What do you think?
Rate this book
Ring In A Teacup
He seemed to be everywhere
It amazed Lucy how regularly Mr. der Linssen, the handsome Dutch doctor who taught one of her nursing classes, kept turning up in her life. She would bump into him at the hospital, at her home and even in Holland when she went on vacation. If only he knew she existed! But that wasn't likely, Lucy thought, since far prettier girls were obviously his for the asking….
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1979
84 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Betty Neels
584 books420 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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 52 reviews
December 1, 2020
From 1978, Ring in a Teacup is cute and very funny in parts, but delivers some angst as well, as our plain-but-not-really heroine with the captivating emerald eyes tries really hard not to fall for the urbane and lady-killing RDD. (Re: BN’s so-called “plain” wide-eyed heroines, I’m convinced anyone other than Betty would have called them CUTE.) Heroine Lucy Prendergast is SNIPPY! Definitely no mouse, despite the abundance of mousy hair and small stature. She’s more than a match for RDD Fraam der Linssen, who does his best “not to see” the student nurse who keeps turning up in his life and variously amusing and annoying him with her outspokenness and unexpected and irresistible appeal.
They first meet when Lucy, a third-year nursing student (23 to Fraam's 39) falls asleep in the front row during his lecture. With a “ferocious gleam” in his eye, he purposely calls on her, but she forthrightly says she fell asleep and apologizes, and he moves on (and tells her later, when Sister Tutor makes her apologize, that he doesn’t hold grudges and she already apologized—he’s MUCH nicer about it than Litrick was to Francesca during a similar (past but never forgiven or forgotten) incident in The Secret Pool).
Lucy is pretty hostile to our RDD much of the time but it’s clear that she’s trying desperately not to fall for him (she admits to her mother from the start that she really does like him). He pulls the typical RDD hot-and-cold treatment for a while too, but it’s obvious he’s smitten early on, and once he stops resisting his feelings, Fraam is pretty swoonworthy (as all the young ladies in Amsterdam can attest). He has the usual RDD liking for pretty ladies and its rare that Lucy doesn’t see him escorting one or another of them (including her bratty friend Mies) in his flashy Panther De Ville or Rolls, but for him all the girls he’s known before didn’t so much as scratch the surface, and what he feels for Lucy is the real deal.
It takes a while for him to convince her of his feelings and desire to marry her, because she's so used to being the “plain” one in a good-looking family and not at all confident in her ability to attract men, let alone such a superior being as our hero. All the usual BN elements are here: an old-fashioned (parson’s daughter) and modest heroine who second-guesses the hero’s feelings for her; a smitten hero who doesn’t say ILY nearly early enough (but otherwise is really sweet when he’s wooing her—more than most BN heroes even!); OW drama (in multiples); not one but two trips to Holland; the hero and heroine working together to save people; some misunderstandings based on OW and vile auntie lies; a runaway heroine; and a lovely HEA in the end. Pamela Shropshire has all the details in her wonderful review on GR (and check out the Uncrushable Jersey Dress review as well—really funny and spot on).
I liked this one a lot—Lucy was a little OTT with her snottiness at times but it fits her defensiveness and need to protect herself from heartbreak. Fraam was dreamy overall, one of BN’s best heroes, although I think Betty should have made him younger than 39 since he seemed much younger in a lot of ways. The scenes at the hospital dance (where Lucy and Fraam strut their stuff) and in the farmhouse during a blizzard were great, and the nursing scenes and the changes in location gave the story a well-drawn frame. Some really funny moments too (the bits about "speed-demon" family friend's driving skills, in particular, were hilarious--Betty had a real talent for writing funny scenes). While not quite a 5 star BN read for me, I’d probably place it among my unofficial Top 25 BN reads so far.
So much car porn in this one!
A rather flashy Panther De Ville:
A rather more stately and RDD-appropriate Rolls Royce Camargue:
A “silly little Mini” that’s “handy for town”:
A Range Rover, kept in England and very useful for delivering babies in blizzards:
And a bicycle to “keep old age at bay”:
They first meet when Lucy, a third-year nursing student (23 to Fraam's 39) falls asleep in the front row during his lecture. With a “ferocious gleam” in his eye, he purposely calls on her, but she forthrightly says she fell asleep and apologizes, and he moves on (and tells her later, when Sister Tutor makes her apologize, that he doesn’t hold grudges and she already apologized—he’s MUCH nicer about it than Litrick was to Francesca during a similar (past but never forgiven or forgotten) incident in The Secret Pool).
Lucy is pretty hostile to our RDD much of the time but it’s clear that she’s trying desperately not to fall for him (she admits to her mother from the start that she really does like him). He pulls the typical RDD hot-and-cold treatment for a while too, but it’s obvious he’s smitten early on, and once he stops resisting his feelings, Fraam is pretty swoonworthy (as all the young ladies in Amsterdam can attest). He has the usual RDD liking for pretty ladies and its rare that Lucy doesn’t see him escorting one or another of them (including her bratty friend Mies) in his flashy Panther De Ville or Rolls, but for him all the girls he’s known before didn’t so much as scratch the surface, and what he feels for Lucy is the real deal.
It takes a while for him to convince her of his feelings and desire to marry her, because she's so used to being the “plain” one in a good-looking family and not at all confident in her ability to attract men, let alone such a superior being as our hero. All the usual BN elements are here: an old-fashioned (parson’s daughter) and modest heroine who second-guesses the hero’s feelings for her; a smitten hero who doesn’t say ILY nearly early enough (but otherwise is really sweet when he’s wooing her—more than most BN heroes even!); OW drama (in multiples); not one but two trips to Holland; the hero and heroine working together to save people; some misunderstandings based on OW and vile auntie lies; a runaway heroine; and a lovely HEA in the end. Pamela Shropshire has all the details in her wonderful review on GR (and check out the Uncrushable Jersey Dress review as well—really funny and spot on).
I liked this one a lot—Lucy was a little OTT with her snottiness at times but it fits her defensiveness and need to protect herself from heartbreak. Fraam was dreamy overall, one of BN’s best heroes, although I think Betty should have made him younger than 39 since he seemed much younger in a lot of ways. The scenes at the hospital dance (where Lucy and Fraam strut their stuff) and in the farmhouse during a blizzard were great, and the nursing scenes and the changes in location gave the story a well-drawn frame. Some really funny moments too (the bits about "speed-demon" family friend's driving skills, in particular, were hilarious--Betty had a real talent for writing funny scenes). While not quite a 5 star BN read for me, I’d probably place it among my unofficial Top 25 BN reads so far.
So much car porn in this one!
A rather flashy Panther De Ville:
A rather more stately and RDD-appropriate Rolls Royce Camargue:
A “silly little Mini” that’s “handy for town”:
A Range Rover, kept in England and very useful for delivering babies in blizzards:
And a bicycle to “keep old age at bay”:
September 29, 2018
4 1/4 stars. This may be my favorite first meeting in all of Neelsdom (although Lucy herself derides it later as unglamorous). Lucy, a rector's daughter, is a student nurse who, having worked the night shift, is forced to attend a lecture by an eminent Dutch physician. In spite of his having "the good looks so often written about yet so seldom seen, she falls asleep during the lecture. He begins to ask questions of the audience. He sees Lucy asleep in the front row and "a ferocious gleam came into his eyes" and he calls out "the nurse in the center of the first row."
