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Sweet Valley High #24
Memories
Torn apart by love...
The Wakefield twins' older brother, Steven, hasn't dated anyone since his girlfriend died of leukemia. He can't even look at another girl without thinking of his beloved Tricia.
But Steven is drawn to Cara Walker. Sweet Valley's biggest flirt and gossip has changed. Her parents have divorced, and her father and brother have moved away. Cara understands the pain of losing someone.
When Tricia's sister Betsy sees Steven and Cara dancing together at a party, she accuses Steven of forgetting about Tricia. Steven is torn by Betsy's bitter accusation. He can't deny his attraction to Cara. But how can he ever love another girl after Tricia?
The Wakefield twins' older brother, Steven, hasn't dated anyone since his girlfriend died of leukemia. He can't even look at another girl without thinking of his beloved Tricia.
But Steven is drawn to Cara Walker. Sweet Valley's biggest flirt and gossip has changed. Her parents have divorced, and her father and brother have moved away. Cara understands the pain of losing someone.
When Tricia's sister Betsy sees Steven and Cara dancing together at a party, she accuses Steven of forgetting about Tricia. Steven is torn by Betsy's bitter accusation. He can't deny his attraction to Cara. But how can he ever love another girl after Tricia?
101 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1985
39 people are currently reading
524 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 books1,844 followersFrancine 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 25, 2019
Memories
Plot: Steve feels bad about walking out on Cara, and attempts to put her out of his mind. Convinced by Betsy that in order to *save* Tricia’s memory that somehow means holding on to her, and that he basically can’t spend time with any other female but her (outside of his family). He snubs her again at a celebration volley ball party, but get’s jealous when a friend of his takes an interest in Cara and asks her out. After Jessica gets in his face about moving on and pointing out that Cara has something over Tricia-that she’s alive-, he decides to apologize to Cara and ask her out. They date and Steve starts to come around, and he actually feels something he hasn’t felt since his girl passed. That is until Cara’s birthday, and he let’s her pick the restaurant. She of course picks the place Steve and Tricia had their first date. Steve to his credit handles this well, not wanting to upset Cara again. But he loses it and starts to have a panic attack when their song comes on, and he’s out. Leaving Cara ditched yet again. He calls to apologize but, Cara smartly tells him she won’t compete with a ghost. And that's the end of that! SHES DONE! Elizabeth get’s Betsy to see that even though she thought she was trying to help Steve she was holding him back. Betsy realizes what she’s been doing and in a nice gesture surprises Steve and Cara giving them her blessing. Also, Elizabeth sees a guy that looks eerily like Tood, but she finds out looks are about the only thing they have in common. And Jessica goes out of her way to get next to Winston when she over-hears that someone visiting his family is a movie director. Only in the end to find out it’s the wrong relative visiting.
My Thoughts: I honestly don’t know why Cara gave Steve as many chances as she did, but then again, I do know. I just hope Steve really *has* moved on. It’s ok for him not to, but it’s not ok to put this girl through all this back and forth. All this and to think what she gets down the line. It was disappointing to read that as many times as he screwed up SHE had to pack the picnic. If you had walked out on me that many times then YEAH YOU make the effort to get me back. The only thing I’m bringing is myself. Or did Steve think that was *women’s* work to pack and prepare the food for the picnic? A part in this book chilled me. I’ll quote it.
Elizabeth settled back to tell the story. “You see, when Tricia discovered she had leukemia, she decided not to tell Steve she was wick. She just broke up with him and pretended she wasn’t interested in him anymore. She figured that eventually it would be less painful for him, because by the time she died, he’d be over her. Now I think I made a mistake. If I’d kept that promise Steve would have been over her already. Now he’s suffering more and more.”
And it was the one thing that stood out to me about this book. It just made me think of someone in my own life. And it's like hmmm. Do people really think its best for the person that loves them when they go through something hard or traumatic just to end it (spoken or non)? And although Elizabeth *thinks* Steve would have moved on after she broke up with him and that would ease the pain, she really doesn’t know that he would have moved on any sooner and that it would have made the slightest bit of difference. Because even though he would have gotten closure if she’d just dumped him and walked away it might have taken him even LONGER.
