I Like Him, He Likes Her

I had finished this three books in one volume about a week ago, but will admit that I was completely lazy in writing about it.

The three books included are Alice Alone, Simply Alice, and Patiently Alice, which I would put in the same category as the Sweet Valley High series. The only difference is that the setting seems to be written in a more modern time like the early 2000s rather than the 80s, or 90s, the age group is just starting high school instead of being at the end of it, and the main characters family dynamic is a little more realistic and not where everyone is wealthy and has a good job. Nothing wrong with the latter, but the former is a place where more people are, more relatable.

I was not as easily irritated with reading these as I was with Sweet Valley. Again, it helps when if the author is looking to relate to the masses, the universe they have created has the majority of the people being in a more closely related environment. I guess I came into the series in the middle, so this is the nice thing about referencing things that have happened in the past, but Naylor was able to successfully reference without having to use it as a multi-page filler. She uses it to further the story. I love that Alice is pretty self aware for her age. She knows when she is being petty that she is and should think in a different way. She knows the consequences of going about things in a certain way, and you see her deliberate between the choices and in a way explaining why she chose the option she did.

I do not know how I feel about it, because I see both sides of the coin, but it bothers a little that everyone is eventually made out to be a varying degree of promiscuous. It is probably me wanting to be controlling, but I wish that there was a character that stuck with it in their group of friends. In Sweet Valley, it is never mentioned the things that go on, but you know by the context that there is a lot more going on than is told. The Alice series is more bold in language… now that I think back on it, there were some characters who were all about that. They were just more background characters, or the plot B.

I think I would be more inclined to read this series than Sweet Valley, even though the target age would probably be about middle school to early high school. I would recommend this especially if you are looking to begin exposing your kid to more adult things without completely throwing them into the deep end. It could be a good jumping point for conversations.

If interested, you could find all of the Alice series here.

8/10