"Lucy, dug savagely in the ribs by her nervous friends, opened her eyes wide and look straight at him. She was bemused by sleep and had no idea what he had said or what she was supposed to say herself. She stared up the handsome, bland face above her; she has never seen eyes glitter, but the cold blue ones boring into hers were glittering alright. A wash of bright pink crept slowly over her tired face, but it was a flash of temper rather than hey blush of shame; she was peevish from lack of sleep and her resentment was stronger than anything else just at that moment. She said in a clear, controlled voice: "I didn't hear what you were saying, sir – I was asleep."
Afterward, he has her brought to him and he takes her to task, she sasses him back. She tells him, "I would have gone to sleep even if you'd been Michael Caine or Kojak." Mousy hair our girl may have, but she is not a mouse, not with those emerald green eyes!
There is a scene at Lucy's home, a Dorset Village. Her father is the spitting image of the Rev. Charles Hemstock. She has four other siblings, all of whom have their mothers good looks. Lucy, however, has her father's plain face, as her father remarks to our RDD, to Lucy's chagrin. Oh yes, the RDD makes sure to meet her family early on, when he takes her home "on his way to Bristol." His name, by the way, is Fraam der Linssen.
By coincidence, Lucy's godfather is a Dutch doctor who suddenly shows up and asks Lucy to come to Amsterdam on vacation to visit him and his daughter, Mies, whom Lucy hasn't seen since they were children. Mies is gorgeous, which makes Lucy all the more self-conscious when she meets up again with Fraam, with whom Mies is acquainted. In fact, Mies tell Lucy that she may just marry Fraam. Lucy hasn't quite yet had her Dawning Realization, but she is spending a lot of time thinking about Fraam.
She is coerced into attending a hospital dance with Mies. She has nothing to wear, but she ends up wearing a emerald green jersey dress. She meets a young man named Willem who is in love with Mies. Although she is hesitant to dance, being self-conscious of her unfashionable dress, Willem insists. She decides to enjoy herself and everyone can see that she is quite the best dancer there. Fraam dances with her, but only once, although he does take up for her when his date criticizes her old dress.
It becomes clear to the reader that Fraam has fallen for Lucy, if reluctantly. He comes to the house and is peeved when Lucy answers the door. Lucy asks if he is going to marry the beautiful girl who was with him at the dance. "He looked so thunderous that she took a step backwards. 'If I do, it will be entirely your fault,' he flung at her, and made for the door."
She tells him "you look very put out, if you could spare the time to go home and take a couple of aspirin and lie down for half an hour…". He laughs and goes away.
Next is the obligatory cat rescue, which gets Lucy inside Fraam's lovely house. Lucy schemes with Willem - he pretends to be in love with Lucy in hopes of attracting Mies' attention. The 3 of them go out; Willem pretends to get angry at Mies for being spoiled and selfish; it gets her attention as planned, and you know they will soon be engaged.
Lucy accompanies Mies to the hospital; she waits in the lobby and is seen by Fraam. They exchange some interesting conversation and he kisses her hard.
Lucy's holiday comes to an end and she takes the boat train to the Hoek. Guess who just happens to be there to see her off, although he makes a point of only shaking her hand, saying it's the end of a chapter but not the end of the book. Clever man, knowing he's the hero in a book!
There is a poignant note here. "The porter was ahead with her case, so she went through the barrier and didn't look back. A long time ago, when she had been a shy teenager, spending her first evening at a village dance with the doctors son, he and a friend had taken her home at the end of the evening. They had said goodbye at the gate and she had turned around halfway down the short drive to the rectory to wave, and surprise the pair of them laughing at her. She had never turned around sense – not that she had had much chance; she didn't go out all that much. Perhaps Mr. der Linssen was looking at her in that same hateful mocking way; she longs to know, but she wasn't going to take any chances."
Awww. . .
Next up is work at the hospital and then on her days off at home, a blizzard in which Lucy is called out to deliver a baby which turns out to be breech and twins. Fortunately, Fraam reappears just in time to save the day, after which he reveals his purpose for being there - to ask Lucy to come back to Holland and nurse Dr. de Groot following surgery for Reynaud's. Of course it's only a ploy to get Lucy back to Holland.
Fraam baldly tells Lucy, "I'm going to marry you," and tells her to think about that. No "I love you" for quite some time, which causes a great deal of doubt in Lucy's mind, exacerbated first by Fraam's Tante Sophie and then an ex-girlfriend Adilia the Awful. Lucy flings off her ring and standard runaway without money scene ensues. She gets a room at an upscale hotel and she has to call Jaap to bring her purse; meanwhile, hotel staff lock her in the room. Of course Fraam arrives and FINALLY says all the things he should and we have our HEA.
As I said, I adore the beginning of this book; the middle has some nice parts; and I hate the first "proposal" although it eventually wraps up satisfactorily.
"Lucy, dug savagely in the ribs by her nervous friends, opened her eyes wide and look straight at him. She was bemused by sleep and had no idea what he had said or what she was supposed to say herself. She stared up the handsome, bland face above her; she has never seen eyes glitter, but the cold blue ones boring into hers were glittering alright. A wash of bright pink crept slowly over her tired face, but it was a flash of temper rather than hey blush of shame; she was peevish from lack of sleep and her resentment was stronger than anything else just at that moment. She said in a clear, controlled voice: "I didn't hear what you were saying, sir – I was asleep."
Afterward, he has her brought to him and he takes her to task, she sasses him back. She tells him, "I would have gone to sleep even if you'd been Michael Caine or Kojak." Mousy hair our girl may have, but she is not a mouse, not with those emerald green eyes!
There is a scene at Lucy's home, a Dorset Village. Her father is the spitting image of the Rev. Charles Hemstock. She has four other siblings, all of whom have their mothers good looks. Lucy, however, has her father's plain face, as her father remarks to our RDD, to Lucy's chagrin. Oh yes, the RDD makes sure to meet her family early on, when he takes her home "on his way to Bristol." His name, by the way, is Fraam der Linssen.
By coincidence, Lucy's godfather is a Dutch doctor who suddenly shows up and asks Lucy to come to Amsterdam on vacation to visit him and his daughter, Mies, whom Lucy hasn't seen since they were children. Mies is gorgeous, which makes Lucy all the more self-conscious when she meets up again with Fraam, with whom Mies is acquainted. In fact, Mies tell Lucy that she may just marry Fraam. Lucy hasn't quite yet had her Dawning Realization, but she is spending a lot of time thinking about Fraam.
She is coerced into attending a hospital dance with Mies. She has nothing to wear, but she ends up wearing a emerald green jersey dress. She meets a young man named Willem who is in love with Mies. Although she is hesitant to dance, being self-conscious of her unfashionable dress, Willem insists. She decides to enjoy herself and everyone can see that she is quite the best dancer there. Fraam dances with her, but only once, although he does take up for her when his date criticizes her old dress.
