Are the rumors true?

Everyone at Sweet Valley Middle School has always said the Mercandy mansion is haunted. Strange lights flicker in the windows at night, and no one ever sees the owners come and go. So when Nora Mercandy moves into the run-down house, rumors spread fast. Jessica Wakefield and her friends are convinced that Nora is a witch.

But Elizabeth, Jessica's identical twin, is certain that Nora is just an ordinary girl. She's determined to stick up for her new friend. She'll get to the bottom of the mystery of the Mercandy mansion - even if it might mean losing her sister's friendship!

impy and I chose a banger to start this year's nostalgia re-readathon, and I'm going to take a page from her book and gush about this cover for a little bit. First of all, I just *love* these original SVT circle covers. They are really excellently done, with a nice cover image between the ribbons announcing the series and creator. I'm also a big fan of the original model(s) for the tweenage Wakefield twins - they always have great expressions! Here the twins look astonished by Nora, who basically looks like she could completely care less about their whispers/gossip/rumors because she KNOWS she's a total badass.

( Unfortunately, book Nora doesn't quite live up to cover Nora )

Nevertheless, early SV canon is a lot of fun, so I'm glad we chose this book as the opener for our 2025 re-readathon.