Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years Later

Before Gossip Girl, there was Sweet Valley High, the teen serial of the 1980s.

ByABC News
March 31, 2011, 2:22 PM

March 31, 2011— -- Before "Gossip Girl" and "Twilight," there was Sweet Valley High, the teenage romance novels that followed the sun-kissed lives of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. With their silky blond hair, aqua blue eyes, and 5-foot-6, "perfect size six" figures, the Wakefield twins were the all-American sweethearts of the 1980s and 1990s.

And now they are all grown up in "Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later," released by St. Martin's Press on Tuesday.

The twins are now 27, on their own, and bitterly estranged. Book-smart Elizabeth has fled heartache in fictional Sweet Valley, Calif., for the rough streets of New York City. Popular, attention-seeking Jessica is back in her hometown, and engaged to her twin sister's high school sweetheart.

Throughout the 1980s, pre-teens consumed the twins' stories like so much addictive candy, following the girls and a consistent cast of characters through the trials and tribulations of high school and teenage drama.

In this new book, readers are immediately hurled into the present with references to Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Facebook. By the end of chapter one, Elizabeth, a struggling writer, contemplates sleeping with her boss, reveals she cries after orgasms, and calls her twin "a heartless b----."

Honey, I don't think we're in Sweet Valley anymore.

Amy Pattee, associate professor at Simmons College and author of "Reading the Adolescent Romance: Sweet Valley High and the Popular Young Adult Romance Novel," said the series' trademark twins played to readers' dreams of being both the good and bad girl.

The new book aims to play on those same readers' ideals of adulthood.

"More and more grownups are interested and reading young adult novels," said Pattee. "When we look at the success of books like 'The Hunger Games' trilogy and how many grownups are invested in them, we can definitely see an interest or a market for visiting those nostalgic favorites."