From the Heart (3-in-1)

by Nora Roberts

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In this stunning collection of three of her favorite stories, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts illuminates the dreams that lead us toward destiny—and the desires that rule over our hearts… 

TONIGHT AND ALWAYS

When a renowned anthropologist agrees to help a writer research his new novel, she isn't prepared for the passion their collaboration sparks...

A MATTER OF CHOICE

An international smuggling ring traps a beautiful antiques dealer and a New York City cop in a web show more of danger and desire...

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

Two Washington television reporters try to protect their love from their own professional rivalry—and the hazards of their celebrity...
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11 reviews
From the Heart contains three of Nora Roberts' early romance novels: Tonight and Always (1983), A Matter of Choice (1984), and Endings and Beginnings (1984). They're not related in any other way – no characters in common, and even the tones are different. Tonight and Always is the lightest of the bunch, with conflicts that are either internal or rooted in family. A Matter of Choice is romantic suspense. Endings and Beginnings, like Tonight and Always, has more internal conflict, but includes bursts of adrenaline due to the characters' profession (they're both TV reporters).

I'll write about each novel separately and then end my review with a bit about the volume as a whole. If you want the short version: Endings and Beginnings is good, show more while the rest of the volume can safely be skipped.

Tonight and Always:

Jordan Taylor is an author who has hired Kasey Wyatt, an anthropologist, to help him with his latest book (as far as I could tell, probably historical fiction dealing with Plains Indians). For the next few months, Kasey will live in the Taylor mansion with Jordan, Jordan's mother, and Alison, Jordan's 11-year-old niece. Kasey instantly bonds with Alison, whose parents died when she was 8. Kasey is also instantly attracted to Jordan. The feelings are mutual, and she finds herself forming something like a family with Jordan and Alison. However, she's well aware of her place and that this time with them is only temporary – and Jordan's mother will make sure she doesn't forget.

Roberts hit some great emotional notes, and I loved the lighter moments between Jordan, Kasey, and Alison. Jordan and Kasey's conversations were usually fun, and the overall tone of the story was pretty sweet. However, in many other ways Tonight and Always was an absolute mess.

When Kasey first met Jordan, he was complaining to the friend who convinced him to hire her. His words: “'I do find myself wondering how we're going to get on over the next few months. Professional spinsters are intimidating, and not my favorite companions.'” (4) Kasey was more amused than offended and responded to each one of the complaints he never intended for her to overhear in a breezy and clever way.

If I had been her, I'd have been angry. I'd have understood if she had gritted her teeth and focused on the future paycheck, but the way she laughed off his words baffled me, as did the repeated moments of mutual attraction that neither one of them bothered to hide. Not once did Kasey worry about what a sexual relationship with her employer might do to her professional reputation. She also didn't worry about having agreed to live in the same house as a guy who flat out stated that he intended to have sex with her.

After the initial lust was taken care of, the story settled into the family-building between Jordan, Kasey, and Alison. I enjoyed that part a lot, almost enough to make up for the way the story started, but then things went completely off the rails near the end. Jordan's mother said things that I'm pretty sure she couldn't have followed through on, and Jordan and Kasey had an angry sex scene that was essentially rape (even Jordan thought so, although Kasey assured him he was wrong: “'What happened that night was a long way from rape. I could have stopped you or fought you all the way. You know I didn't.'” (167)). If Kasey had just talked to Jordan after his mother spoke to her, they could both have avoided months of heartache, but no, that would have been too easy.

Parts of this story were good, but I can't recommend it overall.

A Matter of Choice:

James Sladerman, better known as Slade, is a New York cop who secretly dreams of quitting the force and working full-time as a writer. Commissioner Dodson knows Slade is working on a book and decides that it'd be the perfect cover for an assignment in Connecticut. Jessica Winslow, Dodson's goddaughter, may be in trouble. The FBI has evidence indicating that Jessica's antique shop is being used to smuggle jewels from Europe to the United States. Dodson wants Slade to pretend to be a writer staying at Jessica's house in order to work on his novel and organize her library. While he's there, he's supposed to guard Jessica, who'll have no clue who he really is, and keep an eye out for anything that might reveal which of Jessica's employees is involved in the smuggling operation.

Okay, first I have to talk about the premise. I can't believe that this was the best setup that Roberts could come up with in order to place a cop inside a wealthy antiques dealer's home. Commissioner Dodson having “connections” wasn't nearly a good enough explanation for why he was able to send a New York cop into the midst of an investigation going on in Connecticut, especially without anybody in the FBI or any of the cops in that jurisdiction making a fuss.

Aside from the awful premise, this was technically better than Tonight and Always. Slade and Jessica were instantly attracted to each other, the same as Kasey and Jordan, but they didn't fall on each other right away. They were strangers who'd just met, and Slade knew how bad it would look if he had sex with someone who might very well be involved in the smuggling operation (unlike his commissioner, he didn't automatically dismiss this possibility).

