The Promise of Happiness by Betty Neels

It was a romance without any romance and I don't know who was more surprised when the hero suddenly proposed to the heroine - Becky or me. I truly didn;t expect it, although I knew that  something like that simply must happen at the end of this kind of a book.

Becky is one of the most passive and dull heroines I've ever read about and the Baron is so arrogant and unpleasant that it was quite difficult to keep reading at times. Becky spent a few years being literally a slave of her stepmother and stepbrother. The Baron helps her escape and employs her as his mother's nurse, where Becky is kind of a slave again, as the Baroness forgets about little things like wages or time off. Everybody, from the Baron to servants, keep repeating how boring and unattractive Becky is, plus the Baron has a mistress, who is beautiful and charming and who practically lives with him. And suddenly, completely out of the blue (for me, at least), the Baron decides to marry Becky and it's the end of the story.

Wait, what? How did it happen? - don't ask me. I have absolutely no idea.

The book was short, but it took me the whole week to finish it - I just couldn't read more that a chapter at one time. It's so forgettable, that I already don't remember any details and I literally just finished it! The language was not bad and I believe some poeple may truly enjoy it - but it's definitely not for me. I'm not going to read any other books by this author.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Antigone in New York by Janusz Glowacki

It was horrible and great at the same time, I both hated and loved it, so I guess it did exactly what it was supposed to do. I didn't give it five stars, because, you know, I hated it - but it was really deeply moving. Classical "Antigone" is generally a story of a girl, who is trying to bury her dead brother. This book tells a similar story: there is a group of homeless people in the park, a crazy woman and two men. One morning they find out, that their friend John died, so the woman decides that he should be buried in the park, next to his friends.  I didn't like any of the characters in this play, I didn't like the story, I hated the ending - and still, I think it was a very good book, moving and thought-provoking, and I'm very happy that I decided to read it.
Read more

weeks from 33 to 39

For the last seven weeks I couldn't write on my blog, but I'm happy to write, that I didn't forget about my reading challenge - I just need to write about all seven missing books in one post. Week 33 was "a book from your childhood" and I chose "Giancarlo wkracza do akcji" by Giuliano Amici . I remember, that I used to love it when I was a child - unfortunately, it seems that you need to be a child to appreciate this book. I didn't enjoy it at all. Week 34 was "a book that made you cry". I re-read "Cien ojca" by Jan Dobraczynski . I read it on a train and cried all the time - I'm sure I made the other passengers feel quite uncomfortable. The book was really beautiful and I enjoyed it immensly. Week 35 was "a book you own but have never read". I decided to read (finally!) "Shalador's Lady" by Anne Bishop . This book has been waiting on my to-be-read shelf for almost ten years, because I was
Read more

The end

It's time to finish!  I had 50 challenges ready and I did 41 of them - not bad and I'm quite satisfied. What I realised lately is that I'm bored with this reading challenge, and reading was always a joy, not a chore for me. I don't want my reading to be tedious and demanding, it's to be fun and relaxing. So - it's the end for me :) Let's go reading - without a list this time! :)
Read more