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The Fateful Bargain
When Sebastian van Tecqx, a renowned surgeon, offers Emily's father a chance of a life-changing operation, Emily soon learns that there is a price, and as she moves into his elegant home, she tries not to fall in love with him, especially since he has emphatically stated that marriage is not part of their arrangement. Original.
216 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
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189 people want to read
About the author
Betty Neels
564 books418 followersEvelyn Jessy "Betty" Neels was born on September 15, 1910 in Devon to a family with firm roots in the civil service. She said she had a blissfully happy childhood and teenage years.(This stood her in good stead later for the tribulations to come with the Second World War). She was sent away to boarding school, and then went on to train as a nurse, gaining her SRN and SCM, that is, State Registered Nurse and State Certificate of Midwifery.
In 1939 she was called up to the Territorial Army Nursing Service, which later became the Queen Alexandra Reserves, and was sent to France with the Casualty Clearing Station. This comprised eight nursing sisters, including Betty, to 100 men! In other circumstances, she thought that might have been quite thrilling! When France was invaded in 1940, all the nursing sisters managed to escape in the charge of an army major, undertaking a lengthy and terrifying journey to Boulogne in an ambulance. They were incredibly fortunate to be put on the last hospital ship to be leaving the port of Boulogne. But Betty's war didn't end there, for she was posted to Scotland, and then on to Northern Ireland, where she met her Dutch husband. He was a seaman aboard a minesweeper, which was bombed. He survived and was sent to the south of Holland to guard the sluices. However, when they had to abandon their post, they were told to escape if they could, and along with a small number of other men, he marched into Belgium. They stole a ship and managed to get it across the Channel to Dover before being transferred to the Atlantic run on the convoys. Sadly he became ill, and that was when he was transferred to hospital in Northern Ireland, where he met Betty. They eventually married, and were blessed with a daughter. They were posted to London, but were bombed out. As with most of the population, they made the best of things.
When the war finally ended, she and her husband were repatriated to Holland. As his family had believed he had died when his ship went down, this was a very emotional homecoming. The small family lived in Holland for 13 years, and Betty resumed her nursing career there. When they decided to return to England, Betty continued her nursing and when she eventually retired she had reached the position of night superintendent.
Betty Neels began writing almost by accident. She had retired from nursing, but her inquiring mind had no intention of vegetating, and her new career was born when she heard a lady in her local library bemoaning the lack of good romance novels. There was little in Betty's background to suggest that she might eventually become a much-loved novelist.
Her first book, Sister Peters in Amsterdam, was published in 1969, and by dint of often writing four books a year, she eventually completed 134 books. She was always quite firm upon the point that the Dutch doctors who frequently appeared in her stories were *not* based upon her husband, but rather upon an amalgam of several of the doctors she met while nursing in Holland.
To her millions of fans around the world, Betty Neels epitomized romance. She was always amazed and touched that her books were so widely appreciated. She never sought plaudits and remained a very private person, but it made her very happy to know that she brought such pleasure to so many readers, while herself gaining a quiet joy from spinning her stories. It is perhaps a reflection of her upbringing in an earlier time that the men and women who peopled her stories have a kindliness and good manners, coupled to honesty and integrity, that is not always present in our modern world. Her myriad of fans found a warmth and a reassurance of a better world in her stories, along with characters who touched the heart, which is all and more than one could ask of a romance writer. She received a great deal of fan mail, and there was always a comment upon the fascinating places she visited in her stories. Quite often those of her fans fortunate enough to visit Ho
In 1939 she was called up to the Territorial Army Nursing Service, which later became the Queen Alexandra Reserves, and was sent to France with the Casualty Clearing Station. This comprised eight nursing sisters, including Betty, to 100 men! In other circumstances, she thought that might have been quite thrilling! When France was invaded in 1940, all the nursing sisters managed to escape in the charge of an army major, undertaking a lengthy and terrifying journey to Boulogne in an ambulance. They were incredibly fortunate to be put on the last hospital ship to be leaving the port of Boulogne. But Betty's war didn't end there, for she was posted to Scotland, and then on to Northern Ireland, where she met her Dutch husband. He was a seaman aboard a minesweeper, which was bombed. He survived and was sent to the south of Holland to guard the sluices. However, when they had to abandon their post, they were told to escape if they could, and along with a small number of other men, he marched into Belgium. They stole a ship and managed to get it across the Channel to Dover before being transferred to the Atlantic run on the convoys. Sadly he became ill, and that was when he was transferred to hospital in Northern Ireland, where he met Betty. They eventually married, and were blessed with a daughter. They were posted to London, but were bombed out. As with most of the population, they made the best of things.
When the war finally ended, she and her husband were repatriated to Holland. As his family had believed he had died when his ship went down, this was a very emotional homecoming. The small family lived in Holland for 13 years, and Betty resumed her nursing career there. When they decided to return to England, Betty continued her nursing and when she eventually retired she had reached the position of night superintendent.
Betty Neels began writing almost by accident. She had retired from nursing, but her inquiring mind had no intention of vegetating, and her new career was born when she heard a lady in her local library bemoaning the lack of good romance novels. There was little in Betty's background to suggest that she might eventually become a much-loved novelist.
Her first book, Sister Peters in Amsterdam, was published in 1969, and by dint of often writing four books a year, she eventually completed 134 books. She was always quite firm upon the point that the Dutch doctors who frequently appeared in her stories were *not* based upon her husband, but rather upon an amalgam of several of the doctors she met while nursing in Holland.
To her millions of fans around the world, Betty Neels epitomized romance. She was always amazed and touched that her books were so widely appreciated. She never sought plaudits and remained a very private person, but it made her very happy to know that she brought such pleasure to so many readers, while herself gaining a quiet joy from spinning her stories. It is perhaps a reflection of her upbringing in an earlier time that the men and women who peopled her stories have a kindliness and good manners, coupled to honesty and integrity, that is not always present in our modern world. Her myriad of fans found a warmth and a reassurance of a better world in her stories, along with characters who touched the heart, which is all and more than one could ask of a romance writer. She received a great deal of fan mail, and there was always a comment upon the fascinating places she visited in her stories. Quite often those of her fans fortunate enough to visit Ho
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
April 14, 2021
The Fateful Bargain is my 100th Betty book! Although I didn’t realize that until after I’d finished it and marked it “read” on my list of Betty books. If I had to pick one that was a solid, middle-of-the-road example of her work, it might be TFB. It’s not one of her best and not one of her worst—it’s reassuringly comfortable and familiar territory, with a Poor British Nurse, Emily Grenfell, going to work in Holland at the behest of the arrogant (but ultimately kind-hearted) surgeon, Sebastian van Tecqx, with whom she falls in love.
I say behest, but it’s really emotional blackmail—the hero will operate on the heroine’s father, replacing both hips free of charge, if the heroine will go to Holland to nurse his sister, who is having a hard time emotionally, recovering from polio. (Polio was an unlikely choice of ailment in Holland by 1989, as Pamela Shropshire notes in her excellent review, but since we know that Betty operates in an alternate universe in which Victorian/Edwardian mores and lifestyles (and hospitals) exist cheek by jowl with modern cars and surgical techniques, we will allow for it.) Sebastian is very high-handed about their bargain, as he is about most things. Even Emily, one of Betty’s quieter, shyer, not-so-seething heroines, complains “Orders, orders,” at one point (to which he replies, “Tiresome, aren’t I?” hee).
