Sweet Valley Diaries

Book #36: LAST CHANCE w/guest reader Marissa Wasseluk-Stuart [Podcast]

Stay in school, kids.

Did you hear that Johanna Porter is coming back to Sweet Valley High? Oh, you didn’t even hear that she’d dropped out? Or that she even existed? Well it’s a good thing Sweet Valley Diaries is here to help you get a clue. In this episode, 2 Marissas join forces to sympathize with Johanna, compare Wakefields, and count the red flags on Johanna’s misguided crush, textbook mansplainer Peter DeHaven.

With guest reader Marissa Wasseluk-Stuart!

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What is NOVA?

Some music in this episode is from Purple Planet. Thanks!

original, first-read blog post is here

Book #28: ALONE IN THE CROWD [Podcast]

"If you don't know who Guy Chesney is, I don't know what you're doing here."

You've been waiting with bated breath for Lynne Henry to FINALLY get her very own book. Marissa is joined by her cousin, Meghan Shattuck of Albuquerque, for this journey into one of the teen-angstiest  volumes of the Sweet Valley High series. It also doubles as a legit romance novel (if you ignore the b-story about a rocking-chair-based cheerleading fundraiser).

Further Reading:

"The New Linda Ronstadt Documentary Proves Just How Underrated She Is" (Pitchfork, 2019)

"Why Was Trent Lane from Daria So Hot?" (HuffPost, June 2018)

Some music in this episode is courtesy of Purple Planet

 

Here's a link to the original blog post about this book.

Extra Drama #25: The Droids You're Looking For [Podcast Bonus Ep]

What is the sound of one band rocking?

 

Dan Gaspari returns to discuss the band that rocks Sweet Valley High. What do they sound like? What will happen if they date each other? Who are they? How many band names can we remember? Answers to all this and more await!

 

Further Reading (Or Listening!)

Dave Grohl

Stop Making Sense (which is really more a concert film than a documentary)

Tom Tom Club, Genius of Love. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz were bass player and drummer for Talking Heads, respectively.

 

 

Extra Drama #21: Bad Boy (Stuck) in High School [Podcast Bonus Ep]

Marissa and songstress Jocelyn Scofield discuss the story of Jocelyn's ode to all the former Rick Andovers out there, her song "Bad Boy in High School." Spoiler alert: they're probably NOT the best years of your life.

Extra Drama #10: "Wrong Kind of Girl: The Musical!"

In this final episode of Season One, Marissa uses the power of the internet to call guest Mary Parker in Boston, and they BOTH use the power of imagination to invent several possible stage adaptations of the comitragic saga of Annie Whitman and Jessica Wakefield.