It becomes clear to the reader that Fraam has fallen for Lucy, if reluctantly. He comes to the house and is peeved when Lucy answers the door. Lucy asks if he is going to marry the beautiful girl who was with him at the dance. "He looked so thunderous that she took a step backwards. 'If I do, it will be entirely your fault,' he flung at her, and made for the door."
She tells him "you look very put out, if you could spare the time to go home and take a couple of aspirin and lie down for half an hour…". He laughs and goes away.
Next is the obligatory cat rescue, which gets Lucy inside Fraam's lovely house. Lucy schemes with Willem - he pretends to be in love with Lucy in hopes of attracting Mies' attention. The 3 of them go out; Willem pretends to get angry at Mies for being spoiled and selfish; it gets her attention as planned, and you know they will soon be engaged.
Lucy accompanies Mies to the hospital; she waits in the lobby and is seen by Fraam. They exchange some interesting conversation and he kisses her hard.
Lucy's holiday comes to an end and she takes the boat train to the Hoek. Guess who just happens to be there to see her off, although he makes a point of only shaking her hand, saying it's the end of a chapter but not the end of the book. Clever man, knowing he's the hero in a book!
There is a poignant note here. "The porter was ahead with her case, so she went through the barrier and didn't look back. A long time ago, when she had been a shy teenager, spending her first evening at a village dance with the doctors son, he and a friend had taken her home at the end of the evening. They had said goodbye at the gate and she had turned around halfway down the short drive to the rectory to wave, and surprise the pair of them laughing at her. She had never turned around sense – not that she had had much chance; she didn't go out all that much. Perhaps Mr. der Linssen was looking at her in that same hateful mocking way; she longs to know, but she wasn't going to take any chances."
Awww. . .
Next up is work at the hospital and then on her days off at home, a blizzard in which Lucy is called out to deliver a baby which turns out to be breech and twins. Fortunately, Fraam reappears just in time to save the day, after which he reveals his purpose for being there - to ask Lucy to come back to Holland and nurse Dr. de Groot following surgery for Reynaud's. Of course it's only a ploy to get Lucy back to Holland.
Fraam baldly tells Lucy, "I'm going to marry you," and tells her to think about that. No "I love you" for quite some time, which causes a great deal of doubt in Lucy's mind, exacerbated first by Fraam's Tante Sophie and then an ex-girlfriend Adilia the Awful. Lucy flings off her ring and standard runaway without money scene ensues. She gets a room at an upscale hotel and she has to call Jaap to bring her purse; meanwhile, hotel staff lock her in the room. Of course Fraam arrives and FINALLY says all the things he should and we have our HEA.
As I said, I adore the beginning of this book; the middle has some nice parts; and I hate the first "proposal" although it eventually wraps up satisfactorily.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2016
A sweet, early Betty Neels romance; I think I've only read this one once before, years ago, but will reread again.
This one has all the delightful Betty elements we fans count on for a fast, comforting read: strong, practical, charming but plain young heroine, check; handsome, older Dutch doctor, check; funny meet-cute scene to set the (clean) sparks flying, check; lovely country weekends at home with a warm and loving family for Lucy, the parson's daughter, check, and luxurious meals, travel and beautiful Dutch homes with friendly, efficient servants that are old family friends, check! Lucy is one of my new favorite Betty heroines, I think, and her hero, Fraam, is a great match for her - Betty rarely disappoints for clean, old-fashioned romance.
This one has all the delightful Betty elements we fans count on for a fast, comforting read: strong, practical, charming but plain young heroine, check; handsome, older Dutch doctor, check; funny meet-cute scene to set the (clean) sparks flying, check; lovely country weekends at home with a warm and loving family for Lucy, the parson's daughter, check, and luxurious meals, travel and beautiful Dutch homes with friendly, efficient servants that are old family friends, check! Lucy is one of my new favorite Betty heroines, I think, and her hero, Fraam, is a great match for her - Betty rarely disappoints for clean, old-fashioned romance.
July 15, 2019
4 Stars ~ Lucy's first meeting with the Professor is one that both would remember always. After a busy night shift on the Children's Ward, she'd been required to attend the Professor's lecture before getting any sleep, so sitting in the front row, his calm and pleasant voice like a lullaby, Lucy fell asleep. And when the Professor called upon her to answer a question about his lecture, Lucy opened her brilliant green eyes that sparkled and told the truth, that she had been sleeping. Lucy's the youngest of her siblings, and while the others are attractive like their mother, Lucy takes after her father with plain looks, with the exception of her extraordinary eyes. And from that time it seems Lucy and Fraam were destined to keep encountering each other, even when Lucy went on holiday to Holland to her godfather's. But Fraam never lacked for pretty girls to escort, and Lucy was just the plain parson's daughter.
This is another lovely handsome rich doctor and young plain nurse romance from Betty Neels. It's quite clear that Lucy has made an impression on Fraam right from the beginning. When he's quite certain that Lucy has fallen in love with him, he becomes impatient to marry her. But Lucy isn't sure that he could possible love her, the plain parson's daughter, and Fraam finds her wanting to slow down so that he can be sure. Of course, there's an interfering busybody aunt and a jealous past girlfriend to put silly ideas into Lucy's head. Fraam is quite lovely when he finally convinces Lucy that she's the only one for him.
This is another lovely handsome rich doctor and young plain nurse romance from Betty Neels. It's quite clear that Lucy has made an impression on Fraam right from the beginning. When he's quite certain that Lucy has fallen in love with him, he becomes impatient to marry her. But Lucy isn't sure that he could possible love her, the plain parson's daughter, and Fraam finds her wanting to slow down so that he can be sure. Of course, there's an interfering busybody aunt and a jealous past girlfriend to put silly ideas into Lucy's head. Fraam is quite lovely when he finally convinces Lucy that she's the only one for him.
October 20, 2013
Why couldn't the hero just tell her he lived her when he proposed?
August 9, 2019
I like Lucy until she turned into an insecure idiot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2020
Imbalance of power bothers me
Betty Neels is formulaic, but most of her books I can handle. This one angered me. Fraam told Lucy he wanted to marry her but not why. She declared her love for him first without a return of declaration. He let her hang even though he knew she wanted more of an explanation. The imbalance of power in the relationship bothers me--and it is fairly typical of many, though not all, of Betty Neels stories. The man is always much older and worldly and the girl inexperienced in relationships. The girl doesn't have clue he's interested in her LIKE THAT but accepts easily the proposal? Betty Neels also believes in love at first sight--also typical in her books. I do like the lack of bedroom scenes in her stories.
Betty Neels is formulaic, but most of her books I can handle. This one angered me. Fraam told Lucy he wanted to marry her but not why. She declared her love for him first without a return of declaration. He let her hang even though he knew she wanted more of an explanation. The imbalance of power in the relationship bothers me--and it is fairly typical of many, though not all, of Betty Neels stories. The man is always much older and worldly and the girl inexperienced in relationships. The girl doesn't have clue he's interested in her LIKE THAT but accepts easily the proposal? Betty Neels also believes in love at first sight--also typical in her books. I do like the lack of bedroom scenes in her stories.
