RITA Reader Challenge Review

The Color of a Promise by Julianne MacLean

This RITA® Reader Challenge 2017 review was written by Coco. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Mainstream Fiction with a Central Romance category.

The summary:

From USA Today bestselling author Julianne MacLean comes the next instalment in her popular Color of Heaven Series, where people are affected by real life magic and miracles that change everything they once believed about life and love.

Having spent a lifetime in competition with his older brother Aaron—who always seemed to get the girl—Jack Peterson leaves the U.S. to become a foreign correspondent in the Middle East. When a roadside bomb forces him to return home to recover from his wounds, he quickly becomes the most celebrated journalist on television, and is awarded his own prime time news program. Now, wealthy and successful beyond his wildest dreams, Jack believes he has finally found where he is meant to be. But when a giant commercial airliner explodes in the sky over his summer house in Cape Elizabeth, all hell breaks loose as the wreckage crashes to the ground. He has no idea that his life is about to take another astonishing turn…

Meg Andrews grew up with a fear of flying, but when it meant she wouldn’t be able to visit her boyfriend on the opposite side of the country, she confronted her fear head-on and earned her pilot’s license. Now, a decade later, she is a respected airline crash investigator, passionate about her work, to the point of obsession. When she arrives in the picturesque seaside community of Cape Elizabeth to investigate a massive airline disaster, she meets the famous and charismatic Jack Peterson, who has his own personal fascination with plane crashes.

As the investigation intensifies, Meg and Jack feel a powerful, inexplicable connection to each other. Soon, they realize that the truth behind the crash—and the mystery of their connection—can only be discovered through the strength of the human spirit, the timeless bonds of family, and the gift of second chances.

Here is Coco's review:

Julianne MacLean’s The Color of a Promise begins with a promising first line: “It’s kind of embarrassing to come back from the dead and still not get it.” Having no idea about the story or its series, I was charmed by that first sentence. It was self-aware and suggested that our hero, Jack Peterson, was going to demonstrate personal growth and a sense of humor throughout the story, which is always compelling.

Alas, while he makes a few personal strides (considering the book touches on events from his childhood, young adulthood, and adulthood) and finds a sense of peace with a sibling, the changes he experiences have less to do with him growing and more to do with him simply meeting his true love, Meg, which I found somewhat anticlimactic. The book was fairly interesting in terms of how it laid out the reincarnation storyline, as well as the investigation of a plane crash, but there was not a lot of interiority of the characters on display, and I wish they had more interactions during which their relationship developed before their HEA.

For those new to this series, as I was, I’ll share what I found to be relevant details. The Color of a Promise is #11 in MacLean’s The Color of Heaven series, all of which can be read as stand-alone books, but are united by theme and loosely connected by characters. I’ll add, for the benefit of the click-and-buy-happy readers among us, the first book in this series, The Color of Heaven (pub. February 2011), is available for free on Amazon. So, there’s that. (I’m sure I’m not the only one to read something simply because it’s free.) More important, however, is that I used this opportunity to read that first book in the series, in addition to this 11th book, to learn more about Julianne Maclean’s writing style in this series. I’d read a few of her Highlander books, and a few of the Pembroke Palace series, and enjoyed them; this Color of Heaven series is different, though.

A theme that runs throughout the entire series, according to MacLean, is that these stories are premised on the idea of “real-life magic and miracles that have the power to change people’s lives” (as described in a note to the reader at the end of The Color of a Promise). This is important. This book (and the first in the series, which I also read) is a Contemporary Romance, yes, but I think it is fair to say that it has hints of Inspirational Romance, despite it not being overtly religious or Christian—particularly considering the role of reincarnation, which is not integral to the monotheistic “Big Three” Judeo-Christian-Islamic worldviews. The nebulous relationship between “magic” and “miracles,” for MacLean, lets her play with life and death. In an interview from 2011 following the publication of her first in this series, she said: “When I first conceived of it six years ago, I didn’t imagine it being religious in any way [despite the fact that it makes reference to heaven], and it didn’t even dawn on me that it could be categorized as a Christian novel—and I still wouldn’t call it that. I did a lot of research on near death experiences, and it’s not something that is singular to any one faith.” Near-death experiences obviously continue to keep popping up in this series, but the primary magic-miracle-mojo-thing in The Color of a Promise is reincarnation.

A comic asking if reincarnation is anything like the animoprhs books
From the Poorly Drawn Lines webcomic

In general, I find the trope of reincarnation alluring and seductive in its scope and magnitude, but also potentially sticky and problematic to both the conflict-resolution nature of a romance and even, on occasion, the HEA itself. Reincarnation, or the idea that one’s eternal soul is reborn again and again in different bodies over time, is an important part of Buddhism and Hinduism, and the trope of reincarnation pops up here and there in genre fiction, from fantasy to romance. When trying to clarify my thoughts on reincarnation romances, I stumbled upon an old post from Lucy Dosch on the Heroes and Heartbreakers blog, that articulated what I was feeling. Namely, when reincarnation is at play in a romance, how do the titular characters know that the other party in question truly loves this iteration of themselves? Or, as Dosch asked, “since no two people are ever exactly alike… How can you know if you are the third wheel in your own HEA?” How, indeed.

There is also the risk, when a romance relies on reincarnation, that there will be a lack of conflict to overcome. The same thing applies to any story that doubles-down on one character believing resolutely that he or she has found his or her soul mate. While we count on HEAs in romance, I still want the journey to feel fraught, as if it might not all work out—even while we all know it will.

Despite these pitfalls, I do think that reincarnation (or, relatedly, stories with supernaturally long lived characters in which events and actions seem to repeat themselves) can be fruitful. I find the reincarnation trope most compelling when there is some sort of lesson to be learned or quest to be fulfilled. I’m thinking here, in particular, of Richelle Mead’s Georgina Kincaid (aka Succubus) series, in which, by the end, we learn—along with the characters—that they’ve been reincarnated throughout the centuries and thrown together in different ways as a sort of divine quest to see if they would ever get it right, overcome their obstacles, and have their own HEA. So, they’re destined in some ways, and, yet, the results were always in question. One of the questions that Dosch had with reincarnation romances was that if one member of the couple knows, or remembers, then does that detract from the relationship. He, or she, simply knows they’re destined; but, does it have more to do with his or her memory of a past love?

Welp, this review may have veered off the tracks, but let me sally forth a bit more. If you read the publisher’s summary, as well as my esteemed colleague’s Catherine’s RITA review on this site, I think you’ll have a fair sense of this book. It’s relatively pleasant (despite the details of the deaths caused by an airplane crash), innocuous, and chaste in terms of the love story. Yes, reincarnation plays a role, but I did not feel that it truly added depth to the central character or the central romance. Despite the hero’s recognition of the reincarnated heroine, the only other pseudo-knowledge gleaned from reincarnation had more to do with the hero’s brother, Aaron, and his brother’s wife, Katelyn, whose story was in the previous book. The hero, Jack, repeatedly refers to his tense and distant relationship with his brother, which was complicated by his awareness of his and his brother’s past lives. Sibling dynamics are tough, much less if you have literal lifetimes (plural) of grievances. I mean, shit! Talk about family therapy! But, finally, after the second—yes, second—near-death experience (this time for Jack’s brother, Aaron, not Jack), Jack suddenly “gets it” and decides to let go of some of his reincarnated-sibling-baggage, as well as his current-life-sibling-baggage (which included this brother marrying the woman Jack loved). This is an example of the somewhat superficial storytelling, despite its potential. That being said, other readers might enjoy the less-acrimonious relationships that pepper this story.

Despite the dramatic elements (Near Deaths! Plane Crashes! Reincarnation!), the temperature was warm—never hot—and fairly comfortable. Again, as Catherine’s review said (rather nicely, I thought), this book could be a soothing romance (despite the death) for some readers. It wasn’t the book for me, but it did enable me to think about my views on the romance and fantasy or religious trope of reincarnation. If this review leaves you on the fence, I’d recommend, first, trying the first book in the series since it’s free, if you’re new to the series. Not only is it free, but it had a bit more drama (and almost Nicholas Sparks-ian pathos) that might hook you more quickly; though, conversely, the writing was a bet clunkier in that earlier book when compared with this most recent one. It was fairly sad (divorce, a child’s death, and near-death experiences are recurrent themes here) at times, but as you might suspect, it is ultimately hopeful; plus, MacLean admitted that the first was inspired in part from her own life experiences—albeit hers were less extreme—which always adds an interesting dynamic to a fictional story.

Anyways, I’d love to hear if any of you have read books in this series, which seems popular on Goodreads, or if you decide to try one of these “Color” books. And here ends “The Color of a RITA Review,” which, in this case, was a color that somewhat clashed with my preferences, but maybe it’ll match yours.

 

Gif of Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias, saying that her signature colors are Blush and Bashful.

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The Color of a Promise by Julianne MacLean

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  1. roserita says:

    Did anyone else have “What did I have that I don’t have?” from Lerner and Lane’s “On a clear day you can see forever” start up in their heads when they read this review?

  2. Vicki says:

    I have read several of her books. They are, indeed, gentle and comforting and there are times when that is a very good thing.

  3. What a great review – I love how much you have gone into the author’s history and other works. And I am *greatly* flattered to be your esteemed colleague!

  4. DonnaMarie says:

    Five star review, Coco! Mine usually come out sort of “It had a good beat and I could dance to”. You really put some work into this and it’s appreciated.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Wonderful review. I really love that you took the time to discuss the tropes. If you ever write a longer-form essay on that subject, I would read the hell out of it.

  6. Ans says:

    This book is so clearly and thoroughly not my cup of tea, but I loved both reviews of it. Thank you for this one! It was very interesting.

  7. CoCo D says:

    PS – Thanks for the sweet comments everyone! They made my week!

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