Sweet Valley High #45 - Family Secrets
Sweet Valley High #45 - Family Secrets
What's the secret that's hurting Kelly Bates?
What indeed!?!
I thought this might be a juicy one, because the book opens with Liz having an "especially good dream". But I should have known better, since it is just Liz and Jeffrey... walking on the beach, hand in hand. Ooh la la!
The twins are excited because their cousin Kelly is coming to stay for a couple of months. Her mother is getting remarried and Kelly isn't handling it very well. A big deal is made over how she used to look exactly like them when they were all younger. Gee, I wonder if that will still be true?
It seems that Kelly's parents divorced when she was younger, a sordid bit of backstory where her mother (Aunt Laura) left her father (Uncle Greg) in the middle of the night and moved Kelly from SV to Arizona. Nobody will explain why or what happened, just that Aunt Laura had a good reason. Yes, I imagine it won't matter to the plot at all. It's also repeated that nobody is allowed to badmouth good ol' Uncle Greg - about anything - because it might hurt Kelly. Which...might work in theory, but not in reality.
So Kelly arrives and surprise! Although her hair is exactly one shade darker and her eyes are green instead of aqua (there is no mention of whether she's a perfect size six, but one can assume) she looks enough like the twins for them to pass as triplets. Does anyone else think there's something fishy going on in Sweet Valley? Too many people look exactly like the twins. I'm just saying.
Kelly is awkward at first. She can't remember anyone's name, and sort of tries to join the newspaper but when they suggest a comparison of SV now and then, she evades the assignment because she can't remember anything about her life before her parents split up. It is also revealed that she has nightmares and often wakes up crying. None of this behaviour is suspicious at all so of course the twins don't tell anyone.
Liz and Jess try to set up Kelly with Nicholas Morrow, and they really talk him up, telling her how he's so dreamy and sensitive. They make sure to mention his poor, dead sister right away, like, way to sell her on him, girls. The whole first meeting would be pretty cute, except that Kelly only wants to talk about how great her father is. He's a consultant (huh?) and travels a lot, he's handsome, funny, good-hearted, has never had an impure thought or said a bad word. Nicholas is a genuinely nice guy, because he just takes it in stride and even invites her to the country club costume party (one of 40 that year, I'm sure). He suggests that they dress as a trio of some kind and the three girls argue about what theme to use.
In what I suppose is the B-Plot, Kelly announces that she plans to convince her father to move back to Sweet Valley so she can stay forever. I'm sure that will go well. She has some serious resentment for her mother. She wonders (multiple times) how her mother could have possibly left her father and broken his perfect heart.
Soon enough Kelly is settling into life in SV and happens to meet the local douche, Kirk Anderson. He has dark good looks and "his deep-set eyes seemed to show a glimpse of the fire inside". Okay, sure. All of the usual girls have figured out that he's a jackass but Kelly is of course clueless and therefore susceptible to his charms and eye fire.
Jessica decides Kelly will figure him out on her own and takes off. But Kirk must be a good actor because Kelly comes home convinced that he is just misunderstood by the entire female population and is actually a really good guy. After knowing him for 30 seconds, she decides to blow off Nicholas and go to the dance with Kirk. That made me frown, but frankly it's probably in Nicholas' best interest to get as far away from Kelly as he can.
Kelly meets Jessica's friends and sadly there is no smackdown from Lila. The conversation once again turns to Uncle Greg and what a terrible person Aunt Laura is. Kelly describes how awful she is, always wanting to know where she's going and when she'll be home, and how her father doesn't care about any of that stuff. AND, her father will be in town the next weekend for her birthday and he's sure to do something incredibly fun and spontaneous, like bring her balloons or take her hang-gliding. There's a pretty big gap between those two things, Kel. (Side note: we should be proud of Jess here, showing remarkable maturity in thinking that Kelly is describing a caring parent, not an awful mother.)
It's about this time that Kelly's mantra becomes "my father will be here for my birthday and then everything will be perfect". It keeps coming up again and again, which - that's some subtle foreshadowing, ghostwriters.
Kelly is still obsessed with Kirk, and he is basically treating her like dirt. He pulls all of the usual tricks (late picking her up, off talking to other girls while on a date with her, etc.) and she does her best impression of a doormat. This goes on for most of the book and it's actually pretty disgusting to see that Kelly literally has no idea what he's doing. Liz talks to Enid about Kelly's daddy issues and realizes that Kirk is doing all of the same things. Nice that you caught up to the rest of us, Liz.
We must be getting close to the costume party because the three girls finally reveal they're going as the See-No-Evil, Hear-No-Evil, Speak-No-Evil monkeys. It also comes out that Liz suggested the Bronte sisters, because she's a nerd. Liz will be going as Speak, Kelly as See (what a coincidence), Jess as Hear.
Kelly's birthday arrives and she is super excited for her father to get there. They all wait anxiously, making awkward conversation, as it gets later and later. Perfect Uncle Greg finally shows up, only an hour and a half late - and full of excuses. He is charming and handsome and can tell the twins apart, so obviously he is a great guy. A huge bouquet of flowers arrives for Kelly at the same time and she is thrilled, until she realizes they're from her mother, at which point she suddenly loses interest.
