An Old-Fashioned Girl

by Betty Neels

Country girl Patience knows she can't be more different that the sort of women Julius van der Beek attracts. She is attracted to him but has little hope with glamorous Sylvia van Teule at his side. Reissue.

Genres: Romance, Clean Romance, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Fiction, Harlequin Romance, Slow Burn

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

Evelyn 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

Reviews

[Crazy About Love 💕 · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ three stars -

I’m now understanding the appeal of Betty Neels…

I discovered this prolific Mills and Boon author fairly recently; and in my favorite fashion - by stalking reviews and “favorites” shelves here on Goodreads from romance reviewers I follow. I just love spending time here on Goodreads. It’s easy to while away an hour or two reading reviews, clicking along, discovering new books to read, and finding new reviewers to follow so I can find new books to read. It’s a wonderful maze to get lost in, this site. Just read, review, rinse, repeat. This little nerd just loves it 🥸♥️📖

I am now one hundred percent in agreement with my fellow M&B and Harley readers that Neels is a treasure to the genre of romance. Penning over 134 romance novels beginning in 1969 up until her death, at the age of 91 in 2001; she is someone I can admire for truly finding her passion in life, and fulfilling her creative essence. I would love to think that I’ll be that sharp at 91; able to create and use that part of my brain that is able to nourish artistic output. Here’s hoping 🤞

I have now read a handful of Neels. I’ve found a whole slew of her books available for borrow on Open Library, and am making my way through the titles ready for loan there. Given the fact that there are so many to choose from, it’s going to take me a long, pleasant while to go through them. If you follow me, you might remember that I’ve stated many times over that I am not reviewing every single Harley or M&B that I’ve been reading lately. That task is just too daunting for me to even contemplate. I enjoy writing reviews, certainly, but I don’t want to feel as if it’s a chore, and that’s what it would become if I felt obligated to write nearly a review a day (since that’s about how often I read these). It’s too much for me to even think about!
* for those of you who are able to provide the rest of us with hundreds of reviews - I tip my hat to you 😉

That being said, you can deduce that I did enjoy this book, since clearly you’re reading this review. Why the three stars? I did think about giving this story a four-star rating for a hot minute. While the whole thing is quite sweet, in true Neels style, not much happens 💁‍♀️.

There isn’t much of a plot since the story lies in our heroine’s inner thoughts; and we occasionally get a glimpse into what our Hero is thinking, too. While this is all wonderful, and the sweetness of their thoughts are truly the whole story, I did crave for a little more action. Anything would have helped - mild peril or a little more OW drama, anything. None of that takes place.

You get what’s delivered - a true blue romance in a most matter-of-fact fashion. Funny enough, rather than being a bore, the story just plots along. Pacing is absolutely on-point. The mark of a good writer is on offer here. Neels delivers what she promises: a sweetly done romance with a strong, capable heroine. Complete with the kiss our lovely and lovestruck heroine deserves at the finale, after all the torture of perceived unrequited love our Hero puts her poor heart through. I just loved it! 💗

DO recommend for my fellow M&B junkie. Pick up this sweet romance when you need to happily wile away an hour or two.

Three strong stars.

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patience Martin is a trained stenographer and typist, but she lives with her two aunts in a Norfolk village. The aunts have fallen on hard times and on their solicitor’s advice, are renting out the family home while living in a smaller, cheaper house in the village (á la Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion). The home is rented by an RDD who is writing a book on surgery, Julius van der Beek. The solicitor also suggests that Mr. van der Beek hire a “general factotum” to basically shield him from the outside world; of course, the solicitor has Patience in mind for the job. Julius agrees.

So Patience goes to work for him. He is preoccupied with his book and barricades himself in the study most of the time.

As Betty Magdalen says: “Even when she's working for him, he ignores her. Although he does notice that she has very fine eyes. And deplorable taste in clothing. And an unfashionable way of scraping back her hair. Bah! Stop thinking about the girl and get back to work!

The money allows Patience to buy some much-needed new clothes for herself and new hats for the aunts. Julius’s housekeeper, Miss Murch, is a little testy at first, but Patience grows on her. (As a bonus, Miss Murch and Julius’s London butler, Dobbs, are in love.)