Their fateful bargain is one of the more memorable aspects of this story, along with the nicely done travelogue of Delft, where the hero lives and to which Emily travels to help nurse his sister. With a hero and heroine who share a liking for “old buildings and quiet canals” (and animals and babies and small children, of course), Betty gives full rein to her descriptions of this small historic city, as our hero takes our heroine on moonlit walks on cold nights to see the sights. But as with most of BN’s heroes, Sebastian never lets on that he’s in love with the heroine, determined that they must each complete their end of the bargain until, once free of obligation, he can confess his love (he seems to be in no doubt of hers). It’s clear to his sisters where his interests and intentions lie, and poor Emily, despite her best efforts, can’t hide her feelings at all (his sister can tell Emily has spotted Sebastian in the garden: “I can tell from the way the back of your head looked”).
Being in love doesn’t stop Sebastian from watching Emily wriggling on the pin of her seemingly unrequited love just a little. Sebastian does that BN hero thing where he tells Emily he’s planning to marry soon—he just doesn’t tell her that he’s planning to marry HER. Jerk (although not so much that he makes my list of Top 10 BN jerks, which has now grown to 15 or so and counting—I will have to figure out how many of them are surgeons. At least 2 are non-doctors!).
Nope, Sebastian plays his cards close until the very end, after he’s successfully completes her father’s second hip replacement, and then confesses his love and proposes in the spot where they first met and where he first fell in love with her, outside of her former bedsitter in a run-down part of London, light years removed from his pretty Knightsbridge house and glorious Delft mansion. Not to worry—it’s all fur hats and luxuries, babies, and tea around the fire served by Faithful Family Retainers from here out, Emily!
No extended Big Misunderstandings in this one (except that the heroine doesn’t realize she’s the prospective bride), and only a blink-and-you’d miss her potential OW who never really earns the title, making this one relatively low-angst. We visit with Jeroen and Constantia van der Giessen of The Little Dragon, still blissful after 10 years of marriage, surrounded by kiddies and their now-venerable rescue dog from that book.
The MCs in TFB are likable enough, and there’s a nice sense of family that runs throughout this one, but neither MC is particularly memorable and I’m not sure Betty really makes the case for why our handsome, wealthy, in-demand hero falls for our mousey heroine, who is maybe just a touch TOO quiet and “restful.” But it’s well-trodden territory, and who doesn’t like when the genuinely nice, unassuming girl wins the prize? TFB is enjoyable and, yes, kind of restful, if not particularly memorable, and a solid 3 stars.
After 100 books, I still love Betty’s books, despite their idealized anachronisms; MCs so reserved that really they’re repressed; no sex (a thumb stroke down the back of the neck is about as explicit as Betty ever gets—which is freakin HOT in the context of Betty somehow); arrogant, uncommunicative heroes with a penchant for horrible trophy girlfriends/fiancees; and heroines who run the gamut from doormat to overly snappy paragons but still mostly manage to be likable. The attitudes and behavior I overlook/accept in Betty books that I wouldn’t for any other author confound me! But there it is.
Betty’s particular magic isn’t for everyone—but it IS magic for me, and what comfort and pleasure I’ve derived from her books during this very weird year of our pandemic. Toasting the Incomparable La Neels on this occasion of my 100th BN read: Cheers! Betty, and I hope that if there is an afterlife, yours is filled with fabulous food, magnums of champagne, sumptuous surroundings filled with historic and well-loved treasures, beautiful designer clothing, Faithful Family Retainers to smooth your path, and, of course, an arrogant, managing, truly GOOD and kind-hearted, vast Rich Dutch Doctor to make your every romantic dream come true.
Betty car porn:
Sebastian drives a Bentley (we’ll go with the 1988 Turbo R, since our RDDs love speed):
I say behest, but it’s really emotional blackmail—the hero will operate on the heroine’s father, replacing both hips free of charge, if the heroine will go to Holland to nurse his sister, who is having a hard time emotionally, recovering from polio. (Polio was an unlikely choice of ailment in Holland by 1989, as Pamela Shropshire notes in her excellent review, but since we know that Betty operates in an alternate universe in which Victorian/Edwardian mores and lifestyles (and hospitals) exist cheek by jowl with modern cars and surgical techniques, we will allow for it.) Sebastian is very high-handed about their bargain, as he is about most things. Even Emily, one of Betty’s quieter, shyer, not-so-seething heroines, complains “Orders, orders,” at one point (to which he replies, “Tiresome, aren’t I?” hee).
Their fateful bargain is one of the more memorable aspects of this story, along with the nicely done travelogue of Delft, where the hero lives and to which Emily travels to help nurse his sister. With a hero and heroine who share a liking for “old buildings and quiet canals” (and animals and babies and small children, of course), Betty gives full rein to her descriptions of this small historic city, as our hero takes our heroine on moonlit walks on cold nights to see the sights. But as with most of BN’s heroes, Sebastian never lets on that he’s in love with the heroine, determined that they must each complete their end of the bargain until, once free of obligation, he can confess his love (he seems to be in no doubt of hers). It’s clear to his sisters where his interests and intentions lie, and poor Emily, despite her best efforts, can’t hide her feelings at all (his sister can tell Emily has spotted Sebastian in the garden: “I can tell from the way the back of your head looked”).
Being in love doesn’t stop Sebastian from watching Emily wriggling on the pin of her seemingly unrequited love just a little. Sebastian does that BN hero thing where he tells Emily he’s planning to marry soon—he just doesn’t tell her that he’s planning to marry HER. Jerk (although not so much that he makes my list of Top 10 BN jerks, which has now grown to 15 or so and counting—I will have to figure out how many of them are surgeons. At least 2 are non-doctors!).
Nope, Sebastian plays his cards close until the very end, after he’s successfully completes her father’s second hip replacement, and then confesses his love and proposes in the spot where they first met and where he first fell in love with her, outside of her former bedsitter in a run-down part of London, light years removed from his pretty Knightsbridge house and glorious Delft mansion. Not to worry—it’s all fur hats and luxuries, babies, and tea around the fire served by Faithful Family Retainers from here out, Emily!
No extended Big Misunderstandings in this one (except that the heroine doesn’t realize she’s the prospective bride), and only a blink-and-you’d miss her potential OW who never really earns the title, making this one relatively low-angst. We visit with Jeroen and Constantia van der Giessen of The Little Dragon, still blissful after 10 years of marriage, surrounded by kiddies and their now-venerable rescue dog from that book.
The MCs in TFB are likable enough, and there’s a nice sense of family that runs throughout this one, but neither MC is particularly memorable and I’m not sure Betty really makes the case for why our handsome, wealthy, in-demand hero falls for our mousey heroine, who is maybe just a touch TOO quiet and “restful.” But it’s well-trodden territory, and who doesn’t like when the genuinely nice, unassuming girl wins the prize? TFB is enjoyable and, yes, kind of restful, if not particularly memorable, and a solid 3 stars.
After 100 books, I still love Betty’s books, despite their idealized anachronisms; MCs so reserved that really they’re repressed; no sex (a thumb stroke down the back of the neck is about as explicit as Betty ever gets—which is freakin HOT in the context of Betty somehow); arrogant, uncommunicative heroes with a penchant for horrible trophy girlfriends/fiancees; and heroines who run the gamut from doormat to overly snappy paragons but still mostly manage to be likable. The attitudes and behavior I overlook/accept in Betty books that I wouldn’t for any other author confound me! But there it is.
Betty’s particular magic isn’t for everyone—but it IS magic for me, and what comfort and pleasure I’ve derived from her books during this very weird year of our pandemic. Toasting the Incomparable La Neels on this occasion of my 100th BN read: Cheers! Betty, and I hope that if there is an afterlife, yours is filled with fabulous food, magnums of champagne, sumptuous surroundings filled with historic and well-loved treasures, beautiful designer clothing, Faithful Family Retainers to smooth your path, and, of course, an arrogant, managing, truly GOOD and kind-hearted, vast Rich Dutch Doctor to make your every romantic dream come true.
