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Sweet Valley High #63
The New Elizabeth
Surf's up...
If one more person calls Elizabeth Wakefield responsible or predictable, she'll scream! In an effort to prove that she can be as adventurous as Jessica, her daring identical twin, Elizabeth secretly decides to take up surfing. That will show her friends she knows how to take risks.
But from the start, Elizabeth's new hobby causes problems. She has a sneaking suspicion that her surfing instructor is falling in love with her. And even worse, she has to lie to her steady boyfriend, Todd, in order to keep her surfing a surprise. Todd's becoming suspicious and angry -- and Elizabeth is beginning to wonder if a daredevil reputation is worth the trouble after all.
If one more person calls Elizabeth Wakefield responsible or predictable, she'll scream! In an effort to prove that she can be as adventurous as Jessica, her daring identical twin, Elizabeth secretly decides to take up surfing. That will show her friends she knows how to take risks.
But from the start, Elizabeth's new hobby causes problems. She has a sneaking suspicion that her surfing instructor is falling in love with her. And even worse, she has to lie to her steady boyfriend, Todd, in order to keep her surfing a surprise. Todd's becoming suspicious and angry -- and Elizabeth is beginning to wonder if a daredevil reputation is worth the trouble after all.
138 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
31 people are currently reading
436 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 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 17, 2021
I read this book via Kindle Unlimited.
This book really was something. Liz learns how to surf, treats Todd like an idiot and leads on her surfing instructor Sean, while not only hurting him but also his best friend who is insanely in love with him. Jess, to get back at Caroline for spreading harmless rumours about her decides to terrorise Caroline at her place of work while she tries to get money after damaging her parent's car. Not only is Liz annoyingly self-centred in this book, but Jess is nothing but a bully. Honestly how anybody saw these two characters as anything but awful people is beyond me...that being said, I am a little obsessed with the whole drama of it. Like did Liz need to act as if learning how to surf was the biggest upset to her personality ever? No. Did it make interesting content? Sure did.
This book really was something. Liz learns how to surf, treats Todd like an idiot and leads on her surfing instructor Sean, while not only hurting him but also his best friend who is insanely in love with him. Jess, to get back at Caroline for spreading harmless rumours about her decides to terrorise Caroline at her place of work while she tries to get money after damaging her parent's car. Not only is Liz annoyingly self-centred in this book, but Jess is nothing but a bully. Honestly how anybody saw these two characters as anything but awful people is beyond me...that being said, I am a little obsessed with the whole drama of it. Like did Liz need to act as if learning how to surf was the biggest upset to her personality ever? No. Did it make interesting content? Sure did.
November 26, 2012
Kind of sums up all the worst of classic SVH. Elizabeth somehow manages to be both a selfish cow and a complete doormat simultaneously, treating Todd like rubbish and leading some other poor boy on at the same time (while agonising that embracing him tightly/letting him buy her drinks and presents and lend her his most precious possessions/letting him kiss her on the nose/never objecting to any romantic remarks might "give him the wrong idea"). Then, when she nearly gets what she's worked for, she throws it all away in a completely random and unnecessary act of self sacrifice. Also, Jessica really is an unbearable bully in this one.
Plotwise, Liz learns to surf, planning to amaze everyone with how daring and adventurous she is - although I'm pretty sure she could surf before. I know Jessica could. Anyway, she has a week to go from never having touched a surf board to winning a surfing competition. It's okay, she's Elizabeth.
Writing is SVH standard, with more than usual "fear of said".
For all this, I enjoyed rereading it very much. There must be something wrong with me.
Plotwise, Liz learns to surf, planning to amaze everyone with how daring and adventurous she is - although I'm pretty sure she could surf before. I know Jessica could. Anyway, she has a week to go from never having touched a surf board to winning a surfing competition. It's okay, she's Elizabeth.
Writing is SVH standard, with more than usual "fear of said".
For all this, I enjoyed rereading it very much. There must be something wrong with me.
July 8, 2020
One of the better SVH books, this one focuses almost entirely on Elizabeth trying to shed her boring image by taking up the risky sport of surfing while simultaneously dodging some seriously cheesy come-ons by the boy who is coaching her- for free- because he thinks she's hot and he has some bet going with his friends. The subplot is about Jessica trying to torture Caroline Pierce for outing her previous book's stunts about her alter ego dating profiles and letting the whole school know that Jessica was calling herself Magenta Galaxy. Overall, a fun one for this series- 2.5 stars rounded up.