August 27, 2012
I'm a Betty Neels fan. I love her distinctly English period (mid-20th century)romances. Since Betty Neels married a Dutch doctor and was a nurse, I suppose no one should be surprised that ONCE AGAIN her heroine is a nurse and the hero is --you guessed it--a Dutch doctor (a nice successful and rich one too). The richest kind--as in the old coffee commercial. I'm not one for writing or reading many stories with alpha male heroes, which are Betty's favorite. But I do often write Waif heroines. This time however Betty's heroine definitely shows temper--hence the title!
October 31, 2021
Fun story in which the nurse is a student, daughter of a parson, with a quite likable family. The RDD is actually a pretty nice guy, for a Neels book. There's a blizzard and an expectant mother thrown in to liven things up.
Neel's stories are fairy tales in clean romance form. This one was a bit like Sleeping Beuty, though the heroine isn't beutiful, she's definitely asleep to the feelings of those around her.
Neel's stories are fairy tales in clean romance form. This one was a bit like Sleeping Beuty, though the heroine isn't beutiful, she's definitely asleep to the feelings of those around her.
September 12, 2012
I really liked this one. It was a little different than what I was expecting. When they locked her in the hotel room because she couldn't pay the bill...I literally laughed out loud. Hahaha. This is fluffy romance at it's best.
August 27, 2012
I first read this book in April 1979 but the system is not accepting the date. I guess it was much to long ago, however I have read all of Betty Neels books. She's my favorite Harlequin author.
July 3, 2014
A reminder of how stupid romance novels can be. At 75%, I mark this book as read.
April 1, 2021
On one of the reading challenges I tried to do a couple of years ago, I had to read a published book before I was born. The first time "Ring in a Teacup" was published in 1979.
It is an ok read; The imbalance of power in the relationship bothers met the man is always much older and worldly, and the girl inexperienced in relationships. The girl doesn't know he's interested in her LIKE THAT but easily accepts the proposal?
The point of view is nearly always Lucy's, and I wish Neels had shown us more of what was in the hero's mind and heart.
There were moments that I wouldn't say I liked Lucy, the heroine. She was so unconfident that during her relationship with Fraam, she would take a step forward two steps backward.
If you are looking for a short clean-romance, this book is for you.
It is an ok read; The imbalance of power in the relationship bothers met the man is always much older and worldly, and the girl inexperienced in relationships. The girl doesn't know he's interested in her LIKE THAT but easily accepts the proposal?
The point of view is nearly always Lucy's, and I wish Neels had shown us more of what was in the hero's mind and heart.
There were moments that I wouldn't say I liked Lucy, the heroine. She was so unconfident that during her relationship with Fraam, she would take a step forward two steps backward.
If you are looking for a short clean-romance, this book is for you.
March 31, 2023
This novel is same as any other Betty Neels books where heroine is plain looking no particular skills to speak off,have just enough money to lead a simple life,a good loving parents brothers and sisters and of course she is a nurse. The hero as usual an eminent surgeon,extremely rich and very handsome can attract any girl and yes he is a Dutch.
May 16, 2018
1978, 5*****
This story of Fraam and Lucy/Lucilla was so sweet from start to finish! Their meet cute was the funniest and sweetest ever! Though "unglamorous " like Lucy thought haha! Betty's dry wit and humour was throughout the book. Two other references were made to this amazing lecture which Lucy slept through hehe...
Lucy was only 23 and she sounded just as her age did; plus being a parson's daughter she was honest, to a fault almost haha! She'd say the funniest thing, but it was her innocence that shone through, like when she was talking about wives and children to Fraam, he asked if she hadn't better things to do; Lucy replied she was on holiday after all! LOL Oh and at the ball, Lucy wowed them with her dancing skills, I loved it!
Fraam was definitely a lady's man, seeing how many girls he was always dating and bringing around. Now he admitted to falling in love with Lucy when he saw her sleeping during his lecture, but why was he still dating all these bitchy women?! None of them were nice especially Adilia! I think he fought the attraction hard! Notice how cool and aloof he was when Lucy was in Amsterdam on holiday. And the nursing of Dr de Groot was a contrived reason to bring Lucy back to Amsterdam!
Lucy was cute, Fraam suave and charming, when he wanted to. Calling Lucy "the darling's a darling" in front of her mother scored many points for him!
When he declared his intentions to marry Lucy(yes, declared, not asked), there were still 30 pages so I got worried; indeed there was mischief, but I loved how it all played out. A runaway resulting in her engagement ring being found in the teacup, and we got our book title!
I especially appreciate how Fraam explained it all, AND he let Lucy got it all off her chest, despite knowing Adilia was spouting nonsense! This fairness was usually denied either the hero or heroine. So well done here! Lucy was really insecure about her plain looks; I loved how Fraam finally understood this, and appreciated how deeply hurt she was when Adilia said they'd have plain children like Lucy 💔
It's so funny how Lucy wanted to wave her ring under the nasty hotel clerk's nose once it was back on her finger haha! Childish but so appropriate here LOL.
This pairing had quite a large age gap, Lucy was 23 and Fraam almost 40. LOTS of kisses from Fraam, as befit a lady's man! Oh and Lucy ate and slept A LOT in this book haha!
This is easily one of my top 5 favourites now!
This story of Fraam and Lucy/Lucilla was so sweet from start to finish! Their meet cute was the funniest and sweetest ever! Though "unglamorous " like Lucy thought haha! Betty's dry wit and humour was throughout the book. Two other references were made to this amazing lecture which Lucy slept through hehe...
Lucy was only 23 and she sounded just as her age did; plus being a parson's daughter she was honest, to a fault almost haha! She'd say the funniest thing, but it was her innocence that shone through, like when she was talking about wives and children to Fraam, he asked if she hadn't better things to do; Lucy replied she was on holiday after all! LOL Oh and at the ball, Lucy wowed them with her dancing skills, I loved it!
Fraam was definitely a lady's man, seeing how many girls he was always dating and bringing around. Now he admitted to falling in love with Lucy when he saw her sleeping during his lecture, but why was he still dating all these bitchy women?! None of them were nice especially Adilia! I think he fought the attraction hard! Notice how cool and aloof he was when Lucy was in Amsterdam on holiday. And the nursing of Dr de Groot was a contrived reason to bring Lucy back to Amsterdam!
Lucy was cute, Fraam suave and charming, when he wanted to. Calling Lucy "the darling's a darling" in front of her mother scored many points for him!
When he declared his intentions to marry Lucy(yes, declared, not asked), there were still 30 pages so I got worried; indeed there was mischief, but I loved how it all played out. A runaway resulting in her engagement ring being found in the teacup, and we got our book title!
I especially appreciate how Fraam explained it all, AND he let Lucy got it all off her chest, despite knowing Adilia was spouting nonsense! This fairness was usually denied either the hero or heroine. So well done here! Lucy was really insecure about her plain looks; I loved how Fraam finally understood this, and appreciated how deeply hurt she was when Adilia said they'd have plain children like Lucy 💔
It's so funny how Lucy wanted to wave her ring under the nasty hotel clerk's nose once it was back on her finger haha! Childish but so appropriate here LOL.
This pairing had quite a large age gap, Lucy was 23 and Fraam almost 40. LOTS of kisses from Fraam, as befit a lady's man! Oh and Lucy ate and slept A LOT in this book haha!