However, after a few weeks' time in the dead of winter, a massive snowstorm cuts them off from the village. Is there anything more romantic than being snowed in? Apparently not, since Patience and Julius fall in love.
But Julius isn’t ready to admit it yet.

Later, Julius's sister needs a temporary nanny so Julius suggests Patience, since his book is mostly finished. This means that Patience gets to go to Holland and see Julius’s home and meet his family. Meanwhile, the aunts can stay in their own home. They are all delighted with one another, so no obstacles on that front. There is a Veronica, but we see very little of her, just enough, in fact for Patience to mistakenly believe Julius is in love with her.

Patience is told the house has been sold and the new owner will allow the aunts to stay on in their home while the sale is finalized. But guess what? Julius is the new owner – he has bought the house for the aunts to live in while Patience will live with him in Holland. Perfect solution for everyone!

Nothing spectacular here, but a good solid Betty. Bonus points for being snowed in and for the RDD buying a house for the heroine.

Some lovely passages/quotes:
"Mr. van der Beek was indeed sitting at his desk, but he wasn't writing. To his annoyance his powerful brain was refusing to concentrate upon transcribing his notes into plain English - interlarded with Latin terms of course - instead, he found his thoughts wandering toward his general factotum. A mouselike creature if ever there was one, he reflected, and surely with that ordinary face and mouselike hair she didn't need to dress like a mouse. Her eyes were beautiful, though; he reflected for a few moments on the length and curl of her eyelashes. She had a charming voice, too . . . "

"Mr. van der Beek had no intention of searching his feelings too deeply; he told himself that he was concerned about Patience because he had uprooted her so ruthlessly from her quiet village life and it behooved him to make sure that she had settled down. . .watching her face, reminded himself to leave her wages on the breakfast table and suppressed a sudden urge to whisk her away to one or other of the exquisite boutiques in and around Bond Street."

"He wondered idly how long ago it was when he'd realised that she wasn't a brown mouse after all."

. . . "you are in my mind and my heart and beneath my eyelids when I sleep. . . My dearest darling, what nonsense is this? Let us have no more of it. You are beautiful and clever and my heart's desire."

[Melindam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first half of the book a lot and thought I could give it 4 stars at least, but by the 2nd half Betty Neels pushed the male MC over the insufferably aloof, secretive and high-handed red line (he still wasn't as insufferable as some others, but came close) and much as I liked Patience, the heroine, it was not enough.

Otherwise the "usual", clean and cosy BN stuff.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someone should organize the Betty Neels tour of England. The tour would go to all the random villages mentioned in these books and at each stop there would be a book discussion of which story was set in that town and which handsome Dutch doctor saved the day and whether or not the faithful family retainer was named Potts or Trottie.

[Caro]

Patience es una pobrecita que trabaja y hace de todo mientras el doctor holandés se siente atraído por ella, pero salvo un par de besos no lo demuestra. Aparece la OW a humillar a nuestra pobre ratoncita, pero no logra quedarse con el corazón del doctor. Un ejemplo del cánon Betty, contado dulcemente y acogedor en este otoño argentino.

[Grrrrace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catching up on my Betty review backlog, and I had forgotten An Old-Fashioned Girl (1992) and how much I enjoyed it, for all that it’s such a quiet story. There’s almost no OW drama or Big Misunderstandings—really, it’s just about two people falling in love and coming to realize it over time. While it doesn’t stand out among Betty’s similar Cinderella stories, it was nonetheless one that I liked immensely, with one of Betty’s “nice young ladies” who manages to charm everyone she comes into contact with—including me.

The old-fashioned girl of the title is Patience Martin, one of Betty’s not-obviously-pretty heroines with beautiful gray eyes, abundant mousy hair, and a practical but optimistic personality. Patience lives with her elderly aunts, caring for them at the expense of a career and life of her own. But she does it willingly and with love and shields them from the harsher realities of their loss of capital (in a bad investment) and home. To make ends meet, they have been forced to rent out the comfortable old-fashioned rural Norfolk house they’ve always lived in and move into a small place in the village. Fortunately, our hero, eminent Rich Dutch Doctor, Julius van der Beek, decides to rent the house for six months while he works on a medical reference book.

