History Literature / SweetValleyHigh

** They were also quick to make excuses for Elizabeth's misdeeds while reading Jessica the riot act for hers--in one especially bad example, they blame Jessica for something they KNOW Elizabeth did (though Jessica usually manages to weasel her way out of punishment), not to mention completely oblivious and insensitive to Jessica's genuine insecurity about Elizabeth's "perfection"--it took Jessica ''running away--twice'' for it to dawn on them how troubled she was.

** The inevitable outcome of this can clearly be seen in Sweet Valley Confidential where we see how screwed up everyone has now become! Good job, Ned and Alice!

** In the Sweet Valley High super-special ''Winter Carnival'', Elizabeth gets fed up with Jessica's selfishness and flat-out tells her, "I wish I'd never HAD a sister!" (Ironically, this is after misinterpreting Jessica's genuine attempts to ''fix'' the mess that has resulted from her self-centered behavior). She then promptly has a lengthy dream sequence in which Jessica dies. Naturally this leads to a reconciliation.

*** [[spoiler: Olivia Davidson made a brief appearance in the Sweet Valley University despite having been killed in the earthquake that ended original series.]]
*** [[spoiler:Roger Putman was declared dead in Senior Year, but gets an epilogue in Confidential.]]
* BeautyIsBad: In a series where practically everyone is gorgeous, the story in question will always make the nice protagonist feel unattractive in comparison to their bitchy rival--even Elizabeth and Jessica, described ad nauseam as among the prettiest girls at school, have felt like this. Even Elizabeth has felt like this in comparison to Jessica, even though they're ''identical twins'' (this is pulled off by the fact that Elizabeth dresses and acts in a far more conservative manner than Jessica)
* BigDamnHeroes: Happens in the super specials a lot. Special mention goes to Josh in The Evil Twin.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Steve can be very protective of the twins when it's necessary, and the twins themselves are very protective of each other when it counts, and one of the characters in the 'Evil Twin' saga, Josh, who goes out for revenge when Margo kills his little brother.

* BittersweetEnding: One book involves a girl getting her reputation smeared after the AlphaBitch spread vicious rumors about her and becoming the school pariah after her boyfriend dumped her. Even though the AlphaBitch was caught and her name was cleared, she and her boyfriend never reconciled, and she became disillusioned by how easily turned he was.
* BlackBestFriend: Maria Slater to Elizabeth in Senior Year and Nina Harper to Elizabeth again in SVU. Danny to Tom Watts in SVU.

** A perfect example is book 10: Wrong Kind of Girl: Annie Whitman [[SlutShaming is called "Easy Annie"]] because she goes out with a different boy every night and dresses provocatively. Jessica, who does the EXACT same thing, [[{{Hypocrite}} condemns Annie for it and goes as far to keep her off the cheerleading squad,]] while on the other hand Elizabeth insists that Annie shouldn't be judged for her behavior--even though she constantly chastises Jessica for the same thing.

** Elizabeth, in Sweet Valley Confidential. Alone in New York, estranged from her sister and basically making her living sneaking into off-Broadway plays for a third rate magazine that reviews off-Broadway plays, and socially isolated from everyone, even the various one-night stands she has.
** Winston; in Sweet Valley Confidential, he's gained power and wealth and the ability to get revenge on anyone who ever tormented him. But he's lost everyone who ever cared for him and when Elizabeth rejects him for reformed former tormentor Bruce Putman, he kills himself.