This is easily one of my top 5 favourites now!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2020
Pretty standard - the heroine was fun and spunky, but did feel very young (she's a student nurse, he's a respected professor). However, one of the things I've found really interesting about re-reading these 1970s Neels books is all the kissing, which seems to take place in a sort of moral gray zone - the heroines are dating all sorts of men, and occasionally kissing them, and no one has any issues with this; the hero will sometimes kiss the heroine - often repeatedly - and she doesn't seem to take this as any gesture of great feeling on his part, remaining convinced that e.g. he's in love with or engaged to someone else. Was this what dating was like in Ye Olden Days? No idea. However, the S-E-X word is never mentioned. Again, it's the 1970s; they knew what sex was. However, Neels just totally ignores it, leading to all these marriage of convenience books where the hero and heroine have separate bedrooms and the hero seems perfectly content to have a sexless marriage for the indefinite future without the topic even being raised. Okay, I'll roll with that.
In this book, though, it goes too far - the hero is known far and wide as a ladies' man, a rich, successful, good-looking doctor who likes to date beautiful women. He has fallen for our plain, spunky heroine. Okay, it's a romance novel, whatever. The other woman, who was dating the hero basically up until the hero and heroine's engagement, shows up to the hero's house and convinces the heroine that she needs to fetch her stuff out of the hero's bedroom. The heroine, obviously, freaks out and bolts - and the hero tells her later on that the other woman never had occasion to be in his bedroom, nor did any other woman. That's right, folks: our handsome, brilliant, rich, womanizing surgeon hero did not actually sleep with these women. I... come on.
In this book, though, it goes too far - the hero is known far and wide as a ladies' man, a rich, successful, good-looking doctor who likes to date beautiful women. He has fallen for our plain, spunky heroine. Okay, it's a romance novel, whatever. The other woman, who was dating the hero basically up until the hero and heroine's engagement, shows up to the hero's house and convinces the heroine that she needs to fetch her stuff out of the hero's bedroom. The heroine, obviously, freaks out and bolts - and the hero tells her later on that the other woman never had occasion to be in his bedroom, nor did any other woman. That's right, folks: our handsome, brilliant, rich, womanizing surgeon hero did not actually sleep with these women. I... come on.
September 11, 2017
I laughed at how the h who was a nurse Lucy first met the H who was a professor Fraam when she was asleep in his lecture, I liked how they met again in Holland when she was visiting her friend who I wasn't too keen on but seeing as she wasn't much in the story it didn't bother me too much, I enjoyed how Fraam fell in love with Lucy but she was clueless throughout the story and I particularly like the blizzard plotline and how he came to be there at the right time.
What I didn't really get is why even though he was in love with her he was still dating and going around with other women instead of slowly wooing her but when he proposed to her he did stop and I didn't really get why that even when she told him she loved him he didn't tell her the same, it left me confused especially when he tells her near the beginning that it will be her fault if he marries someone else.
I liked the tactic he used to get her back to Holland when he got her to look after her friend's father despite him not really needing her.
There was the typical mischief of the ow who once again the h easily believed and obviously the ow got away with it, I did laugh at how Lucy got into a temper afterwards and threw her engagement ring into a teacup hence the title and how Fraam had to rescue her from a locked hotel room when she left her belongings in the house and had no money to pay.
The ending I did like but it was too short and there was no epilogue.
What I didn't really get is why even though he was in love with her he was still dating and going around with other women instead of slowly wooing her but when he proposed to her he did stop and I didn't really get why that even when she told him she loved him he didn't tell her the same, it left me confused especially when he tells her near the beginning that it will be her fault if he marries someone else.
I liked the tactic he used to get her back to Holland when he got her to look after her friend's father despite him not really needing her.
There was the typical mischief of the ow who once again the h easily believed and obviously the ow got away with it, I did laugh at how Lucy got into a temper afterwards and threw her engagement ring into a teacup hence the title and how Fraam had to rescue her from a locked hotel room when she left her belongings in the house and had no money to pay.
The ending I did like but it was too short and there was no epilogue.
July 21, 2017
Sweet story of plain but beautiful inside Lucy meeting Fraam when she falls asleep in his lecture. They are antagonistic towards each other in typical Neel's fashion but there is rather more drama and adventure as well as insight into Lucy's insecurities. Fraam makes for a good RDD hero and Lucy is wonderful.
August 23, 2014
So long since I’ve read a Betty Neel, but it’s still exactly what I expected. It’s the usual young nurse and Dutch surgeon pairing, with tropes a-plenty, but sometimes you just want a comfort read.
September 29, 2008
A lovely cosy read leaving you longing for a slap up tea and a handsome rich dutch surgeon.
Read
July 27, 2011Very sweet story.
October 12, 2018
An enjoyable read at the time.
June 25, 2016
Good Story
Lots going on to keep one glued to this book to see what will happen next. As usual, well written by Betty Neels.
Lots going on to keep one glued to this book to see what will happen next. As usual, well written by Betty Neels.
August 24, 2020
I read and re-read Betty Neels stories because they are so sweet and nice and because they were some of my mother's favourites. In a way, I read them to honour Mom's memory.
January 14, 2026
Read: 5Oct25, 14Jan26
4.6 stars. A lovely story that I enjoyed again on the reread. highly romantic. in this one you get hints the H fell for her quite quickly but was masking his feelings, but we still got a bit of delicious angst later on and got the runaway h ending that I love.
Lucy, 23, is a plain little student nurse, youngest of a large and loving and attractive family. (no waif here.) she meets Fraam, 39, a visiting consultant lecturer, when she falls asleep during his lecture, in the front row, no less! he mercilessly picks on her to answer a question and she is jolted awake and has to ashamedly confess in front of the whole lecture hall that she was asleep. she apologises but with slight annoyance, after all, she fell asleep after a horrible night shift so was exhausted. when the head nurse calls her into the office later and tells her to apologise to him, she is annoyed with him and finds him high and mighty and tells him so, before stomping off. aha. it was a nice little bit of attitude from a normally sweet and placid heroine.
so anyway, she meets him again when she rescues a child from being run over by a car and he, despite being in his own car and on a date with a gorgeous girl, gets out to help her and takes the time to examine her for injuries. he even replaces the food she'd been shopping for and had dropped, and sends her lovely flowers afterwards. thus she sometimes finds herself thinking of him.
she thinks she won't see him again because he returns to Holland. but when her dad's dutch friend invites her to go visit him and his pretty daughter Mies, Lucy goes to Holland and is surprised to meet Fraam again over there, even if it does seem like the lovely Mies is set on marrying him.