At the solicitor’s suggestion, he hires Patience as a “general factotum”—someone who will answer phones, deal with tradesmen, help out as needed, and generally shield him from all distractions and interruptions while he works on his book. His dour housekeeper, Miss Murch, is on hand to make sure she works hard and doesn’t disturb the doctor.

But the doctor is nonetheless disturbed (and annoyed about it) by her: a mouselike creature…Her eyes were beautiful though; he reflected for a moment on the length and curl of her eyelashes. She had a charming voice too….

Patience is equally intrigued by the handsome, if aloof, doctor but does her best to keep out of his way. But a snowstorm cuts the house off from the village for a few days, and although Miss Murch is on hand as chaperone, the storm creates a sort of intimacy between them as they split chores to keep the house warm and everyone fed with dwindling food supplies.

Following the storm, Julius asks Patience if she’ll type his manuscript (for once a BN heroine has office skills!) for more pay, which she agrees to do. Patience decides some of it can be spared for new clothes; “she had seen the looks Mr. van der Beek had cast at her from time to time—indifference mingled with pity—and she had found them hard to bear.” Our heroine is already falling for Julius but hasn’t quite admitted it yet—but her efforts to improve her looks are surprisingly angsty, particularly when her changed appearance garners nothing more than a “brief and wholly uninterested” glance. …Patience had a hard job convincing herself that it didn’t matter in the least that he hadn’t even noticed her outfit. She told herself stoutly that she had bought the clothes to please herself and with other thought in mind. A palpable lie she had no intention of admitting to.

But he has noticed: “I like the new clothes, Patience…Did you think I hadn’t noticed?”
“Well, yes, but it wouldn’t have mattered—I meant I bought them because I wanted to look nice and they were pretty.” You tell him, Patience! But when he goes away for a few days, she misses him: It was more than a week before he returned, and long before then she had to admit to herself that she missed him—him and his cold eyes, his bland remoteness and his sudden kindnesses and his indifference. I just love Betty’s understated angst. No high drama, just quiet, seemingly unrequited love hidden by a stoic heroine who would hate if he were to guess her feelings and pity her.

He is thinking of her too, in telling ways even if he’s still wondering at his interest in her: He had been thinking about her a good deal and laughing at himself for doing so. He told himself that there was nothing about her to attract his thoughts; a small dab of a girl, although he had to admit that she had beautiful eyes, clear and trusting… she had been full of surprises; no one, seeing her for the first time, would credit her with the sound common sense she undoubtedly possessed… The people in the village liked her… and she had courage. . . . She deserved better things from life.
He enjoys her surprising tartness on occasion too (usually when he’s being overbearing in that RDD way):

“Don’t, I beg you, repeat everything I say like a poll parrot; just sit still and listen.”

“I’m listening and I’m sitting still,” said Patience snappily, “and stop talking as though you were addressing a meeting.”

His eyebrows rose at that, and then he laughed. No one had talked to him like that for a long time, and he rather enjoyed it.

His book completed, Julius leaps at the chance to keep Patience around longer, as temporary nanny for his niece while her own nanny recovers from appendicitis. So we’re off to London, with a trip to Holland (of course!) following. Our kind-at-heart hero makes arrangements for the heroine’s elderly aunts to stay in their old home with his housekeeper to care for them.

Patience goes to Julius’s lovely house in a posh part of London—no modern service flats for our RDDs! Toddler Rosie is a charmer, as is Julius’s sister Marijke, who is pregnant and not feeling well and anxious that Patience not think her selfish and lazy (unlike some other BN hero sisters who unrepentantly selfish and lazy--the hero’s sister in Magic in Venice, who leaves her preteen daughter with her mother when she jaunts off to South American for two years with her husband and who fires the heroine with no notice and pretends she’s doing her a favor, springs to mind—pfffttt, our poor heroines sometimes go from crappy relatives to crappy in-laws, although they don’t seem to realize it).

