Midge Bennett - the eponymous heroine of Midge Bennett of Duncan Hall - returns in this sequel, which opens shortly after the events of the earlier book. Although happy to have won the Mary Shenstone Porter scholarship, which will allow her to return to Duncan Hall - her prestigious private boarding school in Massachusetts - the next year, Midge is nevertheless rather blue, as she contemplates the quiet summer vacation, at home in Flatbush, that lies ahead of her. Her consequent joy, when she discovers that her father has inherited a run-down lake house up in Mount Kisko, is great, and she throws herself enthusiastically into the family project of renovating and redecorating this exciting new summer home, while also addressing herself to the problem of her cousin Debby's broken engagement...

Although Midge herself is just as lovable as ever here - down to earth, goodhearted, enthusiastic, and very sincere - and many of the same appealing secondary characters, from the jolly Tin, to the rather snooty Adele, recur in Maid of Honor, I can't say I enjoyed it quite as much as the first installment of Midge's adventures. Somehow the sub-plot involving Debby and Mark's broken engagement was less appealing than might have been expected - perhaps because its cause (when revealed) seemed so silly, and its resolution so pat? - and since it commanded quite a bit of narrative attention, I was somewhat less than charmed. Still, as someone who vacationed near a lake as a girl, I greatly enjoyed the bits about fixing up the cottage, and Midge's adventures on and around the water. Definitely worth a read, for anyone who enjoyed Midge Bennett of Duncan Hall, or who appreciates teen fare from the 1950s, although I can't help but wish that Paradis has returned to the world of Duncan Hall, in her sequel... ( )