Betty car porn:
Sebastian drives a Bentley (we’ll go with the 1988 Turbo R, since our RDDs love speed):
February 21, 2015
Emily Grenfell is a plain, mousy nurse whose father is crippled by arthritic hips. He is waiting for hip replacement surgery, but it’s going to be more than a year (NHS). Emily is trying to save enough money to have it done privately. She runs into a handsome man on the street who turns out to be a RDD orthopedic surgeon. He finds out about Emily’s dad and makes a deal with her.
He will do the hip replacements for free if Emily will come nurse his younger sister who is recovering from polio. Now, one would think that he has fallen in love with her at first sight and has cooked up this plan to give him an excuse to be around her. Well, yes, but he didn’t know it at the time, so he keeps dating the obnoxious Beatrix van Telle while Emily deals with his spoiled sister.
The best thing about this book was Delft. It really does sound delightful.
However, the thing that struck me most was the juxtaposition of the two main medical issues in the book. Hip replacement surgery is a modern technique. While it has been experimented with since Victorian times, the modern total hip arthroplasty was developed by a real-life RBD named Sir John Charnley (like the RDDs/RBDs we know and love in Neelsdom, Sir John married a woman 20 years his junior whom he met in 1957 on a skiing vacation).
Polio, however, has been mostly eradicated in modern times. According to UNICEF’s website, there were 209 reported cases in Europe in 1980; in 1988 (likely the year Betty wrote this book) there were 11 cases in Spain and 16 in Israel. There was an outbreak in The Netherlands in 1992-1993, but it was confined to the Orthodox Reformed community who did not vaccinate for religious reasons.
With TGB having been nursing in the 1940s and 1950s, I’m sure she saw plenty of polio cases then. I just found it interesting that she would put these two conditions side by side – the old and new sides of nursing, as it were.
As for the romance, I loved the moonlit walks although I’m not sure I would fall in love with a man who insisted I go out walking in the cold after dark. I’m more of a sunset-walk-on-a balmy-beach kind of girl. I did like Sebastian telling Emily that he could hardly keep his hands off her while he waited for them to complete their obligations to each other – in Neels-speak, that’s the equivalent of ripping her clothes off.
He will do the hip replacements for free if Emily will come nurse his younger sister who is recovering from polio. Now, one would think that he has fallen in love with her at first sight and has cooked up this plan to give him an excuse to be around her. Well, yes, but he didn’t know it at the time, so he keeps dating the obnoxious Beatrix van Telle while Emily deals with his spoiled sister.
The best thing about this book was Delft. It really does sound delightful.
However, the thing that struck me most was the juxtaposition of the two main medical issues in the book. Hip replacement surgery is a modern technique. While it has been experimented with since Victorian times, the modern total hip arthroplasty was developed by a real-life RBD named Sir John Charnley (like the RDDs/RBDs we know and love in Neelsdom, Sir John married a woman 20 years his junior whom he met in 1957 on a skiing vacation).
Polio, however, has been mostly eradicated in modern times. According to UNICEF’s website, there were 209 reported cases in Europe in 1980; in 1988 (likely the year Betty wrote this book) there were 11 cases in Spain and 16 in Israel. There was an outbreak in The Netherlands in 1992-1993, but it was confined to the Orthodox Reformed community who did not vaccinate for religious reasons.
With TGB having been nursing in the 1940s and 1950s, I’m sure she saw plenty of polio cases then. I just found it interesting that she would put these two conditions side by side – the old and new sides of nursing, as it were.
As for the romance, I loved the moonlit walks although I’m not sure I would fall in love with a man who insisted I go out walking in the cold after dark. I’m more of a sunset-walk-on-a balmy-beach kind of girl. I did like Sebastian telling Emily that he could hardly keep his hands off her while he waited for them to complete their obligations to each other – in Neels-speak, that’s the equivalent of ripping her clothes off.
March 22, 2021
I've been re-reading some of my favorite BN's. I decided to tackle all the books with "Fate" in the title. I must say Betty definitely had a thing about "fate".
This was a delightful read and it still holds a 4 star rating for me. But this time around, I thought it odd that the hero's sister was afflicted with polio. In 1989, it would have been near impossible for a young, healthy, girl (whose family was very well off and had a background in medicine) not to have been vaccinated. I get the need to place the "fate" of our lovely heroine into the hands of the van Tecqx family, but there were more credible medical options. It is a minor gripe for an otherwise very entertaining book.
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I read this before, but for some reason never rated it. Second time around was just as good as the first. What made it for me were the characters. They were very endearing.
This was a delightful read and it still holds a 4 star rating for me. But this time around, I thought it odd that the hero's sister was afflicted with polio. In 1989, it would have been near impossible for a young, healthy, girl (whose family was very well off and had a background in medicine) not to have been vaccinated. I get the need to place the "fate" of our lovely heroine into the hands of the van Tecqx family, but there were more credible medical options. It is a minor gripe for an otherwise very entertaining book.
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I read this before, but for some reason never rated it. Second time around was just as good as the first. What made it for me were the characters. They were very endearing.
April 10, 2025
Betty Neels books are the literary equivalent of plain, digestive biscuits.
Not very original, exciting or glamorous, but when you feel overgorged with luxury or heavy food, it can go down a treat with some tea.
Sometimes it feels dry & repetitive, but there is undeniable comfort for me in its lack of exhaustive emotional drama and its chasteness.
Not very original, exciting or glamorous, but when you feel overgorged with luxury or heavy food, it can go down a treat with some tea.
Sometimes it feels dry & repetitive, but there is undeniable comfort for me in its lack of exhaustive emotional drama and its chasteness.
April 11, 2021
Nice characters, sweet plot. Honestly I felt like I'd read this one several times before. Poor British nurse (student this time) caring for family member (Dad who needed surgery) with animal she'd rescued (cat) meets RDD who is immediately attracted but doesn't let on. RDD agrees to do Dad's operations immediately and for free if girl will come to Holland and help his spoiled sister recover from polio. RDDs family are great and love girl immediately. Girl remains clueless throughout. There are some nice details of the family celebrating Christmas and New Years Day in this one. Neels didn't exactly vary her books much, so you have to be in the right mood for them, but when you are they satisfy.
NB - If you enjoy Neel's books join the conversation at the GR group Betty Neels Junkies. See you there!
NB - If you enjoy Neel's books join the conversation at the GR group Betty Neels Junkies. See you there!
October 12, 2010
I really enjoyed this story. Our hero is drawn to Emily from the get go - he questions this because she is plain looking, but continues to worm his way into her life anyway. Then he makes the bargain with her that changes her life and ultimately his. I loved the way you could feel the tension building between the two characters. She's desperately in love and he's fighting to keep his hands off her - until their bargain is completed! But his whole family seems to know she's the girl for him.
January 4, 2026
4.5 ⭐️
July 5, 2012
I love these cozy, classic reads where the hero and heroine are calm and approach their feelings in sensible way and they have very goods reasons for not shouting their love for each other the first time it hits them both. This is one of my favorite Neels novel. The Hero knows exactly what he wants but wants nothing in their way when he is about to get it and the heroine is clueless because "surely the master of the house won't look upon this plane Jane".
March 9, 2024
See raamat oli kohati väga ärritav - kuidas on võimalik 215 lehekülge anda kellelegi segaseid signaale enda tunnetest? Juba kohe alguses oli loo edasine käik selge kui seebivesi. Jätkasin lugemist, lootuses, et äkki on autoril mõni ettearvamatu plot hilisemate lehekülgede vahele peidetud, kuid pidin pettuma.
July 3, 2010
Undistinguished Neels outing. Nothing to see here. Not one of her worst, but a far cry from her best.
