A review by meredithmc
Sweet Valley High: Academic All-Star? by Devaki Neogi, Katy Rex
2.0
I had high expectations for this one, because I'm one of those women in her thirties who read every possibly Sweet Valley book she could. Unfortunately, it did not live up to those expectations.
Yes, it's a book for teens but it felt very dumb and trying to be hip at times. The writing was cliche and full of phrases we've heard in other media about teens. The attempt at bringing social media and Internet speak into the book felt very heavy-handed. It almost felt like a satire at times weirdly enough. I don't know if I'd recommend this to any actual teens but probably adults who read Sweet Valley in their youth and want to revisit the twins in a more modern retelling.
The only thing keeping me from giving it one star was that I actually liked the artwork, it went well with the story, and the ending did intrigue me. If the whole book had been about that scenario as opposed to what it was, I probably would've liked it a lot more.
Yes, it's a book for teens but it felt very dumb and trying to be hip at times. The writing was cliche and full of phrases we've heard in other media about teens. The attempt at bringing social media and Internet speak into the book felt very heavy-handed. It almost felt like a satire at times weirdly enough. I don't know if I'd recommend this to any actual teens but probably adults who read Sweet Valley in their youth and want to revisit the twins in a more modern retelling.
The only thing keeping me from giving it one star was that I actually liked the artwork, it went well with the story, and the ending did intrigue me. If the whole book had been about that scenario as opposed to what it was, I probably would've liked it a lot more.