Julius tries to be aloof and indifferent to Patience while she’s in London, but she’s ever on his mind, outshining even the pretty, well-dressed young ladies who vie for his attention. Patience, on the other hand, is clearly trying to avoid him, and Julius, used, without conceit, to the eagerness of the opposite sex to bear him company, felt intrigued…[it was] an altogether different matter from his avoidance of her.…

Despite trying hard to stop mooning over him, Patience has her Dawning Realization soon after [after a long night at the hospital] he was tired, and Patience, looking at the weary lines in his face, had the sudden feeling that all that mattered was to erase those same lines, tell him to go to bed while she got him a warm drink and see to it that he had a good night’s sleep. If he had a wife, she thought, she would do that for him…and she was almost swept away with the strong desire to be that wife. She stood looking at him…struck dumb by her discovery... She objects strongly when she realizes he’s going back to work and is mortified when he looks at her with “astonished amusement,” but we get our first kiss before he leaves.

Nanny’s still under the weather, so he suggests to his sister that Patience go back to Holland with her temporarily. “I’ll take her out this evening and explain things to her,” he says. Patience is at first delighted by his invitation, but becomes annoyed when he is typically high handed about it: this wasn’t an invitation, it was a forgone conclusion, at least on his part. For two pins she wouldn’t go, knowing even as she thought it that of course she would go. He wasn’t in the least bit interested in her but at least she would be in his company for an hour or two and it would be an occasion to treasure later on. How does this not infuriate me? I guess a couple of reasons—Betty’s heroines are so clear-eyed about their prospects and motives, usually, and so determined to keep their feelings a secret even as they decide to live in the moment and see what happens, that she avoids making them pitiful somehow. So she pulls it off, for me at least.

Nonetheless, Patience is a little bitter inside about what a convenience she is for him, “first his house and his book and now his niece,” and despite enjoying the meal and conversation, and the discovery they share a lot of tastes and opinions, she begins to wonder if he was making an effort to be agreeable so that he could be sure she would agree to go… She tells him that he didn’t need to bring her out—she didn’t need buttering up, and he is clearly angry at the assumption, but when she apologizes and hopes she didn’t ruin the evening, he relaxes and smiles at her; perhaps she had imagined the ferocity.

We’re off to Holland, a familiar trip for Betty readers! No big travelogue—Patience’s nanny routine seems much the same as it was in Chiswick. Julius does take her and Rosie to his house for the day—and insists that Patience call him Julius now that he’s no longer employing her. Progress! He has the typical RDD beautiful ancestral home, complete with a second Faithful Family Retainer named Dobbs (brother to Julius’s London Dobbs, hee!). We also get an understated Dawning Realization from our hero: He tucked his niece under his arm and held out the other hand to Patience. It was a large, firm hand, and the feel of it on hers made her insides tremble. He didn’t let it go at once either, but still held it closely, looking down at her so searchingly that she asked, “Is there anything the matter, is something wrong?”

“On the contrary, everything is very right.”

Patience gets the Home Tour of Eternal Love and is sad at the thought that he will live there with someone else, “some very beautiful girl…who would be the confident hostess of this lovely old home.” But she typically decides that there was all day ahead of her and in Julius’s company. Never mind the future—that could take care of itself for the moment—she was going to enjoy every moment of now.

But alas, their idyll is interrupted by the arrival of Sylvia van Teule—striking, dressed to kill, and on the make for our RDD. Julius wants no part of her, though: “His eyes were like blue ice” when she demands to know what Patience is doing at his home. Sylvia is very much the outsider in their happy little pseudo-family circle(and Rosie does her bit by sticking her tongue out at snotty Sylvia, hee).

But Patience is even more determined to get over Julius, and he decides afterward “it would be the wrong moment to suggest…some tentative ideas about her future.” He is returning to England, and we get our second kiss before he goes: No one had ever kissed her like that before…rather like an electric shock, she thought bemusedly… she just stood there, gazing up into his face….
Patience runs into Sylvia while shopping in Den Haag, and the other girl claims that she and Julius are a couple. Our silly heroine believes her—a typical Betty device that works only because her heroines usually have self-confidence issues (even the pretty ones are remarkable self-effacing and a little shy).

Patience returns to England. To her great surprise, Julius is waiting to drive her home. He tells her they’ll talk, but before any such conversation takes place, Patience reveals her belief that he and Sylvia are a couple, and Julius tells her that he doesn’t have time to untangle the muddle she’s in, but he’ll be back.

And when he does come back, we get a quick resolution as he makes it clear that it’s Patience he wants—indeed intends—to marry. “I find that life is intolerable without you, my dearest love; you are in my mind and my heart and beneath my eyelids when I sleep. I think that I have always loved you….You are beautiful and clever and my heart’s desire.” Awwww. A nicely romantic declaration and HEA that wraps things up neatly!

