Pretenses

Sweet Valley High #44

by Francine Pascal (Creator), Kate William

Too much mystery ...

Cara Walker feels that her boyfriend, Steven Wakefield, isn't paying enough attention to her. Suddenly he's acting aloof and withdrawn. Cara's good friend Jessica, Steven's sister, suggests that Cara add some mystery to the relationship.

When Cara takes Jessica's advice, it backfires. Steven starts to act even more distant, and Cara is sure he's hiding something. He used to confide in her, but now it seems he's tuming to his sister Elizabeth's friend Abbie Richardson. Will Cara discover Steven's secret before she's replaced by someone new?

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Ebooks, Romance, Teen, Contemporary

153 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1988

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Grace Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

FIRST OFF. Mailing your boyfriend anonymous love letters (unknowingly on his dead ex gf's stationary, natch) is NOT THE WAY to inject some "mystery" into your love life. Seriously, WHO DOES THIS!! Cara Walker, that's who does this. Do not be like Cara Walker.

Then some nitwit named Abbie Richardson comes around, she has no friends and wants desperately to HAVE friends so what does she do? Offer to bend over backwards to help everyone, no favor too small or too big, she won't say no!! Need laundry folded? NP! Need clothing alterations or math homework done? Bring it on!! Need someone to listen to you blather on about your relationship problems with Cara? She'll sit and listen for hours!! All so that people will LIKE her? Isn't that just passively manipulative though?? Gahhh!!!

I love my sunny trips to SVH so much but not gonna lie, this one bored and irritated me 😭😭

3 out of 5 anonymous love letters to your boyfriend on scented pink stationary, sealed with a kiss. Maybe if you send more of these to your SO, he'll be extra amorous and affectionate to you again (This is so dumb. Don't do it). 💀💀

[The Kawaii Slartibartfast · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, Steven is so stupid.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book I remembered- I think it may have been one that I actually owned versus a library read in the 80s. Cara and Steven are having a rough time- mostly because Jessica, as usual, has stuck her nose all in their business and convinced Cara that she needs to spice things up in their relationship with some "mystery", AND Steven, simultaneously, id an allergy-ridden mess of snot and hives and Cara can't seem to get that he feels like ass. A new character named Abbie is introduced in this book- one who is actually likable and who shows growth (uncommon un this series), and rather than being a subplot, her new friendships with the Wakefield kids actually weaves into the main plot. One of the better books in this series. 4 stars.

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, the teen angst and glory. Secretly I think I have Sweet Valley girl tattooed on my heart.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta love the fact that the synopsis for this thing points out that “when Cara takes Jessica’s advice, it backfires.” I mean, is that not a given by this point, that that’s always gonna be the end result of taking any of Jessica’s insane advice? <3

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know what would work really well for Cara and Steven? Mentioning to one another that Jessica's been itching to break them up again so they'd know NOT to listen to any of her schemes meant to "help" them. Oi.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't believe I was still reading these in 1988. I think I was still convinced the series had to end soon - a 44th book???

[Felicia Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

rereading them for fun lol :D

[Hil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me of Escape (The Pina Colada Song).

[Leeanne G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in a nice Little Library in my city, about a week ago. I recognized the Sweet Valley title and snatched it up. Later, when I actually read the back of it I realized it was about teen romance problems. Ugh, romance. Despite that disappointment I decided to try it anyway. I’ve only read one Sweet Valley Twins book so I thought “what the heck? I can survive a little romance.” Obviously, I survived.

This book actually surprised me. I already explained my thoughts going into it, and coming out of it, I can say I actually enjoyed it pretty well. I really don’t know the characters, having had practically no experience with them before. I was able to catch on to what was going on, and the background of everyone pretty quickly though.

I almost immediately knew who was sending Steven those letters. I sympathized with him, firstly, about being sick, and then for having to deal with “ghosts” from his past. This wasn’t really that romantic of a book because Steven and Cara are having relationship problems. Not that I’m glad that they were having relationship problems. I’m just glad it wasn’t an really "romantic" story.

I liked all the characters well enough, which also surprised me. I guess I wasn’t expecting to like anybody in this book. I preferred Elizabeth to Jessica, and Elizabeth is more prominent in this story. Elizabeth is more like me, so I could relate to her a lot better.

Without a doubt, my favourite character was Abbie Richardson. I loved Abbie! She’s insecure, really shy and desperate to make friends. Oh, how I get that. I related to her really well, despite having different life experiences leading up to where she is in this book. I’m an only child as well, terribly shy, and was desperate to make friends in high school, but had no confidence or know-how to do so. It’s a difficult life, believe me. I totally got how Abbie was feeling. I really admire her bravery and I’m kind of envious of it. To put yourself out there to people who are practically strangers is really difficult, and is something I’m terrible at doing. I truly admire her and I feel really inspired by her. I’m going to remember Abbie Richardson for a long time, which I believe is the greatest honor you can give to a character and their author.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 44th book in the series, we finally have a mature character who stands up to their peers. All her peers assume Abbie Richardson to be so insecure that they handle her with care. I liked that Jessica, Elizabeth, Steven and Cara all learn a valuable lesson. Abbie is a compelling reason to rate this book highly.