** Margo's character arc was based around her desire to kill Elizabeth and assume Elizabeth's identity forever. When she discovers that she has a twin sister of her own, they agree to kill ''both'' twins and "replace" them (although now Margo wants to be Jessica.)
* DownerEnding: A Night To Remember (the prequel to the Evil Twin Novel): [[spoiler: the big prom that Elizabeth, to the point of going all Captain Ahabian, planned goes horribly horribly wrong when a rival school crashes the prom and a full-scale riot breaks out with Todd leading the charge. Furthermore, the violence of the riot causes Lila (mentally unstable from being nearly raped) has a nervous breakdown and attacks a guidance counselor, who she thinks is trying to rape her and basically has to be placed in a mental institution that very night. And Elizabeth, after Jessica had spiked her drink, drives home with Jessica's boyfriend (the only one who was actually good to her) and kills him dead.]]
** On the Edge ends with [[spoiler: Regina Marrow dying.]]
** The Sweet Life [[spoiler: Elizabeth successfully clears Bruce's name after he is framed for sexually assaulting a woman, only for him to dump Elizabeth (who risked everything to clear his name, to the point of becoming estranged from everyone around her) for Annie Whitman, his LAWYER! At the freaking press conference being held in his honor after Elizabeth cleared his name! Also, Jessica and Todd reaffirm their relationship (much to the horror of those who were hoping they would break up) and Lila, who has been faking a pregnancy to keep her husband from leaving her, is exposed BUT is forgiven, as it turns out that the sex Lila had with her husband right before she started the pregnancy scam, DID lead to her becoming pregnant. So she escapes punishment by way of her husband forgiving the big lie after it came true, by pure luck!]]
** The Original Series: An earthquake hits Sweet Valley on the twins' 17th birthday. It destroys most of the town and the following characters die: [[spoiler: Olivia Davidson, and Ronnie Edwards]]. Devon abandons Elizabeth, Todd wants nothing to do with Elizabeth and leaves Sweet Valley for a while, Jessica tries (and fails) to save a little girl and falls into a deep depression.

* [[FakeTwinGambit Fake Triplet Gambit]]: In one of the ''Twins'' books, Elizabeth and Jessica invent a third sister, Jennifer, and take turns pretending to be her. In SVH #45, Family Secrets, the twins do this with their visiting cousin Kelly and confuse everyone at school.

** In the "Sweet Valley University" book ''The Roommate'', the bill from Isabella's car accident leaves her unable to pay the rent, and she is forced to get a roommate. Isabella doesn't have a job and refuses to take money from her parents; leaving the reader wondering how she has thus far paid for the spacious, beautifully decorated apartment described in the book.

** One of the books in the ''Twins'' series had Mary, a classmate of the girls', constantly coming over to spend time with them. It soon became obvious that her motive was to spend time with the girls' mother. Even Elizabeth eventually got irritated with this, until it was finally revealed that Alice Wakefield bore a strong resemblance to Mary's mother, whom she hadn't seen since she was a little girl. (in an especially dark plotline for this genre, it was revealed that Mary had been abducted by a friend of her mother's, then eventually abandoned and shipped from one foster home to another)

* TheMovie: currently in the works and is rumored to be a musical.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Book #40, On The Edge, was inspired in part by the Len Bias tragedy.

* SchoolBullyingIsHarmless: Played with. It's averted everytime a tertiary character acts like this, showing how it affects both the victim and the perpetrator--no one wants to be his friend, no one believes his sincere efforts at redeeming himself. But it's sometimes played straight with the main or secondary characters--Jessica and her friends often get called out for doing this to others--but rarely explicitly punished, whereas behavior from Elizabeth that could be considered this is rarely even acknowledged.

* SuddenlySexuality: Steven comes out as gay in ''Sweet Valley Confidential'', despite having supposedly been heterosexual for the whole of the original series, being married to Cara at the start of the book, getting engaged to Billie in ''Sweet Valley University'', and having a nervous breakdown over the death of ''another'' girlfriend (Tricia Martin - see IdenticalStranger above). His eventual boyfriend [[spoiler: husband in The Sweet Life]] is Aaron Dallas, whose case of the trope is even more pronounced as it is stated that he "became" gay simply by living in San Francisco.

** Steve also, even he clearly needs one. Anyone so hung up on the memories of a long dead girlfriend that he can't bring himself to enter a new relationship is need of help.

* TokenMinority: In the orginal series, it's Patty Gilbert, Maria Slater, and Annie Whitman's stepsister Cheryl (all African-Americans), Jade Wu (Asian-Anerican), and Rosa Jameson (Latina-American). In Senior Year, it's Maria Slater (African-American), Tia Ramirez (Latina-American), and her friend Andy Marsh (gay). In SVU, it's Nina Harper, her boyfriend Bryan Nelson, and Tom Watt's best friend Danny (all African-American). When the twins are sophomores at SVU, their gay friend Neil lives with them.

** Also, Elizabeth has a small birthmark on her shoulder, Jessica doesn't, it's how their cheating boyfriends can tell them apart (or realise they've been duped into snogging the wrong girl...again)

* VisitByDivorcedDad: reversed as Lila's mom is the divorced parent who visits her following Lila's near date rape experience.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: in SVU, Steven had a live-in girlfriend named Billie. They were engaged and expecting a child [[spoiler: she had a miscarriage]]. Then she just disappeared with no explanation. Even Jessica's ex-husband Mike got PutOnABus and in a later book, TheBusCameBack! Same with Nina Harper. She lived with the twins and two male friends, but got fed up Sam's messiness and moved out with no further mention. Although she was Elizabeth's best friend, there was no explanation given for her disappearance.

