**SPOILER ALERT** This post is filled with spoilers about This Heart of Mine and Nobody’s Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. If you haven’t read the book and don’t want be spoiled, please skip this post. **SPOILER ALERT**
SEP has never shied away from writing characters that skirt the line. We’ve talked about her heroes before – and probably will again. But what about her heroines? Specifically Molly Somerville from This Heart of Mine and Dr. Jane Darling from Nobody’s Baby But Mine.
In NBBM, Jane hates that she’s a genius. She’s felt cursed her entire life, and though she wants a child, is afraid she’d be cursing him/her the same way she was cursed. So she purposely gets pregnant by Cal Bonner, a man she assumes is an imbecile, by pretending to be a “lady of the night” his friends hired for his birthday. Afterward she disappeared, never planning to tell Cal that she was pregnant with his child.
I was never quite able to forgive her for that. Partly because for a smart woman she acted TSTL half the time, but mostly because her reasons were completely ridiculous. She didn’t want her child to be smart? Really? Because it’s every mother’s dream that her child be stupid, right? Plus, she was never remorseful, never once showed signs of regret for what she’d done.
Coupled with the fact that I didn’t care much for Cal – who was obnoxious and chauvinistic – and NBBM lands near the bottom of my list for her books. I didn’t hate it it, but it isn’t one I cared for enough to re-read (although it does have one of my all time favorite scenes in it – the cereal killer scene. Priceless!)
On the other hand, I adored This Heart of Mine, and many would argue that what Molly did was way worse than what Jane did.
Molly did something we’ve been castigating men over for centuries. She snuck into bed with Kevin when he was sleeping and took advantage of him. For no discernible reason (or not one I recall anyway). In essence she raped him.
Normally that would have been completely unforgivable for me. But in the end, I did forgive Molly. I even came to love her. And Kevin.
Why? I guess I’m not entirely sure. But I think it’s mostly because Molly then suffered – greatly – for what she’d done. She got pregnant after her night with Kevin, and ended up having a miscarriage. It really hit her hard. She spends most of the book working through her grief over it.
By rights, I should have hated Molly for what she did. But it was hard to hold on to my anger when she was obviously suffering so much.
What do you think? Were the actions of these heroines unforgivable? Were you able to get past what they did and come to love them, or were they beyond redemption?
I find it interesting how we tend to forgive the heroes more than we do the heroines. Is it b/c we can’t imagine ourselves doing these things?
I agree w/ you 100% about Molly. Not so much with Jane. NBBM is a book that we’ll never agree on.
o_O
I’ve never read SEP, and I don’t think I should. Holy cow.
It’s funny, I’m willing, even eager to forgive heros so much more than I ever am the heroine. Why is that?
Hero or heroine, I’m willing to fogive much if they go through hell and find a way to redeem themselves. It makes them human.
Coincidentally, I just finished re-reading This Heart of Mine by SEP last night – it’s one of my favorites.
I haven’t read NBBM but I’ll have to check it out.
I never really thought about “forgiving” them – but I do think it’s impossible to hold something against a character like Molly while with other, more douchey characters, it’s so easy to hate them, like Molly’s dad even though we don’t actually meet him in the book but still.
Molly Somerville is my favorite SEP character, hek she’s my all time favorite character.
Of course what she did was bad but she’s the first to suffer from it so yeah it’s forgivable.
Moreover, if she hadn’t done what she did, she and Kevin would never have hooked up 😉
I totally forgive both of them for what they did. For one thing, I can sometimes have selective hearing, and selective reading fits in too. I read a book, and then since I know it, I might skip other parts on the re-read, so… certain parts stick out more. Like, for NBBM, I generally start re-reading after Jane and Cal are married.
I… do get the “not smart” kid thing- Jane’s got a lot of confidence in her smarts/genes carrying on, but… life is weird when you’re freakishly smart. And Jane had a horrible childhood, so in her weird way she is trying to protect her kid by making sure s/he is more normal. Does it make sense? No. But uber smart people – they’re weird. 😛
Also I guess I can get over it because the whole thing is really what Cal needed all along – and he never would’ve gotten married etc without Jane becoming pregnant.
