loved chatting to these two ver...

When she's grounded for a few weeks, Jessica feels like the world has turned against her - and then she meets a group called the Good Friends. They may live on the wrong side of town and they might be *spits* vegetarians, but their charismatic and hunky leader Adam Marvel constantly tells Jessica how brilliant she is so of course she can't resist.  Soon she's lying to both Sam and her family, tidy...

When the Pi Beta Alphas invite new girl Rose Jameson to join the sorority, Rose is ecstatic - but she's also scared that this WASP's nest will discover that she was born Rosa Jiminez in (gasp) Mexico! Rose is determined to keep her heritage a secret - even if that means denying her own grandmother, who's visiting from a parallel universe where Mexico has no shopping malls and everyone is a subsist...

Michael Harris was already in the Sweet Valley Bad Boyfriend Hall of Fame, and he's staying there for the foreseeable future after his appalling carry on in the misleadingly titled The Girl They Both Loved! Michael is obsessed with two things: dirt biking and his friend-turned-nemesis Artie Western. When  his girlfriend April meets Artie in a cinema queue (sadly not to see an arty western), she di...

Happy Halloween, listeners! To celebrate, we're sharing a very special spooky episode of our Headstuff+ bonus series Pi Beta Alpha - and if you like what you hear, you can sign up to Headstuff+ and join us in the Pi Beta Alpha clubhouse every fortnight, where we've been having a LOT of fun. Get ready for some truly superb Halloweencostumes (we were very pleasantly surprised by Todd and Liz), some...

It's Halloween! Well, almost. And as promised, we're reading a Super Thriller  chosen by our listeners! You told us to read Murder on the Line, and we're glad you did, because this one is solid gold. Jessica and Elizabeth are interns at the Sweet Valley News, a newspaper with highly questionable work practices.  When Jess discovers she can hear the phone calls of other people in the building, she...

Sometimes we are pleasantly surprised by a Sweet Valley book. This was not one of those times! Yes, The Long Lost Brother is a snooze-fest featuring a bunch of people we don't know and don't care about. Newcomer Sara's brother Tim has been released from the big house and is coming to Sweet Valley, which freaks Sara out. None of her new Sweet Valley pals are aware of his criminal past, and all her...