Sweet Valley Twins and Friends Special- The Unicorns Go Hawaiian!

Rather than recapping this entire book, I am going to basically hit the highlights of what happened to each girl on this trip. Jessica won the trip to Hawaii because Jessica and Mandy Miller entered a contest for the best pineapple dish recipe which shocks them both because they mixed the pineapple with anchovies, chocolate chips and various other icky things, but sure enough they won!  Jessica decides to ask Mary Wallace to go to Hawaii along with Mandy and Jess. Elizabeth is not going because the Wakefield clan is going skiing with Grandma and Grandpa Wakefield that week and Liz feels that at least one twin should go on the ski trip.  Lila is all pissy that Jessica invited Mary and not Lila to attend, since Lila and Jessica are best friends, so Lila gets George Fowler to take Lila, Ellen and Lila’s cousin Janet to Hawaii too!!! What happens in Hawaii is a great combo of the Brady Bunch Hawaiian adventure, the Saved by the Bell Hawaiian special, and well that’s about it. So here is what ensues with each girl-

Janet Howell- She is convinced that she is the Hawaiian princess Keiko after a cute guy on the beach named Kenji tells her she resembles the Hawaiian princess and even has Keiko’s beauty mark.  Kenji tells Janet that legend has it that Keiko will someday return to the island, and if Pele the volcano goddess knows that Keiko is back, and Keiko tries to leave, Pele will unleash her fury. So Janet pretty much tells the other girls she’s a princess and expects all sorts of special treatment because of this.  Janet figures she’s definitely Princess Keiko reincarnated because she loves to wear purple, the color of royalty, and she’s Prez of the Unicorns!

Jessica- She also runs into Kenji. Kenji tells Jessica that she will have bad luck if she tells a lie, because the gods will know Jessica told a lie. Jessica is then convinced she told a lie because when Jessica goes to the Pineapple People awards thingie she eats this delicious upside down cake that she knows isn’t she and Mandy’s recipe. Also, they keep calling her ” Jessica Wakely.” Kenji says that she has to try to appease the gods somehow now that Jessica has lied and is having bad luck- Jessica almost fell off a boat during a tour, and the Unicorns had dinner with Lila’s dad and Lila’s dad’s new girlfriend named Bambi, and all types of embarassing things happen at the dinner.

Lila- The Saved by the Bell plot is here- as you see above, George Fowler decided to take his new girlfriend Bambi to Hawaii. Bambi acts as chaperone to the girls at times and all of the other Unicorns love Lila except for Lila. This did seriously remind of when Jessie Spano’s dad was going to get married in Hawaii and Jessie was all bratty to the new wife for no reason. Lila is bratty to Bambi- Bambi buys Lila a charm bracelet and Lila says she hates it, and Bambi is trying to break into acting and Lila feels Bambi is just some two bit actress. Lila ALSO meets Kenji- Lila finds a ring on the beach and slips it on, and Kenji says the ring is cursed after Lila is unable to remove it, because it’s some special ring or whatever.

Ellen, Mandy and Mary- all think that after the embarassing dinner, they believe that George Fowler and Bambi are talking about getting married. They also believe that George and Bambi are getting hitched because they sneak into her hotel room and hear Bambi telling someone she’ s afraid she will be a bad mom.

Well, Mandy, the Unicorn voice of reason ( other than thinking G Fowler was going to marry Bambi- but more on that later) sees Jessica and Lila trying to burn candles and Jessica wearing a ponytail on top of her head to get rid of the curses that are happening. Lila explains to Mandy how she can’t get the ring off, and then Mary drizzles the ring in suntan lotion and Lila’s ring comes off easily. Mandy then says the ring is not ancient or cursed- Mandy bought the same ring at a tourist shop! So the girls get revenge on Kenji by getting Bambi the two bit actress to play the goddess Pele to trick and scare Kenji and of course it works. Now was something sort of like this in the Brady Bunch? Didn’t one of the kids think they were some kind of god or something- or was that Growing Pains? I thought one of those sitcoms had a similar story.

As for George Fowler marrying Bambi? NOPE- Bambi saying she’d be a bad mom was Bambi rehearsing for Days of Turmoil- and Bambi got the part! George and Bambi do dig each other but they are not planning to marry anytime soon!

And Jessica IS Jessica Wakely so to speak- Jessica calls up the Pineapple People who sponsored the contest, and they say that they decided to pick the WORST pineapple recipe, and Jess and Mandy’s dish TOTALLY fit the bill but of course they couldn’t serve that grossness at the awards thing. They just spelled the name Wakefield wrong after all!

Overall, I liked this book OK but was upset that not one Unicorn had a hot Hawaiian romance, and I sort of hoped George Fowler and Bambi would be engaged! I did sort of like the Kenji hijinks,but it was a little too sitcom like for me. In terms of Hawaiian vacays, I preferred the Freshman Dorm book, of which I have recapped in the past- look for it. I did have to love how Janet was so dumb as to buy that Princess Keiko shit!

Speaking of ” Freshman,” next week I will be recapping Freshman Obsession. I don’t have it in me to do more than 2 recaps a week I feel too lazy, to be honest!!!  The week after that, I will be recapping ” Boy Crazy Stacey” ( my FAVORITE BSC book as a kid!!) and the week after that I will be hopefully recapping 2 books- a Sweet Valley University Super Special Thriller, and a BSC Little Sister Book. I am going to try to see if I can get more Little Sister books on E Bay as you all seem to love my BSC Lil Sis recaps!