Unfortunately, once they finally broke down and had sex that's all they seemed to do. Jessica being in danger meant they couldn't really go out, so they spent a lot of time either cooped up in her house or walking around nearby it. Jessica felt confused, betrayed, frightened, and angry when she learned who Slade really was, but those feelings kept getting overwhelmed by lust and adrenaline. I was reminded of all my failed attempts to read Roberts' other standalone romantic suspense novels. Each time, it felt like the suspense shortchanged the romance. And this time around the suspense aspect wasn't even all that interesting.

Probably the most interesting thing about A Matter of Choice was that Slade was a cop who didn't really want to be a cop – he only became one because his father had been one. In my experience, that's highly unusual for a Roberts cop character, but it wasn't enough to make this more than a serviceable read. As much as aspects of Tonight and Always annoyed me, I still emotionally connected with the characters in that story more than the ones in this one.

Endings and Beginnings:

I'll start with a warning: this book includes a couple off-page child deaths.

Liv Carmichael is a local TV news reporter in Washington, D.C. whose greatest professional nemesis is T.C. Thorpe, a national TV news reporter. Thorpe is intrigued by her and invites her to an embassy party. It's not long before he decides that Liv is the woman he wants to marry. However, getting her to say “yes” isn't going to be easy. She's been hurt before, and there are too many things Thorpe doesn't know about her and her past.

My synopsis sucks. Anyway, this was by far the best book in the collection.

I absolutely loved the beginning. Roberts finally got the emotional balance right, or nearly so. Liv's initial feelings towards Thorpe were entirely rooted in professional rivalry, without a hint of lust or even attraction. She noted that he was handsome, but mainly because it was a point in his favor when it came to working on TV. The sexual tension did start up fairly quickly, and Thorpe fell for Liv harder and faster than was maybe believable, but Liv's emotional walls kept their relationship from progressing too quickly.

Whereas Jordan was too old-fashioned of a romance hero, and Slade was too boring, I really liked Thorpe. At least at the start, he enjoyed getting a rise out of Liv. However, he'd back off the instant he realized he'd accidentally hit a more personal sore spot. He tended to be annoyingly confident about his chances with Liv, but he wasn't quite as pushy about it as Jordan – he knew when to give her space.

Although I really enjoyed Endings and Beginnings overall, its pacing could have used a little work. I found myself getting impatient with how long it was taking Liv to finally tell Thorpe about her past (as it turned out, there was more going on than I realized). Also, it seemed like random things kept happening around Liv and Thorpe. I realize that this was a consequence of their jobs – they could be reporting on a plane crash one day, a prime minister's death the next, and a hostage situation some time after that – but it made for a weird reading experience.

The volume as a whole:

I didn't realize, going in, that this was a collection of Roberts' older romances. I had thought maybe it was a collected volume of one of her trilogies.

Anyway, this was...an experience. Most of my favorite Nora Roberts books were published in the late 90s. It's been a while since I last read any of them – I remember noticing her use of head-hopping, but I don't think it was nearly on the same level as the head-hopping I saw in From the Heart. I could put up with some of it, and I even enjoyed the way she played with during one moment in Tonight and Always, but sometimes it was just weird and confusing. For example, one scene in A Matter of Choice featured head-hopping between two shadowy villains, both referred to as “he.”

All three of these books were dated, in various ways. I can't comment on the accuracy of the information Kasey gave Jordan, but nowadays I would think he'd want to consult with at least one member of whatever tribe he was writing about, even if his book was historical fiction. I also winced when Kasey bought Jordan an Apache shaman's rattle as a present. It seemed extremely touristy, not, I think, what Roberts was going for. A Matter of Choice had one climactic moment that would have been ruined if everyone had had cell phones, and Endings and Beginnings' few mentions of real-life political moments were, of course, not very current.

Another thing I noticed was how much the characters smoked. Kasey smoked cigarettes when she was nervous, and Jordan smoked the occasional cigar. At one point, Thorpe lit a cigarette inside Liv's home without asking, and neither of them commented on that. I can't remember any specific instances of smoking in A Matter of Choice, but I wouldn't be surprised if characters in that one smoked too. So much smoking. Off the top of my head, the only recent Nora Roberts character I can think of who smokes is Roarke in her In Death books.

Reading these books reminded me of one thing I've always really liked about Roberts' heroines: they almost always have careers that they're passionate about and that they love. In that respect, Tonight and Always bothered me the most, because Kasey's pregnancies seemed like they would have gotten in the way of going on digs (or maybe not? I honestly have no idea). Endings and Beginnings was fabulous, though, with Liv rightfully telling Thorpe off when he got in the way of her doing her job at the scene of a terrorist attack.

