Before Reading: Oooh...it's face-off time with the twins! I always think of them having long, straight hair but it's always kind of short and wavy on the covers. Weird. This is the uber fat-shaming one. I'm sure I'll have a LOT to say about this one!The Main Plot in 50 Words or Less: Robin is infatuated with Jessica and the Pi Beta Alpha sisters. Jessica is disgusted with her fat rolls and does everything she can to keep her out of the sorority. Elizabeth helps Robin, but does more damage in the end.The Second Plot in 20 Words or Less: Lila becomes the typical "rich girl wanting daddy's attention shoplifter". Elizabeth helps her out, too.Opening Lines: Elizabeth Wakefield didn't know how messy things would get with Robin Wilson and the sorority pledging, until she was in too deep to back out.Closing Lines: Jessica in love with an experienced college man meant storm clouds would be gathering soon. And all Elizabeth could do was hope that the inevitable winds would not shipwreck those close to her sister-including herself. (I don't even know what this means. Too much metaphoring.)Best WTF Lines: Too many to type, so I made a handy graphic below. Enjoy. (I even color-coded it for you, see if you can figure out who said what!)Happenings in SV: Robin Wilson thinks Jessica is her best friend, but Jess is just using her to run her errands and stuff. Robin wants to join the Pi Beta Alpha sorority at SVH (why does a high school have a sorority, anyway??), Jessica is the president and "promised" Robin she would nominate her. Of course, she never does and Elizabeth ends up doing it instead. Jess is pissed and decides to haze Robin, making her run the track every day, wear a bikini to the beach, and ask Bruce Patman to the Discomarathon (dance of the week/book).Elizabeth bribes Bruce into saying yes to Robin by giving him a glowing article in the "Eyes & Ears" column of the school paper. He agrees, but then totally humiliates Robin at the dance by dumping her at the dance floor in front of everyone. Robin is devastated and runs off, but ends up coming back with some geek called Allen Walters (never heard of him). Then Robin gets blackballed from the sorority (thanks to Jess) and she is heart-broken.After the vote, she cuts everyone out of her life and stays home for a while, then starts working out and eating better. The book kind of makes it seem like it's been a few weeks, but I don't know about that. Robin starts to lose a lot of weight and even becomes pretty. Liz stops her one day and mentions it. Robin fixed her penetrating eyes on Elizabeth, "Liz, I may have been stupid about almost everything-the Pi Betas, Jessica, and maybe even you. But if you're asking me if I'm starving myself to death, I wouldn't give any of the PBAs the satisfaction." Yeah, right.Robin eventually gets thin and pretty and tries out for the cheerleading squad and makes co-captain, with the furious Jessica. She also wins Miss Sweet Valley High, which is some kind of football queen (I don't even know) and snubs Bruce Patman for Allen.Lila starts giving Jessica tons of expensive gifts and Liz finds it a little suspicious. When Liz is at the mall one day, she talks to a shop keeper who tells her that they've had some theft lately and Liz thinks it might be Jess. Later, she sees Lila at a shop, stealing a bracelet. Liz almost gets pinpointed for the theft, but runs off. (That's not suspicious at all.) Then, Lila calls Elizabeth up, panicking, because Jessica gets arrested for shoplifting! Lila finally fesses up and her daddy is called in and fixes everything. For some reason, Lila asks Liz for all this help and begs her not to tell Jessica anything about it.Fashion Icons: You can see all the Robin tents up in the WTF-graphic, so I'll skip those.Jessica was wearing leotards and exercising with Jane Fonda via video cassette.Jessica was bouncing down the steps in an ice-blue string bikini, heading for the backyard pool. With her slim body, she'd never suffer the miseries poor Robin had gone through that day at the beach.An oddly dressed young woman [Lila] was standing in Lisette's studying the counters. She was wearing a pair of bright green, skin-tight pants and a loose striped blouse that looked as though it could accommodate two people.On Monday Robin showed up in designer jeans, a rainbow top, and a new hairstyle. Lip gloss and perfect eye makeup created an effect that almost caused Bruce Patman to walk into the gym door.Comfortable overalls disappeared. Sneakers went into the closet. With carefully dressed hopefuls lounging around on the school lawn, leaning against the white oak trees, Sweet Valley High looked like a spread from a fashion magazine. [Doesn't it always, with its "no fatty" policy??]Jordache jeans were challenged by Calvin Kleins. Miniskirts were seen next to tapered slacks. Makeup and new hairstyles turned the young women into Glamour models.Twin Hijinks: Elizabeth is at home & answers the door to Robin, who knows she's not Jessica. Elizabeth asks her how she knows and Robin says, "I don't mean to offend you, Liz, really I don't, but I'm pretty sure Jessica's never dressed like that in her life." (Old jeans and a flannel shirt)The salesclerk at Lizette's grabs Jess for shoplifting, thinking it's Liz. When they're together, the clerk thinks it's a gang lol.Other Thoughts: This book was so amazingly horrendous, I just had to give it 4 stars. I don't think I've ever read a book that made me feel so awful about being a chubby bunny. :p I'm not sure what exactly the authors/ghost writers/editors/publishers were thinking with this one, but they missed the mark, big time. Not only does Robin get tortured nonstop for being a fatty, but when she finally does lose weight (very quickly and unhealthily), she immediately becomes Miss Popular.Elizabeth calls Jessica "Jessie" throughout the book, which kept throwing me off. I don't think she does that in any other books. This book also had about 637 examples of Jess saying "thirty-seven" in it. (See what I did there?) Why was that number so important?Reviewed at Give a Hoot Read a Book