Do I not like the premise of either book? Yes. “Stealing” sperm? Not good. Especially in Molly’s case- because as you said, Kevin was asleep.
I do think, however, that both Jane and Molly suffer suitably and enough for what they did. They spend most of the book thinking the men they love despise them. That’s got to be rough.
Anyway, I guess both books fly under my suspended belief radar, so I’m ok with both. And the endings/results totally… make it easier to view the beginnings through rose colored lenses. At least for me.
What limecello said for Nobody’s Baby But Mine. Way better that I could put into words.
I have This Heart of Mine and according to my spreadsheet, I’ve read it…but for some reason, the storyline escape me. Time for a re-read! lol.
Funny enough, what Jane did never bothered me!!! Molly yes, definitely but her pain….OMG her pain totally redeemed her for me. I think that’s at least a part of what makes SEP a keeper for me.
Amie
I loved this book (NBBM) – I did re-read it once or twice and I rarely re-read. This book was so funny. Granted heroine did not do a good thing, but Cal gave as good as he got and I loved the fact that he was very smart to Jane’s surprise. It was the first sep I read and got me hooked.
I don’t know that I ever gave it that much thought TBH. I always regarded their actions as a plot device to get the two protagonists together…. maybe I’m just shallow 🙂
IRL of course, these actions are unacceptable but in Romancelandia we accept (in fact, we often cheer) behaviour (esp. from heroes) that would be totally unacceptable IRL. This is just one of those times but with the heroine instead of the hero messing up. I guess I’m an “equal opportunity romance reader”!
Eww, Jane. I cannot stand her. UNREDEEMABLE. Skanky, sperm-stealing biatch.
I haven’t read NBBM so I have nothing to say for Jane and I skipped over the spoilers.
But I HATE Molly. Def didn’t forgive her. After reading THOM, I haven’t picked up an SEP since. It’s been forever since I”ve read it possibly I’d change my mind…???! But I doubt it. I don’t remember enough to back up all the reasons I hated Molly but I just know I didn’t like her one iota.
Like a few of the commenters stated before me, I didn’t have a problem with what Jane did. Cal, on the other hand, I didn’t really care for and then really disliked him in Dream A Little Dream.
It is interesting how we’re always so quick to forgive the hero, but hardly as quick to forgive the heroine. I don’t think I want to examine why that is too closely.
@Donna
Oh, please don’t let this stop you from reading SEP. She’s amazing, truly. The fact that I even wrote this post is testament to her ability as a writer. What these heroines did would be considered unforgivable in other cases, but SEP..well, the lines are very murky. Nothing is black and white.
@Limecello
I disagree that Jane suffered as much as Molly. Sure, she suffered in her own way – thinking Cal hated her, as you said – but I don’t think we can compare what Molly went through to what Jane went through.
Maybe I’m just stuck on the fact that she wanted a STUPID CHILD!?!?!
heh
@JenB
Did you ever read THOM? I’m curious if you hated Molly as much as you hated Jane?
@Mariana
I hated Cal in DALD. He was way worse in that book than he was in his own.
Loved This Heart of Mine. It’s my favorite SEP book, and I think Molly’s actions are forgivable, especially since she endured a miscarriage and felt so crummy after. Like others have said before, I would find it harder to forgive Molly and Jane’s actions if it had happened in real life. I loved Molly and Kevin from the beginning, so I just went along with the story and didn’t find myself judging Molly too harshly. She’s a favorite character of mine, along with her hubby Kevin. 😉 The two of them (along with their daughter) are also pretty darn cute in Match Me If You Can.
Diana
I don’t remember This Heart of Mine, but I HATED NBBM. HATED. Some people count it in their top ten books, but I loathed Jane.
In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen a discussion where others felt as I do!
I loved Molly.♥ I just can’t help but feel for her especially after her miscarriage. THoM is the first book of SEP that I’ve read and it’s on the top of my favorite SEP books along with Kiss an Angel.