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Sweet Valley High #80
The Girl They Both Loved
Worried about her boyfriend Michael's obsession with beating his former friend, Artie Western, in the upcoming dirt bike race, April Dawson tries to find out what it was in the past that tore the two friends, Michael and Artie, apart
151 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1991
27 people are currently reading
346 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 14, 2017
The B plot in which Jessica meets my favorite SVH boyfriend of all time, Sam Woodruff, saved this otherwise lackluster entry in the SVH series for me.
September 15, 2023
Very good book!
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June 13, 2024The Girl They Both Loved
April is now seeing Maria’s ex Micheal, She meet him at a dirt bike rally, At first things were good, but now all he cares about is beating Anty (a former friend) in racing competitions. He turns down a date with Maria for a Friday because they have a meet on Saturday. April wonders what’s up with him and Artyy, but he won’t talk about it claiming she won’t understand.
April goes to join Jessica, Amy, Lila, and Maria at their table. Jessica is going on and on complaining about how boring Sweet Valley is and how she needs to be somewhere more exciting. So, April invites her to the meet on Saturday. Even though just minutes ago jessica was saying her friends think all life is about is cute boys, she starts to think maybe she’ll meet a cute boy at the rally. Later on Liz and Maria meet up with April in the hallway and April finds out about Maria and Micheal’s secret engagement but she says she really didn’t know his friends well. From what she heard tho, Arty s a good guy. Liz agrees. They offer her a ride but April wants to be alone.
When Liz and Todd stop by her place for a snack, Liz notices the sink is backed up. Todd finds one of Jessica’s barettes stuck in the U bend. Liz gets offended when Todd tells her she’d better be glad he was there and turns it into a I Can Do Anything Better Than You Contest. They’ll each give each other a list of three things they do well. The one who completes the list successfully the loser has to take the winner out to a fancy restaurant.
Liz is worried when she sees jessica looking through a dirt racing magazine. Her parents won’t be too happy about this after what happened to ger wgeb sge ride a vuje. Jessica assures her tho that she’s just going to watch. Liz isn’s to sure. Micheal gives April some bad news. His grandmother is sick and he’s going to have to go see her. But he’s more concernd about missing the rally Saturday because Arty Western will win. April tries to find out from Cara Walker (who dated Arty) what happened but Cara doesn’t know. Jessica says she think Micheal and Artie got into it over a girl. Amy and Lila think one of them almost caused the other one to get killed.
April goes to the movies to see a Hitcock film and runs into Arty Western whose goting to see the same film. They both find out they have some things in common (Hitchcock is their favorite director). They sit together in the movies, share popcorn, and then go to Guido’s afterward. April finally just asks him what happened between him and Micheal, but he says he’d rather not talk about it. It was a misunderstanding and they both were at fault. Liz and Todd exchange list. Liz’s for him is to 1 go grocery shopping for a week 2. Sew a apron 3 make her dinner (including chocolate chip cookies). His for her is 1 changing a tire 2 building a shelf 3 repairing a washing machine. They both think piece of cake.
Later, A pril gets a call from Arty who asks her if they can be partners in the bike race. April can’t think of a good reason why she shouldn’t be able to choose her own friends so she says yes. When working with Arty she finds it easier than working with Micheal. Arty is more easy going. With the help of Steven, Liz is able to change a tire. Jessica enjoys herself at the rally and afterwards goe to the Dairi Burger to hang out with the bikers. She’s worried at first that her parents will see her and ask questions. But then she’s introduced to one of the bikers (Sam Woodruff) who she’s instantly attracted to because he seems to have a sense of humor and he doesn’t understand football either. Lol I like him already! Jessica is upset because Sam hasn’t called. Only she never gave him her number, Liz points out. She gets over it quickly enough and decides he’ll have to ask either April or Micheal and he might be too shy. So, she decides to talk to Micheal. Only she thinks everything is ok between him and Artie so she mentions she saw April and Artie at the bike rally. Of course, micheal gets upset. Even more so when ken tells him they all went to Guido’s. Micheal confronts April anand isn’t hearing it when she tries to explain just ran into Arty at the movies, then they went to Guiod, and after that he called her because he needed a partner because his got sick. Micheal says she’s either with him or against him and he still won’t tell her what happened. Later that night, he calls and apologizes Alice sees the dirt bike magazine in her room but she’s able to convince her she cares too much about her appearance to be seen riding a dirt bike. She then decides maybe it’s best Sam didn’t call because her mother would never let her see a dirt bike racer anyway. Sam then cals and says it took him a minute to track down her number. He asks her out and says he’ll pick her up at seven. Jessica thinks he’ll show up on his bike and says she’ll meet him at Guido’s at seven.
