Forever by Nora Roberts (2009)

These reprints just do a siren call on me when I go to a department store. Nothing else really catches my eye in the book section. My biggest concern is that I will pick up something I have already read by Roberts, as I don't carry my list around. I have plenty of "better" unread books on my shelf, but just my guilty little pleasure. These two are 1980's Sihouette books with the usual strong women in some profession who meet or have known some gorgeous guy. Why do these guys have to be independently wealthy? Do money issues get in the way of romance?

Rules of the Game (1984)
Brooke Gordon is one of Roberts' usual strong, very competent women, who has worked her way up from a hard childhood to be a great director of TV commercials that everyone respects, maybe even fears. She is assigned to direct Parks Jones, a cocky baseball star, in some clothing commercials. She knows nothing about baseball (I can relate, though I had a friend who took the time to explain that it is a nuanced game), but learns. I liked the way she can evaluate him from the standpoint of what is going to look good on camera - and that this causes him discomfort. He is again a too perfect man, but I liked that the book doesn't end with a proposal or wedding, but with issues that have to be worked out post wedding. I also liked the subplot of the middle-age romance of her boss. 

The Heart's Victory (1982)
Cynthia "Foxy" Fox has been assigned to photograph the race car circuit, an environment in which she grew up. Her older brother and race car driver Kirk raised her there when her parents died. She has been away at college, but is now a free lance photographer and has been assigned to accompany Pam, a writer. I didn't quite get how the two of them worked, and who footed the bill for them to travel with the circuit for a whole season. Did they submit regular articles and photos? Because it sounded like Foxy only developed her photos after the season. Oh, and the guy - Lance Matthews, Kirk's best friend and rich sponsor/car designer, whom Foxy has know since she was a child. The race car world is one I have glimpsed, having dated a guy who worked on race cars and who took me to Watkins Glen and one other race. I was wondering if Roberts would pick up on the noise and smell, which is what remains in my memory, and I think she did. It is also a hard working, hard partying crowd, so I felt she got that too. Other details I can't attest to. But otherwise, I liked this story less than most of Roberts' tales. Something about the way the relationship played out, though it made more sense in the end. This one too had a quick wedding and even more issues to work out post wedding.