Rating:6 Very nice gesture of Betsy at the end. Both she and Steve learn to let go!
Plot: Steve feels bad about walking out on Cara, and attempts to put her out of his mind. Convinced by Betsy that in order to *save* Tricia’s memory that somehow means holding on to her, and that he basically can’t spend time with any other female but her (outside of his family). He snubs her again at a celebration volley ball party, but get’s jealous when a friend of his takes an interest in Cara and asks her out. After Jessica gets in his face about moving on and pointing out that Cara has something over Tricia-that she’s alive-, he decides to apologize to Cara and ask her out. They date and Steve starts to come around, and he actually feels something he hasn’t felt since his girl passed. That is until Cara’s birthday, and he let’s her pick the restaurant. She of course picks the place Steve and Tricia had their first date. Steve to his credit handles this well, not wanting to upset Cara again. But he loses it and starts to have a panic attack when their song comes on, and he’s out. Leaving Cara ditched yet again. He calls to apologize but, Cara smartly tells him she won’t compete with a ghost. And that's the end of that! SHES DONE! Elizabeth get’s Betsy to see that even though she thought she was trying to help Steve she was holding him back. Betsy realizes what she’s been doing and in a nice gesture surprises Steve and Cara giving them her blessing. Also, Elizabeth sees a guy that looks eerily like Tood, but she finds out looks are about the only thing they have in common. And Jessica goes out of her way to get next to Winston when she over-hears that someone visiting his family is a movie director. Only in the end to find out it’s the wrong relative visiting.
My Thoughts: I honestly don’t know why Cara gave Steve as many chances as she did, but then again, I do know. I just hope Steve really *has* moved on. It’s ok for him not to, but it’s not ok to put this girl through all this back and forth. All this and to think what she gets down the line. It was disappointing to read that as many times as he screwed up SHE had to pack the picnic. If you had walked out on me that many times then YEAH YOU make the effort to get me back. The only thing I’m bringing is myself. Or did Steve think that was *women’s* work to pack and prepare the food for the picnic? A part in this book chilled me. I’ll quote it.
Elizabeth settled back to tell the story. “You see, when Tricia discovered she had leukemia, she decided not to tell Steve she was wick. She just broke up with him and pretended she wasn’t interested in him anymore. She figured that eventually it would be less painful for him, because by the time she died, he’d be over her. Now I think I made a mistake. If I’d kept that promise Steve would have been over her already. Now he’s suffering more and more.”
And it was the one thing that stood out to me about this book. It just made me think of someone in my own life. And it's like hmmm. Do people really think its best for the person that loves them when they go through something hard or traumatic just to end it (spoken or non)? And although Elizabeth *thinks* Steve would have moved on after she broke up with him and that would ease the pain, she really doesn’t know that he would have moved on any sooner and that it would have made the slightest bit of difference. Because even though he would have gotten closure if she’d just dumped him and walked away it might have taken him even LONGER.
Rating:6 Very nice gesture of Betsy at the end. Both she and Steve learn to let go!
March 19, 2017
I always think of Steven and Cara as such a weird and boring couple, but it just occurred to me that they stay together for almost 60 books after this one. I'm pretty sure that surpasses any other couple besides Liz and Todd.
Just an observation.
Just an observation.
December 22, 2025
The title was appropriate for this one. Steven and Betsy are haunted by memories of Tricia to the point where Betsy makes Steve feel guilty for dating other people and Steve can't hear certain songs or go certain places without seeing or thinking of her. Liz is haunted by the memory of Todd to the point she sees him everywhere and goes out with a guy she thinks looks like him because of his brown hair and brown eyes only to find out he's an arrogant narcissistic jerk. Cara is haunted by the memory of her father and brother who moved away following her parents split. Each character has to come to terms with their memories of those who are no longer around. Todd also moved on extremely quickly considering he was just gushing over Liz and how much he loved her and would never forget her but yet one book later he's spending a weekend with Gina. Nice guy. Jessica is her usual scheming self but not as bad as she usually is or maybe I'm just getting used to how truly awful she is. This one was okay, not great. I'm not sure why everyone thinks Steve should move on so fast after losing Tricia. But Jessica never did care much about anyone's thoughts or feelings or really anyone who isn't Jessica. It ends with what seems to be a Cinderella storyline involving Emily from the Droids.
