Just a Nice Girl

by Mary Burchell

Nicola had grown accustomed to being compared to her exceptionally pretty cousins and dismissed as a nobody. It would, of course, be nice to be noticed and admired, but where was the man who was likely to do that? Then she met Piers — and his attractive cousin Leigh.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romance

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Ida Cook was born on 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her eldest sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attending the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera. The sisters helped 29 jews to escape from the Nazis, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.

As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.

Reviews

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I often wonder how many loserish young men Mary Burchell must have come across. Even her heroes often have a weak streak in them but usually only enough to make them need the unwavering love of the heroine.

Nicola is the ordinary one of the family. Her cousins are all rather unique in their own ways and as the orphaned niece, she feels rather isolated. So meeting the charming Piers is just the thing to light up her life, even if he comes with a rather cynical cousin Leigh, who is an author.

Working for Leigh, despite his occasionally off putting comments, is a major step for Nicola, boosting her confidence. His disapproval of her friendship with Piers is the only cloud on her horizon.

Then an incident shows her Piers in a different light and it is Leigh who comes out as the better man in comparison.

This is not a strong story but it was still an enjoyable read and I liked the hero.

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was middle of the road for Burchell mostly because I had difficulty liking the heroine.

I found her to be an absolute "ditz" lacking integrity and good judgement. Because of her stupidity, she ends up compromised when she gets stranded at an inn with Piers, the cousin of the hero. To make matters worse, Piers decides to sign his cousins name to the hotel ledger (instead of his own) to avoid a potential scandal. (Though, I guess it's okay to implicate your cousin in a scandal.) Our poor hero, is now charged with an illicit liaison when the neighborhood "busybody" catches the heroine at the hotel in the early morning and is informed by the chambermaid that the man is still in their room.

Piers was your basic creep and had absolutely no morals, values or ethics. Yet, the heroine spent most of the book either fawning all over him or defending making excuses for him to others. Secondly, even though there was no "nooky" going on at the inn (this being a vintage Harlequin), she was sure busy with Piers, gallivanting around town ; taking long walks, dinners, rides in the countryside. She claimed they were just friends, but they spent a whole lot of time lip locked. I found that distasteful given he was married. Even though he was supposedly estranged from his wife.

In spite of the fact that I didn't find this to be up to normal Burchell standards, I was still entertained. I find that to be the power of Burchell, and the reason I enjoy her work so much.

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicola Round is an orphan who was taken in by her father's sister, Aunt Katherine Round, after her father's death. Aunt Katherine is a widow with 5 children, the alphabetically named Anne, Bridgett, Caroline, Diana and Edward. They live in a small English village, very Betty-like, although more maliciously gossipy, especially one Miss Pottington. The A-B-C-D girls are all very accomplished in some way and Nicola feels very plain and out-done by them since she is the titular "just a nice girl." So when a young man, Piers Mason, begins to pay attention to her at a village charity event, she is very flattered. Piers has an older cousin, Leigh, who seems forbidding and rather grumpy; Piers says that he is something of a woman-hater. Nevertheless, Nicola rather likes Leigh and agrees to work for him as his secretary.

Piers is a womanizing cad AND he is married. And even after she learns that, Nicola rather naively thinks they are just friends and still goes around with him quite a bit. One evening they have gone sightseeing and start to return to the village rather late when they discover a leak in the petrol tank; they are forced to spend the night - in separate rooms of course - in the local pub. But Piers uses Leigh's name on the register instead of his own.

The next morning, Nicola is downstairs early and of course, she runs into Miss Pottington. Guiltily, she fibs about why she is there which makes it far worse when the maid tells Nicola that Mr. Mason will be down soon. Knowing that Miss Pottington will notify the entire village, Nicola tells Leigh and Aunt Katherine the truth. They decide the public story will be almost the truth, with the car breakdown, but with Leigh as the driver instead of Piers. Nicola tries to keep a brave face, but some of the villagers definitely are being catty.

Piers is called away for his work (he's an engineer). Leigh mentions a MOC as a solution and Nicola accepts. As the wedding date approaches, Nicola thinks it is only fair to write to Piers and notify him of the upcoming wedding. He shows up in the village and throws a fit, saying that he loves Nicola and always intended to marry her once he is divorced, yada yada. But then he drops a real bombshell and says that Leigh is in love with Nicola which is the real reason for his proposal.

After the ceremony and once they leave on the honeymoon, Nicola confronts Leigh and he admits he loves her. And just like that, with no prior warning at all, Nicola says she loves him, too. Rather oddly abrupt.

This is one of Mary Burchell's later books and still enjoyable, although the ending was a bit rushed. IMO, she should have deleted some of the earlier scenes between Piers and Nicola and added a bit more to the ending. 3.25 stars.

[Ns2np5 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[More Books Than Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but poorly structured.
Beginning was too long and the middle third dragged. Heroine was horribly naive.

[Melanie Emry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor copy

The story is good, but the copy is so bad it interrupts the reading.

It reeks of copies made without copyright permission.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read by Mary Burchell, published in 1941.
Nicola is the unremarkable cousin living with her aunt, her four amazing daughters and her son, Edward. Edward is one of my favorite characters.
At a fair, Nicola meets both Piers and his cousin Leigh. She goes to work for Leigh, while being courted by Piers. An important detail comes to light.
Piers' car breaks down and he and Nicola spend the night at an inn, in separate rooms. But in the morning, the town gossip has stopped there for breakfast and assumes Nicola is in an immoral situation. Piers is very much concerned about his own hide, and leaves Nicola to suffer the backlash of the community. At the last minute, certain details emerge which complicate matters.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the more dated Mary Burchell title that I've read. The 20-year-old heroine Nicola, an orphan living with her aunt’s family, goes to work as a secretary for an “elderly” author (he’s 35). His philanderer nephew asks her on a drive; when the car breaks down, they spend the night in separate rooms in a seedy hotel. For reasons of his own, the nephew signs his uncle’s name to the register. The local busybody happens to be in the hotel as well and thinks the worst of Nicola (that is, that she has spent the night with a man in a hotel!). The writer offers to marry Nicola to save their reputations, and of course they realize they love each other and live happily ever after.

This book was written in 1941 and shows its age without feeling like historical fiction (as the best older romances do). Mary Burchell is my favorite genre romance writer – I’m making my way through a collection I saved from many years ago – but this is not one of my favorites.

[Erica Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as some other Mary Burchell books I've read, but kept me entertained. The only thing I didn't care for was the heroine's continued involvement with a man after finding out he was married. It didn't seem like something she would do based on her other actions in the book.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks, Constance, it was nice light relief from planning physics experiments for tomorrow morning. It reminded me of Betty Neels without the Dutch aspect...

[Nenya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see why this author was recommended as "like Betty Neels". The story was so lighthearted. Frivolous, but fun. I liked Diana, or rather her pronouncements (only in the context though; that she wasn't really that materialistic.) Only halfway done though. The book might change my mind about the 5 stars.

*sigh* This book really was good. The aunt who takes in our orphan h seems likely to turn out to be a horrible person, but isn't! It's really rather nice... and unexpectedly different.