I’m doing a new project on the podcast and I’m very excited about it.
Starting 15 October 2021, I’ll be recapping the first twenty Sweet Dreams Romances on the podcast.
Remember them? They’re vintage YA Romances, and to my knowledge they aren’t available digitally. Big heaping thanks to local used bookstores for helping me with this project!
I have some vivid memories of scenes inside these novels, and some equally vivid memories of where I was reading them. They were available in the 80s and 90s, and were sold reliably where teen books were sold. And wow, were they a gateway to romance fiction for many, many people.
In each episode, I’m going to look at the cover photography, the plot, and the writers – many of whom are still writing! Sometimes it’ll be me, and sometimes I’ll have a co-host, but we’re going to take a slow gondola ride down the Nostalgia Canal.
The first episode will be out October 15, and will be about book one, PS I Love You by Barbara Conklin – a book many, many readers remember.
Did you read that one? Did you read Sweet Dreams romances? Any in particular you remember most vividly?
Tune in on October 15th for our first recap – and whoo, it’s a doozy.
How fun! I remember that cover and title vividly, but could not tell you one thing about the plot or characters. I bought it at the Walden books in my local mall when I was in junior high.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it doesn’t hold up well, but I definitely read it repeatedly back in the day.
P.S I Love You was my favorite book when I was in junior high. As soon as I saw the dark hair and purple shirt, it all came back. These books were a nice change from my best friends grandma’s bag of Harlequins.
I always got the books from this series every time they were at the library. How exciting!
I definitely read PS I Love You but I don’t remember a thing about it.
My favorite one was Just the Way You Are that my mom picked up for me at Goodwill. The cover was torn halfway off but it held up for multiple rereads.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2186745.Just_the_Way_You_Are
This sounds like a fun idea. Maybe if you expand the concept, you could include the Sunfire books, the 80s YA gateway to historical romance with girl’s names as titles.
Oh, gosh, the Sunfire books. They were ALL anyone talked about when I was in middle school. And once I cracked the code of the cover art and who the heroine would end up with, it was harder for me to enjoy them! Maybe the Sunfire series is why I dislike love triangles so much! Thank you for the suggestion!
I was popping in to say that I was always more of a Sunfire girl myself- very much set me up for my love of historicals, just as @Ms M said!
I don’t remember these exact ones but similar YA romances were definitely an on-ramp to “real” romances for me. I don’t remember the author or title but can still remember scenes and plots from some – family moves from big city to a farm with the parents’ besties family is a plot in more than one… might be why forced proximity is my catnip now!
I’ve never heard of this series so I’m guessing it was never released over here in the UK or was published under a different title. My must read series was Katherine Applegate’s making out series. I went crazy for them!
I thought I was the only one who remembered these. More people seem to remember the Sweet Valley books. I read every one of these I could find in middle and high school. And the Sunfires, too. (Where I learned that the transcontinental railroad would not have happened had it not been for a spunky teenage girl in a love triangle.)
I’m pretty sure that most of them are probably pretty problematic, but they were my gateways into romance. I’ll definitely listen in.
Oh, wow! I’d forgotten about these. Reading them when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I do remember that P.S. stands for the initials of her love interest. Paul something. He falls ill and…
I loved these and am so excited for this!
Oh wow, that cover brought me SUCH an intense flash of memory! (Even though, just like @SusanH, I can’t remember a thing about that plot.) I devoured every Sweet Dreams or Sunfire romance that I found as a tween!
I’ve never heard of these! Probably because I was in my 20s when they were published. I love nostalgia reading, Practically Seventeen by Rosamond du Jardin was originally published in 1949-but her books were in my school and local library, so those are the books of my childhood, even though they were more of my mom’s generation. I just saw it is actually on KU-if you want to read a sweet slice of life just after WWII-Tobey and Brose probably influenced every romantic relationship I’ve ever had 🙂
I was obsessed with these as a tween (probably too young to be honest). They were definitely a gateway to romance for me. I’ll absolutely be listening – great idea!
I’m so excited that y’all are so into the idea! This is making my day – thank you!
Sweet Dreams were definitely released in the U.K. as they were my gateway drug into romance reading, even before sweet valley high. I sourced all of mine from either the library or local charity shops.
The Sunfires were my absolute favorite. I would love to see some of those historical settings updated by current writers.
I never read Sweet Dreams. I first got into the Girls of Canby Hall series. I was set in a boarding school in the Northeast and had three roommates with different personalities and backgrounds. Then I got into Sweet Valley High.
Basically all my babysitting money went to by books at B Dalton or Waldenbooks.
@Maureen: Rosamond du Jardin—there’s a blast from the past! She wrote one of my teenage favorites, WAIT FOR MARCY, which was already 20 years old when I got a copy from Scholastic Book Club in the 7th grade (I still have that copy too). I was intrigued by references to school dances and places like the Stork Club and Sherman Billingsley, which seemed so exotic to my young teenage self, not realizing how dated they were—you’re right about them being post-WWII time-capsules. I also read some Betty Cavanna teen romances—she was the queen of the “mousy girl catches the eye of the captain of the football team” genre. Fantasy fulfillment in 150 pages! I’m not sure how well any of those books would hold up today, especially the insistent gender-roles subtext.
