A Royal Pain

Conford returns to the theme used to such success in A Silver Crown: one morning a girl wakes up to discover she's really a queen. Or, in teenager Abby Adams's case, heir to the throne of a tiny European country named Saxony Coburn. There was an unfortunate switch of babies, and Abby is whisked off to Saxony Coburn to take her rightful place as Princess Florinda XIV. It's all a great lark for Abby, especially after she meets Geoffrey, a reporter, and it's love at first sight for both. The party abruptly ends when Abby learns that there are some things a princess can never do. Falling in love with a commoner is one of them, especially when the princess has been betrothed to Prince Casimir. When Abby protests, her new parents decide to marry her on her 16th birthday, only three weeks away. Abby's solution is to become a ""royal pain,'' so she'll be sent home. It's all meant to be a silly, comic romp, but Conford never quite pulls the joke off, because her characters are not very believable, and the ``surprise'' ending is no surprise. (12-up)