December 1, 2025
4 stars. this is a nice read with lovely chemistry between the characters but nothing truly standout for a betty book. even so, i enjoyed all of it and it had no dull bits and nothing annoying, and it had a lovely cozy gentle romantic pace. no major drama in this one, but we did get a tiny bit of angst because h didnt know what H was thinking and he sometimes ignored her after she had fallen in love with him. I just wished we got to see a bit more depth of pining from both h and H in this one.
h Emily (23) meets H Sebastian (34) on a rainy day as she is hurrying home head down. she bumps into him and her shopping bags split open. he is nice and polite and helps her pick up her stuff and carry it back to her house. she feels oddly comfortable with him and chattily tells him she is a trainee nurse at the nearby hospital and mentions some important scary Dutch consultant is coming and she is glad she won't have to work for him because the last one was French and he yelled at her and made her drop stuff. Sebastian doesn't tell her he's the very consultant and casually walks off, not giving her another thought until later that day when she comes on night shift and he finds himself peeking into her ward to glimpse her and then shrugs off his urge to do so.
Emily is a plain jane, nice, gentle, mostly quiet, very hard working, and with a sick dad who needs a double hip replacement surgery that Emily is desperately saving for because the NHS waitlist is too long and she wants her dad to be pain free and healthy again. she has v little of the nice things in life because she saves every penny. Sebastian is an RDD on temp assignment to London who has a 19 yr old sister in Holland who is recovering from polio and unable to walk and who is frustrated and listless and has become difficult and given up hope of making progress.
Emily finds herself sometimes wistfully thinking of Sebastian but doesn't see him again until a few weeks later when she is transferred to day duty and his ward. her friends are all jealous she'll be getting to work with the handsome Dutch doc. when she turns up there she ia shocked to see the consultant is the man who walked her home in the rain. but he seems not to recognise her. he is civil and aloof to her but often looks right through her. Until he high handedly takes her out to dinner that night.
but the next day he proceeds to ignore her again. the next time he takes her out, he tells her that he has to make an effort to not see her at work because her nurse boss is the type who will hugely disapprove. he doesn't want life to be difficult for her at work. but our Emily is v naive and has never really dated and has no idea that he is showing some romantic interest in her. she can't believe someone like him would even look at someone like her, esp as he blandly told her he was taking her tp dinner because he is a foreigner and lonely and she seemed a nice girl.
as emily wont speak much about her self, he goes out of his way to fidn out more and discovers her dad needs a hip replacement. he offers to do the operation and aftercare and provide nursing for free if Emily will go to Holland and nurse his difficult sister until she recovers. Emily grudgingly agrees. she feels a bit managed and doesnt like the chilly way he expressed what he wants and shes not sure she wants to do it or let him do it all free and yet she is desperate for her dad to recover. he assures her his sister will be a tough challenge and she will be getting the worse of the bargain.
SPOILERS AHEAD
so off she goes to Holland where the sister is a nice girl but frustrated and often yells and is extremely tantrumy and difficult and tires Emily out. h and H work together to encourage his sister and help her make slow progress. h meets his nice family and settles in to be pampered and cared for by his caring staff. he goes back to England for a while. when he returns, he goes on dates with the OW and Emily's reaction is only mild because she doesn't dream of him being interested in her. but as they spend more time together and he looks out for her and takes her out on walks etc she realises she has fallen in love with him.
even then, she is too kind mannered and calm and humble to feel any angst when he goes on dates with the OW.
then she spied a burglar poking around outside his house. because the staff is busy, she confronts the burglar herself. but he is a violent thug who huts her and punches her and knocks her out. luckily Sebastian has arrived home in time to hear her scream and comes to the rescue. he is quietly very angry that she put herself in harms way. he makes sure she gets plenty of rest and takes care of her.
meanwhile the OW visits again and is rude and laughs at Emily's black eye. Sebastian makes excuses for the OW, saying she didn't really mean it.
we get to see sinterklaas and Xmas with his family, which is v cosy. he takes.emily for lovelg winter walks and also to midnight xmas mass. but then afterwards he avoids her for days.
ENDING SPOILERS
he says his sis has recovered enough and will soon be walking and that Emily's dad's second hip op will be in mid January and Emily will return to England in time for it. she is very sad to be leaving but he seems unaffected. he tells her he will be getting married soon. she hides how upsetting this news is to her.
it is when she is making her goodbyes and when he drives her home and on the ferry that you see him being a bit smug about how sad she is to be leaving. I hate when Betty's heroes do this. they have their own plan and own timelines for when they are going to tell the h they love her but they love to see the h squirm first. I dislike it very much. I'm sure it's meant to come across as sweet and maybe that the men are finally seeing that the shy/reserved h cares for them by torturing her a little, but I despise it anyway.
so anyway, they get to England and he finishes the second op on her dad. then he tracks her down and declares his feelings and proposes.
in end he tells her that he fell in love with her at first sight but didn't realise it for a while. I guess that explains why he kept dating the other woman while in Holland. he stopped dating her after Emily was injured by the burglar and I think that's when he realised for certain that he loved Emily.
the ending isn't rushed like Betty's endings sometimes are and it was sweetly done. I liked how he told her he'd had to keep watch over her and stay patient and struggle to keep his hands off her all that time. and he gives her plenty of sweet kisses at the end. it was very sweet.
IN CONCLUSION
this was a lovely gentle middle of the road read for a betty book. tip half, I would say and nothing annoying as a bonus..the h and H both v likeable, the setting of the story and the family scenes v cosy and sweet, and just a touch of the hero being a little icy and aloof and a tiny touch of angst, both of which I like. a v pleasant read with plenty of chemistry between h and H and never a dull moment.
h Emily (23) meets H Sebastian (34) on a rainy day as she is hurrying home head down. she bumps into him and her shopping bags split open. he is nice and polite and helps her pick up her stuff and carry it back to her house. she feels oddly comfortable with him and chattily tells him she is a trainee nurse at the nearby hospital and mentions some important scary Dutch consultant is coming and she is glad she won't have to work for him because the last one was French and he yelled at her and made her drop stuff. Sebastian doesn't tell her he's the very consultant and casually walks off, not giving her another thought until later that day when she comes on night shift and he finds himself peeking into her ward to glimpse her and then shrugs off his urge to do so.
Emily is a plain jane, nice, gentle, mostly quiet, very hard working, and with a sick dad who needs a double hip replacement surgery that Emily is desperately saving for because the NHS waitlist is too long and she wants her dad to be pain free and healthy again. she has v little of the nice things in life because she saves every penny. Sebastian is an RDD on temp assignment to London who has a 19 yr old sister in Holland who is recovering from polio and unable to walk and who is frustrated and listless and has become difficult and given up hope of making progress.
Emily finds herself sometimes wistfully thinking of Sebastian but doesn't see him again until a few weeks later when she is transferred to day duty and his ward. her friends are all jealous she'll be getting to work with the handsome Dutch doc. when she turns up there she ia shocked to see the consultant is the man who walked her home in the rain. but he seems not to recognise her. he is civil and aloof to her but often looks right through her. Until he high handedly takes her out to dinner that night.
but the next day he proceeds to ignore her again. the next time he takes her out, he tells her that he has to make an effort to not see her at work because her nurse boss is the type who will hugely disapprove. he doesn't want life to be difficult for her at work. but our Emily is v naive and has never really dated and has no idea that he is showing some romantic interest in her. she can't believe someone like him would even look at someone like her, esp as he blandly told her he was taking her tp dinner because he is a foreigner and lonely and she seemed a nice girl.
as emily wont speak much about her self, he goes out of his way to fidn out more and discovers her dad needs a hip replacement. he offers to do the operation and aftercare and provide nursing for free if Emily will go to Holland and nurse his difficult sister until she recovers. Emily grudgingly agrees. she feels a bit managed and doesnt like the chilly way he expressed what he wants and shes not sure she wants to do it or let him do it all free and yet she is desperate for her dad to recover. he assures her his sister will be a tough challenge and she will be getting the worse of the bargain.
