All's fair in love and war in part one of a special two-book Valentine's Day miniseries.
Sweet Valley Middle School is celebrating Valentine's Day by hosting a TV game show! The contestants choose their dream dates by asking funny and personal questions--in front of their classmates and a TV audience. The winners get a free trip to an amusement park, and the entire school will be treated to the coolest Valentine's Day dance ever.

Jessica Wakefield can't wait to be a contestant-- and can't believe it when her twin sister, Elizabeth, is chosen instead. Is it time for another twin switch? Sophia Rizzo and Patrick Morris decide to cheat so they can end up together. And Janet Howell is busy dreaming of her perfect guy. But everyone's plans backfire big time! Will the dating game be a dating disaster? ( )

If Elizabeth is supposed to be the smart one, I'd demand a do-over if I were Jessica. SV Middle is up for a chance to be the host school on a game show called Young Love. The first half of the book involves endless chatter about the essays each school group is writing in hopes of helping the school to win the contest and have the show held at their school. If you don't figure out how the judges will come down on the essays themselves as well as the school winning, you're probably a little young to be reading these. Or maybe you're just the right age.

Anyway, SV Middle does win and letters are sent out to the students informing them of whether they will be audience bound only, a contestant [see 'Liz' on the cover], or a candidate [three boys in the background.] on the show. Thing is, they're all sworn to secrecy about their status, although it's easy to guess who's more than audience [the twins, evil Janet] and who isn't [Lila Fowler].

Liz realizes that the cute jerk of a host mocks the dorky, so she convinves Jess to switch with her. Jess thinks this is her lucky day, so she does. Jess is so blinded by the lights and the stupid host's hotness that she makes Elizabeth look like a total idiot, but still manages to pick Todd Wilkins. Liz, as Jessica, ends up in Aaron's group, but this is where we realize that as the series progressed, Elizabeth became an idiot.

Instead of answering like Jessica would trying to win a date with Aaron, her sort of boyfriend, she answers like Jessica on helium and with a brain injury. Considering Ellen and Amy were his other choices, Aaron chooses Amy and Jessica, the real one, is beyond furious.

Her twin intentionally made her look like a moron on national television, and cost her a date with her boyfriend at this big amusement park everyone is dying to visit. Liz realizes, all too late, that had she just been a normal Jessica, she would have won [sorry, Amy, you just aren't that cool] and then the twins could have switched and been themselves with their very own boyfriends. Idiot.

No one's really thrilled with their matches except for Todd, because Todd thinks his Elizabeth picked him, so obviously, soul mates. Fights ensue and the TV host reminds them that if they don't start acting grateful, the whole thing, dance included, is off.

This bleeds directly into The Boyfriend Mess.