February 1, 2025
A very lukewarm 3 stars
March 30, 2016
Source: I read this book online via Open Library.
Cost: Free
Title: Memories
Series: Sweet Valley High #24
Author: Francine Pascal // Kate William
Overall Rating: 3 stars
This book is a follow up to the whole Steven/Tricia/Betsy storyline. Steve is finally getting over his depression, and he's feeling a connection to Jessica's friend, Cara Walker, whose family has recently fallen apart and is no longer the raging bitch she was before. But Tricia's sister is angry. Betsy doesn't want him moving on from her sister, it's been months, but why should he be happy?
As I said in the previous review, I like when this series connects things back to what happened in the previous books, and I like how Cara had a big character development and went from raging psycho gossip, to actual human being. Jess was also pretty selfless for most of this book, except when the movie director was involved.
That reminds me, we have to update the list.
The Jessica Wakefield Hit-List:
1) Todd Wilkins
2) Bruce Patman
3) Scott Daniels
4) Bill Chase
5) Nicholas Morrow
6) Roger Barrett
7) Jack ??????
8) Nicky Shepard
9) Jeffrey Morrow
10) Winston Egbert
Cost: Free
Title: Memories
Series: Sweet Valley High #24
Author: Francine Pascal // Kate William
Overall Rating: 3 stars
This book is a follow up to the whole Steven/Tricia/Betsy storyline. Steve is finally getting over his depression, and he's feeling a connection to Jessica's friend, Cara Walker, whose family has recently fallen apart and is no longer the raging bitch she was before. But Tricia's sister is angry. Betsy doesn't want him moving on from her sister, it's been months, but why should he be happy?
As I said in the previous review, I like when this series connects things back to what happened in the previous books, and I like how Cara had a big character development and went from raging psycho gossip, to actual human being. Jess was also pretty selfless for most of this book, except when the movie director was involved.
That reminds me, we have to update the list.
The Jessica Wakefield Hit-List:
1) Todd Wilkins
2) Bruce Patman
3) Scott Daniels
4) Bill Chase
5) Nicholas Morrow
6) Roger Barrett
7) Jack ??????
8) Nicky Shepard
9) Jeffrey Morrow
10) Winston Egbert
April 8, 2023
Memories is the 24th book in the Young Adult series Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal.
In this book, we have Steven Wakefield still unable to get over the death of Tricia Martin, the girlfriend he loved dearly, who died from leukemia a few months before. Tricia's sister, Betsy Martin, and Steven became good friends after Tricia's death because, in the book where Tricia died, she made Steven promise he would love after Betsy as Betsy had some drug and alcohol problems.
Betsy and Steven spent all their time together, talking about Tricia and looking at pictures. Betsy wouldn't let Steven move forward in his life. Anytime Steven talks or seems like he will forget Tricia, as when Steven talked to Cara Walker at Lila's party, Betsy makes a big deal out of it.
The Wakefields tried to tell Steven that Tricia wouldn't want Steven to be so miserable. Tricia would wish Steven to get on with his life as he is in his first year of college and has his whole life ahead of him. Yes, he can always love Tricia, but he has to live.
There is a minor plot: Elizabeth finds a boy, Michael Sellers, who goes to Big Mesa and competes in a volleyball game between the two schools Elizabeth was going to play on. The boy looks exactly like Todd, who Elizabeth is missing terribly in Vermont. Elizabeth meets Michael and spends time with him at the dance after the volleyball game. Will Michael Sellers be the boy taking over for Todd, who is living in Vermont? I will not tell you so that you read this excellent book!