SPOILERS AHEAD
so off she goes to Holland where the sister is a nice girl but frustrated and often yells and is extremely tantrumy and difficult and tires Emily out. h and H work together to encourage his sister and help her make slow progress. h meets his nice family and settles in to be pampered and cared for by his caring staff. he goes back to England for a while. when he returns, he goes on dates with the OW and Emily's reaction is only mild because she doesn't dream of him being interested in her. but as they spend more time together and he looks out for her and takes her out on walks etc she realises she has fallen in love with him.
even then, she is too kind mannered and calm and humble to feel any angst when he goes on dates with the OW.
then she spied a burglar poking around outside his house. because the staff is busy, she confronts the burglar herself. but he is a violent thug who huts her and punches her and knocks her out. luckily Sebastian has arrived home in time to hear her scream and comes to the rescue. he is quietly very angry that she put herself in harms way. he makes sure she gets plenty of rest and takes care of her.
meanwhile the OW visits again and is rude and laughs at Emily's black eye. Sebastian makes excuses for the OW, saying she didn't really mean it.
we get to see sinterklaas and Xmas with his family, which is v cosy. he takes.emily for lovelg winter walks and also to midnight xmas mass. but then afterwards he avoids her for days.
ENDING SPOILERS
he says his sis has recovered enough and will soon be walking and that Emily's dad's second hip op will be in mid January and Emily will return to England in time for it. she is very sad to be leaving but he seems unaffected. he tells her he will be getting married soon. she hides how upsetting this news is to her.
it is when she is making her goodbyes and when he drives her home and on the ferry that you see him being a bit smug about how sad she is to be leaving. I hate when Betty's heroes do this. they have their own plan and own timelines for when they are going to tell the h they love her but they love to see the h squirm first. I dislike it very much. I'm sure it's meant to come across as sweet and maybe that the men are finally seeing that the shy/reserved h cares for them by torturing her a little, but I despise it anyway.
so anyway, they get to England and he finishes the second op on her dad. then he tracks her down and declares his feelings and proposes.
in end he tells her that he fell in love with her at first sight but didn't realise it for a while. I guess that explains why he kept dating the other woman while in Holland. he stopped dating her after Emily was injured by the burglar and I think that's when he realised for certain that he loved Emily.
the ending isn't rushed like Betty's endings sometimes are and it was sweetly done. I liked how he told her he'd had to keep watch over her and stay patient and struggle to keep his hands off her all that time. and he gives her plenty of sweet kisses at the end. it was very sweet.
IN CONCLUSION
this was a lovely gentle middle of the road read for a betty book. tip half, I would say and nothing annoying as a bonus..the h and H both v likeable, the setting of the story and the family scenes v cosy and sweet, and just a touch of the hero being a little icy and aloof and a tiny touch of angst, both of which I like. a v pleasant read with plenty of chemistry between h and H and never a dull moment.
March 29, 2016
One of TGB's better efforts. Emily; a nurse in training, has a father crippled by arthritis waiting on the NHS for bilateral hip replacements. She is working to secure him a place in a private hospital so the wait will be lessened but it is rough going. She (literally) bumps into orthopedic surgeon Sebastian van Tecqx and he decides she would be perfect to care for his younger sister struggling to regain use of her legs after exposure to polio. Emily agrees to nurse Lucillia and so the bargain is struck. Emily impresses Sebastian and his family and manages to cajole a spoiled and frightened Lucillia to do her PT and work to regain her mobility. The interesting part to me is the relationship he has with his small, plain mother and how honor bound he is to not pursue her until her father's second surgery is done and the bargain is fulfilled. Great read.
December 3, 2019
I found this book in a small take a book leave a book library. It was a sad find for me.
This book was confusing as to what time era it was in. I was not sure if it was in the 1920’s,1970’ or 1980’s. The characters pull a cord to ring for a butler, but put on tapes to listen to music. She describes the nurse role as more archaic than it was in the 80’s so it left me confused as to which era the characters were part of. Definitely not in the 70’s when women’s liberation was huge... and the main character’s interactions are like they are in the early 1900’s. All in all a it lacked substance and left me confused.
This book was confusing as to what time era it was in. I was not sure if it was in the 1920’s,1970’ or 1980’s. The characters pull a cord to ring for a butler, but put on tapes to listen to music. She describes the nurse role as more archaic than it was in the 80’s so it left me confused as to which era the characters were part of. Definitely not in the 70’s when women’s liberation was huge... and the main character’s interactions are like they are in the early 1900’s. All in all a it lacked substance and left me confused.
November 7, 2011
As always, I love Betty Neels books. Her heros an heroines are so calm and sensible it is a comfort to read about their love story and having a happy ending.
June 12, 2012
Emily makes a bargain with Dr. Sebastian van Tecqx. He will operate on her father and she will help his sister walk again (the sister had polio).
March 26, 2018
Typical Betty Neels, a light, fluffy, sweet and very predictable little romance, definitely a guilty pleasure read.
April 1, 2020
It makes me laugh a little how any woman who leaves our Dutch hero is destined to be killed in a car crash with her lover ASAP!
October 9, 2025
I read The Fateful Bargain (published 1988) some time ago, but then forgot a lot of it, so reading it again feels pretty fresh. Emily is a student nurse, plain of face and shy of manner, who lives in a one-room flatlet/bedsitter/hovel with her cat Podge. She meets our tall, handsome RDD (rich Dutch doctor) on the street and he helps her out by carrying her groceries home for her. She meets him again later in her hospital. He's a visiting orthopedic surgeon, as fate remarkably would have it, because her father just so happens to need a couple of hip replacements. But since the NHS waiting list is long, Emily is trying to save up the money to have it done privately. Our RDD Sebastian seems to have taken a shine to Emily. He takes her out for dinner, makes offhand little comments that would certainly make my "is he interested in me" radar twitch, and soon makes a deal with her: he will do the surgery at no cost if Emily will accompany him back to Holland and nurse his sister, who is recovering from polio. In 1988. I'm picturing Betty with a dart board labeled variously with "diphtheria," "cholera," "poison ivy," etc. She ties on a blindfold, flings her dart and voila! Polio it is.
Off to Delft we go. The RDD's sister is quite the handful (she's a histrionically challenged spoiled brat) but Emily loves the family home, gets to do some sightseeing, indulges in the odd cream cake, etc. Typical Betty fare. But now and then we get a hint of RDD POV and suddenly his motivation for getting Emily to his family home seems pretty darn murky. It seems maybe he isn't interested in Emily after all. It appears that once he's got her on the ferry to Holland, he loses interest. He thinks she is plain. He dates an OW. So midway through the book, the reader could be forgiven for thinking all that business back in England was just a red herring. Sure, he takes her out for walks at night. He looks at her a lot. He takes a seemingly indifferent interest in her well-being. There are some knowing grins from his family as they watch him watching Emily. But it doesn't really add up to "I engineered this whole thing to keep you near me so you'll fall in love with me." It's as if Betty initially decided this would be a "RDD smitten at first glance" book then once they get to Holland, abruptly changes it to "RDD slowly falls in love in spite of himself." I usually love the former, and tolerate the latter. I say tolerate because too often, this BN plotline seems to mistake pity for love, or possibly the RDD placing more value on choosing the Araminta character (small, plain, practical) who will be happy staying at home producing offspring and being a good wife than the value he places on his own love and desire. In the case of The Fateful Bargain, the RDD's Faithless First Wife (FFW) did the standard BN running off with a rich American and subsequently and consequently dying in an accident. But (as always in Neelsland) not before teaching our RDD most profoundly that wives who only want to party instead of procreating and being good little housekeepers are inferior to the Aramintas of the world.