Okay. First of all, that description makes the book sound a lot more action-packed and exciting than it really was. It was mostly just Jessica making Robin do hard pledge tasks and Elizabeth encouraging her. The synopsis made me think that an all-out war started in the school with people taking sides and shit like that. But nope, it was pretty tame and isolated.In fact, the whole concept of Robin trying to get into the sorority is pretty much done with as of halfway through the novel. The rest of the novel is Robin "acting strange", which was her getting into shape and dieting and undergoing a transformation. The Pi Betas do pop up again, trying to capitalize on Robin's newfound popularity and beauty, but Robin turns them down and says she doesn't need them. She's finally figured out what bitches they all were.The subplot involved Jessica coming home with all sorts of expensive items, claiming they were gifts from Lila, rejected items from her aunt. While at the mall, Elizabeth finds the store that the items came from and hears that they've been having a serial shoplifter around. At first, Elizabeth thinks Jess is the one shoplifting, but eventually it's discovered that it was Lila. She was bored and desperate for daddy's attention, so yeah. Lila gets busted, but Elizabeth agrees to cover for her and keep it from Jessica. Lila temporarily gets the love and attention she so desperately wanted from her father, but it's implied that it won't last long.This novel probably has the longest timeline of all the novels. It's insinuated that Robin's transformation was over the course of at least month, if not two or three. Of course, none of that will matter in future novels, as the girls are perpetually stuck in the 11th grade at age 16, but yeah. Even though we should be well near the end of the school year by now, I'm guessing it'll be at least another 4 novels before we hit summer vacation and repeat the 11th grade again hahaLila trusts Elizabeth, but not Jessica, with her secret. It makes me wonder why Lila is friends with Jessica, when she knows that Jessia is a bitch and/or immature and/or only looking out for herself. I guess we most often hang out and associate with people who are like us, not neceassily the ones who are the best. It makes me almost wish that there was more between Lila and Elizabeth. Like, that Lila would in the future turn to Elizabeth in times of need or advice or what not.Something that bothered me with this one was Jessica's attitude about Bruce Patman. Although she's no longer mooning over him after what happened in the last novel, the fact that she was jealous of Robin surprised me a bit. I mean, wouldn't she be like, "Hahaha omg joke's on her! He's a fucking douchebag!" and then just sit back and smile smugly, hoping that Robin will get taken advantage of? Or something? I dunno. I know that the lessons the characters learn in each book are pretty much always forgotten and no one ever really evolves, but because Jessica's encounters with Bruce were literally LAST BOOK, I just don't buy that she's already quick to accept him again. I know she always admires him and has a thing for him in all the future books though.
What do You think about Power Play (1984)?
As many people before me read this it all focus about weight, being pretty, and rich. If you are mean or point out to a fat girl that they are fat, they will work on being skinny, and will become the most popular girl in school.So go ahead start being mean to the "fat" girls. Trip down nostalgia lane not so good... I do remember my 11-14year old me thinking they were pretty silly but still an okay read. But since I read so many I must have been affected, and now I think about my 2 friends who have eating disorders who absolutly adored these books. But reading them again now (22years old) I want to mark every fat comment out and writing an fucking article about them so parents don't let their little girls ever read them again... In the Swedish version of the book that I read the girl is called Sara Wilson not Robyn.
—Josefine
It was good. Robin Wilson wants Jessica to like her, but since she's a little over weight, Jess doesn't want her. Robin does almost everything Jess wants, but it's to no use. Jess has had enough of Robin, hanging around her like a puppy, and now Robin wants in to PBA. There's no way she's getting in. Jess with do anything to stop this. Elizabeth, though, has different ideas. Lizzie is helping Robin by voting her in to PBA, and is trying to help her. Even when Robin gets black balled, Lizzie there for her. Robin is losing weight by running every day around the track, and she looks beautiful when she's skinny. Jess wants to invite her in to PBA, and try again, but Robin doesn't want to. Will she try again? And if she does, will she get in?
—Lydia Rose
You'll never know what will happen to a person once you reject them. I love this particular story about Robin Wilson and how she transformed from a fat and bullied woman to a Miss Sweet Valley High. It might be just a typical story but I find it so inspiring. You'll never know what will happen. I admired the determination of Robin to enter the Pi Beta Sorrority but even if she didn't make it because Jessica blackballed her, she made her own way to bounce back and to be someone everyone else would be surprised to look at. Tbh, I took a break from reading and focused on finishing my two current reads that I can't seem to finish. See my list for that. But I miss the Wakefield Sisters.
—Maui