I enjoyed this book immensely. I found Steven's emotions were genuine; sometimes, in Young Adult books, I, as an adult in her fifties, find the teens exaggerate their emotions. I don't read as many Young Adult books as I used to due to those exaggerated emotions as they get on my nerves. But I can honestly see an adult feeling the same way about the death of somebody they loved as much as Steven loved Tricia.
In this book, we have Steven Wakefield still unable to get over the death of Tricia Martin, the girlfriend he loved dearly, who died from leukemia a few months before. Tricia's sister, Betsy Martin, and Steven became good friends after Tricia's death because, in the book where Tricia died, she made Steven promise he would love after Betsy as Betsy had some drug and alcohol problems.
Betsy and Steven spent all their time together, talking about Tricia and looking at pictures. Betsy wouldn't let Steven move forward in his life. Anytime Steven talks or seems like he will forget Tricia, as when Steven talked to Cara Walker at Lila's party, Betsy makes a big deal out of it.
The Wakefields tried to tell Steven that Tricia wouldn't want Steven to be so miserable. Tricia would wish Steven to get on with his life as he is in his first year of college and has his whole life ahead of him. Yes, he can always love Tricia, but he has to live.
There is a minor plot: Elizabeth finds a boy, Michael Sellers, who goes to Big Mesa and competes in a volleyball game between the two schools Elizabeth was going to play on. The boy looks exactly like Todd, who Elizabeth is missing terribly in Vermont. Elizabeth meets Michael and spends time with him at the dance after the volleyball game. Will Michael Sellers be the boy taking over for Todd, who is living in Vermont? I will not tell you so that you read this excellent book!
I enjoyed this book immensely. I found Steven's emotions were genuine; sometimes, in Young Adult books, I, as an adult in her fifties, find the teens exaggerate their emotions. I don't read as many Young Adult books as I used to due to those exaggerated emotions as they get on my nerves. But I can honestly see an adult feeling the same way about the death of somebody they loved as much as Steven loved Tricia.
December 3, 2020
Pretty standard fair here as far as SVH goes. The various inhabitants of Sweet Valley are haunted by their memories. Steven does not know how to honor Tricia's memory and move on with his life (Betsy is not helping), Elizabeth sees visions of Todd 2.0 wherever she goes, and Cara is grieving her Dad's absence by clinging to an unstable, grieving Steven. One thing is clear, these kids all need adult intervention!
--
**Review Note - I have been re-reading the Sweet Valley High series one book at a time for my podcast, “Lessons From Sweet Valley.” The following is the unique SVH rating system that I use on goodreads for these books alone…
5 Stars - The book is worthy of being read outside of the series purely as an exemplary example of YA fiction.
4 Stars - The book contains an element, storyline or theme that sets it apart from your average SVH tome.
3 Stars - The book adequately meets the expectations of an SVH book as it exists in the Sweet Valley universe.
2 Stars - The book falls below the SVH standards in terms of subject matter, characters or overall story.
1 Star - Offensive by SVH standards! Any of those re-reading the series should skip entirely
--
**Review Note - I have been re-reading the Sweet Valley High series one book at a time for my podcast, “Lessons From Sweet Valley.” The following is the unique SVH rating system that I use on goodreads for these books alone…