So I don't really feel like this is one of Betty's best. Middle of the road, perhaps. Probably would have liked it more if the RDD, who seemed smitten in Act I, had stayed smitten instead of coming to a belated, long, slow and not very urgent dawning realization. Three stars.
Off to Delft we go. The RDD's sister is quite the handful (she's a histrionically challenged spoiled brat) but Emily loves the family home, gets to do some sightseeing, indulges in the odd cream cake, etc. Typical Betty fare. But now and then we get a hint of RDD POV and suddenly his motivation for getting Emily to his family home seems pretty darn murky. It seems maybe he isn't interested in Emily after all. It appears that once he's got her on the ferry to Holland, he loses interest. He thinks she is plain. He dates an OW. So midway through the book, the reader could be forgiven for thinking all that business back in England was just a red herring. Sure, he takes her out for walks at night. He looks at her a lot. He takes a seemingly indifferent interest in her well-being. There are some knowing grins from his family as they watch him watching Emily. But it doesn't really add up to "I engineered this whole thing to keep you near me so you'll fall in love with me." It's as if Betty initially decided this would be a "RDD smitten at first glance" book then once they get to Holland, abruptly changes it to "RDD slowly falls in love in spite of himself." I usually love the former, and tolerate the latter. I say tolerate because too often, this BN plotline seems to mistake pity for love, or possibly the RDD placing more value on choosing the Araminta character (small, plain, practical) who will be happy staying at home producing offspring and being a good wife than the value he places on his own love and desire. In the case of The Fateful Bargain, the RDD's Faithless First Wife (FFW) did the standard BN running off with a rich American and subsequently and consequently dying in an accident. But (as always in Neelsland) not before teaching our RDD most profoundly that wives who only want to party instead of procreating and being good little housekeepers are inferior to the Aramintas of the world.
So I don't really feel like this is one of Betty's best. Middle of the road, perhaps. Probably would have liked it more if the RDD, who seemed smitten in Act I, had stayed smitten instead of coming to a belated, long, slow and not very urgent dawning realization. Three stars.
June 14, 2023
3+
A gentler one. A sightseeing in Holland one. A huge family and learning Dutch ways and fitting in cosily and perfectly one.
lol poor Podge kitty, remembered and forgotten and remembered again as Emily considers her future at the nurses' home and then not and then on again as the plot moves along.
Emily is to special RDD's youngest sister in trade for father's arthritic hips getting replaced. Lucillia is a handful but not malicious, unlike some patients Betty sets upon an Araminta.
RDD Sebastian has been married before but in typical fashion that's kept shrouded and left to Emily to wonder about.
Stooping kisses on the cheek! twice!
Days off are thoughtlessly not discussed and of course Emily neither brings it up or takes them for herself.
The other woman, nasty and stood up for dinner in favor of Emily, calls her plain when Emily eavesdrops.
She bears up under being left alone (and lonely), makes the best of walks and a Christmas shopping trip doing her best to choose something suitable for family members who already have everything. Sebastian is avoiding her -- does he know that yet.
A robber! Emily confronts him! Sebastian rescues her in a towering rage. She's been knocked out and can't appreciate his haste in clobbering the offender and his quick but tender scooping up and depositing of her in her bed. When she wakes he's raging again, venting his terror at her being harmed ... at her. tsk. Then she cries and he's gentle again but a bit remote.
Her heroics are wasted; there's an up-to-date alarm system on the house Sebastian says he should have told her about and all she's got is a black eye and feeling humiliated and miserable for her efforts.
"...looking down at her with a kind of thoughtful surprise on his handsome features." The Dawning Realization? Could be, hot on the heels of him having (suspiciously) withdrawn from Emily in the past weeks.
Sebastian's mother comes for tea and to check on Emily, and she's smugly aware of how they all stand, what with Sebastian's obvious worry, calling Emily a little fool, and Emily's errant blushes and wistful reluctance to return to London and nurse training.
Another brisk sightseeing walk! And then tea with The Little Dragon couple, now happily ensconced in implied conjugal relations leading to three dear children in maybe nine years of wedded bliss.
The charming fur hat for Christmas from Lucillia she looks charming in, and still wearing it when Sebastian brings in the breakfast tray also charms him. (Sebastian does one better and gifts her a matching scarf, smiles ~differently~~ at her expression on opening it, and fair orders her to wear it on their brisk walk tomorrow.)
Sebastian is too clever announcing to Emily he plans to let Lucillia and Dirk (his houseman) wed just as soon as HE has, but doesn't explain further, so Emily of course gets broad and grim ideas of that other woman taking her happiness.
Back to London and fixing father's other hip. All done, sealed, the bargain delivered upon and acquitted. Leaving the field open for Sebastian to declare his love and barely-held patience in waiting to tell her until they were free of obligation, and Emily blissfully says yes to his proposal. HEA in Delft!
A gentler one. A sightseeing in Holland one. A huge family and learning Dutch ways and fitting in cosily and perfectly one.
lol poor Podge kitty, remembered and forgotten and remembered again as Emily considers her future at the nurses' home and then not and then on again as the plot moves along.
Emily is to special RDD's youngest sister in trade for father's arthritic hips getting replaced. Lucillia is a handful but not malicious, unlike some patients Betty sets upon an Araminta.
RDD Sebastian has been married before but in typical fashion that's kept shrouded and left to Emily to wonder about.
Stooping kisses on the cheek! twice!
Days off are thoughtlessly not discussed and of course Emily neither brings it up or takes them for herself.
The other woman, nasty and stood up for dinner in favor of Emily, calls her plain when Emily eavesdrops.
She bears up under being left alone (and lonely), makes the best of walks and a Christmas shopping trip doing her best to choose something suitable for family members who already have everything. Sebastian is avoiding her -- does he know that yet.
A robber! Emily confronts him! Sebastian rescues her in a towering rage. She's been knocked out and can't appreciate his haste in clobbering the offender and his quick but tender scooping up and depositing of her in her bed. When she wakes he's raging again, venting his terror at her being harmed ... at her. tsk. Then she cries and he's gentle again but a bit remote.
Her heroics are wasted; there's an up-to-date alarm system on the house Sebastian says he should have told her about and all she's got is a black eye and feeling humiliated and miserable for her efforts.
"...looking down at her with a kind of thoughtful surprise on his handsome features." The Dawning Realization? Could be, hot on the heels of him having (suspiciously) withdrawn from Emily in the past weeks.
Sebastian's mother comes for tea and to check on Emily, and she's smugly aware of how they all stand, what with Sebastian's obvious worry, calling Emily a little fool, and Emily's errant blushes and wistful reluctance to return to London and nurse training.
Another brisk sightseeing walk! And then tea with The Little Dragon couple, now happily ensconced in implied conjugal relations leading to three dear children in maybe nine years of wedded bliss.
The charming fur hat for Christmas from Lucillia she looks charming in, and still wearing it when Sebastian brings in the breakfast tray also charms him. (Sebastian does one better and gifts her a matching scarf, smiles ~differently~~ at her expression on opening it, and fair orders her to wear it on their brisk walk tomorrow.)
Sebastian is too clever announcing to Emily he plans to let Lucillia and Dirk (his houseman) wed just as soon as HE has, but doesn't explain further, so Emily of course gets broad and grim ideas of that other woman taking her happiness.