OMG, I totally read a bunch of these in the early/mid 80s! (A friend and I ordered through Scholastic at school, split the cost and shared the books) Can’t wait for the trip down memory lane!
I remember reading some of these, along with Sunfire and Sweet Valley High. but my favorites were the Couples series by Linda Cooney and M.E. Cooper!
Those covers! Seeing them gave me a sudden memory of the bookshop I used to buy them from (long gone now) and how I would stand before the long shelf of teen romances, carefully reading the blurbs before choosing one or two. I don’t know that I ever read PS I Love You but I definitely owned The Popularity Plan and I think Little Sister as well.
Looking forward to hearing how they hold up!
I used to love them so much! Thank you!
I definitely read some of the Sweet Dreams books but my most vivid teen romance memories are the Blossom Valley books from Silhouette. I was always very excited when I found one at the local used bookstore.
@DiscoDollyDeb I was OBSESSED with Wait for Marcy when I was a tween! Those white camellias!
OMG what a blast from the past! I read these in junior high and LOVED them, but had forgotten about them. How fun!
I was thinking after I left my comment that there was another series/imprint that I read religiously when I was in probably 7th to 9th grades and I could not remember what it was to save my life. After a little googling “1980s ya romance imprint” I found it — First Love from Silhouette. I love the internet–it would have driven me nuts not to be able to remember this! HAHA!
I can’t tell you how excited I am for this project! While I’m slightly on the younger side for these (the first book came out when I was 3), my older sister read them and passed them down to me. I was obsessed with #15 Thinking of You (I think it’s why I have a soft spot for Boston) and #63 Kiss Me Creep (with the stranded on a island with your nemesis trope). I think we had 15 or more, which I reread constantly and kept with me until last year, when I passed them down to my niece. So many good memories!
This has been eaten mid-sentence THREE TIMES, fingers crossed…
STAR-STRUCK! featured a huge Michael Jackson fan who became an extra in a video of his shot in her hometown. She’s dazzled by dancer and occasional MJ lookalike James(?), but he’s only performing long enough to pay for med school someday. She thinks he’s giving up on his talent, while he thinks she will dump him if he leaves the industry. A nonexistent MJ song with a “love me for myself” line teaches her the error of her ways. Can’t remember the title, but it’s the only one I saw with a Black couple.
Then there’s one I can’t remember with a garage band drummer (Emily?) who loves her bandmate from afar. Her widowed dad has married a cartoonishly wicked stepmom, and they have a new baby (Karrie?). Emily can hardly practice anymore because it wakes Karrie, and Wicked Stepmom is an ‘80s Career Woman who is inept as a wife and mother and treats Emily like Cinderella. Emily sucks it up because she loves Karrie and her dad. One day WS gives Karrie a toy, and gets pissy when Emily points out the loose bead on it. Of course Emily has to save Karrie from choking, but WS later cries to her husband that Emily is to blame because she doesn’t want to look like a bad mother. (I had to put the book down here, and again when Dumbass Dad makes Emily give up her drums.) Bandmate wonders why Emily is so distant, and she tells him everything. There may be a prom performance or band showcase at stake, and perhaps Bandmate tells DD the truth? Somehow WS ends up being less of a psycho by the end, but just barely. I give up.
Can’t remember the AUTHOR of STAR-STRUCK!, I mean, and can’t remember the title/author of the band one…
@Trix the second book is Sweet Valley High not Sweet Dreams. Nowhere to Run book #25.
Ah, thank you @KatiM!
@DDD-I love Wait for Marcy! How cool you have the old copy from a Scholastic order. I’ve read all du Jardin’s books multiple times. I was able to get my own copies about 10 years ago, a print on demand thing. I read them all every couple of years, and to me they hold up. Maybe because I have such a fondness for them, they are definitely of a certain time and place.
It gives me a warm feeling to know other people have read her books. You don’t hear her name very often!
@SB Sarah, please tell us the cover code!!! I loved the Sunfire books. This thread is making me happy.
I have some of these in my basement.
I specifically remember P.S. I Love You. Freshman year of high school. I know I leant it to someone and they lost it, but I think I have a duplicate copy. I have a bag of these in my basement.
I probably live ~75-90 minutes from you if you’re looking for specific titles. I can go through them.
daggone it, I do know how to spell “lent.”
@denise: Thank you for the offer! If I have trouble tracking any down, I’ll email.
@Taylor: Ok, the Sunfire cover code. I’m putting this behind spoiler tags because it is 100% consistent across every Sunfire I’ve read, and I’ve read so, SO many:
So most Sunfires have a love triangle, with two dudes each usually underscoring the “follow traditional expectations vs follow your dreams and ambitions” tension of each plot. Both heroes are pictured on the cover, but there will also be one picture of the heroine with one of the dudes. Whichever dude that is, she ends up with the other one.
Also! Y’all’s enthusiasm is totally making my week and I’m so excited to do this. Thank you!!
My favorite of them all was “The Right combination”. I actually found that book on ebay couple years ago and bought it. Here is the listing of all the books. How I would love to own them all again! https://cliqueypizza.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/a-guide-to-80s-teen-book-series-part-4-s-z/