Some Kind of Miracle

by Iris Rainer Dart

From the mega-bestselling author of Beaches , a new novel, available in mass market for the first time, once again celebrating female relationships. Two very different women fulfil a childhood promise to take care of one another no matter what. Dahlia Green is a struggling songwriter in Los Angeles who has fallen on hard times. She's had few of her songs recorded, but lately there's been a long pause between sales and she's starting to believe she'll never sell another song.
As a child Dahlia and her cousin Annie wrote duets together as child play. Then Annie was diagnosed with schizophrenia and for all of her adult life has cycled in and out of mental hospitals where no one ever goes to visit her. Now twenty-five years later Dahlia has a chance to shine again by selling a song she and Annie wrote. So she tracks Annie in an institution and brings her home in hopes of convincing her to sign away her rights to the tune. But what starts out as a scheme to get ahead and exploit her cousin results in Dahlia putting someone else's needs above her own for the first time in her life. She fulfils a childhood promise made long ago to take care of one another no matter what.

Genres: Fiction, Romance

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 21, 2003

About the author

Iris Rainer Dart is the author of eight novels, including the much-beloved New York Times bestseller Beaches. The mother of two children, she lives in California with her husband.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok but unrealistic and everything turned out a little too perfectly at the end.

[Yazmin Lopez · Rating 2 out of 5]

The characters didnt have much dimension to them and the storyline was very cookie cutter. Everything seemed to just magically work out and not because of effort

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really only 2.5 stars. Dahlia and her cousin, Sunny, were musical prodigies writing songs together when they were children but Sunny is mentally ill and is put in a mental hospital. Dahlia struggles to write songs on her own but just can't seem to get it. I never liked Dahlia. She had more dreams than ambitions and when there was a possibility of catching a break she figured she be buying a house with a pool and a new Jaguar instead of being realistic. I hated her when Helene died and she thought she was getting something in her will. She finally sells a song that she wrote with Sunny but she needs Sunny's signature on a contract. She finds her living in a run down halfway house and on impulse takes her home with her. After that things just wrap up too nicely with happily ever after. Sunny is cured, the music career takes off, Dahlia becomes a kind and caring person and her boyfriend's daughter loves her so much that she asks her to marry her father. Just like real life.

[helen c rotsettis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some Kind of Miracle

I loved this book.

I actually had to force myself to stop reading as it was already way past bedtime.

The story was moving along at a good pace. It drew me in immediately and held my interest throughout.

It is extraordinary what love can do when dealing with mental illness.

It certainly takes an enormous amount of love in the midst of disappointments and difficult challenges on the road ahead, least we forget the tears and heartbreak.

I strongly recommend this book.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly disliked the main character. I’m not sure if that was the point, so in the last few pages when everything neatly came together the reader would would be delighted with her change of heart. But it was too little too late. After all the unrealistic things that had already happened, it just wasn’t enough.

[Anna Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Any book where I want to repeatedly shake some bloody sense into the main character isn't going to get a good review from me.

Too much detail in many spots and then jumps of several weeks with no explanation. Situations that are important one minute and not the next.

[Jonjane Doe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chick Lit alert! By the author of Beaches!

Dahlia and her schizophrenic cousin Sunny wrote songs together as kids. Broke ass Dahlia needs her back to ensure sonwriting fame and fortune, but Sunny won’t sign anything.

It’s a very responsible book, containing a psychopharmacologist. Actually it’s all Pills & Boone and the sensible psych stuff is heavily coated in cotton candy clouds of froth. It’s one of those novels where plot + research = book and you can see the seams. It’s not badly written, it’s just …

Zzzzzzzzzz … read it if you’re bored, there aren’t any other books around and your TV is broken. Or idk, throw it at a duck or something …

Spoiler alert (harhar) – the fuckwittedly shiny happy ending has such a responsible little caveat that it reminded me of the disclaimer on a pack of smokes.

Don’t throw it at a duck. Ducks are nice.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman struggles to be a successful songwriter. She lets her ambitions hurt her relationships until she's forced to bring her schizophrenic cousin back into her life. The cousin helps her to tell the truth about herself while helping the cousin and giving her back a life she wouldn't have had otherwise.

It seems as though the woman's using her cousin, and to begin with she is, but a true relationship grows between the two. It's a hopeful story, in the end.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was alright. The unrealistic picture of "healing" for mental illness really irked me. Clearly it's fiction but everything was so "perfect" in the end I knew I was reading a book. Good fiction wraps you in the story so much that you forget it isn't a real thing and you aren't there. This is not that kind of book.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know much about mental health issues but if this is at all true to life it really is a miracle. Sometimes I got annoyed with dahlia and her obsession with wanting to make a lot of money. But maybe if I had to support myself I would be different.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story about cousins and a friendship that survives through mental illness.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like books with psychiatric issues...this was so real!

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. It's about a family dealing with mental illness. It was light and heartwarming. Something easy to read.

[Dianne Bowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Good - interesting family dynamics

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just couldn't get through this. The main character is obnoxious and so self-centered it's hard to stand.

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Glad I only paid $0.99 for it.

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting in that it mixes issues of mental illness with healing powers of music. It was an okay book but thought it was kind of bland reading.

[Shane Fritz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent much of the book disliking the main character but came to like her, appreciating her personal growth.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm about ready to give up on the adult section of the library