Yes, I'm still reading works by Betty Neels. I bought a few special releases during the past few years where Harlequin had been offering two stories in one edition. I don't know if the company continued to do so for Betty Neels' novels throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but I have noticed that there have been special editions of Love Inspired Historical novels when I get a chance to slink out of my home to go to the local Walmart.
Anyways, A Christmas Wish was published along with A Winter Love Story in a Special Release by Harlequin in 2019. This review covers only A Christmas Wish, as I haven't started reading A Winter Love Story yet.
Every time I've written a review of a Betty Neels romance, I end up repeating a lot of things as her writing tends to be formulaic.
I'm tempted to write this review using a template that appears as such:
Protagonists:
Heroine: Olivia Harding: Jill-of-All-Trades, extremely capable twenty-seven year old woman with a "splendid shape," who lives with an overbearing grandmother and a meek mother. She has no special training or skills, making it difficult to find work after she is let go from her job as a hospital records clerk, even though she is a hard working, and superior employee.
Hero: Haso van der Eisler: Older, rich, handsome, blond, Dutch, 36 year old medical specialist, whose eye is caught by Olivia. In the shocker of shockers...he actually remembers her from their first meeting, unlike many other Betty Neels' heroes. God-father to Nel, the daughter of his best friend, Rob, who is no longer alive. Does not show emotions clearly, and is sufficiently vague enough so that the heroine doesn't know that she is the object of his affections.
Plot: The good doctor tries to find Olivia a position when her hospital clerical job becomes redundant, eventually finding her a job at a girl's school where Nel attends. Olivia falls in love with said doctor, wondering if she has a chance with him, as it seems that everyone else is expecting for the doctor and Nel's mother to marry.
Antagonist of note:
Rita: Nel's mother who is not much of a mother. Gold-digger who is looking for a second husband who will support the lifestyle that she is accustomed to.
Secondary character of note:
Nel: The god-daughter who brings Olivia and Haso together...like, about 95% of the time.
Stuff that this novel also has:
Loser ex-boyfriend who tosses heroine over for a less attractive woman who has better connections. The heroine even attends his wedding!
Evil, social climbing maternal grandmother who constantly puts Olivia down for absolutely everything, because Olivia is a reminder of the son-in-law that Grams never wanted.
Heroine gets soundly kissed, but still thinks that she's not in a relationship with the hero, and that he's not interested in her romantically.
Heroine's hair gets unpinned and tumbles down!
So...did I like this novel?
Yes...I did. Really. And it's because this time around in Betty Neels-land, I actually respected the hero, Haso. Yeah, he did respond "silkily" to the heroine once when she snarked at him about being a know-it-all over what she should do about her ex's invitation to his wedding. (I hate it when BN's heroes say things silkily, because I hate The Condescension! I despise The Impudence! I abhor The Nastiness! I hate it when the hero Cuts-the-Heroine-Down-to-Put-Her-in-Her-Place in this way. Yup. My hackles go up when I see the hero say something silkily.)
But I'm getting off topic.
Haso won me over. He seems to be a genuinely nice man, polite, and wants to hide the fact that he's Olivia benefactor in landing her new job at Nel's school. He's observant, shows how much he cares about people, and takes his job as Nel's god-father very seriously.
I also felt that he tried to communicate his interest to Olivia, and to clarify his feelings for her when he noticed that she didn't understand. This time, I think the blame lies with Olivia for not being able to read Haso and his intentions clearly.
I liked Haso...even though he still was a bit bossy.
So, yeah...there are a lot of static characters...dare I say... caricatures and stereotypes in this novel...but because I liked the hero more than usual, I enjoyed this book.