Uncle Greg starts to explain why he doesn't have a present for her: he found a great antique desk but it would take 3 months to ship it to SV so HE DIDN'T GET HER ANYTHING. She tells him she doesn't care, and that a better present would be for him to move back to SV and let her live with him. He immediately shoots her down (they'll talk about it after he gets some things settled) and then he LEAVES. After like, 10 minutes. And Kelly still wants to talk about how great he is. I kind of hate her for it. Then she yells about how it's all her mother's fault. That's some logic for you!
Kelly mopes until the costume party, but she and the twins re-bond over finishing their costumes, which sound pretty cute. They're wearing brown leotards with white stomachs, black leggings, monkey ears, and tails with coat hangers to make them curly. They head to the party - Lila is dressed as Princess Di, Jeffrey is a wino, Ken is Donald Duck, Enid is a hippie, Winston is a bunch of grapes (he wins most creative costume). Kirk is a pirate and wastes no time suggesting they ditch the party because he has beer in his car. Even though Kelly is having a good time and doesn't like beer, she agrees, and they head to Miller's Point. Kirk opens a beer as soon as they get into the car, because there's nothing like a little drinking and driving before the attempted rape that is bound to occur.
Sure enough, Kirk tries to put his hand inside her leotard and although she has some doubts (because he's just such a good kisser), she ultimately says no. He pins her down and tells her that since he's taken her out on a few dates she should start showing him some appreciation. That earns him a well-deserved kick to the shin - really? His shin, Kelly? I can think of a better place. He starts throwing beer bottles and the sound seems to trigger something in Kelly. A repressed memory, perhaps?
She takes off into the field and finally remembers what happened to make her mother want to leave. Her father was drunk and they had a huge fight, and he smashed every plate and glass in their cupboards and I suspect he hit her mother, although that is glossed over. Kelly cries in the dark.
Liz and Jeffrey get home before everyone else and Liz invites him in. They banter a bit about...eating ice cream? But only if it's chocolate. God, those two. Tom McKay and his girlfriend bring Kelly home crying and Liz automatically (and rightly) assumes Kirk tried to rape her, but Kelly tells her about her father. Liz finally tells her parents what Kelly's been going through and they call her mother.
The book ends with Aunt Laura (who looks almost exactly like Alice, what a surprise!) and Kelly reconciling, and Kelly realizing her father is not as perfect as she thought. Everyone is happy and ready to start fresh. Well, everyone except Robin Wilson, but that's in the next book and I don't have it.
What's the secret that's hurting Kelly Bates?
What indeed!?!
I thought this might be a juicy one, because the book opens with Liz having an "especially good dream". But I should have known better, since it is just Liz and Jeffrey... walking on the beach, hand in hand. Ooh la la!
The twins are excited because their cousin Kelly is coming to stay for a couple of months. Her mother is getting remarried and Kelly isn't handling it very well. A big deal is made over how she used to look exactly like them when they were all younger. Gee, I wonder if that will still be true?
It seems that Kelly's parents divorced when she was younger, a sordid bit of backstory where her mother (Aunt Laura) left her father (Uncle Greg) in the middle of the night and moved Kelly from SV to Arizona. Nobody will explain why or what happened, just that Aunt Laura had a good reason. Yes, I imagine it won't matter to the plot at all. It's also repeated that nobody is allowed to badmouth good ol' Uncle Greg - about anything - because it might hurt Kelly. Which...might work in theory, but not in reality.
So Kelly arrives and surprise! Although her hair is exactly one shade darker and her eyes are green instead of aqua (there is no mention of whether she's a perfect size six, but one can assume) she looks enough like the twins for them to pass as triplets. Does anyone else think there's something fishy going on in Sweet Valley? Too many people look exactly like the twins. I'm just saying.
Kelly is awkward at first. She can't remember anyone's name, and sort of tries to join the newspaper but when they suggest a comparison of SV now and then, she evades the assignment because she can't remember anything about her life before her parents split up. It is also revealed that she has nightmares and often wakes up crying. None of this behaviour is suspicious at all so of course the twins don't tell anyone.
Liz and Jess try to set up Kelly with Nicholas Morrow, and they really talk him up, telling her how he's so dreamy and sensitive. They make sure to mention his poor, dead sister right away, like, way to sell her on him, girls. The whole first meeting would be pretty cute, except that Kelly only wants to talk about how great her father is. He's a consultant (huh?) and travels a lot, he's handsome, funny, good-hearted, has never had an impure thought or said a bad word. Nicholas is a genuinely nice guy, because he just takes it in stride and even invites her to the country club costume party (one of 40 that year, I'm sure). He suggests that they dress as a trio of some kind and the three girls argue about what theme to use.
In what I suppose is the B-Plot, Kelly announces that she plans to convince her father to move back to Sweet Valley so she can stay forever. I'm sure that will go well. She has some serious resentment for her mother. She wonders (multiple times) how her mother could have possibly left her father and broken his perfect heart.