SPOILERS
we see the handsome Fraam out on dates with one gorgeous girl after another. but even in her old dresses, Lucy impresses him with her graceful dancing at the hospital dance, her kind heart when rescuing a cat, and by the time she has to leave Holland, she spots him staring longingly at her across a restaurant when while he's on a date with a redheaded beauty. but in typical humble fashion, she decides he must have been staring at Mies...
we get those lovely hints early on that he might be a bit besotted with our sweet little Lucy e.g when she asks him about his date, "are you going to marry her?" and he responds with a harsh impatient, "it'll be all your fault if I do!" plus a few stolen kisses on the slimmest of excuses because he just can't help himself!
we see him watch over Lucy, like finding excuses to see her safely onto her flight home. and he even comes looking for her once she's back in England, not that she can tell from his bland impersonal face and attitude towards her.
we get to see them working together to save a pregnant mother who is snowed in and about to deliver breech twins, and when Lucy is exhausted by the ordeal, gently carry her up to bed and kiss her on the cheek and unashamedly tell her mother he thinks she is the darlingest of darling girls!
he makes himself useful shovelling snow, washing dishes etc while he remains snowed in with her family for a couple of days, and she has her epiphany that she's fallen in love with him. she thinks he will pity her in the nicest way should he find out, so she is desperate to hide her feelings from him, and keeps him at arms length after that.
Fraam takes Lucy back to Holland on the slim excuse of needing her to nurse her dad's dutch friend while he recovers from an operation (despite her later finding the hospital is very well staffed.)
when she gets to Holland, it is him waiting for her at the airport and the first thing he does is drive her to his house to have dinner with his family, who welcome her in with open arms. however, while she does her nursing job and determinedly hides her feelings, he mentions sometimes that he is busy because he is going out on dates. poor Lucy. but she's a girl who has no good opinion of her own looks and has no expectation of him feeling anything for her, so she feels sad and lonely but not overly anguished.
imagine our surprise when at 80% he suddenly proposes to her. when she accepts, he even makes her confess that she loves him, but he doesn't say the same. he tells her he knew she loved him and saw it on her face the moment she realised it. that the other girls meant nothing and asks her if she is jealous, and when she says no (to hide her horribly jealous feelings), he says he wishes she was. he gives her a lovely ruby ring and she is so happy, but also insecure, not fully understanding why he wants to marry her and aware he hasn't said he loves her.
to make things worse for her, when told of their engagement, Mies (herself happily engaged to another guy by now) is utterly shocked and says he's only had eyes for the gorgeous Adila and taken her out on many dates after Lucy went back to England.
when she asks him who Adila is, he says she meant nothing. but he also comments on Lucy being very much a parson's daughter and old fashioned and says maybe he is rushing her and they should go back to slowly getting to know one another.
after some thought, Lucy regrets this thought of a delay and wants to tell him she wants to marry him ASAP, but he's busy with work and she doesn't get a chance.
ENDING SPOILERS
by this time, he's taken her to stay in his own home with his pretty younger sister. he has the nerve to bring adila to have lunch with them one day, apparently to show Lucy that adila is just a shallow beauty, but Lucy feels confused and insecure by the encounter. and a mean old aunt of his makes matters worse by telling her he is a ladies' man and that he must have chosen lucy to marry because she is the sort of quiet girl who will turn a blind eye to his infidelities. he quickly comes and rescues her from his spiteful aunt, but later when Lucy sees him driving with Adila one day and confronts him, he says comments that his aunt's mischeif must have worked. but says that he never had lunch with adila and she had begged a lift from him.
the man has plenty of chances to say he loves her, but he never does.
when he has to go away for a few days, saying he's going to Brussels to see a patient, adila comes to visit Lucy and cause mischief. she says that Lucy is the type of old fashioned idiot (that will give him kids and never question him) that he needs while he carries on living his own life. that he doesn't care who he marries ever since Adila turned him down because she doesn't want a boring married life or kids. she says that he lied about Brussels and he actually went to London, where adila is shortly going to meet with him. but tells her not to worry about their ongoing affair because adila is discreet. when Fraam's manservant confirms that Fraam went to London, not Brussels, poor Lucy believes the worst. she immediately runs out of the house after flinging her ring mindlessly into a teacup.
unable to bear it, she is determined to never go back even though she's left her purse behind. she wonders the streets of Amsterdam and eventually checks into a reputable hotel where she and Fraam dined once. but after her overnight stay, as she can't pay, she must ask the skeptical clerk woman to phone fraam's house and ask the manservant to deliver her purse. the clerk sneers at her, not believing that she is engaged to fraam due to her plain looks and lack of a ring.
she waits in her room until someone arrives and is horrified to find it is a furious fraam who has come. he is angry and scathing until he realises that adila caused mischief, after which he immediately becomes softer and demands Lucy explain and comforts her about some of the cruel things adila said. i love how he says he rushed back to Holland the moment his manservant called to say she had run off and he's exhausted and had been terrified.
he says he never gave a crap for adila and that she was being nasty out of sheer boredom. he confesses he went to england to get Lucy released quickly from her job without notice because he couldn't bear to wait to marry. and that he didn't tell her because she would only have made excuses to delay. he finally expresses his love for her and its very sweet. he says he fell for her at first sight in that lecture theatre and wanted to get off stage and carry her off. that he has been terrified she wouldn't have him. etc. it's sweet. it doesn't explain why he was dating girls left right and center but I don't care because I love a bit of OW drama and angst. I am gona assume he was falling back on old habits and 'passing the time' and also trying to soothe his ego during his lovelorn wait for Lucy to fall in love with him. lol.
CONCLUSION
the angst towards the end and the runaway heroine ending (and the hero having to suffer his own angst while chasing her down) made this a stronger read for me. It livened things up with some much needed angst and drama. the book also had a nice balance of inscrutability and snark from the hero and subtle pining from him too. plus they were both likeable characters and there was plenty of plot to keep the pace and depth interesting. I liked it and enjoyed rereading it.
-------------------------
Content Note: The version of the book i read has a main character use a racist saying which i found jarring. even if published in 1979, it was offputting. I hope modern versions of this book will have removed it.
4.6 stars. A lovely story that I enjoyed again on the reread. highly romantic. in this one you get hints the H fell for her quite quickly but was masking his feelings, but we still got a bit of delicious angst later on and got the runaway h ending that I love.
Lucy, 23, is a plain little student nurse, youngest of a large and loving and attractive family. (no waif here.) she meets Fraam, 39, a visiting consultant lecturer, when she falls asleep during his lecture, in the front row, no less! he mercilessly picks on her to answer a question and she is jolted awake and has to ashamedly confess in front of the whole lecture hall that she was asleep. she apologises but with slight annoyance, after all, she fell asleep after a horrible night shift so was exhausted. when the head nurse calls her into the office later and tells her to apologise to him, she is annoyed with him and finds him high and mighty and tells him so, before stomping off. aha. it was a nice little bit of attitude from a normally sweet and placid heroine.
so anyway, she meets him again when she rescues a child from being run over by a car and he, despite being in his own car and on a date with a gorgeous girl, gets out to help her and takes the time to examine her for injuries. he even replaces the food she'd been shopping for and had dropped, and sends her lovely flowers afterwards. thus she sometimes finds herself thinking of him.
she thinks she won't see him again because he returns to Holland. but when her dad's dutch friend invites her to go visit him and his pretty daughter Mies, Lucy goes to Holland and is surprised to meet Fraam again over there, even if it does seem like the lovely Mies is set on marrying him.
