A review by hannie241
Sweet Valley High: Academic All-Star by Andres Genolet, Katy Rex

2.0

I grew up on Sweet Valley High, so when I found out that the series was going to get a modern reboot in the form of a graphic novel, I was immediately on board. Unfortunately, I found that this really didn't work for me. The art style wasn't great, first of all. Every character looked nearly identical, even beyond the actual identical twins that the book centers upon. While it may have been amusing at first to realize how hard it was to tell twins Jessica and Elizabeth apart, that wore thin quickly as I determined that it really was quite difficult to figure out which twin I was following in a given scene until someone actually said her name out loud.

Additionally, the actual story really wasn't up to par here. I forgot how much of the Sweet Valley High series revolved around couples not communicating with each other and then being surprised when things blow up in their faces. This reboot continues that trend, with Elizabeth's entire storyline being about how she seems remarkably unable to discuss her feelings with her boyfriend, Todd, in spite of having been together for years. In summary, I think I'm going to just live with my nostalgic feelings about old-school Sweet Valley High and skip keeping up with the reboot because, really, there's much better YA out there now.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.