This is an anthology of two stories, both by Nora Roberts.

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 and Dreams is made up of two novels written by Nora Roberts in 1983. It is amazing to read these books to see how well they stand up against the test of time. Many other romance books from the same period are now unreadable due to their outdated plots and hideously overbearing male `heroes' and pathetic heroines. `Reflections' and `Dance of Dreams' in contrast both have strong female characters and likeable and sexy male heroes.

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 A few parts of the novel were outdated such as their clichý first meeting.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

I have always enjoyed books from Nora Roberts and this one is no exception! Reflections and Dreams contains two stories - Reflections and Dance of Dreams and I find both great. Each story is about ballet dancers who eventually find love.
This book has wonderful characters who are fully developed by the author. Every detail is described carefully and fans of Nora Roberts would find this trait familiar in many of her books. The characters are so described such that you actually feel like you know them. Personally, I prefer Nikolai to Seth but I find that I prefer the first story, Reflections to the second one. Nonetheless, kudos to Nora Roberts!

Book Review

If you want slow and sensuous, light and romantic then engage on this journey into the world of ballet. Nora Roberts is at the top of her game in her masterpiece Reflections and Dreams. This book not only has vivid female characters who go after and accomplish their dreams, but two very complicated and steamy romances woven around the world of ballet.

The first story, Reflections, is about an accomplished ballerina Lindsay Dunne. She leaves her fast paced life, as a dancer in New York, to return to her childhood home in Connecticut. Lindsay opens a dance school and when her car stalls on her way home one day, the handsome Seth Bannion offers her a ride home. They cautiously fall in love with each other as Seth's niece Ruth shows her aspiring dancing talent to Nick, Lindsay's old company director.

The second story, Dance of Dreams, is about Ruth Bannion a principal ballet dancer, and her demanding company director Nickolai Davidov. Ever since their meeting in Lindsay's school of ballet, Ruth has been captivated by Nick. Their professional partnership blazes out of control after five years of dancing together. Her intense and complex love teaches Nick how to open his heart to her love.

This book showcases the glamorous world of ballet, and the backbreaking exhaustion that dancers endure. This is a light and quick read. Jealousy, control, and character only add to the mystique of this book. The colorful storytelling of Nora Roberts adds a mixture of sexual tension and drama. This extraordinary book will have everyone wanting to re-read it.

If I were rating the two novels contained in this book separately, the first one would either get a 2 or a 3 and the second one would get a 4. I was thinking about what it was that made me think the first novel was mediocre, and I didn't come upon the answer until after I'd started on the second novel. In every Nora Roberts book I've read so far, her greatest strengths always seem to be the way she develops the romance between the two main characters (the romance is more important than the sex). The greater percentage of a book is told from the woman's point of view, but there's just enough from the man's point of view that you get an understanding of how his mind works. The first novel in this book, _Reflections_, has nothing from Seth's point of view. I didn't realize how much I missed that until I got the the second novel and got to see little tidbits of how Nickolai saw his and Ruth's relationship. I ended up feeling like Seth wasn't really a person. He's very one-dimensional, little more than a sharp-eyed architect who Lindsay is sleeping with.

It feels like this whole two-novel book was really about two people, Ruth and Nickolai. They're the two most interesting characters in the first novel, and their personalities practically sparkle in the second. I don't know very much about the world of dancers and ballet, but I still enjoyed reading about it. By the time I finished this book, I found myself wishing that the details about Ruth's childhood and the death of her parents had somehow been worked into the second novel and that the story of Seth and Lindsay hadn't been included (or at least that it had been written better). _Dance of Dreams_ was a bit rough at times, but it was much better than _Reflections_.