Liz and Enid go to a hardware store but quickly leave when the salesman is rude to them. April decides that she’s going to rescue Micheal by getting him to loosen up. So she suggests they go bowling with Erri and ken. Micheal says he’s no good at ait and would rather spend the night checking out the suspension on her bike for the race. Jessica has a amazing time on her date. They have a lot in common (popularity parties, sports, and the same favorite pizza). They talk until they’re the only two still left at the restaurant. Then Sam offers to trail her home to make sure she gets there safely. Jessica thinks he’s perfect except for the fact that he drives a dirt bike.
April again decides right now is not the time to complicate things and pursue a friendship with Arty so she avoids him at school. She again tries to get Micheal to go with her to a photo gallery opening but again he claims he needs to make sure her bike is ok for the race. Jessica has another date with Sam. This time she tells her mother his name (Before when her mother asked she told her she was just going out with some friends). But when her mother asks where she meet him she tells her The Dairi Burger (which technically isn’t a lie).
Jessica uses her charm to help Liz out in the hardware store. This time the salesman is OVERLY helpful. He cuts the wood, he picks the screws, he suggests the varnish, and then takes it all out to the car. Jessica tells Liz she’s never felt this way about anyone when she brings up Sam. Liz thinks she should tell their mom everything but Jessica says she will when the time is right. April meanwhile has convinced Micheal to take her out by giving him an ultimatium. But the night they’re supposed to go to the movies, Micheal calls and says he has to watch his sister. So, April goes by herself (even though Micheal says he’ll make it up to her and tries to compromise by saying she can come over and they’ll order a pizza).
She runs into Arty again and he ends up telling her the story so she won’t have to keep avoiding him. In short, they always like to compete against each other but it turned personal. Arty got a big head because his bike was given to him and Micheal went through a hard time. He got a bit of an ego. There was a girl that came to the races that they both liked. They made a bet to reace each toerh at a dangerous course at Secca Lake. Arty won while Micheal ended up almost take a bad fall down a hill. After that they didn’t speak to each other again. Micheal thought he was trying to sabatauge him. The girl ended up having a boyfriend who she was coming to the races to see.
Micheal is waiting at April’s with flowers when he sees Arty and April. They then get into a big argument. Mr. Dawson comes out and threatens to call the police. Micheal challenges Arty to a contest. Arty says fine. Tomorrow at two.
Jessica and Sam go on a tennis date. While, Enid and Eizabeth are at the Wakefields working on the shelf. Liz is just about to put it up (despite Enid’s horror stories about her dad trying to put up a shelf) when April call hoping Sam is there with jessica. She’s hoping Sam can talk some sense into Micheal. She tells liz what happened and she and Enid drop their project and rush over to Secca Lake. Not that long into the race, Arty is thrown off his bike and ends up getting taken to the hospital. Micheal tries to apologize to April but she tells him he should be sorry. It’s his faultand for Arty’s sake he better hope that he’ll be ok.
Jessica discoves she’s fallen in love with Sam, but when she asks Lila she tells her she should tell her parents that she’s seirous about someone but not about the dift biking. Liz thinks she *should* tell her mother. April continues to avoid Micheal even tho she misses him. He still hasn’t learned anything from what happened. He’s gotten a new partner (a younger guy named Roy). He shouldn’t even be thinking of racing after what happened to Arty. He’s tried to talk to her and call her but she knows he’ll just apologize but he won’t mean it. When she’s in the store, he comes in. She accidently bumps into him while trying to avoid him and runs out the store.