Back to London and fixing father's other hip. All done, sealed, the bargain delivered upon and acquitted. Leaving the field open for Sebastian to declare his love and barely-held patience in waiting to tell her until they were free of obligation, and Emily blissfully says yes to his proposal. HEA in Delft!
October 17, 2025
I enjoyed this book overall, but I do have some petty gripes so I'll vent them here:
* Lucillia or whatever, the MMC's sister was a spoiled rotten self-centered whiny brat. Periodt. FMC was a freaking SAINT to put up with her nonsense. She wasn't quite to the category of evil villain OW, but she was an OW in training, and I'm not really falling for her alleged character-reform-by-love. Like, MMC should have been on his dang KNEES in gratitude to the FMC and worshipping the ground she walked on.
* I mean, I'm happy for the FMC I think? But I feel like she deserved a man who adored her and showed it. She was sweet, kind, patient, down-to-earth, humble, and deserved a man who could fully appreciate those qualities. The MMC? I was not convinced he did. We never got shown it, even in the mild hints where he'd slip and act barely human toward her a little and be like "Aw you're somewhat OK, FMC" *Kiss on cheek
* If he really fell in love with her at the beginning, he would have arranged for her cat to come with her. That is all.
* I was also frustrated that, while she got a nice fur hat and scarf (?) for Christmas, neither she nor anyone else took her shopping for at least one cute outfit, or a new but inexpensive coat, or something. She didn't have to spend the entire book in worn-out ugly clothes in order to be a contrast to MMC's first clothes-hound, cheating wife!
* I also felt like the actual time period of the book was garbled. Some parts felt like she was living in the 1930s-40s, some parts felt like maybe the 60s-70s, some parts could have been the 80s? But it really felt older-fashioned even for the time it was written in. Haven't read enough of Betty Neels' books to know whether that's a theme across her writings or if she just got uneven at times, or heck maybe some of them were older unpublished writings she revamped later but didn't update the medical customs, etc. Most of the book everyone just felt very formal in their interactions with each other for the 70s-80s.
Still it was all right. I'm glad to have rediscovered Betty Neels, because I would stumble upon these random romance novels when I was in high school reading romance novels, that were all Rich Arrogant Dutch Doctor with plain but sweet nurse, usually British, and I wasn't sure whether that was a very niche trope or just all one author.
* Lucillia or whatever, the MMC's sister was a spoiled rotten self-centered whiny brat. Periodt. FMC was a freaking SAINT to put up with her nonsense. She wasn't quite to the category of evil villain OW, but she was an OW in training, and I'm not really falling for her alleged character-reform-by-love. Like, MMC should have been on his dang KNEES in gratitude to the FMC and worshipping the ground she walked on.
* I mean, I'm happy for the FMC I think? But I feel like she deserved a man who adored her and showed it. She was sweet, kind, patient, down-to-earth, humble, and deserved a man who could fully appreciate those qualities. The MMC? I was not convinced he did. We never got shown it, even in the mild hints where he'd slip and act barely human toward her a little and be like "Aw you're somewhat OK, FMC" *Kiss on cheek
* If he really fell in love with her at the beginning, he would have arranged for her cat to come with her. That is all.
* I was also frustrated that, while she got a nice fur hat and scarf (?) for Christmas, neither she nor anyone else took her shopping for at least one cute outfit, or a new but inexpensive coat, or something. She didn't have to spend the entire book in worn-out ugly clothes in order to be a contrast to MMC's first clothes-hound, cheating wife!
* I also felt like the actual time period of the book was garbled. Some parts felt like she was living in the 1930s-40s, some parts felt like maybe the 60s-70s, some parts could have been the 80s? But it really felt older-fashioned even for the time it was written in. Haven't read enough of Betty Neels' books to know whether that's a theme across her writings or if she just got uneven at times, or heck maybe some of them were older unpublished writings she revamped later but didn't update the medical customs, etc. Most of the book everyone just felt very formal in their interactions with each other for the 70s-80s.
Still it was all right. I'm glad to have rediscovered Betty Neels, because I would stumble upon these random romance novels when I was in high school reading romance novels, that were all Rich Arrogant Dutch Doctor with plain but sweet nurse, usually British, and I wasn't sure whether that was a very niche trope or just all one author.
June 21, 2018
3* I like this well enough but it lacked a certain romance...all those long and brisk walks in Delft like a lecture tour, they might be enough to satisfy Emily, and Sebastian must have found her silence so restful, but I didn't get the sweetness of it!
Lucillia had so much screen time here...initially she was really bitchy moaning at why she should be unable to walk and dance while plain Emily could, that's something the mean Beatrix would say! Thankfully it was once off otherwise I worry about Emily having a mean future sister-in-law! The rest of the van Tecqx family was delightful! I loved watching them watch Sebastian watch Emily LOL! He betrayed his interest in Emily when he went to her ward to peep at her on night shift the night after they had literally bumped into each other. Also delightful was him asking her out and "ambushing " her at the side entrance, because he knew exactly how she was going to escape! Then he confessed it's hard pretending not to see her while on the ward but it really seemed not the done thing for a consultant to speak to a student nurse. His guilt over the "cheap" handkerchief gift during Sint Nicholaas...
It's not often we get to see such obvious signs of feelings from an RDD so it's lovely and sweet.
This bargain between them, hmm... It was funny how he only felt comfortable to declare his intentions right after the operation because that means both sides met their obligations and thus did not owe each other! Just like those RDDs or heroes who had to wait till the heroines are no longer working for them before they could propose!
Overall a pleasant sweet read but did not wow me.
Lucillia had so much screen time here...initially she was really bitchy moaning at why she should be unable to walk and dance while plain Emily could, that's something the mean Beatrix would say! Thankfully it was once off otherwise I worry about Emily having a mean future sister-in-law! The rest of the van Tecqx family was delightful! I loved watching them watch Sebastian watch Emily LOL! He betrayed his interest in Emily when he went to her ward to peep at her on night shift the night after they had literally bumped into each other. Also delightful was him asking her out and "ambushing " her at the side entrance, because he knew exactly how she was going to escape! Then he confessed it's hard pretending not to see her while on the ward but it really seemed not the done thing for a consultant to speak to a student nurse. His guilt over the "cheap" handkerchief gift during Sint Nicholaas...
It's not often we get to see such obvious signs of feelings from an RDD so it's lovely and sweet.
This bargain between them, hmm... It was funny how he only felt comfortable to declare his intentions right after the operation because that means both sides met their obligations and thus did not owe each other! Just like those RDDs or heroes who had to wait till the heroines are no longer working for them before they could propose!
Overall a pleasant sweet read but did not wow me.
September 20, 2024
One of the gentlest slow burns ever, and I loved the way BN showed us instead of telling us. We learnt of the evolution of the heroine’s feelings by gradually going through the stages from her POV and could tell she’d fallen in love well and truly before she could put a name to what was happening to her and we saw him falling in love through the eyes of the his family and friends who were the people closest to him. The hero as well, obviously hadn’t had a clue and even though he told her in the end that he had fallen in love at his first sight of her, it was made clear during the book that there were intervals when he was fighting his feelings for her to the extent that I was surprised he’d had even mentioned her to his friends.
I didnt like that he kept kissing her while, as he said, they were under the obligation they’d bargained with each other for. If he could kiss her, he could very well declare himself instead of putting her through the agony of trying to get over him and the difficult task of facing the dreary prospect ahead of her. Again another smug BN hero who enjoyed seeing the heroine shed tears while saying, what to her seemed, a final goodbye, or smiled when she paled at the prospect of parting ways with him. A bit sadistic I thought.
Otherwise it was lovely and achingly sweet.