Betty car porn:

Hero drives the standard-issue Bentley (second only to Rolls Royce in her RDD car choices):

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this for what it was. I'm not much of a romance genre reader, but I wanted a fluff book and this fit that need.

[Poonam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book by Betty Neels that I have read that does not involve the typical hospital romance. The H is a dutch doctor but the h is first a house-helper then a secretary and finally a nanny.

A very sweet romance that starts in a small English village and then travels to Holland.
I loved everything about the h including her name (Patience). One thing I remember noticing is that I did not realize the H's name is Julius to about 50% of the book as he was always addressed by his Last Name.
This book is not all from the h's perspective but we get glimpses of what the H is thinking which was pleasant to read.

There is an OW but she only appears for a brief period towards the end and it is very obvious that the H is not at all interested in her.

After reading this book I read up a bit on Betty Neels and realized that her husband was Dutch. Now I get all the Dutch heroes in her books ;)

[Susan in NC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a favorite quick reread - whenever I'm between books and can't decide what to read next, Betty Neels is comfort food for my brain! Gentle, sweet, lovely stories, happy ending guaranteed, that never fail to make me smile.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is on my top list of Bettys so far! The basic premise is that Patience Martin has lived with her two elderly aunts in their small manor house for a number of years in a small village in Norfolk. The aunts have fallen on hard times, so the three women have moved to a smaller house in the village and are looking for a tenant for their house. Julius van der Beek is a surgeon who needs six months of solitude to write and edit a medical book of some kind. He rents the house and brings his London housekeeper with him. He also needs a local person to help with odds and ends in running the house and being the go-between with the local merchants (butcher, baker, candlestick maker ;). Julius' housekeeper, Miss Murch, is hopelessly citified and insults the butcher about his pork chops. Fortunately, Patience can step in and, of course, she knows the house and village inside and out.

Julius remains a mysterious figure because he is so focused on writing and is not to be disturbed. That all changes when a snowstorm descends with East Anglian fury and Patience, Miss Murch, and Julius are snowed in together. Miss Murch comes down with 'flu, so Julius and Patience are thrown together...

Betty tropes abound here. Patience is plain with bad clothes but beautiful eyes and a lovely speaking voice. Julius is over 6 feet tall and broad shouldered. He is Dutch, aloof, rich, drives a super nice car, and has a tendency to look down his nose. Somehow Betty can reuse these basics very often and the characters still become their own persons. I thought Patience was a lovely blend of forthright, kind (especially to her aunts and their struggle to grasp their changed circumstances), and competent. The snowstorm quickly shows Julius in a more human light. I loved that section because it builds a bond of respect between them.

Later in the novel, the action moves to London and then Holland, and we get to know Julius' sister and her family. I enjoyed this section, too, especially Dobbs and Dobbs' counterpart in Holland, hehe Miss Murch also becomes a more well-rounded character, and I quite enjoyed her. Most of all, I enjoyed the lack of interpersonal conflict and missed communication in this one. There is a little of the latter of course, but it's quite mild and doesn't drag out the story unnecessarily. The end scene is quite moving and sweet. I can definitely see returning to this story in the future for a good comfort read.

[Bookworman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful! One of my new favorites. For once the heroine didn't act in a clueless, annoying fashion. A definite future re-read.

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela traducida como “Del sueño a la realidad” tiene a la joven Patience Martín como protagonista. Ella es una joven huérfana que vive con sus tías abuelas de la renta de una propiedad que vio mejores épocas y a la espera de venderla. Lleva una vida modesta sin grandes lujos, más bien es una vida hogareña y campestre. Así y todo sus tías de edad avanzada se preocupan por lo que será de la vida de la buena y anticuada Patience.Su vida cambia cuando el Dr Julius van der Beek alquila la casa por 6 meses y ella termina trabajando para él.Nos encontraremos con los protagonistas intercambiando miradas,palabras durante una tormenta de nieve que los aísla,así como muchas tazas de té.Apenas conoce a Patience el cirujano encontrará a la muchacha sencilla y reconfortante, diferente a toda mujer que conoció alguna vez, más allá de su mal vestir ( no por nada Betty tituló esta novela como Una chica pasada de moda)y su comportamiento misterioso que la volverá atractiva ante sus ojos,él hombre rico caerá rendido a sus pies.y tendrán su final feliz. Como novedad dentro del canon de Betty Neels encuentro sobre el final del libro lo siguiente: Patience está en lo alto de un desván, el doctor la observa desde abajo y alaba sus lindas piernas por segunda vez, para que ella no se caiga la ayuda a bajar tomándola en sus brazos, entonces aquí es donde se explicita que “Van der Beek era tan sensible como cualquier otro hombre, a pesar de su actitud indiferente.Por eso la soltó en el momento que ella tocó el suelo.” 😌🤭🤔Es una de las pocas líneas explícitas que vamos a leer en Betty pero siempre es agradable encontrar algo así.🥰

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

2025: I enjoyed this reread and buddy read with Libby and Elizabeth. Still a favorite Betty!

My very favorite of all the Bettys so far! ❤️❤️❤️

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandma introduced me to Betty Neels and I totally love her books. If you like quick simple love stories that are totally clean then these are the books for that. Its like reading an L.M. Montgomery book or Sarah Plain and Tall. They are all about the same but a little different and very quick fun easy reads. Most of them are about people that are in the medical field but you don't have to be in the medical field to enjoy it. She is definitely a favorite with me now.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely read. Set in a village in rural Norfolk county, England. Stalwart lovable Patience Martin’s aunts own a fine old house but cannot afford it, so rent it to Dutch surgeon Julius van der Beek, who needs a quiet writing retreat.

Patience and her aunts are poverty stricken due to bad investments, but thanks to their elderly solicitor-elves, Mr Bennett and Mr Tomkins, there is hope on the horizon. With their maneuvering, Patience is hired to be the doctor’s discreet factotum, bouncer, doorkeeper. Letter opener. She basically runs interference with her beloved Village People. He needs to write, dammit!! He must have quiet!

Julius is huge. Viking. He was an extremely tall man, heavily built and still in his thirties, with a commanding nose in a handsome face, a firm mouth and light clear blue eyes. His hair was so fair that it was difficult to see where it was already silvered with grey.

Patience is nothing special in the looks department, but NOTHING phases her. She is not one bit bedazzled by his wealth and fame and gives as good as she gets, mostly with great good cheer. He knows not what to make of this girl.

Snow falls. And falls. Snowbound. When his housekeeper, Miss Murch, gets flu, Patience cooks for him while he hunts and gathers (firewood). They bond over busted boilers and scrumptious crumpets.

(This is not the nasty governess Miss Murch from A Girl to Love — which by the way has a similar set-up.)

Scenes in Holland with the adorable child Rosie. Beware the glamorous Sylvia van Teule — nah, she’s negligible.

Patience is just too good to be true and makes me feel like an utter sloth.

Simmering ending. Nice legs. Red-blooded male. Snogging amongst the cobwebs.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms Neels had a incredible talent for story telling. This is a new favourite that I'm sure I'll read again with equal pleasure. Our hero, Julius, is a very important cardiac surgeon whose specialty is heart transplant. Our heroine, Patience, is a young woman struggling to care for her two elderly great-aunts. They've moved out of the great house so that it may be sold or leased. Julius takes the house on a six month lease finding it's isolation suitable for the time he needs to write his text book on cardiac surgery. He also hires Patience to help his housekeeper and to keep all interruptions out of his way. When he learns that Patience can type, he hires her on to type his manuscript. Slowly as life progresses Julius begins to see Patience in new lights and Patience learns that Julius has a kind heart even when he scowls. What sets this romance apart from earlier ones from Ms. Neels, is we are privy to some of Julius' inner thoughts as he slowly falls in love.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet old school romance. I appreciate a clean sweet romance. It was perfect for the mood I was in today. I think I may see what else my library has by this author for days like today.

[Megzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable quick read by Betty Neels.

[Teri-K · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story started out nicely. I enjoyed the heroine and the way the MCs got together was clever. But by chapter seven I really needed something to happen. A very short-lived effort to introduce the OW went nowhere fast, and there was literally nothing else going on. Not her best.