November 3, 2022
The New Elizabeth
In the last book Liz starts to take all Jess’s teasing personally, and instead of shrugging it off (like I would do), she decides to try a perm. (It’s not cute and then has this ghostwriter ever gotten a perm? Perms don’t turn your hair curly. Perms *well the kind we get* STRAIGHTEN your hair). This perm looks like Elizabeth went to the drug store and got the do-it-yourself kind and then slapped some rollers in her head. Do they have salons in Sweet Valley?
So this isn’t enough and she goes shopping around at a Sports Goods store, but she’s shocked at all the prices. II guess because this is the magical world of Sweet Valley in Liz’s mind *as we see in the book about Andy (she thinks everything will be free. She decides on surfing and picks a out of the way beach (Moon Beach) where none of the SV kids will know her secret.
At the cabin, she meets 4 Big Mesa kids who work there (Sammy, Dave, Laurie, and Sean. Sean and the other guys before Liz got there, made a bet that the next one that walked in the door they could turn into a surfer that’s good enough place in a upcoming surfing competition. So lucky Liz she gets the lessons for free, and Sean will be her coach.
Off the bat we can tell that Sean isn’t just in it for the bet, and Laurie is very much into Sean. Laurie and Sean went on a date, and she was getting her hopes up. But now here comes Liz with her blond hair, blue eyes, and perfect size six figure to take her man. So Laurie plays around with the idea of getting into surfing and entering the contest to get Sean’s attention.
Liz has an upcoming date with Todd, but it’s the same day her lessons start. So, she tells him she has a marine biology project she has to do for school.
At the first lesson after Sean demonstrates she actually “hangs 10” (but to make this seem not so unreal I think she also “wipes out” shortly after). After the next lesson, Sean invites her to his house to see his collection of surfboards. But she turns him down when he invites her to watch movies.
Liz is confused because she thinks he’s dating Laurie. Liz obviously not only hasn’t watched any movies for the era she’s in, but she hasn’t heard of players either (and she’s seen Bruce personally in action).
Todd called three times while she was gone. The next lesson gets kinda into reefs and riptides. Coincidently at dinner maybe the parents know what’s up because Ned tells her about a case where a surfer was dragged to sea by a riptide and drowned. (I say that because I’ll give Ned and Alice a little credit my mom ALWAYS seemed to know what I was doing back when I was at high school. So maybe this time in Ned’s case that parental instinct kicked in. Or maybe one day he followed Liz to Moon Beach.
The contest is right around the corner, and Liz invites Todd to the “presentation”. She also invites Jessica (who grudgingly says she’ll come.
At the next lesson, Sean gives Liz a charm in the shape of a surfboard. Then he makes his move. Liz asks him about Laurie and he says they're not dating. She FINALLY tells him about Todd. Laurie is close by and she hears. Now she’s more determined than ever to win the contest.
It rains the next day so Liz and Todd just have a date playing board games. Even though the weather is rocky the next day Liz decides to change it in preparation for the next day, (Wouldn’t they call if off if the weather was bad?). She goes under, and Sean saves her. He asks her out again, but she says she has a date with Todd. He drives her back, but Todd spots them. Todd gets mad and leaves. Liz thinks its because he saw Sean’s car and cries.
The next day at school he confronts Liz about who the guy was, and she tells him a researcher. He tells him it’s all be explained at the presentation.
Sean wants to take her out again and offers to let her use his prized surfboard (Am I the only one who sees it golden and glowing like crazy).
Nobody at SV wants to go to the biology presentation. But there’s a surfing competition they all hear about so they figure this will make it worth their while.
On the day of the competition Elizabeth overhears Laurie talking to someone and she realizes that Laurie is very much in love with Sean. Everyone is shocked with Liz’s name is called, but even though she could easily win she wipes out to give Laurie a chance to win to impress Sean. Laurie does win and Sean goes to congratulate her.
Bill Chase is the only one who sees through the deception and he calls her on it. In the B plot Caroline Pearce had told everyone about Daniella Fromage and Magenta Galaxy, and Jessica is furious because everyone at school is teasing her about it. (sighing) Can’t she just have a sense of humor and laugh it off? They’d probably forget faster and thus Caroline would have less “power”.
