Rating: 
Summary: No surprises here, but very enjoyable
Review: In another compilation of two of her earlier works, "Truly Madly Manhattan" delivers all the elements a Nora Roberts fan has come to love -- sensitive men, strong women, and happy endings. Of the two books I preferred "Local Hero", the first, largely because Mitch Dempsey, the comic-book-writing hero, takes so closely after one of his own characters. There's a danger inherent in creating a "too-good-to-be-true" character like Mitch, and that is the possibility of completely alienating your core audience (women) who just can't relate to the guy in these pages. However, Mitch is SO endearing, so persistent in his plan to win over Hester, that this character somehow manages to win over the reader as well.
Rating:
Summary: Nora Roberts familiar
Review: LOCAL HERO
Hester Wallace is a single mother living in Manhattan with her young son. The story begins with their move to a new apartment, a new job and a new school. Her son, Radley, is a comic buff, is much more excited than she to discover that the author of his favorite comic resides just a few floors away. Mitch Dempsey falls for the boy and mother almost instantly. But Hester must overcome the demons of her first marriage if they are to have the chance of becoming a family. DUAL IMAGE
Ariel Kirkwood, a young actress on the rise, has just landed a role that could launch her career. Playing the cruel, undermining ex-wife of script writer Booth DeWitt would be her most difficult role to date. But winning isolationist Booth's trust, and love, proves to be more difficult than any role she could imagine. This is the light, short-length Roberts. I read each of these in a few hours. Its the type of Roberts that makes you relax without digging too deep into the characters. I ranked this a four only because I prefer her full length murder/romances - but there is nothing wrong with these as well!
Rating:
Summary: Nora Roberts familiar
Review: LOCAL HERO
Hester Wallace is a single mother living in Manhattan with her young son. The story begins with their move to a new apartment, a new job and a new school. Her son, Radley, is a comic buff, is much more excited than she to discover that the author of his favorite comic resides just a few floors away. Mitch Dempsey falls for the boy and mother almost instantly. But Hester must overcome the demons of her first marriage if they are to have the chance of becoming a family. DUAL IMAGE
Ariel Kirkwood, a young actress on the rise, has just landed a role that could launch her career. Playing the cruel, undermining ex-wife of script writer Booth DeWitt would be her most difficult role to date. But winning isolationist Booth's trust, and love, proves to be more difficult than any role she could imagine. This is the light, short-length Roberts. I read each of these in a few hours. Its the type of Roberts that makes you relax without digging too deep into the characters. I ranked this a four only because I prefer her full length murder/romances - but there is nothing wrong with these as well!
Rating:
Summary: Double treats from Ms. Roberts
Review: Manhattan is the common setting of this two reissue of Harlequin romance of distinction by publishing phenomenon Nora Roberts. Local Hero, the more polished tale out of the two, is Ms. Robert's attempt at exploring the single-family platform prevalent in 1990s and its insecurities through a schmaltzy romance between banker Hester Wallace and comic whiz Mitch Dempsey. Being neigbours the unlikely duo is brought together by their attachment for Randall, Hester's bubbly son who worships Mitch as a daddy-figure. Abandoned by her irresponsible ex, Hester is naturally wary and vulnerable of this whirlwind romance. The second romance, Dual Image fulfils our soap-opera fantasies as movie scriptwriter Booth DeWitt is enchanted by soap-opera actress Ariel Kirkwood. Hurt by a cold ambitious actress Elizabeth Hunter, Booth is reminded of the deceptions when Ariel plays a character scripted like her. Ariel faces a custody battle for her nephew and a rocky path to love. Ms. Roberts captures the nuances of love and its shades of emotions beautifully with a frosty happy ending and amicable characters that leaves millions of her fans in awe - truly, madly and deeply.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved the cover art
Review: The stories were okay for me but I am not much of a romance reader. I do like her suspense stories. But I did absolutely fall in love with the cover art. I looked all over the book to find the name of the artist and couldn't find it anywhere.
Gapstow Bridge in Central Park in the spring done in a slightly Monetish way. Very nice.
Rating:
Summary: Great Re-Prints!
Review: These two stories are both fun and entertaining reads. The first one has Hester and Mitch, (boy was she having a Jayne Ann Krentz moment when she named her or what?). With the exception of the name this was a really fun read. Mitch is a comic writer, and she is bank loan officer with a 10 year old son. He meets them when she moves into his apartment building. He soon realizes that she is the one and spends the rest of the morning overcoming her fears of abandonment and commitment issues. (She had a bad 1st marriage.) In the second book with Ariel and Booth, he is the one that had a bad 1st marriage. Kind of a theme, but both are fun and entertaining light reading. I though that the 2nd one spent a little too much time on the acting scenes(Ariel is an actress)
She starts off as a soap star that wants to a part Booth wrote that was autobiographal of his life with his ex-wife. I thought that they spent too much time on the soap story and they got busy with a child custody hearing, and there was a frankly bad spot where the ex-wife tries to "get" Ariel for playing a part she felt should have been hers, it got a little too busy, but all in all it was still worth it. Nora Roberts getting distracted is still better than most writers at their best. This is on my keeper shelf!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Not her best
Review: This book was worth reading, but in my opinion easy to put down. Even at her worst Nora Robert's is my all-time favorite author, but this was not a true display of her talent and I was disapointed. However, like always I fell in love with her characters...mainly in Hester, Mitch, and Rad.
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