I finished Miracle. I developed a lot more respect for this book as I read it. Clayton received more development as a character, and I found his actions more believable than I did initially. I also believed in the love between Clayton and Miracle. I felt that Miracle was over-dramatic and rather self-centered, honestly not someone I would like as a person, but it’s okay to find a protagonist in a book to be unlikable. If you insist on only reading about likable characters, I think that suggests a narrow mind.
Going through the reviews, I remembered a lot more about Sutcliffe’s work generally and why I loved it so much. I saw that reviewers were very negative about Obsession. I don’t remember it very well and will have to re-read it. I objected strongly to the objections. They seemed to come from narrow-minded people that want a world where everything is carved in black and white. Sutcliffe’s novels have always striven to defy that worldview, so I don’t understand why those people would be reading her so much in the first place. I love that her story worlds are ambiguous and that her characters are a mix of good and evil.
I always wondered if she stopped writing because her work just didn’t fit with the black-and-white roadmap required for romance novels, even romantic suspense novels. I wish she would have kept going and broken out of the genre.
I can’t decide which one of hers to read next. Now that I’ve read Miracle, I have a strong desire to re-read Devotion and Obsession, but naturally, I don’t have those books. I have several others. At the same time, since I plan to re-read them all, I don’t see that it matters much if I buy them.
Jessica, in terms of me vs. “the reviewers online” is an exact opposite case. Jessica got glowing reviews, at least from one person, who was captivated by how “realistic” and “mature” the book was. I think that person is just living in the same kind of black-and-white world, though, and wants no ambiguity or darkness in their work. I was intrigued by the preview and found the review so glowing, I bought the book, and it has taken me a long while to get into it, past that intriguing preview.
Just now, when Florence Abney has entered the scene, it’s started to get interesting. I’d really like to hand the story off to Florence, because I think she would make a better life for herself than Jessica, one I’d rather read about.
I already know Jessica doesn’t end up with Wheeling Hawk but Will, which I find incredibly disappointing because the former is an extremely kind, caring person and the latter is completely awful to her. I’ve skimmed ahead to the end a few times to see what’s coming, and it looks like Jessica just settles for Will when the problems with a future with Wheeling Hawk become clear. Not many options on the prairie, not many men that are going to treat you well anyway, so just, why? Why pass on the one that you actually love?
Okay, but here’s the thing. It’s completely realistic for a white woman to marry an indigenous man during this time. Having conducted research for school and on my own, I’ve seen many instances of this in history– white women marrying indigenous men for love and yes, going with them to live on a reservation. Their family lines continue up to this day. No, it was not an easy life, but being a pioneer was not easy, anyway. So, I’d just like to clarify that there is nothing impossible about Jessica’s love with Wheeling Hawk, it’s just that they don’t want to cut ties with family. I don’t know if his family will dislike her, but hers certainly dislikes him. Western people cut ties with family all the time and did what they liked. So I’m pretty irritated on being sold on the story from some lame reviewer going on about how mature and well-developed the story is. No, it’s not. There’s nothing mature about settling for a man that can’t even appreciate you properly for caring for his infant for zero pay for months on end and never has a kind word or gentle look for you. Whatever. I’m ready to cut ties with Goodreads at this point so I’ll stop reading these stupid reviews.
Sunlight-Colored Roses 