Jessica finds out Caroline dented her parent's car, and has to work at the Unique Boutique to pay off the money for repairs. So Jessica decides to go to the store and be obnoxious so either Caroline will deal with her or get fired. But after she does this several times with Lila and Amy Caroline tricks her into going into the changing room and then takes her clothes. Caroline quits and Jessica is left in her underwear.
My Thoughts:
I think the biggest thought I had in this was why Elizabeth waited so long to tell Sean about Todd. I just couldn’t come up with a reason (unless she’s a tease). Or maybe because she thought he wouldn’t be her instructor anymore? It wasn’t fair to either him (who she goes so far as to go to his house which was slightly leading him on) or Todd. For the life of me I can’t figure out why she never thinks she can tell Todd anything. I get wanting to surprise him, but she could have just told him she was taking surfing lessons and not just told him why.
As a former salesperson, I HATED Jessica’s plan because being a salesperson is hard enough as it is having to clean up behind nasty people without having to put up with their nasty behind attitudes also. So props to Caroline for one-upping Jessica and leaving her at the store half naked!
Rating: 5
Rating: 5
In the last book Liz starts to take all Jess’s teasing personally, and instead of shrugging it off (like I would do), she decides to try a perm. (It’s not cute and then has this ghostwriter ever gotten a perm? Perms don’t turn your hair curly. Perms *well the kind we get* STRAIGHTEN your hair). This perm looks like Elizabeth went to the drug store and got the do-it-yourself kind and then slapped some rollers in her head. Do they have salons in Sweet Valley?
So this isn’t enough and she goes shopping around at a Sports Goods store, but she’s shocked at all the prices. II guess because this is the magical world of Sweet Valley in Liz’s mind *as we see in the book about Andy (she thinks everything will be free. She decides on surfing and picks a out of the way beach (Moon Beach) where none of the SV kids will know her secret.
At the cabin, she meets 4 Big Mesa kids who work there (Sammy, Dave, Laurie, and Sean. Sean and the other guys before Liz got there, made a bet that the next one that walked in the door they could turn into a surfer that’s good enough place in a upcoming surfing competition. So lucky Liz she gets the lessons for free, and Sean will be her coach.
Off the bat we can tell that Sean isn’t just in it for the bet, and Laurie is very much into Sean. Laurie and Sean went on a date, and she was getting her hopes up. But now here comes Liz with her blond hair, blue eyes, and perfect size six figure to take her man. So Laurie plays around with the idea of getting into surfing and entering the contest to get Sean’s attention.
Liz has an upcoming date with Todd, but it’s the same day her lessons start. So, she tells him she has a marine biology project she has to do for school.
At the first lesson after Sean demonstrates she actually “hangs 10” (but to make this seem not so unreal I think she also “wipes out” shortly after). After the next lesson, Sean invites her to his house to see his collection of surfboards. But she turns him down when he invites her to watch movies.
Liz is confused because she thinks he’s dating Laurie. Liz obviously not only hasn’t watched any movies for the era she’s in, but she hasn’t heard of players either (and she’s seen Bruce personally in action).
Todd called three times while she was gone. The next lesson gets kinda into reefs and riptides. Coincidently at dinner maybe the parents know what’s up because Ned tells her about a case where a surfer was dragged to sea by a riptide and drowned. (I say that because I’ll give Ned and Alice a little credit my mom ALWAYS seemed to know what I was doing back when I was at high school. So maybe this time in Ned’s case that parental instinct kicked in. Or maybe one day he followed Liz to Moon Beach.
The contest is right around the corner, and Liz invites Todd to the “presentation”. She also invites Jessica (who grudgingly says she’ll come.
At the next lesson, Sean gives Liz a charm in the shape of a surfboard. Then he makes his move. Liz asks him about Laurie and he says they're not dating. She FINALLY tells him about Todd. Laurie is close by and she hears. Now she’s more determined than ever to win the contest.
It rains the next day so Liz and Todd just have a date playing board games. Even though the weather is rocky the next day Liz decides to change it in preparation for the next day, (Wouldn’t they call if off if the weather was bad?). She goes under, and Sean saves her. He asks her out again, but she says she has a date with Todd. He drives her back, but Todd spots them. Todd gets mad and leaves. Liz thinks its because he saw Sean’s car and cries.
