Reflections and Dreams (Mass Market Paperback)

In "Reflections", Lindsay Dunne was a principal dancer in a New York ballet company until her father was killed in an accident, and her mother badly injured. Forced to put her dance career on hold, she returned home to Connecticut to care for her mother. Now she teaches ballet at her studio, and has found a very promising student in the new girl in town, Ruth Bannion. Lindsay would like to send Ruth to New York to further her training, under the instruction of her previous dance partner, Nikolai Davidov. However, Lindsay has found an obstacle in the girl's uncle and guardian, Seth Bannion. Seth is the darkly handsome architect who recently bought Cliff House, a large oceanside home which Lindsay explored as a child, and swore to someday live. Their clash of wills over Ruth's future leads them to consider a future together.

"Dance of Dreams" is the story of Ruth and Nikolai who were introduced in "Reflections". Ruth is now in New York dancing under the experienced direction of Nick, the passionate and temperamental Russian heading the troupe. Ruth shows great promise of becoming a prima ballerina, and it's not long before their partnership extends off the dance floor.

I have read several books by Nora Roberts and she has never disappointed me yet. This book is no exception. These stories were originally released separately in 1983, but have amazingly stood the test of time. Both stories are very good, but my favorite is the second, "Dance of Dreams". I just love the temperamental Nikolai, and those two really sizzle on and off the dance floor! If it were possible, I'd give 4 stars to the first story, "Reflections", and 5 stars to "Dance of Dreams". This book would make an especially good summer read.

Reflections is the story of Lindsey Dunne and Seth Bannion. Lindsey and Seth were interesting characters though not overly memorable. A few parts of the novel were outdated such as their cliché first meeting. Also Seth makes a quite unreasonable demand that Lindsey doesn't do one last ballet performance, which I found hard to justify. Certainly I didn't think it was something one of Nora Robert's fabulous modern heroes would say.

Dance of Dreams is the better book due to the characters of Nikolai Davidov and Ruth Bannion, Seth's niece from the first book. Nikolai Davidov was easily the most entertaining and original of all four of the lead characters, although sometimes he could be sharp and snappish for no apparent reason. Ruth's ex-boyfriend Donald seemed to have no other purpose than to provide conflict between Ruth and Nikolai - he wasn't even likeable.

Overall Reflections and Dreams is a good book which you can read quickly. It is also light hearted and has fairly strong characters. The details about the world of ballet (about which I know nothing) were interesting.

JoAnne