As are most of Betty Neels' books, this is a sweet and light romance that runs a little toward the antiseptic in his romance, but still satisfying enough to recommend. Krijn is an emminent doctor who is attempting to write a book on bile ducts, Beatrice is a nurse who is mousy and plain and is resigned to a spinster life ahead. However, she meets the good Professor and falls for him almost immediately. The professor, notoriously absentminded, takes a little longer to catch on, and proposed a marriage of convenience. Beatrice, happy to take him however she can get him, agrees to it and secretly plans to convince him to make the marriage a real one. It take the entire book to make Krijn come to his senses, and realize he's just as crazy about her as she is about him, but along the way its a good story. I felt often sorry for Beatrice, obviously used to being ignored but really hungering for her husband to take notice of her, and I wanted often to shake Krijn and yell at him to open his eyes. But the characters are both likeable, and you really get interested in their romance despite the shortcomings. A high recommendation here.

Share/Like this Review?

From back of book:

The Professor Proposed...

But love wasn't part of his proposal. Not even afte Krijn van der Brink-Schaaksma confessed to Beatrice that he'd "someday like to fall in love."

Obviously he didn't consider Beatrice a candidate for "loving" wife. Theirs would be a marriage of convenience only, he had told her. But whose convenience? Could she possibly share her life with this man?

Yet secretly Beatrice began to hope that one day Krijn might come to care for her as much as she already cared for him...

Share/Like this Review?