Playing With Fire may well be my most read Sweet Valley novel and I'm not entirely sure why. There is plenty of Bruce here, which is great, and Elizabeth is amazingly non-annoying, but the entire plot revolves around Jessica not being Jessica. Instead, she gives up most of the things that make her so fantastic, in order to keep Bruce's attention.

This is Sweet Valley High, so it isn't exactly a sensitive and educated discourse about controlling partners or abusive relationships. We don't really see things from Jessica's perspective – moreso from that of Elizabeth – but there is nonetheless an unusual realism to the way in which the situation is depicted. Perhaps the changes occur a little too quickly, but there is an underlying truth to the calm way that Jessica gives up herself in order to please someone else. It will feel a little uncomfortable to anyone who has also experienced a relationship that eroded who they were.

The subplot here deals with the Droids meeting an agent and receiving a chance to hit the big time. The story is a little predictable, but there are some nice moments involving the bandmates and characterisation that actually goes beyond Dana's edgy outfits. There's also a lot of setting-up ready for the next book, Power Play, with Robin being obnoxiously pathetic throughout. (The weight is not that girl's main issue.)

As always, the Wakefield parents are shockingly unconcerned with their daughters' welfare, to the point of Mr Wakefield just smiling when Jess talks about giving up playing tennis to just watch Bruce play instead. Todd isn't too ghastly here, though, which is nice. Overall, it's not one of the best Sweet Valley books, but it's still one of my most-loved, if only because of that brilliant moment at the end where Jessica comes to her senses and wreaks her revenge in perfect Jessica Wakefield fashion.

Key Characters: Elizabeth, Jessica, Bruce, Robin, Winston, Todd
Lesser Characters: Emily, Dana, Guy, Max, John, Penny, Cara, Ned, Alice
Barely There: Lila, Ken, Tom, Mr Collins, Mr Russo

The nostalgia factor was low on this one. When they updated it and put all this bullshit nonsense in the script, it ruined everything. Also ass? Francine wouldn't use ass. Not sure I remember as much reference to sex in the original. I'm sad. ( )

For me this one was ok, perhaps if I still had teenage hormones running wild I would have felt more enraged with how Bruce was treating Jessica but as it was I just saw it as he's a jerk and she should stand up for what she wants. ( )

Not bad as far as these types of books go. I read the updated version. I don't know exactly how the plot compares to the original written in the '80s, but this one seemed just like whoever wrote it dropped in names of new technology, styles, etc. Within the first 20 pages, it had already mentioned that a high school band had been discovered on youtube, the band could open for Coldplay, and someone was going to record a video with their cellphone. It was both laughable and annoying. ( )

Begins with the same dance contest that was described in the previous book , which Jessica is forced to attend with Winston because they’re Homecoming King and Queen. Jessica is more interested in Bruce Patman. John Pfieffer is totally sucking up to Bruce at Ken’s party. Was that in the original version or are they putting that in to underscore how much these two date rapists are alike?

Jessica tells Bruce she was on the girl’s swim team in junior high. No she wasn’t…even SVJH didn’t put her on the girl’s swim team, and that came out in 2000, almost 19 years after this book. She was in sixth grade in SVT, seventh in Unicorn Club, and so she must have been in eighth in SVJH and she was not on the swim team. The Sweet Valley editors know this now! Why did they leave it in?

If they were going to update the series, why not take that opportunity to do an entire retcon of all the continuity errors between the eight collections the previous version of the Sweet Valley world was divided into? They only seem to do that when it will severely affect the plot.

How did Jess manage to go out with this guy and yet never sleep with him? She admits they did “stuff” but not “that”. Bruce told everyone they did but Jessica claims he’s lying. Jessica and Bruce briefly date and still somehow never had sex? Bruce and Jessica. Sweet Valley’s number one player and Sweet Valley’s number one flirt? Suuurre.

Apparently there is a town to the north of Sweet Valley called “Valley Heights”. I wonder if that’s where the rumored ninth series “Sweet Valley Heights” will take place.

Updated references in this one: Youtube (instead of a demo tape), Coldplay, Todd drives a Honda Civic instead of a Datsun, John Pfieffer drives a “huge” FJ Cruiser, camera phones, “flashed him a hunny” (at which point Cara is confused and Lila sneers “join us in the twenty first century, Cara”), waterproof makeup, Myspace, viral campaigns, MTV VMAs (the original came out just before that tradition began), Sharapova (another reference of a person not born when the original came out), Playstation, H&M, Forever21, the Staples Center, Manolos, Baby Einstein, Red Bull, Cherry Coke, Starbucks Frappuccino, and Ty Pennington.

Jessica also buys the conservative clothes Bruce makes her wear at Anne Taylor, which is not really an updated reference but a substitution of the made up store in the original for a real life store. I don’t know if Anne Taylor existed when this book first came out, but I know it was mentioned by Stacey in a Babysitter’s Club book, the BSC began in 1986. I suspect the editor didn’t know the store mentioned in the original book does not really exist and tried to “update” the reference.

This is easily one of the best SVH books ever. It's also one of their raciest, everyone remembers the scene where Bruce undoes Jessica's top in the pool (hey, when you're ten or twelve, that's pretty scandalous). It also marks a watershed moment in the History of Bruce and Jessica (he was her lesson she had to learn, she was his fortress he had to burn, or something like that).

*And* it's a fascinating story about a beautiful, popular, talented, confident, girl who hooks up with a rich, older, manipulative, mean, selfish boy who systematically attempts to break her down and screw and screw with her mind until she's a shell of her former self. He makes her change the way she dresses, ridicules her in public, talks down to her, lies to her , cheats on her and tries to make her quit her own hobbies. He also isolates her from her friends and family.

You know what I like about this storyline? Bruce is abusive, and the author knows it and the audience knows it, because that's what we're *supposed* to take away from the story. We're not even supposed to pretend that Bruce and Jessica are good for each other (something which always bugged me about the way people expect you to view Gone with the Wind,for example). The book does not end on a note of "let's hope these two crazy kids reconcile". Bruce was a big mistake for Jessica and Bruce will rue the day he got her bad side. The message is "Girls, don't let a boy treat you like this no matter how gorgeous and rich he is". And they do it all without being over the top or preachy.

At the end of *this* book, Elizabeth exposes Bruce cheating on Jessica, who smushes fresh pizza in his face and shoves him into a fountain at his own birthday party. ( )