5 Stars - The book is worthy of being read outside of the series purely as an exemplary example of YA fiction.
4 Stars - The book contains an element, storyline or theme that sets it apart from your average SVH tome.
3 Stars - The book adequately meets the expectations of an SVH book as it exists in the Sweet Valley universe.
2 Stars - The book falls below the SVH standards in terms of subject matter, characters or overall story.
1 Star - Offensive by SVH standards! Any of those re-reading the series should skip entirely
September 6, 2025
Once again Jessica Wakefield is one of the worst people in literary history. Liz, who I normally can tolerate, is annoying about Todd and some rando who looks kind of like him. Steven can’t keep himself from trolling the high school for girls (can this man not get a college aged date??). He’s still grieving his dead girlfriend who has only been in the ground a few months, but according to everyone else he needs to move on and date asap. Definitely no therapy, just get back out there and ignore his feelings like a true boomer-esque time period mindset. Although don’t feel too bad, he literally abandons annoying Cara at a restaurant during their date on her birthday, girl had to call a cab. And in Sweet Valley standards, Betsy’s poverty-ridden neighborhood is glaring obvious due to a poorly manicured lawn and some chipping paint on the house (Liz would have a heart attack at the majority of neighborhoods now). Overall another snooze fest, can’t wait for someone to get kidnapped again because this towns main source of drama is love triangles and bulling people into burying their feelings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2022
Steven and Cara finally get together after Betsy Martin tries to stop Steven from moving on from Tricia. Personally, I love this book only because I am such a big Steven and Cara fan. Also, Betsy feels so guilty for being a crap sister and I just want to give her a hug. The b-plot is drippy though, Elizabeth meets a Todd lookalike and tries to date him, but eventually realizes he's a jerk. Will Liz ever learn? The second b-plot (c-plot? b-plot 2.0?) is Jessica trying to get close with Winston and his family after she overhears Winston's visiting uncle is a Hollywood director. Jessica spends hours with Winston and his uncle until she realizes Uncle Marty is actually a civil engineer and the film director uncle is still in London. Both twins were pretty good in this book and Steven never goes to college.
July 30, 2024
I do believe that this would be one of the books in the series that I would consider an absolute favorite. As everyone tries to help Steven with his grief, it was touching how many different people-his father, sisters, and Cara all try to help. This book would have been extremely heavy to read if it hadn't been balanced with Jessica's usual ability to get a situation wrong.
Very enjoyable read.
Goodreads review published 30/07/24
Very enjoyable read.
Goodreads review published 30/07/24
September 3, 2018
This one was particularly slow and painful with stupid subplots. Too much woe-is-Steven and creepy-Betsy and Cara-is-now-not-awful-just-because-her-parents-divorced, and too little Wakefield twins. Also, knowing Steven winds up gay as an adult, this makes the whole book and forced Cara relationship seem super cheesy.
August 11, 2020
The lovelorn Steven is torn between his old flame, the deceased Tricia, and the possibility of a real, live girlfriend in Cara, one of Jessica's best friends, and is going to be a limp noodle most of the book because every time he starts to enjoy himself a bit with Cara, there is Tricia's sister Betsy to guilt trip him into ditching Cara and worshipping at the shrine of Tricia.
December 15, 2021
Steven is finally moving on after the death of Tricia Martin, and starting to find happiness with Jess's BFF Cara Walker, bit when Tricias sister Betsy realises he's moving on, she starts to lay on the guilt trip. Will Steven EVER be able to forget Tricia and live happily ever after? (Spoiler...NO! There are still about 1000 Tricia Martin doppelgangers still to go!)
September 13, 2025
This whole book felt like a subplot with multiple smaller subplots. Not one of the more dynamic storylines in the series. I hope future books that focus on tangential characters are a little more interesting.
November 7, 2017
Sooo boring.
March 10, 2018
More like 2.5.
I mean, whatever. The whole Steve/Tricia arc has been pretty boring imo.
I mean, whatever. The whole Steve/Tricia arc has been pretty boring imo.
December 26, 2023
the one with a million subplots
January 13, 2024
1.5 stars
oh jesus christ
oh jesus christ
collection
August 3, 2024DNF
October 8, 2024
It's a Sweet Valley. Perfect from cover to cover.
December 19, 2024
The 180-personality-shifts positively ABOUND in this one! And Elizabeth is increasingly the stupid, annoying twin.
September 29, 2025
3.5 stars!!!
March 1, 2024
Heavier than usual books. Deals realistically with heartbreak and moving on from Steven's perspective with lots of help from the twins, especially Jessica. Meanwhile Liz meets Todd again, they clarify things and decide to move on because of the distance. Until Liz starts spotting him everywhere. Is it Todd or a lookalike?