Soon enough Kelly is settling into life in SV and happens to meet the local douche, Kirk Anderson. He has dark good looks and "his deep-set eyes seemed to show a glimpse of the fire inside". Okay, sure. All of the usual girls have figured out that he's a jackass but Kelly is of course clueless and therefore susceptible to his charms and eye fire.
Jessica decides Kelly will figure him out on her own and takes off. But Kirk must be a good actor because Kelly comes home convinced that he is just misunderstood by the entire female population and is actually a really good guy. After knowing him for 30 seconds, she decides to blow off Nicholas and go to the dance with Kirk. That made me frown, but frankly it's probably in Nicholas' best interest to get as far away from Kelly as he can.
Kelly meets Jessica's friends and sadly there is no smackdown from Lila. The conversation once again turns to Uncle Greg and what a terrible person Aunt Laura is. Kelly describes how awful she is, always wanting to know where she's going and when she'll be home, and how her father doesn't care about any of that stuff. AND, her father will be in town the next weekend for her birthday and he's sure to do something incredibly fun and spontaneous, like bring her balloons or take her hang-gliding. There's a pretty big gap between those two things, Kel. (Side note: we should be proud of Jess here, showing remarkable maturity in thinking that Kelly is describing a caring parent, not an awful mother.)
It's about this time that Kelly's mantra becomes "my father will be here for my birthday and then everything will be perfect". It keeps coming up again and again, which - that's some subtle foreshadowing, ghostwriters.
Kelly is still obsessed with Kirk, and he is basically treating her like dirt. He pulls all of the usual tricks (late picking her up, off talking to other girls while on a date with her, etc.) and she does her best impression of a doormat. This goes on for most of the book and it's actually pretty disgusting to see that Kelly literally has no idea what he's doing. Liz talks to Enid about Kelly's daddy issues and realizes that Kirk is doing all of the same things. Nice that you caught up to the rest of us, Liz.
We must be getting close to the costume party because the three girls finally reveal they're going as the See-No-Evil, Hear-No-Evil, Speak-No-Evil monkeys. It also comes out that Liz suggested the Bronte sisters, because she's a nerd. Liz will be going as Speak, Kelly as See (what a coincidence), Jess as Hear.
Kelly's birthday arrives and she is super excited for her father to get there. They all wait anxiously, making awkward conversation, as it gets later and later. Perfect Uncle Greg finally shows up, only an hour and a half late - and full of excuses. He is charming and handsome and can tell the twins apart, so obviously he is a great guy. A huge bouquet of flowers arrives for Kelly at the same time and she is thrilled, until she realizes they're from her mother, at which point she suddenly loses interest.
Uncle Greg starts to explain why he doesn't have a present for her: he found a great antique desk but it would take 3 months to ship it to SV so HE DIDN'T GET HER ANYTHING. She tells him she doesn't care, and that a better present would be for him to move back to SV and let her live with him. He immediately shoots her down (they'll talk about it after he gets some things settled) and then he LEAVES. After like, 10 minutes. And Kelly still wants to talk about how great he is. I kind of hate her for it. Then she yells about how it's all her mother's fault. That's some logic for you!
Kelly mopes until the costume party, but she and the twins re-bond over finishing their costumes, which sound pretty cute. They're wearing brown leotards with white stomachs, black leggings, monkey ears, and tails with coat hangers to make them curly. They head to the party - Lila is dressed as Princess Di, Jeffrey is a wino, Ken is Donald Duck, Enid is a hippie, Winston is a bunch of grapes (he wins most creative costume). Kirk is a pirate and wastes no time suggesting they ditch the party because he has beer in his car. Even though Kelly is having a good time and doesn't like beer, she agrees, and they head to Miller's Point. Kirk opens a beer as soon as they get into the car, because there's nothing like a little drinking and driving before the attempted rape that is bound to occur.
Sure enough, Kirk tries to put his hand inside her leotard and although she has some doubts (because he's just such a good kisser), she ultimately says no. He pins her down and tells her that since he's taken her out on a few dates she should start showing him some appreciation. That earns him a well-deserved kick to the shin - really? His shin, Kelly? I can think of a better place. He starts throwing beer bottles and the sound seems to trigger something in Kelly. A repressed memory, perhaps?
She takes off into the field and finally remembers what happened to make her mother want to leave. Her father was drunk and they had a huge fight, and he smashed every plate and glass in their cupboards and I suspect he hit her mother, although that is glossed over. Kelly cries in the dark.
Liz and Jeffrey get home before everyone else and Liz invites him in. They banter a bit about...eating ice cream? But only if it's chocolate. God, those two. Tom McKay and his girlfriend bring Kelly home crying and Liz automatically (and rightly) assumes Kirk tried to rape her, but Kelly tells her about her father. Liz finally tells her parents what Kelly's been going through and they call her mother.
The book ends with Aunt Laura (who looks almost exactly like Alice, what a surprise!) and Kelly reconciling, and Kelly realizing her father is not as perfect as she thought. Everyone is happy and ready to start fresh. Well, everyone except Robin Wilson, but that's in the next book and I don't have it.