** In the books, while fun-loving and boy-crazy, it was mentioned in at least one book that Jessica got decent grades in her classes.

** ''The Ghost Of Tricia Martin'' echoes ''{{Film/Vertigo}}''

* BeautyIsBad: In a series where practically everyone is gorgeous, the story in question will always make the protagonist feel unattractive in comparison to their rival--even Elizabeth and Jessica, described ad nauseam as among the prettiest girls at school, have felt like this. Even Elizabeth has felt like this in comparison to Jessica, even though they're ''identical twins'' (this is pulled off by the fact that Elizabeth dresses and acts in a far more conservative manner than Jessica)

* BittersweetEnding: One book involves a girl getting her named cleared after the AlphaBitch spread vicious rumors about her and became the school pariah after her boyfriend dumped her. Even though the AlphaBitch was caught and her name was clear, she and her boyfriend never reconciled, and became disillusioned on how easily turned she was.

** In "Runaway", Jessica finally gets fed up with their parents' favoring of Elizabeth and leaves home. When she's brought back, there's much tearful reconciling. By the next book, it's like nothing has changed--three guesses who gets blamed when a wild party wrecks the Wakefield house, even though BOTH girls decided to have it.

* ''The Sweet Life'': a six-part ebook series that began in July 2012, which is a SpinOff of sorts. It picks up three years after ''Sweet Valley Confidential'' and the twins and their friends are 30. [[spoiler: Jessica's marriage to Todd has crumbled, Bruce and Elizabeth are living together and he's accused of sexually assaulting an intern, Lila's on a reality show, and Steven and Aaron are clashing over parenting styles.]]

* BeautyIsBad: In a series where practically everyone is gorgeous, the story in question will always make the protagonist feel unattractive in comparison to their rival--even Elizabeth and Jessica, described ad nauseam as among the prettiest girls at school, have felt like this. Even Elizabeth has felt like this in comparison to Jessica, even though they're ''identical twins''.

* BrilliantButLazy: Possibly Jessica. Although her primary concerns are boys, clothes, and parties, it is stated in one of the early books that she gets good grades in most of her classes. Later books indicate that she's a poor student, but one who could do better if she applied herself (which in fact ''does'' happen several times throughout the series). In particular, one book has her getting an excellent score on the [=SATs=] and considerably outscoring Elizabeth, despite barely studying, and everyone assuming that she must have cheated somehow, as this is inconsistent with her typical academic performance.

* ButtMonkey: Jessica, of all people. Her schemes and stunts consistently blow up in her face, leaving her humiliated (though given her sometimes malicious intent, this is often deserved). Her genuine efforts at improving herself (music lessons, cooking classes) end up the same way. Virtually everyone, even her own parents, appear to blatantly favor Elizabeth over her--not until she runs away, TWICE, does it finally dawn on anyone how troubled she is. When she aces the [=SATs=], instead of congratulating her, everyone, including her own sister, assumes she must have cheated somehow. Speaking of which, Elizabeth herself frequently treats her like something she stepped in. And the few times she genuinely likes a guy enough to have a steady relationship with him, it never works out.

* GenerationXerox: A spin-off focused on the twins' great-aunts Elisabeth and Jessamin, identical twins who have the same personalities, romantic woes, etc. as Elizabeth and Jessica. Other books reference the likeness too.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In ''The Wakefields Of Sweet Valley'' novel, two character embrace passionately. One asks, "Should we stop?", The other says, "No". [[SexyDiscretionShot The scene cuts there]], but several months later, when the female half of the couple discovers that she's pregnant, it's pretty obvious what happened. There are also a handful of other scenes that allude to the possibility of sexual activity.

** ''The Roommate'': ''SingleWhiteFemale'' in SWEET VALLEY.

** ''BIG for Christmas'': ''{{Big}}'' in SWEET VALLEY.
** ''The "Fear" Miniseries'': ''CapeFear'' in SWEET VALLEY.
** ''She's Not What She Seems'': ''AllAboutEve'' in SWEET VALLEY.

* BreakTheHaughty: Lila Fowler's nervous breakdown after nearly being raped.

* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Alice Wakefield, who, we're told, looks at least a decade younger than her actual age and is often mistaken for the twins' sister.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Olivia Davidson is miraculously back in the Sweet Valley University series with no explanation.]] Also [[spoiler:Roger Putman was declared dead in Senior Year, but gets an epilogue in Confidential.]] Not to mention [[spoiler: Margo]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: Creator/KAApplegate and Creator/MichaelGrant, both of which co-wrote the Literature/{{Animorphs}} series and the latter of which wrote Literature/{{Gone}} and Literature/{{BZRK}}, ghostwrote for ''Sweet Valley Twins'' before they got their start.

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[Creator/JasonDavidFrank AJ commands the]] [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers power of the Tigerzord.]]

* TheOtherDarrin: Happens to characters Todd Wilkins and Lila Fowler. Original actors Ryan James Bittle and Bridget Flanery (seasons 1-2) were replaced by Jeremy Garrett and Shirlee Elliot (seasons 3-4).

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: From the clearly dated computing technology to just about every male character sporting a mushroom cut, the show ''screams'' "mid-90's!"

* HeyItsThatGuy: Creator/KAApplegate and Creator/MichaelGrant, both of which co-wrote the Literature/{{Animorphs}} series and the latter of which wrote Literature/{{Gone}} and {{BZRK}}, ghostwrote for ''Sweet Valley Twins'' before they got their start.

** ''Running for Her Life'': ''ThePelicanBrief'' in SWEET VALLEY.

* EightiesHair: A rather interesting example in that the show's male characters have this, but its female characters look appropriately 90's.

* BeautyIsBad: In a series where practically everyone is gorgeous, the story in question will always make the protagonist feel unattractive in comparison to their rival--even Elizabeth and Jessica, described ''ad nauseam'' as among the prettiest girls at school, have felt like this. He'll, even Elizabeth has felt like this in comparison to Jessica, even though they're ''identical twins''.

* BigBrotherInstinct: The twins are very protective or each other when it counts, and one of the characters in the 'Evil Twin' saga, Josh, who goes out for revenge when Margo kills his little brother.

** The "Fear" Miniseries: ''CapeFear'' in SWEET VALLEY.

** A perfect example is book 10: Wrong Kind of Girl: Annie Whitman is called "Easy Annie" because she goes out with a different boy every night and dresses provocatively. Jessica, who does the EXACT same thing, [[{{Hypocrite}} condemns Annie for it and goes as far to keep her off the cheerleading squad,]] while on the other hand Elizabeth insists that Annie shouldn't be judged for her behavior--even though she constantly chastises Jessica for the same thing.

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[JasonDavidFrank AJ commands the]] [[MightyMorphinPowerRangers power of the Tigerzord.]]

* PassFail: One book was about Rosa Jameson's efforts to pretend to be white. She eventually learns to be proud of her Mexican heritage.

* BigBrotherInstinct: The twins are very protective or each other when it counts, and one of the characters in the Josh goes out for revenge when Margo kills his little brother.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Played straight with Elizabeth, subverted with Jessica. Or at least that was what the [[CreatorsPet writer was]] [[DesignatedHero going for.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: KAApplegate and MichaelGrant, both of which co-wrote the {{Animorphs}} series and the latter of which wrote Literature/{{Gone}} and {{BZRK}}, ghostwrote for ''Sweet Valley Twins'' before they got their start.

** The Original Series: An earthquake hits Sweet Valley on the twins' 17th birthday. It destroys most of the town and the following characters die: [[spoiler: Olivia Davidson, Ronnie Edwards, and Roger Patman]]. Devon abandons Elizabeth, Todd wants nothing to do with Elizabeth and leaves Sweet Valley for a while, Jessica tries (and fails) to save a little girl and falls into a deep depression.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Played straight with Elizabeth, subverted with Jessica.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Lila really can be nice when she wants to be. Bruce as well in later books.

** ''Sweet Valley High'': Tricia Martin (Steven's girlfriend), Regina Morrow, Christian Gorman (another one of Jessica's boyfriends who died as a result of a school war), Roger Barrett Patman, and Olivia Davidson (the latter two died in the earthquake when the original series ended and Senior Year began). Roger Barrett Patman's death is later retconned in ''Sweet Valley Confidential''.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: all of the books in The Verse (save for SV Confidential and The Sweet Life) have been out of print for years. The first 12 books of SVH are available in e-book format.