Sweet Valley

I've been an avid reader since I was a little girl. My favourite part of my bedroom was always the bookshelf and I basically lived for the Scholastic catalogue to arrive at school every month. I don't remember ever being told 'no' to a new book (so long as I was reading the ones I already had) and because of this I read many different books as a kid.

The topic for this week's Book Chat is the first book you ever loved. I know there must have been picture books and chapter books that I adored, but I'd be lying if I said I remembered the name of one I loved more than others. So, I've chosen to talk about a series of books that I absolutely remember loving and collection: Sweet Valley Twins by Francine Pascal.

This the first book (well, series) that I truly remember loving. I bought most of them second hand, so I would frantically look through garage sales and flea markets to find the numbers I was missing. This series took up an entire shelf on my bookshelf and there was something comforting about the pale colours on the covers.

Whenever I wanted to escape from the world for a little while, I'd pick up the next book in the series and devour it. It felt like Elizabeth and Jessica were actually friends of mine. I also loved reading a series about two sisters because I'm an only child and having a sibling is something that I never did experience for myself.

To be honest, I don't remember too much about the series. I can't even recall one plot line from the books. All I know is that I loved them. I've recently started to pick up copies of the books at thrift stores whenever I see some from the original series. Maybe someday I'll have the full collection again.