Goodreads review published 18/01/26

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Source: Kindle Unlimited
Title: Pretenses
Series: Sweet Valley High #44
Author: Francine Pascal // Kate William

I like Steven Wakefield, and apart from the whole Tricia dying and him going out with Cara storyline, I feel like we don't get to see him enough in this series with him being in College. But in this book, he comes home for some form of break, he has a flu, he's grumpy so Cara tries to spice up their relationship with some anonymous letters. But Steven thinks he's seen a ghost when the first one arrives on the stationery that his dead ex-girlfriend used to use, and he starts acting weird. So Cara automatically assumes that he wants to break up with her. Turns out to be a whole misunderstanding etc etc.

I'm actually pretty happy with this one because it was nothing petty or downright childish.

[James Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet Valley High books are the publishing equivalent of hte Model T. One can only gaze in awe at their machine-like precision, their total faithfulness to the prototype. The secret of their success is that they keep readers making the most of the most basic of literacy questions-what happens next? In this case, will Jess manage to screw up her brother's love life, and will Abbie the good two-shoes learn to assert herself? No and yes.

[Hillary]

Steve is creepy. There, I said it. He's also a gullible moron who is waaaay too attached to his emotionally disturbed family, but evidently that doesn't matter because he is attractive. Except he isn't. He's creepy. And, even in the eighties, who decided Dean Koontz hair was acceptable?

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this back in secondary school... 'Sweet Valley High #44 - Pretenses' by Francine Pascal

[Tanya Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun reading for the early teen years. Loved them from the age of 12 - 15

[Forever Young Adult]

Graded By: Erin

Read the drinking game and review here.

[Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have always been a fan of Sweet Valley waaaay back when I was a teen and its cool to see that its still here on Goodreads. Im giving this one a 5!

[Sarah Mate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've decided to go the juvenile path and read (and re-read for some titles) my SV books for nostalgia and a bit of guilty pleasure.

[Cam Mays · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the few svh books having Cara The Awesome in it. Enjoyable and not too implausible.

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[gem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Steve and Cara are having a tiff and some random bird called Abbie shows up.
Definitely a rather dull one.
Does Steven ever actually go to any lectures? He always seems to be at home!

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

You'd think after what happened to Regina these people would be more cautious or concerned before they throw out accusations and stomp all over someone's self esteem but no.
The two plots converge nicely in this one. We're running out of plot ideas so once again Steve and Cara need a crisis in their relationship. Steve is suffering allergies and is home getting tested to see what his allergies are. They are many but will most likely never be mentioned again in the series. I mean apparently in the sequels when they are adults a dead person is brought back to life so allergies are nothing.
Anyway Steve starts getting anonymous letters written on his beloved late Tricia's stationary and understandably it freaks him out. He begins to pull away from Cara.
Enter Abbie, I like Abbie, every series needs one. BSC also had an Abbie spelled with a y and she gave new life to that series mainly by calling out Kristy on her BS. But this Abbie is a genuinely nice person who like a lot of nice people struggles to fit in and wants friends. She latches onto Liz cause everyone loves her. Why I don't know. In the process she finds herself talking a lot to Steve, and despite developing a crush on him tells him to talk it out with Cara which is sensible and the key to making any relationship work, whether romantic, friendship or working.
Jessica as always gets the wrong end of the stick because she's an evil dumbass and convinces everyone Abbie is trying to break up Cara and Steve in order to get him for herself. They confront her and accuse her of writing those letters to Steve, she didn't, but they don't believe her. Abbie like most sensitive nice people says screw this I'm done being nice and leaves only for Cara to reveal that she wrote those letters to spice things up, not knowing it was Tricia's stationary and all works out for everyone but Abbie who still seems to think Liz is nice and wants to be her friend. Maybe it's cause I'm older but I would've told Liz to pound sand, you don't accuse someone of something, refuse to hear them out and then go oh well it was an honest mistake we're still good. But in high school having lots of friends is everything.
The book ends with an announcement that cousin Kelly is coming to stay for the odd reason that her mom is getting married and she doesn't like her new stepdad which I only remember cause the cover looked like the family secret was the girls are triplets instead of twins. Poor Abbie, I hope things improve for her but I suspect she'll be rarely mentioned again.

[ThymeOperator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong - Cara and Steven are both beyond stupid - and, as usual, there was an unrealistically sudden and convenient resolution to it all, with a moral lesson. But I quite liked and even related a little to Abbie, and I appreciated the message that bending over backwards for others just leads to them taking advantage of you.

Something happened around book 40. Since Regina died, the stories now have more substance. (That said, I'm still looking forward to when the werewolves and other such nonsense enter the scene.)

As an aside, I quite liked when Mr Collins called Abbie on the phone and, later in the paragraph, somehow managed to shake her hand. Fabulous editing.

[Tiffany Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretenses:
There’s a random girl named Abby that use to be friends with Jessica in the 9th grade- and why did they start this series at junior year? -, but then she starting dating this guy from another high school and kind of fell off. Now that they broke up here, she is again -just showing up everywhere- and going out of her way to do things for people. I mean that is kind of weird.