The next day at school he confronts Liz about who the guy was, and she tells him a researcher. He tells him it’s all be explained at the presentation.
Sean wants to take her out again and offers to let her use his prized surfboard (Am I the only one who sees it golden and glowing like crazy).
Nobody at SV wants to go to the biology presentation. But there’s a surfing competition they all hear about so they figure this will make it worth their while.
On the day of the competition Elizabeth overhears Laurie talking to someone and she realizes that Laurie is very much in love with Sean. Everyone is shocked with Liz’s name is called, but even though she could easily win she wipes out to give Laurie a chance to win to impress Sean. Laurie does win and Sean goes to congratulate her.
Bill Chase is the only one who sees through the deception and he calls her on it. In the B plot Caroline Pearce had told everyone about Daniella Fromage and Magenta Galaxy, and Jessica is furious because everyone at school is teasing her about it. (sighing) Can’t she just have a sense of humor and laugh it off? They’d probably forget faster and thus Caroline would have less “power”.
Jessica finds out Caroline dented her parent's car, and has to work at the Unique Boutique to pay off the money for repairs. So Jessica decides to go to the store and be obnoxious so either Caroline will deal with her or get fired. But after she does this several times with Lila and Amy Caroline tricks her into going into the changing room and then takes her clothes. Caroline quits and Jessica is left in her underwear.
My Thoughts:
I think the biggest thought I had in this was why Elizabeth waited so long to tell Sean about Todd. I just couldn’t come up with a reason (unless she’s a tease). Or maybe because she thought he wouldn’t be her instructor anymore? It wasn’t fair to either him (who she goes so far as to go to his house which was slightly leading him on) or Todd. For the life of me I can’t figure out why she never thinks she can tell Todd anything. I get wanting to surprise him, but she could have just told him she was taking surfing lessons and not just told him why.
As a former salesperson, I HATED Jessica’s plan because being a salesperson is hard enough as it is having to clean up behind nasty people without having to put up with their nasty behind attitudes also. So props to Caroline for one-upping Jessica and leaving her at the store half naked!
Rating: 5
Rating: 5
December 19, 2024
I was all set to give this three stars but had to knock one off for the ending. She just...screws up on purpose to make someone else look good...and decides to give up surfing forever, after how good she is??? Terrible message being sent, right there. This is what girls have done forever, pretending to be less than they are in the name of romance in one form or another...even if in this case it was to shake a boy off.
As an aside...Liz IS boring! Everyone is right!
As an aside...Liz IS boring! Everyone is right!
April 27, 2023
I definitely felt that is one of the better of the series I’ve read. I suppose this could not have been an episode for the tv show. Saban entertainment was supposed to be affordable.
Again, I like how Elizabeth evolves. There is no need to send her back into plain old Elizabeth. She can definitely be a great modern coming of age character.
Again, I like how Elizabeth evolves. There is no need to send her back into plain old Elizabeth. She can definitely be a great modern coming of age character.
November 4, 2021
Liz decides she's boring (lol) so she secretly takes up surfing, naturally being amazing at it. Her instructor naturally has a crush on her, but Liz realises another girl really cares for him, so she flubs the competition allowing the other girl to win and get her man.
Stupid book, Liz is a moron
Stupid book, Liz is a moron
October 23, 2025
“Elizabeth felt she deserved a triple scoop with extra chocolate sprinkles, but she settled for a small cone, since she would be heading home for dinner soon. She didn't want to surprise everyone with how fat she could get!”
Awesome. /s
Awesome. /s
September 30, 2021
Short, fun, and entertaining, The New Elizabeth was a fabulous read. It was so great to see Elizabeth pick up a new and daring hobby that proved she isn't as boring as people keep labeling her.
June 1, 2025
Why does it take Elizabeth SO LONG to mention that she has a boyfriend!? Why do I still love these books so much?! Both questions remain a mystery.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2017
Eventually I will go back to reading real books again, but until I'm done being sick it's going to be all Sweet Valley all the time.