September 1, 2016
I read this hoping it would be a really good continuation of the other books: #12
and #15
. Although I really liked those other books involving Steven's coping from the lost of his girlfriend Tricia who dies of cancer, Memories was sort of mundane, even typical and reminded me of the Super Edition Spring Break in which Steven meets a foreign exchange student from France that looked exactly like Tricia. Except in this book it was Elizabeth who sees a Todd look-a-like named Michael Sellers and decides to try and date him to replace the lonely void that Todd left behind when he moved to Vermont with his parents. That was only the subplot and was quickly short lived when Liz realizes that Michael is a complete self centered jerk and could never ever take Todd's place. Although I like Steven's character and tried to side with him coping and grieving for his loss, he annoyed me with his back and forth confusion over his relationship with Cara. I thought it was kind of strange and frustrating how he was acting like he was betraying Tricia (when she is dead and never coming back) or her memory just because hanging around Cara was starting to make him happy again. Obviously Tricia's sister Betsy was the culprit in feeding Steven the guilt; but I guess I figured he should know better and realize that his late girlfriend wouldn't want him unhappy and grieving for her for the rest of his young life!
and #15
. Although I really liked those other books involving Steven's coping from the lost of his girlfriend Tricia who dies of cancer, Memories was sort of mundane, even typical and reminded me of the Super Edition Spring Break in which Steven meets a foreign exchange student from France that looked exactly like Tricia. Except in this book it was Elizabeth who sees a Todd look-a-like named Michael Sellers and decides to try and date him to replace the lonely void that Todd left behind when he moved to Vermont with his parents. That was only the subplot and was quickly short lived when Liz realizes that Michael is a complete self centered jerk and could never ever take Todd's place. Although I like Steven's character and tried to side with him coping and grieving for his loss, he annoyed me with his back and forth confusion over his relationship with Cara. I thought it was kind of strange and frustrating how he was acting like he was betraying Tricia (when she is dead and never coming back) or her memory just because hanging around Cara was starting to make him happy again. Obviously Tricia's sister Betsy was the culprit in feeding Steven the guilt; but I guess I figured he should know better and realize that his late girlfriend wouldn't want him unhappy and grieving for her for the rest of his young life! 
December 17, 2011
Steven Wakefield is trying to heal himself of the pain of losing Tricia Martin, his girlfriend who died of leukemia a few short months ago. He and Tricia's sister, Betsy, are still in pain. Steven can't ignore his new feelings for Cara Walker--but will he be able to move on?
I find the story believable and yet not so at the same time. Cara changing for the better and undoing all of her years of flightiness and gossip mongering? Steven definitely is heading for a rebound relationship in this one.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: Memories (Sweet Valley High, #24)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
I find the story believable and yet not so at the same time. Cara changing for the better and undoing all of her years of flightiness and gossip mongering? Steven definitely is heading for a rebound relationship in this one.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: Memories (Sweet Valley High, #24)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
March 25, 2012
Elizabeth is wallowing a bit missing Todd. Todd has a doppelganger! But, he's a real jerk, nothing like kind old Todd. Cara falls in love with Steven, but Betsy Martin, his late girlfriend's sister, Wont let him forget Tricia (his dead girlfriend). She brings out pictures and stories and insists he remember her always. Its a bit creepy. And Steven, falls for it, hook, line and sinker, as she sabotages any chance he has of getting over her. THIS IS WHY HE IS GAY PEOPLE. (Im just kidding I know that people are born gay and its not a choice). Liz decides that Cara is cool now that she has faced the trauma of her parent's divorce and has matured over night.
October 24, 2010
My childhood would not have been the same without this wonderful series. YA readers are spoiled today, they have many choices. Back then it was Francine Pascal or SE Hinton. Both great choices, but very limiting....
June 12, 2008
lovved it
April 2, 2011
Read this back in secondary school... 'Sweet Valley High #24 - Memories' by Francine Pascal
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews