SVH #34 - Forbidden Love
SVH #34 - Forbidden Love, or, The One With Romeo And Juliet Only Not
It's been ages since I did one of these last, so it's about time, right? :)
When we left the twins in #33 they had just heard rumours that Maria and Michael had gotten engaged. Jessica thought, "Oh, how romantic!" Liz thought, "But they're only 16 and 17!!" to which Jessica replied, "Well, Juliet was only 14!". Yeah Jess, I'm with Liz on this one. Especially when I heard they'd only been going out for a couple of months. But of course, in SVH time that's as good as a couple of years in real time.
I think this must be a new record, on page two we get the "so alike, yet so different" spiel and although no mention of "the perfect size 6" is made, there can be no doubt that they're both absolutely gorgeous.
Right, on with the plot.
Maria and Michael's parents have been feuding ever since their dads disagreed on some business transaction. It got ugly, and the families haven't seen each other since, so when they discovered that Maria and Michael were dating, it did NOT go down well, and they were forbidden to see each other again. Instead of, you know, talking about it, they decided to do the obvious thing and sneak behind their parents' back to keep seeing each other. Michael figures that the only way to convince their parents how serious they are is to get engaged. Besides, they love each other, so why not?
Why not indeed.
Jessica and Lila immediately runs with the idea, and despite having been told several times that it's a secret engagement (that nobody but the entire school knows about) Lila decides to throw them an engagement party - not very big, just 50 guests. And it's a surprise party of course. This is where Liz the Meddler suddenly decides that it's not her place to meddle, so she won't tell the couple anything about it. Liz, Liz, Liz... the one time I actually think you'd be right to meddle...
However, Michael and Maria are discovering that it's not all fun and roses to be engaged. Suddenly they fight more, and Michael gets extremely possessive over her time - to the point where he wants her to stop helping Winston in his student council campaign, because she should rather go shopping with him or watch one of his tennis tournaments (translation: he's jealous). They're conveniently teamed up as a couple when their history class are doing pretend marriages (such classes seem to pop up in books all the time - I've never heard of one IRL!), and discover they don't agree on anything there either... Maria wants to work, Michael wants a stay-at-home wife (to his credit, he's not male chauvinistic about it - he'd just like for his kids to have their mum at home). Michael believes in physical discipline of their kids, Maria definitely doesn't. Every little thing turns into a fight, and Maria's starting to wonder if this engagement thing was such a hot idea after all.
It all comes to a head at the surprise engagement party (ah, so THAT's why Liz wouldn't meddle! Michael and Maria had yet another fight on the way to the party, so when he sees her dancing with Winston, he jumps up to make a speech, thanking everybody for the party - and announcing that he'll be running for the student council and with Maria's help he's sure to win. Winston jumps to the conclusion that Maria knew about this all along, and that he's once again been played for a fool. Poor Winston. Maria flips, breaks her engagement with Michael and runs after him.
...And this is where we see Lila at her very uncoolest. I'm sorry, but Lila is completely unlikeable in this book - and not in the good way! The party's a mess, the couple of honour have just broken up, everybody's feeling really awkward and wondering if it wouldn't be better to go home, so what does little Ms. Lila do? She stomps her foot, throws a tantrum and tells people they HAVE to stay, this is a PARTY!
The weirdest thing? People actually obey her. She has wayyyyyy too much power!
Jumping back in time a little bit - not everybody knew the party was supposed to be secret, and Caroline tells her mother that it's a surprise engagement party for Maria and Michael, so when Mrs. Pearse happens to run into Maria's parents, she starts gushing and congratulating them on their daughter's engagement.
"Our daughters WHAT?"
They immediately call Michael's parents and together the four of them decide to crash the party, getting an answer once and for all. And wouldn't you know, this 'common' enemy is enough to make them forget their original feud and become BFF again.
How ironic. Michael and Maria break up and get permission to date all within the space of 15 minutes.
Michael mopes about at the party. He's not exactly sad about the break-up, as he'd fallen out of Maria awhile ago, but it's still embarrassing to have your fiancée return her ring at their very own engagement party. He's happy their parents have made up, but wonders where Maria went off to.
Maria went off to find Winston, and when she found him she discovered that not only had he fallen in love with her, she has feelings for him too! They kiss, proving to kids everywhere that it's no problem to break up with one guy and start going out with another on the very same day!
In the end they all make up... Maria and Winston are a couple, Michael's fine with it and they use these experiences to make a stunning speech at the end of their "marriage class" about how marriage isn't just about the hard facts... it's about love and romance too.
Why thank you Ms. Williams (or whichever ghostwriter wrote this one) - we never knew.
Very, very little is seen of Liz and Jess in this book... Jess doesn't seem to have any role at all other than help plan the party, and Liz is just 'around'. She's naturally is the first to go comfort Michael after the breakup, but that's about it. Strange to see Lila get more page-time than the twins... but a refreshing change, as neither of them had time to get on my nerves.
It's been ages since I did one of these last, so it's about time, right? :)
When we left the twins in #33 they had just heard rumours that Maria and Michael had gotten engaged. Jessica thought, "Oh, how romantic!" Liz thought, "But they're only 16 and 17!!" to which Jessica replied, "Well, Juliet was only 14!". Yeah Jess, I'm with Liz on this one. Especially when I heard they'd only been going out for a couple of months. But of course, in SVH time that's as good as a couple of years in real time.
I think this must be a new record, on page two we get the "so alike, yet so different" spiel and although no mention of "the perfect size 6" is made, there can be no doubt that they're both absolutely gorgeous.
Right, on with the plot.
Maria and Michael's parents have been feuding ever since their dads disagreed on some business transaction. It got ugly, and the families haven't seen each other since, so when they discovered that Maria and Michael were dating, it did NOT go down well, and they were forbidden to see each other again. Instead of, you know, talking about it, they decided to do the obvious thing and sneak behind their parents' back to keep seeing each other. Michael figures that the only way to convince their parents how serious they are is to get engaged. Besides, they love each other, so why not?
Why not indeed.
Jessica and Lila immediately runs with the idea, and despite having been told several times that it's a secret engagement (that nobody but the entire school knows about) Lila decides to throw them an engagement party - not very big, just 50 guests. And it's a surprise party of course. This is where Liz the Meddler suddenly decides that it's not her place to meddle, so she won't tell the couple anything about it. Liz, Liz, Liz... the one time I actually think you'd be right to meddle...
However, Michael and Maria are discovering that it's not all fun and roses to be engaged. Suddenly they fight more, and Michael gets extremely possessive over her time - to the point where he wants her to stop helping Winston in his student council campaign, because she should rather go shopping with him or watch one of his tennis tournaments (translation: he's jealous). They're conveniently teamed up as a couple when their history class are doing pretend marriages (such classes seem to pop up in books all the time - I've never heard of one IRL!), and discover they don't agree on anything there either... Maria wants to work, Michael wants a stay-at-home wife (to his credit, he's not male chauvinistic about it - he'd just like for his kids to have their mum at home). Michael believes in physical discipline of their kids, Maria definitely doesn't. Every little thing turns into a fight, and Maria's starting to wonder if this engagement thing was such a hot idea after all.
It all comes to a head at the surprise engagement party (ah, so THAT's why Liz wouldn't meddle! Michael and Maria had yet another fight on the way to the party, so when he sees her dancing with Winston, he jumps up to make a speech, thanking everybody for the party - and announcing that he'll be running for the student council and with Maria's help he's sure to win. Winston jumps to the conclusion that Maria knew about this all along, and that he's once again been played for a fool. Poor Winston. Maria flips, breaks her engagement with Michael and runs after him.
...And this is where we see Lila at her very uncoolest. I'm sorry, but Lila is completely unlikeable in this book - and not in the good way! The party's a mess, the couple of honour have just broken up, everybody's feeling really awkward and wondering if it wouldn't be better to go home, so what does little Ms. Lila do? She stomps her foot, throws a tantrum and tells people they HAVE to stay, this is a PARTY!
The weirdest thing? People actually obey her. She has wayyyyyy too much power!
Jumping back in time a little bit - not everybody knew the party was supposed to be secret, and Caroline tells her mother that it's a surprise engagement party for Maria and Michael, so when Mrs. Pearse happens to run into Maria's parents, she starts gushing and congratulating them on their daughter's engagement.
"Our daughters WHAT?"
They immediately call Michael's parents and together the four of them decide to crash the party, getting an answer once and for all. And wouldn't you know, this 'common' enemy is enough to make them forget their original feud and become BFF again.
How ironic. Michael and Maria break up and get permission to date all within the space of 15 minutes.
Michael mopes about at the party. He's not exactly sad about the break-up, as he'd fallen out of Maria awhile ago, but it's still embarrassing to have your fiancée return her ring at their very own engagement party. He's happy their parents have made up, but wonders where Maria went off to.
Maria went off to find Winston, and when she found him she discovered that not only had he fallen in love with her, she has feelings for him too! They kiss, proving to kids everywhere that it's no problem to break up with one guy and start going out with another on the very same day!
In the end they all make up... Maria and Winston are a couple, Michael's fine with it and they use these experiences to make a stunning speech at the end of their "marriage class" about how marriage isn't just about the hard facts... it's about love and romance too.
Why thank you Ms. Williams (or whichever ghostwriter wrote this one) - we never knew.
Very, very little is seen of Liz and Jess in this book... Jess doesn't seem to have any role at all other than help plan the party, and Liz is just 'around'. She's naturally is the first to go comfort Michael after the breakup, but that's about it. Strange to see Lila get more page-time than the twins... but a refreshing change, as neither of them had time to get on my nerves.