SPOILERS
we see the handsome Fraam out on dates with one gorgeous girl after another. but even in her old dresses, Lucy impresses him with her graceful dancing at the hospital dance, her kind heart when rescuing a cat, and by the time she has to leave Holland, she spots him staring longingly at her across a restaurant when while he's on a date with a redheaded beauty. but in typical humble fashion, she decides he must have been staring at Mies...
we get those lovely hints early on that he might be a bit besotted with our sweet little Lucy e.g when she asks him about his date, "are you going to marry her?" and he responds with a harsh impatient, "it'll be all your fault if I do!" plus a few stolen kisses on the slimmest of excuses because he just can't help himself!
we see him watch over Lucy, like finding excuses to see her safely onto her flight home. and he even comes looking for her once she's back in England, not that she can tell from his bland impersonal face and attitude towards her.
we get to see them working together to save a pregnant mother who is snowed in and about to deliver breech twins, and when Lucy is exhausted by the ordeal, gently carry her up to bed and kiss her on the cheek and unashamedly tell her mother he thinks she is the darlingest of darling girls!
he makes himself useful shovelling snow, washing dishes etc while he remains snowed in with her family for a couple of days, and she has her epiphany that she's fallen in love with him. she thinks he will pity her in the nicest way should he find out, so she is desperate to hide her feelings from him, and keeps him at arms length after that.
Fraam takes Lucy back to Holland on the slim excuse of needing her to nurse her dad's dutch friend while he recovers from an operation (despite her later finding the hospital is very well staffed.)
when she gets to Holland, it is him waiting for her at the airport and the first thing he does is drive her to his house to have dinner with his family, who welcome her in with open arms. however, while she does her nursing job and determinedly hides her feelings, he mentions sometimes that he is busy because he is going out on dates. poor Lucy. but she's a girl who has no good opinion of her own looks and has no expectation of him feeling anything for her, so she feels sad and lonely but not overly anguished.
imagine our surprise when at 80% he suddenly proposes to her. when she accepts, he even makes her confess that she loves him, but he doesn't say the same. he tells her he knew she loved him and saw it on her face the moment she realised it. that the other girls meant nothing and asks her if she is jealous, and when she says no (to hide her horribly jealous feelings), he says he wishes she was. he gives her a lovely ruby ring and she is so happy, but also insecure, not fully understanding why he wants to marry her and aware he hasn't said he loves her.
to make things worse for her, when told of their engagement, Mies (herself happily engaged to another guy by now) is utterly shocked and says he's only had eyes for the gorgeous Adila and taken her out on many dates after Lucy went back to England.
when she asks him who Adila is, he says she meant nothing. but he also comments on Lucy being very much a parson's daughter and old fashioned and says maybe he is rushing her and they should go back to slowly getting to know one another.
after some thought, Lucy regrets this thought of a delay and wants to tell him she wants to marry him ASAP, but he's busy with work and she doesn't get a chance.
ENDING SPOILERS
by this time, he's taken her to stay in his own home with his pretty younger sister. he has the nerve to bring adila to have lunch with them one day, apparently to show Lucy that adila is just a shallow beauty, but Lucy feels confused and insecure by the encounter. and a mean old aunt of his makes matters worse by telling her he is a ladies' man and that he must have chosen lucy to marry because she is the sort of quiet girl who will turn a blind eye to his infidelities. he quickly comes and rescues her from his spiteful aunt, but later when Lucy sees him driving with Adila one day and confronts him, he says comments that his aunt's mischeif must have worked. but says that he never had lunch with adila and she had begged a lift from him.
the man has plenty of chances to say he loves her, but he never does.
when he has to go away for a few days, saying he's going to Brussels to see a patient, adila comes to visit Lucy and cause mischief. she says that Lucy is the type of old fashioned idiot (that will give him kids and never question him) that he needs while he carries on living his own life. that he doesn't care who he marries ever since Adila turned him down because she doesn't want a boring married life or kids. she says that he lied about Brussels and he actually went to London, where adila is shortly going to meet with him. but tells her not to worry about their ongoing affair because adila is discreet. when Fraam's manservant confirms that Fraam went to London, not Brussels, poor Lucy believes the worst. she immediately runs out of the house after flinging her ring mindlessly into a teacup.
unable to bear it, she is determined to never go back even though she's left her purse behind. she wonders the streets of Amsterdam and eventually checks into a reputable hotel where she and Fraam dined once. but after her overnight stay, as she can't pay, she must ask the skeptical clerk woman to phone fraam's house and ask the manservant to deliver her purse. the clerk sneers at her, not believing that she is engaged to fraam due to her plain looks and lack of a ring.
she waits in her room until someone arrives and is horrified to find it is a furious fraam who has come. he is angry and scathing until he realises that adila caused mischief, after which he immediately becomes softer and demands Lucy explain and comforts her about some of the cruel things adila said. i love how he says he rushed back to Holland the moment his manservant called to say she had run off and he's exhausted and had been terrified.
he says he never gave a crap for adila and that she was being nasty out of sheer boredom. he confesses he went to england to get Lucy released quickly from her job without notice because he couldn't bear to wait to marry. and that he didn't tell her because she would only have made excuses to delay. he finally expresses his love for her and its very sweet. he says he fell for her at first sight in that lecture theatre and wanted to get off stage and carry her off. that he has been terrified she wouldn't have him. etc. it's sweet. it doesn't explain why he was dating girls left right and center but I don't care because I love a bit of OW drama and angst. I am gona assume he was falling back on old habits and 'passing the time' and also trying to soothe his ego during his lovelorn wait for Lucy to fall in love with him. lol.
CONCLUSION
the angst towards the end and the runaway heroine ending (and the hero having to suffer his own angst while chasing her down) made this a stronger read for me. It livened things up with some much needed angst and drama. the book also had a nice balance of inscrutability and snark from the hero and subtle pining from him too. plus they were both likeable characters and there was plenty of plot to keep the pace and depth interesting. I liked it and enjoyed rereading it.
-------------------------
Content Note: The version of the book i read has a main character use a racist saying which i found jarring. even if published in 1979, it was offputting. I hope modern versions of this book will have removed it.
March 26, 2025
Ring In a Teacup is a good title in the BN catalog but not my favorite. I enjoyed the first two-thirds very much. But the last third... bah. The story, written in 1978 or 1979, is that Lucy is a student nurse and Fraam (another RDD aka Rich Dutch Doctor) is a visiting professor. They meet when she falls asleep during his lecture.
SPOILERS
It's clear he is smitten early on, else why does he keep turning up and trying to get her attention? But Lucy is a "plain" young woman (plain by Betty's puzzling at times standards) and suffers from low self-esteem, not helped by her family history of being the least attractive sibling in her family, then having that feeling of being "less-than" reinforced by all the evidence that Fraam, himself a very handsome man, likes beautiful women and enjoys taking them out. The age difference of 23 to 39 is also a little tough for the reader to swallow, although I'm sure Betty's point is that Fraam is worldly and experienced and it puts him in a bracket that Lucy struggles to fit into. There are plenty of other BN titles with similar age gaps but this one bothered me more, probably because Lucy seems very young. Not immature, perhaps, but young. This impression is a deliberate one created by Betty for a purpose but in the end it doesn't work as an excuse in the face of Fraam's failure to communicate.