Micheal goes to visit Arty in the hospital with a peace offering (cheeseburgers, fries, and a shake) and a apology, He says he’s even willing to give up dirt bike racing. Arty says he doesn’t have to do this for him, but he says he has to do it for April. Instead he tells him to ride in the race and win for him. April comes by later to visit Arty and he tries to make her see how sorry Mike is and how much he cares about her. Jessica has another date with Sam. Mrs. Wakefield is full of questions and asks he picking her up, but Jessica says his car is in the shop. She starts to make guesses what could be wrong with him (after asking Liz but Liz says she’s never seen him but heard he’s nice). Among them is if he’s got two heads and is he older, but Jessica says no he’s normal (perfect as a matter of fact). Sam also brings up meeting her parents, but Jessica says they want to meet him they’re just busy. Sam says he was hoping he’d meet them because he wants to date her exclusively.
Jessica goes to the mall and returns home to find Sam waiting for her to go to the rally. Her parents approve of him and he’s agreed to ask them first before she gets on his bike. Roy surprises Mike at the rally for being better than he thought, but what really surprises him is April shows up and wins the race. Liz and Todd both agree to split the bill after his dinner is a flop. The rice is burnt, the salad is soggy and he uses peppermint instead of vanilla in the cookie. Liz’s shelf also falls down. But all turns out well. Micheal and April make up. Jessica and Sam can now date and the Wakefields are happy that Jessica is with someone nice FINALLY!
My Thoughts
The one thing I like about this book (series) is that as ridiculous as it can be sometimes it always shows females in typical male dominated things *and* EXCELLING. April is one of the top dirt bike racers. She shows up at the end and she wins. Even in the Liz and Todd scenario other than the shelf I don’t remember the tire she tried to fix catching a flat or anything bad happening with the plumbing. Even if it did atleast she wasn’t afraid to try and that’s what counts in my book. Other than that this book was mediocre. There were two great guys in this who left an impression on me. Sam was the first. I’d always wondered how later when I would see his name where he came into the series -having not have made it this far into it-. Then if I’m not mistaken later on he dies. I loved that Sam eidn’t know a thing about football. The second was Arty. I was hoping April would let Micheal go -because he sounded SOOOO boring and one dimentional- and go for Arty inside. I liked Arty. He was always willing to go out places with her and she was a lot more comfortable around him, But I guess you love who you love and who ever understands love? Alice surprised me. I didn’t think she’d let go of her paranoia so easily but I also can easily see how Sam would win her over. I really hope this last for a while and it’s not the next couple of books that he has an accident.
Rating: 5
April is now seeing Maria’s ex Micheal, She meet him at a dirt bike rally, At first things were good, but now all he cares about is beating Anty (a former friend) in racing competitions. He turns down a date with Maria for a Friday because they have a meet on Saturday. April wonders what’s up with him and Artyy, but he won’t talk about it claiming she won’t understand.
April goes to join Jessica, Amy, Lila, and Maria at their table. Jessica is going on and on complaining about how boring Sweet Valley is and how she needs to be somewhere more exciting. So, April invites her to the meet on Saturday. Even though just minutes ago jessica was saying her friends think all life is about is cute boys, she starts to think maybe she’ll meet a cute boy at the rally. Later on Liz and Maria meet up with April in the hallway and April finds out about Maria and Micheal’s secret engagement but she says she really didn’t know his friends well. From what she heard tho, Arty s a good guy. Liz agrees. They offer her a ride but April wants to be alone.
When Liz and Todd stop by her place for a snack, Liz notices the sink is backed up. Todd finds one of Jessica’s barettes stuck in the U bend. Liz gets offended when Todd tells her she’d better be glad he was there and turns it into a I Can Do Anything Better Than You Contest. They’ll each give each other a list of three things they do well. The one who completes the list successfully the loser has to take the winner out to a fancy restaurant.
