Sweet Valley Diaries

Super Thriller #1: DOUBLE JEOPARDY with guest reader Don Flaxbart [Podcast]

Hey, the Twins solve murders now!

Hiatus, schmiatus -- back by popular demand, it's Don Flaxbart. (Also featuring Marissa.) Listen as father and daughter discuss the heavy implications of Jessica's scheming -- even heavier than usual this time! -- as she helps nearly ruin one young man's life and another's journalism career. But don't worry, it's all okay in the end. Oh, except for the murdered girl. But anyway, back to junior year!

 

See also:

Libel vs. Slander

Original recap

Music in this episode from Purple Planet and Filmstro

Extra Drama #41: GUILTY PARTY: The Molly Hecht Story [Podcast bonus episode]

She host wanted to throw a party. She never meant for anyone to die.

Marissa and her guest, expert in melodramatic Lifetime Original movies Megan Tripp, brainstorm the LOM version of Molly Hecht’s ON THE EDGE/OUTCAST saga.

Listen to more Lifetime movie talk on Megan's Not Another Bad Movie Podcast

Book #41: OUTCAST w/guest reader Megan Tripp [Season 5 Podcast Premiere!]

Molly, shmolly. WHERE IS JAN?

Season 5 Premiere! We’re back, baby! And all our Sweet Valley Friends are back too. Except…you know…Regina. Who better to focus on in the aftermath of a beloved character’s untimely death than the background player everyone is holding responsible for said death? Lifetime Original Movie podcaster/enthusiast Megan Tripp joins Marissa for a particularly Lifetime Original episode of our teen soap pulp.

NOT ANOTHER BAD MOVIE PODCAST

 

 

Book #40: ON THE EDGE Season 4 Finale w/guest readers Dr. Anjali and Gregory JM Kasunich (Podcast Episode)

At last, a Very Special Episode

Lessons literature/life taught Marissa and guests Anjali and Greg Kasunich this week:

• Don’t do cocaine
• Don’t gossip
• As a society, let’s take a guilt Pprsche. 
• Check rich people’s mailboxes for car keys.  
• Seriously, don’t even think about going near anyone who knows about cocaine 

 

Links to boost your mood:

Dirge Without Music, Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sophie Strauss, Gone music video (d. Gregory JM Kasunich)

Dr. Anjali Kasunich, ND

 

 

Book #33: STARTING OVER with Guest Readers Corrie Borgman and Meghan Shattuck [Podcast]

"Hang on with all you've got."

It's a full-on first-cousin extravaganza! Marissa is joined by her real-life cousins Meghan Shattuck and Corrie Borgman to chat about fictional cousins Dana Larson (lead singer of The Droids!) and new-in-town Sally Larson, recently rescued from foster care a brief 13 years after entering the system. It's all just nuts and everyone is awful, we don't know what color anyone's eyes are, and Jerry is apparently a nickname for Jeremy. 

Apologies in advance for the sub-par audio quality on this one – we were trying out a new mic setting. Takeaway: not all settings are created equal!

Super Edition #4: MALIBU SUMMER

Frankie means business!

Jessica and Elizabeth are live-in babysitters, living a 90-minute drive from home. But don’t worry, they still manage to make it a thrilling soap-operatic adventure, replete with double-identities, murders, and deadly rainstorms. Frank Bednarz, Esq. joins Marissa to marvel at this book and congratulate it on its simultaneous climaxes. 

 

Further reading:

CIPHER IN THE SNOW (trigger warning: teen death, bullying, may induce lifelong feelings of misplaced guilt)

In 2019, Bloomberg listed Malibu as the 43rd richest city in America

Can identical twins have different allergies?

Is it dangerous to be in a house by the ocean during a thunderstorm?

Super Edition #3: SPRING BREAK

ou, "Les jumelles américaines ennuient un garçon français"

Relive your totally universal teenage memories of spring breaks in Cannes, France – exploring the topless beaches, returning puppies to countesses, picking up medication for your host mother's patients...you know, all the normal spring break stuff.

Kat Hazelton remembers! And she's back, all the way from the Book 1 Episode, to marvel at the way Sweet Valley has changed, and the ways it's stayed the same.

Follow @sweetvalleydiaries on Instagram!

Get tickets to A Mere Conception

Music in this episode:

À peine défigurée (Ali Daniel)

RC (Requin Chagrin)

Tu connais Babar (Mocke)

Tobruk (via Filmstro)

 

 

Book #26: HOSTAGE! [Podcast]

Or, "the four dumb-luckiest teens in California somehow manage to pull off history's least considered rescue mission!" WITH JACK & TANNER FROM BABY-SITTERS CLUB CLUB!

Is Mitch Denson a certified snack or an entire dish? What on earth is a “burn of the week?” Who is Regina? Answers to all this and more courtesy to extremely professional podcasters and Baby-Sitters Club experts Jack Shepherd and Tanner Greenring (hosts of the tremendous Baby-Sitters Club Club Podcast).

 

Further Reading:

Nicholas Morrow, NFL 

Le Morte d’Arthur

Sweet Valley Diaries at St. Martin's Press, 2010

OMG BONUS! Special Christmas Episode with My Dad!

👍🎄

 

Sweet Valley Diaries Podcast #20: CRASH LANDING!

Mayday! Mayday! This is not a test! A TEENAGER IS FLYING THE PLANE!!

What’s worse: your boyfriend cheating on you; your boyfriend crashing the plane he’s flying you in; everyone agreeing that your cheating boyfriend should stay with you because you’ll never walk again without his love; you convincing yourself you can’t walk without his love; or your best friend tricking you into walking by hanging the life of your hot teacher’s child in the balance?

Marissa debates this pressing question with Lauren Shippen, creator of The Bright Sessionspodcast. The quest for an answer takes the podcast into untrod territory. Also, Jessica learns to cook.

Further Reading:

• Maybe closed mussels are okayafter all? 
• Tip on Preventing Psychosomatic Illness