After several meetings, some engineered by Fraam and some purely coincidental, he proposes. But even though to the reader he appears smitten, he never tells Lucy unequivocally that he loves her. She is consequently very unsure of him and doubts put into her mind by Fraam's friends, relations and one of his nastier girlfriends about his interest in prettier women are not helping one bit. Faced with these doubts, Fraam suggests rather condescendingly that she is young, inexperienced and he should have taken their courtship more slowly. You know, instead of telling her he loves her. He wants her to believe in him and have faith in his feelings but without him explaining those feelings.
I'm sure Betty drawing this out was a plot point meant to reach page count, but I do find it exasperating that he expects her to just know he loves her despite knowing very well that her low self-esteem is what causes her doubts. A little assurance from him and reinforcing it by telling her often how he feels is what the poor girl needs. So he instead shakes his head over her immaturity? Bah. He is too old for her, he doesn't really understand her, and I can only see this as an HEA for now.
SPOILERS
It's clear he is smitten early on, else why does he keep turning up and trying to get her attention? But Lucy is a "plain" young woman (plain by Betty's puzzling at times standards) and suffers from low self-esteem, not helped by her family history of being the least attractive sibling in her family, then having that feeling of being "less-than" reinforced by all the evidence that Fraam, himself a very handsome man, likes beautiful women and enjoys taking them out. The age difference of 23 to 39 is also a little tough for the reader to swallow, although I'm sure Betty's point is that Fraam is worldly and experienced and it puts him in a bracket that Lucy struggles to fit into. There are plenty of other BN titles with similar age gaps but this one bothered me more, probably because Lucy seems very young. Not immature, perhaps, but young. This impression is a deliberate one created by Betty for a purpose but in the end it doesn't work as an excuse in the face of Fraam's failure to communicate.
After several meetings, some engineered by Fraam and some purely coincidental, he proposes. But even though to the reader he appears smitten, he never tells Lucy unequivocally that he loves her. She is consequently very unsure of him and doubts put into her mind by Fraam's friends, relations and one of his nastier girlfriends about his interest in prettier women are not helping one bit. Faced with these doubts, Fraam suggests rather condescendingly that she is young, inexperienced and he should have taken their courtship more slowly. You know, instead of telling her he loves her. He wants her to believe in him and have faith in his feelings but without him explaining those feelings.
I'm sure Betty drawing this out was a plot point meant to reach page count, but I do find it exasperating that he expects her to just know he loves her despite knowing very well that her low self-esteem is what causes her doubts. A little assurance from him and reinforcing it by telling her often how he feels is what the poor girl needs. So he instead shakes his head over her immaturity? Bah. He is too old for her, he doesn't really understand her, and I can only see this as an HEA for now.
September 19, 2024
I’m livid. The fact that the hero was content to allow the heroine to be a drudge and a nurse while he took out his various, sophisticated girls to dinners and dancing and swanning around at his leisure until he felt inclined to put her out of her misery, and the fact that the heroine is just too stupid to understand how badly she’s going to be used as his future wife.
I’m of a mind with the so called evil tante Sophie about this one, the hero did marry her because she’s permissive and accepting and gullible and a parson’s daughter and he is a ladies man who wants his cake and to eat it too. As in he doesn’t want to give up his lady buffet sampling and at the same time wants children and a family and who better than our stupid, malleable heroine? The tante was spot on with that one. And the OW probably felt horrible that the hero was bypassing her for the home and hearth position because she’s smart and sophisticated enough to give him hell while traipsing around merrily cheating on his wife, I honestly couldn’t blame her for venting out at the heroine. In her eyes the heroine was the real OW and by rights too. This one was AWFUL, and I just wish he was much, much richer to at least make it worth her while in the monetary compensation aspect. And I sincerely hope, that is in my imaginary version, the hero is going to die in about a year or two and shall leave the heroine a very wealthy widow, and she’ll have the time of her life.
I’m of a mind with the so called evil tante Sophie about this one, the hero did marry her because she’s permissive and accepting and gullible and a parson’s daughter and he is a ladies man who wants his cake and to eat it too. As in he doesn’t want to give up his lady buffet sampling and at the same time wants children and a family and who better than our stupid, malleable heroine? The tante was spot on with that one. And the OW probably felt horrible that the hero was bypassing her for the home and hearth position because she’s smart and sophisticated enough to give him hell while traipsing around merrily cheating on his wife, I honestly couldn’t blame her for venting out at the heroine. In her eyes the heroine was the real OW and by rights too. This one was AWFUL, and I just wish he was much, much richer to at least make it worth her while in the monetary compensation aspect. And I sincerely hope, that is in my imaginary version, the hero is going to die in about a year or two and shall leave the heroine a very wealthy widow, and she’ll have the time of her life.
July 7, 2017
Partly because it came on the heels of the so-so so-so Heaven Around The Corner, I liked this story a lot. The two leads seemed to have more chemistry than some, which made the early chapters great fun. Though many of Neels' characters seems quite similar, Lucy seemed younger than some of the others in this, and Fraam a bit more of a playboy. I agree with those who said the snowstorm sequence was particularly fun (if a bit improbable).
I'm not sure what to make of the last two chapters. When I got to his proposal and saw how much book I had left, I was surprised and wondered how Neels would manage to spin the remainder out. In that sense, this had the exact opposite structure of Heaven Around the Corner. Where that book got to the meat of the plot way too late and had to rush it, this one drew out the engagement portion in a most unusual manner. (On the other hand, this gives us a hero who admits to uncharacteristic bad judgment, not usually the kind of shortcoming we get to see one handle.)
I'm not sure what to make of the last two chapters. When I got to his proposal and saw how much book I had left, I was surprised and wondered how Neels would manage to spin the remainder out. In that sense, this had the exact opposite structure of Heaven Around the Corner. Where that book got to the meat of the plot way too late and had to rush it, this one drew out the engagement portion in a most unusual manner. (On the other hand, this gives us a hero who admits to uncharacteristic bad judgment, not usually the kind of shortcoming we get to see one handle.)
November 13, 2020
I usually don’t really like medical romances, as they are often written unrealistically. But I really enjoyed this book. I felt I could really relate with Lucy, especially her feelings during her job (which I felt were quite realistically portrayed - I.e she did get annoyed with her patients and overwhelmed at times- not just all sweetness and lights ). Also the descriptions of most of the medical stuff was quite realistic and quite relatable to the current times, maybe with a few exceptions.
Erm, re: the hero- I felt his character was developing well up to maybe 3/4 of the book... but the towards the end, the story became a bit cliched. And I didn’t really like “the climax” or “how they finally got together”... like throughout the book it was a nice journey, their characters warm up and become more likeable and they developed a nice friendship, but I felt the ending was a bit rushed and a little bit generic...
All in all, definitely 4/5 for this first 3/4 of the book...
Erm, re: the hero- I felt his character was developing well up to maybe 3/4 of the book... but the towards the end, the story became a bit cliched. And I didn’t really like “the climax” or “how they finally got together”... like throughout the book it was a nice journey, their characters warm up and become more likeable and they developed a nice friendship, but I felt the ending was a bit rushed and a little bit generic...
All in all, definitely 4/5 for this first 3/4 of the book...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 52 reviews