Liz is worried when she sees jessica looking through a dirt racing magazine. Her parents won’t be too happy about this after what happened to ger wgeb sge ride a vuje. Jessica assures her tho that she’s just going to watch. Liz isn’s to sure. Micheal gives April some bad news. His grandmother is sick and he’s going to have to go see her. But he’s more concernd about missing the rally Saturday because Arty Western will win. April tries to find out from Cara Walker (who dated Arty) what happened but Cara doesn’t know. Jessica says she think Micheal and Artie got into it over a girl. Amy and Lila think one of them almost caused the other one to get killed.
April goes to the movies to see a Hitcock film and runs into Arty Western whose goting to see the same film. They both find out they have some things in common (Hitchcock is their favorite director). They sit together in the movies, share popcorn, and then go to Guido’s afterward. April finally just asks him what happened between him and Micheal, but he says he’d rather not talk about it. It was a misunderstanding and they both were at fault. Liz and Todd exchange list. Liz’s for him is to 1 go grocery shopping for a week 2. Sew a apron 3 make her dinner (including chocolate chip cookies). His for her is 1 changing a tire 2 building a shelf 3 repairing a washing machine. They both think piece of cake.
Later, A pril gets a call from Arty who asks her if they can be partners in the bike race. April can’t think of a good reason why she shouldn’t be able to choose her own friends so she says yes. When working with Arty she finds it easier than working with Micheal. Arty is more easy going. With the help of Steven, Liz is able to change a tire. Jessica enjoys herself at the rally and afterwards goe to the Dairi Burger to hang out with the bikers. She’s worried at first that her parents will see her and ask questions. But then she’s introduced to one of the bikers (Sam Woodruff) who she’s instantly attracted to because he seems to have a sense of humor and he doesn’t understand football either. Lol I like him already! Jessica is upset because Sam hasn’t called. Only she never gave him her number, Liz points out. She gets over it quickly enough and decides he’ll have to ask either April or Micheal and he might be too shy. So, she decides to talk to Micheal. Only she thinks everything is ok between him and Artie so she mentions she saw April and Artie at the bike rally. Of course, micheal gets upset. Even more so when ken tells him they all went to Guido’s. Micheal confronts April anand isn’t hearing it when she tries to explain just ran into Arty at the movies, then they went to Guiod, and after that he called her because he needed a partner because his got sick. Micheal says she’s either with him or against him and he still won’t tell her what happened. Later that night, he calls and apologizes Alice sees the dirt bike magazine in her room but she’s able to convince her she cares too much about her appearance to be seen riding a dirt bike. She then decides maybe it’s best Sam didn’t call because her mother would never let her see a dirt bike racer anyway. Sam then cals and says it took him a minute to track down her number. He asks her out and says he’ll pick her up at seven. Jessica thinks he’ll show up on his bike and says she’ll meet him at Guido’s at seven.
Liz and Enid go to a hardware store but quickly leave when the salesman is rude to them. April decides that she’s going to rescue Micheal by getting him to loosen up. So she suggests they go bowling with Erri and ken. Micheal says he’s no good at ait and would rather spend the night checking out the suspension on her bike for the race. Jessica has a amazing time on her date. They have a lot in common (popularity parties, sports, and the same favorite pizza). They talk until they’re the only two still left at the restaurant. Then Sam offers to trail her home to make sure she gets there safely. Jessica thinks he’s perfect except for the fact that he drives a dirt bike.
April again decides right now is not the time to complicate things and pursue a friendship with Arty so she avoids him at school. She again tries to get Micheal to go with her to a photo gallery opening but again he claims he needs to make sure her bike is ok for the race. Jessica has another date with Sam. This time she tells her mother his name (Before when her mother asked she told her she was just going out with some friends). But when her mother asks where she meet him she tells her The Dairi Burger (which technically isn’t a lie).
Jessica uses her charm to help Liz out in the hardware store. This time the salesman is OVERLY helpful. He cuts the wood, he picks the screws, he suggests the varnish, and then takes it all out to the car. Jessica tells Liz she’s never felt this way about anyone when she brings up Sam. Liz thinks she should tell their mom everything but Jessica says she will when the time is right. April meanwhile has convinced Micheal to take her out by giving him an ultimatium. But the night they’re supposed to go to the movies, Micheal calls and says he has to watch his sister. So, April goes by herself (even though Micheal says he’ll make it up to her and tries to compromise by saying she can come over and they’ll order a pizza).
She runs into Arty again and he ends up telling her the story so she won’t have to keep avoiding him. In short, they always like to compete against each other but it turned personal. Arty got a big head because his bike was given to him and Micheal went through a hard time. He got a bit of an ego. There was a girl that came to the races that they both liked. They made a bet to reace each toerh at a dangerous course at Secca Lake. Arty won while Micheal ended up almost take a bad fall down a hill. After that they didn’t speak to each other again. Micheal thought he was trying to sabatauge him. The girl ended up having a boyfriend who she was coming to the races to see.
Micheal is waiting at April’s with flowers when he sees Arty and April. They then get into a big argument. Mr. Dawson comes out and threatens to call the police. Micheal challenges Arty to a contest. Arty says fine. Tomorrow at two.
Jessica and Sam go on a tennis date. While, Enid and Eizabeth are at the Wakefields working on the shelf. Liz is just about to put it up (despite Enid’s horror stories about her dad trying to put up a shelf) when April call hoping Sam is there with jessica. She’s hoping Sam can talk some sense into Micheal. She tells liz what happened and she and Enid drop their project and rush over to Secca Lake. Not that long into the race, Arty is thrown off his bike and ends up getting taken to the hospital. Micheal tries to apologize to April but she tells him he should be sorry. It’s his faultand for Arty’s sake he better hope that he’ll be ok.
Jessica discoves she’s fallen in love with Sam, but when she asks Lila she tells her she should tell her parents that she’s seirous about someone but not about the dift biking. Liz thinks she *should* tell her mother. April continues to avoid Micheal even tho she misses him. He still hasn’t learned anything from what happened. He’s gotten a new partner (a younger guy named Roy). He shouldn’t even be thinking of racing after what happened to Arty. He’s tried to talk to her and call her but she knows he’ll just apologize but he won’t mean it. When she’s in the store, he comes in. She accidently bumps into him while trying to avoid him and runs out the store.
Micheal goes to visit Arty in the hospital with a peace offering (cheeseburgers, fries, and a shake) and a apology, He says he’s even willing to give up dirt bike racing. Arty says he doesn’t have to do this for him, but he says he has to do it for April. Instead he tells him to ride in the race and win for him. April comes by later to visit Arty and he tries to make her see how sorry Mike is and how much he cares about her. Jessica has another date with Sam. Mrs. Wakefield is full of questions and asks he picking her up, but Jessica says his car is in the shop. She starts to make guesses what could be wrong with him (after asking Liz but Liz says she’s never seen him but heard he’s nice). Among them is if he’s got two heads and is he older, but Jessica says no he’s normal (perfect as a matter of fact). Sam also brings up meeting her parents, but Jessica says they want to meet him they’re just busy. Sam says he was hoping he’d meet them because he wants to date her exclusively.
Jessica goes to the mall and returns home to find Sam waiting for her to go to the rally. Her parents approve of him and he’s agreed to ask them first before she gets on his bike. Roy surprises Mike at the rally for being better than he thought, but what really surprises him is April shows up and wins the race. Liz and Todd both agree to split the bill after his dinner is a flop. The rice is burnt, the salad is soggy and he uses peppermint instead of vanilla in the cookie. Liz’s shelf also falls down. But all turns out well. Micheal and April make up. Jessica and Sam can now date and the Wakefields are happy that Jessica is with someone nice FINALLY!
My Thoughts
The one thing I like about this book (series) is that as ridiculous as it can be sometimes it always shows females in typical male dominated things *and* EXCELLING. April is one of the top dirt bike racers. She shows up at the end and she wins. Even in the Liz and Todd scenario other than the shelf I don’t remember the tire she tried to fix catching a flat or anything bad happening with the plumbing. Even if it did atleast she wasn’t afraid to try and that’s what counts in my book. Other than that this book was mediocre. There were two great guys in this who left an impression on me. Sam was the first. I’d always wondered how later when I would see his name where he came into the series -having not have made it this far into it-. Then if I’m not mistaken later on he dies. I loved that Sam eidn’t know a thing about football. The second was Arty. I was hoping April would let Micheal go -because he sounded SOOOO boring and one dimentional- and go for Arty inside. I liked Arty. He was always willing to go out places with her and she was a lot more comfortable around him, But I guess you love who you love and who ever understands love? Alice surprised me. I didn’t think she’d let go of her paranoia so easily but I also can easily see how Sam would win her over. I really hope this last for a while and it’s not the next couple of books that he has an accident.
Rating: 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 22, 2020
Remember Michael who was engaged to Maria Santelli, but he was a controlling, misogynistic shitbag a couple dozen books ago and so Maria dumped his ass for Winston Egbert? He's back to his shitbaggery and that guy must have a magic tongue or something because he's managed to get another girl- April- whom he treats terribly to fall for him. We also learn that he's spent the last year hating his long time best friend Artie, so I guess its good to know that he's also capable of being an entitled dick to guys sometimes? April gets close with Artie and Michael loses his tiny angry Neanderthal tea partying mind- will April choose nice guy Artie or stay loyal to shitbag Michael? Normally this should be an easy guess, but this is 1980s Sweet Valley, so could go either way. Two stars.
June 25, 2021
Yay Sam!
Sam is just the best. Michael is a super creep still, he’s even more abusive with April than he was with Maria but April stays with him and it’s excused this time because.... reasons?
Sam is just the best. Michael is a super creep still, he’s even more abusive with April than he was with Maria but April stays with him and it’s excused this time because.... reasons?
December 15, 2021
The title is a lie.
Dirt biker Michael is dating dirt biker April, and feuding with his ex BFF dirt biker Artie.
April doesn't know why, and as she becomes friendly with Artie, Michael's controlling and obsessive behaviour starts to become a problem. Cue dramas.
This was boring
Dirt biker Michael is dating dirt biker April, and feuding with his ex BFF dirt biker Artie.
April doesn't know why, and as she becomes friendly with Artie, Michael's controlling and obsessive behaviour starts to become a problem. Cue dramas.
This was boring
April 27, 2020
This one is really only notable because it’s the book where Jessica meets Sam, and I always loved the two of them together.
June 27, 2020
Fun read
July 26, 2024
Title is pretty misleading. Should've been something more along the lines of "if you love your dirt bike so much, why don't you marry it?" 🤣
December 24, 2020
MVP of each book:
80 Sam
81 Nana
82 Sam
83 Jessica
84 Jessica
85 Lila
86 Jessica
87 Jessica
88 Jessica
89 Jessica
80 Sam
81 Nana
82 Sam
83 Jessica
84 Jessica
85 Lila
86 Jessica
87 Jessica
88 Jessica
89 Jessica
March 28, 2016
Honestly, what is it with the jerky self-involved boyfriends in Sweet Valley? Michael was really unlikeable as a person, regardless of his being a jerk about Artie, and I couldn’t quite fathom what April was so hooked on. I got really frustrated for her and her one sided relationship.
The story around Michael was actually quite interesting and I liked April and Artie, but Michael definitely bought this book down for me.
But, in other news, Jessica fell in love with Sam, so this should prove to be interesting going forward.
The story around Michael was actually quite interesting and I liked April and Artie, but Michael definitely bought this book down for me.
But, in other news, Jessica fell in love with Sam, so this should prove to be interesting going forward.
October 24, 2010
I never wanted my love affair to end with the Wakefields, but I stopped reading them at some point, I never forgot them though.
June 21, 2013
it's been awhile since I have read this book but most of the books that I read was about other things that would help my life.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews