Point Book re-reads - 2019

This year I am continuing with my goal of re-reading titles in my vast collection of pre-teen Point books that were super popular when I was in primary school. The purpose of re-reading these books is:

1. To love how extremely late-80s/early-90s the books are now, in hindsight
2. To laugh at the ridiculousness at some of the plots/descriptions/etc
3. To bask in nostalgia
4. To remember what the heck those books were actually about.

So far this year, I've re-read these two:

My Secret Admirer (Carol Ellis)

General thoughts:
I actually didn't remember much about this one, except I had a vague recollection of the cliff area (the Rimrocks). This book wasn't too bad, but wasn't one of my favourites either.

Jenny had a case of insta-love with David, but then he didn't really show up much in the whole story. Still, I was oddly convinced by their love. Ha.

I liked that every guy Jenny knew was a suspect - it wasn't one of those lame stories where the stupid heroine suspects everybody except the one that she should suspect. That said, Jenny was pretty stupid, for a number of reasons which I listed in my GoodReads review.

The 'Aww' factor:

Things that made me go 'aww' tended to be things that related to the sheer 80s/90s-ness of the story.

Dean and his "computer print-out", the telephone booth being a lifeline, everyone calling around on their house phones (no mobiles, no social media), Jenny's fashion wins (white shorts and a rainbow-striped shirt; later there's a washed out denim jacket).

Oh, and the VCR!! "Let's watch a tape." The mere fact that the telephone with its "built-in answering machine" was something fancy at the time.

Mother's Helper (A. Bates)

Having just "re-read" this for the first time in ... a very, very long time ... I'm not at all convinced I ever actually read the book "back in the day" to begin with. I didn't recall one single thing about the story. So it may have been one of those Point books that my brother bought and read, but I never did.

The book was a bit underwhelming when compared with some of my favourite Point books, but it still had its moments. Of course, I guessed who the "bad guy" was about 9 pages in, but at the same time I knew I could be wrong so didn't take anything for granted. The book did a decent job of making me wonder if I was right or not ... but still I wouldn't say I was either hooked or duped by the story.

Becky at times reminded me of the heroine from My Secret Admirer, Jenny, in that she did silly things I wouldn't have done in her place. She also didn't really strike me as much of a teenager a lot of the time, but who knows what I would have thought if I'd read it as a tween.