February 28, 2012
This latest SVH offering is a wipe-out. In the last book Liz tries to become more freewheeling by....joining a rock band called the Wacky-khakis? Ditching Todd for some non-sport-star poetic hunk? no, she...perms her hair. ZZZZZ. ( This reminds me of a scene in Beaches where Barbara Hershey spends an hour dying her hair the same color - it's a subtle difference she argues with Bette Midler - who is now bleach blonde - don't think so - Bette mocks. ) Even worse is now, in this adventure, she's attempting to revamp her freewheeling status by one-upping her totally snore-boring action by - taking up hang gliding? bungee jumping ( if only to pose the question - will James Mathewuse paint Liz upside down? ) no - she picks something so neutral and because it's California so cliche, she takes up surfing. Yawn. Had it been Jessica it might've been exciting , she could've ramped over Bruce , lost her bikini top but because it's Liz she becomes so good that she feels she's got to throw a competition so that a girl whose been practicing waaay longer can impress a boy who'd naturally become fixated on Liz. Argh! For a longer review and a look at Jess with a perm - check out my site http://cliqueypizza.wordpress.com/.
January 3, 2012
Elizabeth is so boring that she had a hissy fit when Sweet Valley people started stereotyping her for the saint that she is. And so, in order to prove them wrong (and to be labelled as being "adventurous") she decided to take up surfing. Oooh, that has the neon warning signs "danger" written all over it. Not.
Only good part was the hot pink suit but I digress. In the end, for boring couple of the century that's Liz and Todd, all's well that ends well as always. Liz didn't receive any flak for her constant lief to her boyfriend, since after Liz took up this sport in order to surprise/impress him.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: The New Elizabeth (Sweet Valley High #63)
Author: Francine Pascal (Creator)
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
Only good part was the hot pink suit but I digress. In the end, for boring couple of the century that's Liz and Todd, all's well that ends well as always. Liz didn't receive any flak for her constant lief to her boyfriend, since after Liz took up this sport in order to surprise/impress him.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: The New Elizabeth (Sweet Valley High #63)
Author: Francine Pascal (Creator)
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
August 11, 2021
2.5 star rating.
I uncovered The New Elizabeth in a box of old books from my childhood. I remember really enjoying the stories about identical twins and followed them from their adventures as kids, right up to university. Elizabeth was always my favorite sister, which is probably why I’ve held on to this copy after all these years. Even at a young age I related more to her introverted personality than to the more spontaneous and outgoing Jessica. However in this installment Elizabeth wants to prove that she can be adventurous too by learning how to surf.
Although this was originally released in the 1980s, I think that the plot will still interest its target audience today. I would say that The New Elizabeth would be appropriate for older middle grade readers or younger teens.
I uncovered The New Elizabeth in a box of old books from my childhood. I remember really enjoying the stories about identical twins and followed them from their adventures as kids, right up to university. Elizabeth was always my favorite sister, which is probably why I’ve held on to this copy after all these years. Even at a young age I related more to her introverted personality than to the more spontaneous and outgoing Jessica. However in this installment Elizabeth wants to prove that she can be adventurous too by learning how to surf.
Although this was originally released in the 1980s, I think that the plot will still interest its target audience today. I would say that The New Elizabeth would be appropriate for older middle grade readers or younger teens.
September 4, 2007
Hello 4th grade! I read this series like a crazy person when I was younger. I loved the twins Elizabeth and Jessica. Boy that Jessica was a bad one...I am nothing like her. Haha Good books, completely clean and appropriate for younger readers.
June 3, 2022
We see a new side of Liz in this book. I love the way she learns to surf. Though I was highly disappointed when she forgoes her hardearned win in surfing for the sake of different people and emotions. I would loved her to win! Sometimes it's ok to look out for oneself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2008
I always related more to Elizabeth than Jessica. This book made me look at the Jessica side and dream about what life would be like as the wild, rebellious girl
July 7, 2008
Read this back in secondary school... 'Sweet Valley High #63 - The New Elizabeth' by Francine Pascal
October 24, 2010
This one was a lot of fun, I would expect nothing less from my girls...I lived for their next crazy scheme or adventure. It was just a great series to grow up with.
September 6, 2011
I love this book like crazy when I was younger! I'm totally team Elizabeth being a nerd and all but when she tried to changed herself that's when things get really interesting.
May 6, 2021
Loved these books as a child
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story.
Read
March 30, 2015Oh Liz, you fucking idiot.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews