A Girl to Love

A GIRL TO LOVE: Betty Neels: Harlequin Publishing: Romance: 217 pages.

British author Neels wrote this romance twenty-seven years ago. Perhaps because of that her leading lady is a throwback to "old fashioned" values. Neels is known for penning chaste romances. Although Sadie is twenty-something she's had little life experience outside her English village and even less experience with men. She proves just the antidote to the distrustful Oliver Trenthem, a television screen writer looking for quiet in the country. Gentle Sadie can not continue to occupy her small but beloved home when her grandmother dies. She has no secretarial or trade skills and no way to make a living. Oliver purchases her house as a writer's retreat and serendipitously hires on Sadie as housekeeper. Sadie soon gets to know the Oliver's domestic eccentricities and pampers him accordingly. Oliver begins to spend more time than he planned in the country and eventually reveals he has two small daughters. Sadie enthusiastically takes over the care of the daughters (after their incompetent nanny is written out of the story). Oliver, Sadie and the daughters revel in the domestic contentment provided by Sadie's excellent housekeeping and mothering talents.

I enjoyed this amiable romance even though plot and characterization are somewhat thin. Sadie is a surprisingly likable character. I found her a nice departure from the bumbling yet sassy material girls that take up so much space in today's chic lit and romance. That said I did wonder what Oliver and Sadie's eventual attachment would end up like. Sadie didn't bring much more to the relationship than her ability to make Oliver comfortable and provide him with a hot meal. My inner feminist bridled that Oliver didn't love Sadie for her sparking intellect and personality. But my inner pragmatist acknowledged that an older man like Oliver would appreciate such a girl as Sadie - calm, competent, and in charge of the domestic routine. My advice would be to not analyze too much and enjoy.

ALC