Cara is having a big, birthday, party and she mentioned it in front of Abby, but really can’t invite her because the room will only hold so many. So, when Abby comes around she just cuts the subject off. I guess thinking Abby will forget she asked her. But she doesn’t. So, she attaches herself to Elizabeth. So much so to the point, I was starting to wonder if Abby was gay. She’ll do anything to get Liz’s approval it says.

The Oracle is getting kind of dull and not a lot of people are reading it anymore so Winston comes up an idea to add something humorous to it. So, they have a contest. It’s between Amy’s Miss Manner’s column and Abby’s Jenny comic strip-which sounds beyond lame-.

Abby starts hanging out around the Wakefield’s house more and more “getting advice” from Liz on her column. Meanwhile, Steve and Cara are having problems *again*. Steve’s been pulling away from Cara and Lila suggest that maybe they need more mystery. Surprisingly I think Jessica doesn’t think so. Steve says he’s coming home, but to rest because he’s been going to the doctor to have an allergy test done. Cara hears this and doesn’t hear and gets upset because she thinks he’s pulling away from her.

This builds up at her party when he’s distracted and she catches him reading a letter on pink stationery. He shuts down when she asks him about it. He’s freaking out over the letter because it’s the same stationery his dead, ex, girlfriend Trisha use to use.

Liz and Jessica jump to the conclusion that it’s Abby sending the letters and that she’s been coming over to their house because she and Steve have something going on. Which is a little true because Steve gets all “You’re the only one that understands me” on Abby and invites her to a basketball game their father has tickets to. Then they catch Abby holding one of the letters.

Abby is crushing on Steve a little but knows it's wrong and encourages him to talk to Cara. But Steve says she’s getting too clingy and when they talk it just turns into a fight.

Because the girl at the store says the girl who purchased the stationary “may have had” dark hair Jessica immediately assumes it’s Abby and they confront her (along with Elizabeth and Steve) but she says that all she ever wanted to do was be a friend to Steve (mmm hmm) and she’s DONE being there for people all the time. (GOOD IDEA ABBY).

Cara reveals it’s her that wrote the letter and apologizes to Abby about her party. The rest apologize too. Abby forgives them and tells them they taught her a good lesson. Abby is the winner of the contest with her Jenny comic strip.


My Thoughts:
(Sighing) Here we go! Haven’t we read this before? Isn’t Cara smart enough by now to not listen to Jessica when she tries to get all up in her love life? And then the man came home SICK! REALLY CARA. Did you REALLY think he’d be in the mood to be romantic with you? And yes I get how HORRIBLE it is when all of a sudden men get distant and pull away. Do I? That’s a whole nother bag. But he’s SICK! Maybe that’s why I’m single. I don’t bitch enough about asinine ish like women like Cara. How about Cara give him a little breathing room or either be a good girlfriend and bring him something to help him feel better. Not that I’m the biggest fan of Steve Wakefield and the shady way he hides the letter from Cara-which made him look suspicious- and invited another girl to the basketball game with his family just because he and his girl weren’t getting along-AGAIN making him look suspicious-. And I do think it wasn’t *all* innocent between Steve and Abby. Both of them were feeling each other (and that’s how it starts). I gotta say tho I didn’t see it (Cara sending the letter). I can usually guess what’s gonna happen in this series, but this one caught me off guard. Honestly it sounded like a trick I would have done back in the day when someone pulled away from me to contact them anonymously to see if they’d bite back. I see these two for the remainder of this series are gonna be *that* couple (the drama couple). Now as for Abby not really sure why her comic won. It was *supposed* to be humorous. If there was it missed me. Even Amy’s Miss Manner’s column sounds more interesting. And YES it does NOT pay to break your back for other people all the time. Not even half the time if you wanna know the truth. And it’s good that Abby did learn that lesson. I would NOT have bought Cara a ring (of all things). I wouldn’t have even bought Cara a card. And I certainly after she didn’t have the decency to tell me she couldn’t invite me to her party still have given her the ring. I would have taken it back to the store and got my money back or either kept it myself. Like oh well. But I bet after this book she fades into SV history and we don’t really hear that much about her again. She didn’t get with Steve so that’s the end of her. We all know if they don’t couple up they’re GONE!

Rating: 6

[K.L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something is coming between Cara and Steven (I see you Jessica Wakefield!!!) The more she clings, the more distant he becomes, and vice versa... can St Liz get to the bottom of it before heartbreak ensues?

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

In which Cara tries to spice up her relationship with Steve by writing anonymous love letters to him on DeadTricia’s stationary and new character Abbie obsesses over the Wakefields 🙄 I cannot wait for this boring slog of books to be over.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why is Steven such an awful character? Cara deserves so much better.

[Jenn N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bonkers installment and I loved it. I don’t recall Steven’s allergies or Abbie ever being mentioned again. And the way Cara talks about Steven literally made me LOL. He’s such a doofus.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

In which someone finally out-doormats Elizabeth. I liked this because there was a little bit of a mystery happening, even if the conclusion was boring.