Rating Note:

My final rating is an average of the ratings I might have given each of the three books if I had been rating them individually. Tonight and Always was about 2 stars, A Matter of Choice was maybe 3, and Endings and Beginnings was 4 stars.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
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This book is a compilation of three of NR's stories.

Tonight and Always is about Kasey, a Native American anthropologist, and Jordan, a writer who needs Kasey's expertise. Jordan is rich rich rich, and while Kasey's background is certain wealthy, she basically shunned that portion of her family. While I enjoyed the story, it wasn't well-written. It was obvious that this was one of NR's earlier works. Things happened too quickly; there wasn't nearly as much development; it just wasn't smooth like you expect of NR. Some of the plot devices were not complex. But it was a cute story.

A Matter of Choice involves NYPD Detective Sladerman ("Just call me Slade"), who has been told to go baby-sit the Commissioner's goddaughter Jessie, an exuberant show more woman who runs an antique shop suspected in a smuggling ring. In terms of mechanics, this was a better story than the previous one. Things followed what could easily have been a natural course. You could easily have seen all of it happening. And when Jessie screwed with things again and again....yeah, I got frustrated with Slade. It was a good story, and it flowed nicely.

Endings and Beginnings is about two reporters who find love. Thorpe is the big shot, and he's been in love with Liv, the underdog, for over a year before he makes his move. It took me a long while to get into this story; I didn't like either main character much at all. He was too arrogant; she was too skittish. But in the last third of the book, I fell, if not in love, then in like with the story. It was well-written, things flowed, and you were pulled into Liv's personal pain and really understood her at the end.

All in all, it was a decent compilation of stories by NR. I enjoyed reading it, though I don't know that I would ever really read them again or own the book myself.
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½
This is a trilogy of titles that are from 1983 and 1984 and they do contain a lot of smoking.

Tonight and Always features an anthropologist, Kathleen "Kasey" Wyatt who is helping an author, Jordan Taylor, with research for his laters novel. Also in the mix is his niece, Alison and his interfering mother. When sparks fly neither of them are sure if it's a just for now or a longer term relationship.

A Matter of Choice features an antiques dealer who works with a New York City cop to investigate an international smuggling ring and find more than just an investigation bringing them together.

Endings and Beginnings features two Washington TV reporters one on the way up and one at the top of his game.

They're all interesting and while the stories show more play out fairly similarily I did read books between the stories which probably helped show less
½
I liked the first book more than the second and the third and they were TOTALLY unrelated, so I'm not sure how they chose to put them together in one book. I guess just because all three were so short... Odd mix.
Good not great. Fairly typical contemporary romance.
Omnibus edition of three of Roberts' early romances.

In the first, Tonight and Always, author Jordan Taylor is expecting his newly hired anthropology expert to be a dowdy, professorial type. What he gets instead is a curvaceous redhead firecracker, Kasey Wyatt.

A Matter of Choice drops police detective and aspiring writer James Sladerman into an undercover position stalking jewel smugglers and cataloging books in heiress Jessica Winslow's home.

And finally, Endings and Beginnings pits two ace TV news reporters against one another in the seething D.C. political scene.

Not Roberts' most memorable work.
good vacation reading trash :)

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Author Information

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1,140+ Works 436,614 Members
Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland on October 10, 1950. Her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published in 1981. Since then, she has written more than 200 novels. She writes romances under her own name including Montana Sky, Blue Smoke, Carolina Moon, The Search, Chasing Fire, The Witness, The Perfect Hope, Inner Harbor, Dark show more Witch, Shadow Spell, The Collector, The Villa, The Liar, The Obsession, and Shelter in Place. She writes crime novels under the pseudonym of J. D. Robb including the In Death series. She has been given the Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into their Hall of Fame. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
From the Heart (3-in-1) (3-in-1)
Original title
From the Heart
Alternate titles
Tonight and Always; A Matter of Choice; Endings and Beginnings
Original publication date
1983 (Tonight and Always) (Tonight and Always); 1984
People/Characters
Olivia Carmichael; James Sladerman; Jordan Taylor; T.C. Thorpe; Jessica Winslow; Kasey Wyatt
Dedication
To my parents who've proven through sixty years of marriage that love never goes out of style. Thanks for being mine.
First words
Tonight and Always - It was dusk, that strange, almost mystical interlude when light and dark are perfectly balanced.
A Matter of Choice - James Sladerman frowned at the toe of his shoe.
Endings and Beginnings - A White House source has confirmed the imminent retirement of Secretary of State George Larkin.
Disambiguation notice
This book contains 3 full novels:
"Tonight and Always"
"A Matter of Choice"
"Endings and Beginnings"

Classifications

Genres
Romance, Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3568 .O243 .F69Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

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Rating
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ISBNs
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