I didnt like that he kept kissing her while, as he said, they were under the obligation they’d bargained with each other for. If he could kiss her, he could very well declare himself instead of putting her through the agony of trying to get over him and the difficult task of facing the dreary prospect ahead of her. Again another smug BN hero who enjoyed seeing the heroine shed tears while saying, what to her seemed, a final goodbye, or smiled when she paled at the prospect of parting ways with him. A bit sadistic I thought.
Otherwise it was lovely and achingly sweet.
July 20, 2019
Emily has worked hard and gone without to save up so that she can afford her father's surgery. Sebastian van Tecqx takes notice of her and offers her a bargain: if she comes to Holland to care for his convalescent sister, he will do her father's surgery. Emily accepts and it's not long before she realizes she is losing her heart to this kind doctor.
It's funny that this is the second "Hero asks the heroine to nurse his sister" plot I've read by this author in two days. While Sebastian's concern is not as readily obvious as Ross' was in A Gem of A Girl, he was still an admirable hero. Especially when Emily impetuously tries to stop an intruder on her own and gets a black eye for her trouble.
Emily's determination to save all she could and to live simply made me love her even more. She was a sweet, but no-nonsense kind of girl. The plot is fast and easy to read.
For a way to spend a few hours, I would recommend this sweet romance.
It's funny that this is the second "Hero asks the heroine to nurse his sister" plot I've read by this author in two days. While Sebastian's concern is not as readily obvious as Ross' was in A Gem of A Girl, he was still an admirable hero. Especially when Emily impetuously tries to stop an intruder on her own and gets a black eye for her trouble.
Emily's determination to save all she could and to live simply made me love her even more. She was a sweet, but no-nonsense kind of girl. The plot is fast and easy to read.
For a way to spend a few hours, I would recommend this sweet romance.
December 30, 2025
Vintage Love Story 1989
Was it fate when Hero and Heroine literally bumped into each other ?
Hero: You should look where you are going.
Heroine: Well that goes for both of us, doesn’t it?
And this is where fate led them.
Unbeknownst to both, fate was at play when still as strangers to each other, Heroine started to think of Hero while Hero can’t understand why he sought her out. And fate brought their personal circumstances together to match them both into a bargain.
Heroine was in need of help to have her father get a much needed operation that Hero, a surgeon can do and arrange immediately while Hero was in need of a nurse for his younger sister who gives everyone a hard time as she recuperates from an illness and Hero instinctively knew that Heroine was the perfect nurse for his sister. A FATEFUL match of circumstances but what both did not BARGAIN for was to fall in love with each other!
A well written love story and enjoyable read.
Another Betty Neels Romantic Afterglow!
CYA’58
Was it fate when Hero and Heroine literally bumped into each other ?
Hero: You should look where you are going.
Heroine: Well that goes for both of us, doesn’t it?
And this is where fate led them.
Unbeknownst to both, fate was at play when still as strangers to each other, Heroine started to think of Hero while Hero can’t understand why he sought her out. And fate brought their personal circumstances together to match them both into a bargain.
Heroine was in need of help to have her father get a much needed operation that Hero, a surgeon can do and arrange immediately while Hero was in need of a nurse for his younger sister who gives everyone a hard time as she recuperates from an illness and Hero instinctively knew that Heroine was the perfect nurse for his sister. A FATEFUL match of circumstances but what both did not BARGAIN for was to fall in love with each other!
A well written love story and enjoyable read.
Another Betty Neels Romantic Afterglow!
CYA’58
October 20, 2018
Another anachronism: car phone and recent case of polio.
? From this reader: Did someone randomly try to shoe-horn in some modern technology to attempt to make Neels' books a little more modern? Or did Neels live in a happy little life bubble where mid-century mores and fashions still ruled?
P.s. Not pointing this out to be mean or catty. Her books are so sweetly dated and of my mom's era, that these random discrepancies frankly jump off the page and smack me in the eye. Really odd.
Just to clarify, polio was my grandfather 's generation, manners/fashions/and male vs. female interactions match my mom's heyday, while random bits of technology (cd player, car phone) come from my youth. Maybe someone from a Tardis accidentally left them behind? If a smartphone shows up sometime in a Neels book, my hunch will be verified.
? From this reader: Did someone randomly try to shoe-horn in some modern technology to attempt to make Neels' books a little more modern? Or did Neels live in a happy little life bubble where mid-century mores and fashions still ruled?
P.s. Not pointing this out to be mean or catty. Her books are so sweetly dated and of my mom's era, that these random discrepancies frankly jump off the page and smack me in the eye. Really odd.
Just to clarify, polio was my grandfather 's generation, manners/fashions/and male vs. female interactions match my mom's heyday, while random bits of technology (cd player, car phone) come from my youth. Maybe someone from a Tardis accidentally left them behind? If a smartphone shows up sometime in a Neels book, my hunch will be verified.
April 20, 2024
This was my fourth Betty Neels' novel, and it did not meet up to expectation based on the first three. Majority of the book, the setting was Amsterdam, Netherlands -- and that was a plus. The visits via of Mrs. Neels' novel to Stedelijk and Oude Kerk (art museums), Nieuwe Kerk (15th-century church), Klooster Sint Agatha (convent), Stadhuis (royal palace), and the Oude Delft canal are probably the only way I'll get an opportunity to visit, not in person but in print.
One of the many interactions the main character, a British nurse Emily, had with her patient Lucillia was to read VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray to her. I may eventually tackle that classic to see if Amelia is indeed the "most tiresome milksop that ever walked" as Emily and Lucillia labeled the character in Thackeray's novel (Chapter 5).
One of the many interactions the main character, a British nurse Emily, had with her patient Lucillia was to read VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray to her. I may eventually tackle that classic to see if Amelia is indeed the "most tiresome milksop that ever walked" as Emily and Lucillia labeled the character in Thackeray's novel (Chapter 5).
August 21, 2021
Heart eyes.
Another super soothing novel with a somewhat overbearing hero and a sweet Pollyanna sort of heroine but eminently lovely and enjoyable if you’re already a Betty fan. This one featured nursing student (of the plain Betty variety) Emily whose father needs some private orthopedic surgery and RDD (Rich Dutch Doctor) Sebastian, an orthopedic surgeon whose sister needs a nurse with the just the accommodating personality of Emily. In the process of making the deal to help one another, feelings are caught. This author’s books are so comforting and sweet and old-fashioned and that’s really been my mood this month.
Another super soothing novel with a somewhat overbearing hero and a sweet Pollyanna sort of heroine but eminently lovely and enjoyable if you’re already a Betty fan. This one featured nursing student (of the plain Betty variety) Emily whose father needs some private orthopedic surgery and RDD (Rich Dutch Doctor) Sebastian, an orthopedic surgeon whose sister needs a nurse with the just the accommodating personality of Emily. In the process of making the deal to help one another, feelings are caught. This author’s books are so comforting and sweet and old-fashioned and that’s really been my mood this month.
April 11, 2021
It's a beautiful love story that will put a smile on your face and your heart will be full of love and joy. I truly love all of Betty Neels's works. I LOVED IT AND RECOMMEND IT TO ALL.
August 14, 2023
Loved the ending. Let’s just put that there. Loved the side characters. Loved the plot too. But some of the things in the book just wasn’t really needed. The buildup was definitely there… but it just wasn’t up to my liking. I mean, I definitely did expect a lot about this book. Though, at 60-70% of the book, I really got bored with it but I just kept pushing myself to finish it.
Sebastian, well… he just wasn’t for me, love.
Sebastian, well… he just wasn’t for me, love.
May 16, 2021
Charming. One of Betty Neels's best novels and it's because it's written with a light hand. Unlike so many of her novels, the heroine is not unbelievably dense, the hero is not so nasty that no one would ever want him, and the "villain" is not ludicrously overdone.
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