[Marti (Letstalkaboutbooksbaybee) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a very generous one star

[Aarathi Burki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice story and I really liked the heroine patience, she was ever so practical, adjusting and humble but I didn’t like the way she was treated by Julius sometimes as a secretary then typist then cook and caretaker and finally as a nanny. But patience being so kind hearted does all the duties assigned to her and eventually Julius realises though she has no great looks it’s her kind nature and simple calmness that matters and falls for her

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the later books by Betty Neels with a heroine in impoverished circumstances rather than the nurses of her early books.

Patience is the carer for her two elderly great-aunts. Unlike some of Betty's more downtrodden heroines, they are lovely and treat her kindly although they do consider her plain and unlikely to marry. Unfortunately they have suffered financial reverses and have been forced to rent out their lovely home in a small English village and move to a tiny terrace house to make ends meet.

Julius van der Beek is the illustrious Dutch heart surgeon who rents the place for six months while he writes a learned tome on the subject of his speciality. He want's absolute peace and quiet and Patience is employed, on the recommendation of her family lawyer, to be the person of all work to answer phones, handle tradespeople and generally keep the outer world at bay.

If all had gone well, Patience might have gone through the entire six months only seeing the back of her employer or glimpses of him taking his dog for a walk. However, winter storms and the housekeeper catching flu bring them together and when he learns she can type, they continue to interact although only really on employer, employee basis.

We get to see inside Julius head right from the start and it's quite fun to see him gradually change his initial opinion of this mousey girl. Patience is not well named at times. She does have a backbone and this comes through when Julius is provoking as most Betty Neels with their strong silent attitude are.

There was the usual nasty other woman but she only makes a brief appearance to provide a little angst close to the end.

Overall a very typical and enjoyable read from one of my favourite vintage authors.

[Jojo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember buying this when I was 14ish because I had so liked The Girl with Green Eyes a couple years before. I very vaguely remember reading it once and not being terribly enamored of it, so I was not all nostalgic about it when I found it again.

After rereading The Girl with Green Eyes and liking it approximately a million times less than I did when I was younger, for some reason I thought that rereading this one also would be a good idea.

Things didn't turn out so bad as they might have though. I actually enjoyed this one. I had many of the same problems with it as I had with the other - namely that it comes off as terribly old-fashioned and not really in a good way - but it's amazing how much less that matters when the characters actually have personalities. I didn't necessarily always like Patience and Julius, but at least they didn't come across as completely flat.

Same amount of stars for this one as I gave the other, but here they are both for content. I don't think I'll read it - or any Betty Neels - again, but I didn't entirely hate it.

[Olly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julius Van der Beek yang ahli bedah itu akhirnya menemukan tandingannya. Tak lain dan tak bukan adalah Patience Martin, gadis yang sehari-hari bekerja membantu mengurus rumahnya, dan memastikan Julius terbebas dari gangguan sekitar. Tapi justru gadis itu sendiri yang mengganggu pikiran Julius.
Padahal Patience hanyalah gadis kampung yang punya selera pakaian yang buruk, bertubuh mungil tetapi sama sekali tidak langsing, sama sekali tidak cantik, tapi sanggup menghadirkan makanan di saat tidak ada bahan yang layak untuk dimasak.
Patience yang bermulut tajam itu sering kali membuat Julius terkejut dengan komentar-komentar pedasnya yang sama sekali di luar dugaan, serta mampu membuatnya tertawa terbahak-bahak, bahkan hanya dengan mengingatnya.
Romance yang bener-bener kuno dan memikat.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. I found Betty Neels when I was looking for more wholesome romance novels. And this book is very clean. Some of the ideas would strongly irritate a modern female (including this one) but I chose to just accept the character for the time period and circumstances surrounding her. Thus, this book became a pleasant read.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as much as I've enjoyed her other books, I thought the male character was a bit moodier and sullen than usual and I can't blame the female character calling him a spoilt brat lol but I did like the female character she was strong.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good solid romance. Very clean. The men in Betty Neels stories are all so very controlling and the women so mousey. You always know how the woman feels but the man is so cold and austere - it leaves it lacking.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read almost aall of her books. They are an easy read and very sweet.

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

A perfectly fine romance, if a bit dull. The hero is also a bit too controlling for my taste. Definitely a clean read. 2.5 stars.

[Aayesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, the ending left me wanting more :(