"She's this big phony, darling! I hate a phony!"
"In the weeks before Christmas in Storm, Vermont
A girl endured a life she didn't want.
Came a guy who sought not to flaunt
Inherited "brand-name" worth, though his own seemed gaunt."
THE SON OF SOMEONE FAMOUS was M.E. Kerr's third YA novel, following DINKY HOCKER SHOOTS SMACK! and IF I LOVE YOU, AM I TRAPPED FOREVER when it appeared in 1974. It's written in double-teamed first-person, in alternating "Notes for a Novel by B.B.B." with entries "From the Journal of A."
"A." is Adam Blessing, or so he wants to present himself in his MATERNAL grandfather's hometown of Storm, Vermont, where nobody will remember who Charlie Blessing's little girl married anyway, especially if he uses the Blessing name. His father's surname (he's some bigshot who got his picture on the cover of TIME one Christmas, so guess what he does) has gotten him into the best private schools; but his own lack of motivation, sense of purpose, self-esteem, etc, gets him politely ejected until there seems nowhere else to go. But at least Grandpa has sent him Christmas cards every year and suggested keeping in touch and doesn't have to be bribed to keep him. And Adam just wants to get to know his grandpa and maybe hear stories about his mother, who died when he was just a baby, and who his father only knew for a tiny fraction of her life anyway. He only likes his grandpa more when the man warns him that being his grandson might be as problematic as being his father's son, but for opposite reasons. "I'm no prize myself," Adam replies companionably.
Also feeling like no prize is Brenda Belle Blossom, at 15 a lifetime resident of Storm in a single-parent home, as her father died before her mother could even tell him she was on the way. Fortunately her mother's sister has been a part of that home since her own widowhood. But Brenda Belle is not happy to exist.
She and Adam do not "meet cute"--did you really expect them to? But they do find their way into maybe the best thing that has happened to either of them in a while, and their "Nothing Power" project aims to spread the much-needed better vibes.
Brenda Belle briefly suggests that Adam resembles his father, but the cover of the paperback edition I have presents the specter of a young Christopher Plummer--y'know, the Captain von Trapp of the Julie Andrews SOUND OF MUSIC movie.
If M.E. Kerr is an unfamiliar name, SON OF is an excellent starting point. It's one of the first ones I read, anyway.
