Switched
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2.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
From rags . . .
Laura Mellon has never met a fabric she couldn't soften or a stain she couldn't remove. She's tired of cleaning houses with her starry-eyed mom. But it's the only way she'll save enough $$$ for college.
To riches . . .
Willa Pogue can't enjoy being an heiress. She's too busy worrying about fitting in at Fenwick, her snooty new Connecticut boarding school. Then she meets Laura, her new maid. Laura's the spitting image of Willa!
Soon Laura is trading vacuums for Fenwick's ivy-covered campus, and Willa is sinking blissfully into the anonymity of the hired help. But then Laura begins to fall for preppy Caleb Blake, and Willa discovers a brandnew (and completely unacceptable for a Pogue) passion. Can the girls ever return to their old lives?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wollman turns a potentially clich d premise two look-alike teens from dissimilar backgrounds trade places into an entertaining and thoughtful novel. Laura has grown up helping her single mother clean houses, hating "having to stick her hands into other people's lives" and feeling invisible to her wealthy employers. Willa, who has just flunked out of the posh boarding school from which all her relatives graduated, is constantly being criticized by her oh-so-proper parents for her weight, dress and attitude and feels as though she is "simply leading the wrong life." When Laura and her mother are hired by Willa's parents to look after their mansion while they're away (sans daughter), the girls hatch a plan to switch lives. Studious Laura will pose as Willa at her new boarding school and Willa will live in the apartment Laura shares with her mother (who conveniently has taken an extended trip with her fianc ), assuming Laura's house-cleaning responsibilities. Laura blossoms at private school, impressing a history teacher who urges her to apply to a prestigious college and falling in love with a boy whose parents are friends of Willa's family. And in her new life, Willa finally gains confidence and discovers her true passion and skill as a car mechanic. Although the girls' ruse is ultimately uncovered, all ends happily for both. Despite some unlikely twists of plot, Wollman creates credible characters who should endear themselves to readers. Ages 12-up.
