#32 - The New Jessica
I thought I'd start off with this one, as although it wasn't the first SVH book I read (I think that honour belongs to #5), it was the first one I owned.
Not only do the twins look nothing alike in this cover, they look MUCH older than 16!
Plot A: Jessica is sick and tired of being an identical twin. She wants people to know she's an individual (like anybody would ever think otherwise) rather than just a clone of Liz. It annoys her that Liz doesn't seem to care, but just acts condescending and grown-up together with their parents, when she complains. The straw that broke the camel's back came, however, when she borrows a dress from Liz and - gasp - everybody at school think she's Liz. Jeffrey even has the audacity to be disappointed that she's Jessica instead. When even Lila mistakes her for Liz, Jessica knows it's time to do something drastic.
And when Jessica says drastic, she means drastic. She dyes her hair jet black (with a dye that apparently only lasts 2 washes - if that. Lucky break there, Jess, even if it is highly unlikely. I've yet to see a single do-it-yourself hair dye (theater makeup excluded) that didn't last for at least 5 washes - usually 10. But I digress), borrows heaps of clothes from Lila and starts wearing even more makeup than usual.
Remind me again, these girls are SIXTEEN, right? They definitely don't look, act or talk like it. 18 perhaps, but not 16.
Liz hates Jess' new look, because all of a sudden they're not twin sisters anymore . Why is it that in all YA books I've read, nobody is EVER pleased when somebody gets a makeover? Granted, this one is even more drastic than most, but still. Jessica's parents aren't too thrilled either, but realize she's old enough to live her own life, and of course everybody at school LOVES it. Even Jeffrey who goes on about it so much, that Liz thinks he's in love with Jessica instead of her, and instead of talking to him about it like an ordinary person, she blows up on him and cancels their date instead. Real mature of you there, Liz, you're actually acting your age for once!
Jessica doesn't just want to look different, she wants to BE different, so when one of her friends mentions modeling, she jumps at the idea. And lucky for her, not only is she able to get a meeting with an agent, he's willing to take her on AND there's a catwalk available just a couple of weeks later! Jessica really says it best herself, "She knew some girls had to wait ages before breaking into modeling. And here she was, practically guaranteed a runway job at Lytton and Brown in just two weeks!"
Of course, life isn't really that easy after all, and it turns out the art director of L&B wants somebody less stylish, less sophisticated, somebody just like... well, just like Elizabeth of course! So Jessica ends up having to wash off all her makeup and hair dye and go right back to being the "beautiful, 5 feet 6, blond, sixteen-year-old" she always was.
Plot B: Already within the first 5 lines Liz mentions writing in her journal about falling in love with Jeffery French, which threw me for a loop the first time I read it, as I thought she was with Todd forever and ever (except for the brief insanity episode in "Dear Sister"). However, we're soon told that Liz and Todd didn't break up because they were no longer in love - oh no, not they - but because Todd moved to Vermont with his family, and long-distance relationships are just too hard.
Jessica approves of Jeffery, and even prefers him to 'quiet and boring Todd', which makes me wonder what's wrong with him (Jeff, not Todd).
Turns out Liz takes her journal everywhere and doesn't take care to put it back when no longer using it, so she loses it. I totally feel for her, because I know how much I would hate losing my journal, but am I the only one thinking she ought to have taken better care of it in the first place?
She panics and uses the rest of the book alternatively freaking out about her journal, Jeffrey and Jessica. J is obviously not a good letter for Liz in book #32!
Thankfully she gets it back, Jessica goes back to being a blonde, Jeffrey really does love her and not Jessica, and everybody lives happily ever after... or at least until book #33, which we - as always - get an introduction to before the book ends.
Not only do the twins look nothing alike in this cover, they look MUCH older than 16!
Plot A: Jessica is sick and tired of being an identical twin. She wants people to know she's an individual (like anybody would ever think otherwise) rather than just a clone of Liz. It annoys her that Liz doesn't seem to care, but just acts condescending and grown-up together with their parents, when she complains. The straw that broke the camel's back came, however, when she borrows a dress from Liz and - gasp - everybody at school think she's Liz. Jeffrey even has the audacity to be disappointed that she's Jessica instead. When even Lila mistakes her for Liz, Jessica knows it's time to do something drastic.
And when Jessica says drastic, she means drastic. She dyes her hair jet black (with a dye that apparently only lasts 2 washes - if that. Lucky break there, Jess, even if it is highly unlikely. I've yet to see a single do-it-yourself hair dye (theater makeup excluded) that didn't last for at least 5 washes - usually 10. But I digress), borrows heaps of clothes from Lila and starts wearing even more makeup than usual.
Remind me again, these girls are SIXTEEN, right? They definitely don't look, act or talk like it. 18 perhaps, but not 16.
Liz hates Jess' new look, because all of a sudden they're not twin sisters anymore . Why is it that in all YA books I've read, nobody is EVER pleased when somebody gets a makeover? Granted, this one is even more drastic than most, but still. Jessica's parents aren't too thrilled either, but realize she's old enough to live her own life, and of course everybody at school LOVES it. Even Jeffrey who goes on about it so much, that Liz thinks he's in love with Jessica instead of her, and instead of talking to him about it like an ordinary person, she blows up on him and cancels their date instead. Real mature of you there, Liz, you're actually acting your age for once!
Jessica doesn't just want to look different, she wants to BE different, so when one of her friends mentions modeling, she jumps at the idea. And lucky for her, not only is she able to get a meeting with an agent, he's willing to take her on AND there's a catwalk available just a couple of weeks later! Jessica really says it best herself, "She knew some girls had to wait ages before breaking into modeling. And here she was, practically guaranteed a runway job at Lytton and Brown in just two weeks!"
Of course, life isn't really that easy after all, and it turns out the art director of L&B wants somebody less stylish, less sophisticated, somebody just like... well, just like Elizabeth of course! So Jessica ends up having to wash off all her makeup and hair dye and go right back to being the "beautiful, 5 feet 6, blond, sixteen-year-old" she always was.
Plot B: Already within the first 5 lines Liz mentions writing in her journal about falling in love with Jeffery French, which threw me for a loop the first time I read it, as I thought she was with Todd forever and ever (except for the brief insanity episode in "Dear Sister"). However, we're soon told that Liz and Todd didn't break up because they were no longer in love - oh no, not they - but because Todd moved to Vermont with his family, and long-distance relationships are just too hard.
Jessica approves of Jeffery, and even prefers him to 'quiet and boring Todd', which makes me wonder what's wrong with him (Jeff, not Todd).
Turns out Liz takes her journal everywhere and doesn't take care to put it back when no longer using it, so she loses it. I totally feel for her, because I know how much I would hate losing my journal, but am I the only one thinking she ought to have taken better care of it in the first place?
She panics and uses the rest of the book alternatively freaking out about her journal, Jeffrey and Jessica. J is obviously not a good letter for Liz in book #32!
Thankfully she gets it back, Jessica goes back to being a blonde, Jeffrey really does love her and not Jessica, and everybody lives happily ever after... or at least until book #33, which we - as always - get an introduction to before the book ends.