Have you ever read a Betty Neels' Harlequin Romance?
Many people have a preconception of what a Harlequin Romance is and many are not at all accurate or flattering.
I challenge anyone to read a Betty Neels Harlequin Romance and not find it entertaining and uplifting.
In 1969, Betty already a retired nurse, overheard someone in her local library bemoan the lack of good romance novels. So she wrote one!
When Betty wrote her first Harlequin romance Sister Peters in Amsterdam (Nurses are called Sister in England or were!), the inspirational romance market I write for did not exist.
Betty wrote charming stories about heroines who were honest and quietly self-assured without being showy. Betty's heroes are always the Strong Silent Type, masterful men usually with ties to Holland. Betty herself was married to a Dutch doctor if my memory serves me.
One of my favorite books of hers is Waiting for Deborah, a book in which she stretched her writing in many new ways.
http://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Deborah-Betty-Readers-Choice/dp/0373512570/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244502508&sr=1-1 Other titles that demonstrate Betty's kind of romance: A Good Wife, An Innocent Bride, Heaven is Gentle and Discovering Daisy. Drop by www.eharlequin.com and enter her name in the Search window and you'll find that her romances are still selling out!
In June of 2001, Betty passed away in her nineties after writing for Harlequin continuously from 1969-- penning a total of 134 Harlequin Romances. Harlequin and the world lost a good solid novelist. Fortunately her romances remain and are still being printed and sold. I hope that at the end of my career, I will leave the legacy that Betty Neels did--good stories about real people that lift readers' spirits in a genuine way.--Lyn
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7 comments:
I grew up on Betty Neels!!! She was my grandma's favorite author so my grandma bought tons of her books and gave them to me to read. I remember winter nights, with a stainless steel mixing bowl filled with cheerios and milk, snuggled in bed slurping them down while reading Betty Neels! LOL
Grandma is in assisted living now, so every week i take her her weekly Betty Neels "fix" :) She loves it! :)
I discovered Betty later in life, but still love reading her stories. Right now I'm reading Stormy Springtime. We're about to leave Amsterdam and the hero kissed her!
I have not read any of these books, so please enter me for a drawing. May God bless
mamat2730(at)charter(dot)net
Betty was my muse. I still have one of her books which was a favorite that I pull out like comfort food every once in a while.
Oh, I know what you mean, Lisa. Her books are like old friends.
I just came across my first Betty Neels book last week, the charming "An Unlikely Romance." So glad that others enjoy her so much as I do!
I'm so happy to find that so many other people enjoy Betty the same way I do!
Lyn
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