LOVING SOMEONE ELSE

After her family's fortune collapses, Holly goes to work for the nutty, elderly Brewster sisters. Earning money for college by working as a domestic companion, she is expected to perform duties others have always done for her. Holly has good intentions but no skills; still, she is determined to stick it out, if only for the frequent contact with the Brewsters' handsome, wealthy nephew Avery: Holly hopes to marry him and save her family. Conford offers plenty of humor, but the utter predictability makes the high jinks feel worn. No, Holly doesn't get Avery, but a poorer boy named Pete; and, yes, she does become less materialistic. Worthy ideals, to be sure, but all part of the formula. (Fiction. 11+)