Review: How to Dance with a Duke by Manda Collins

Title: How to Dance with a Duke
Author: Manda Collins
Genre: Historical Romance
Heat Index: 3 out of 5
Release Date: January 31st
Word/Page Count: 400 pages
Format: NetGalley

What’s a wallflower to do when she’s suddenly in need of a husband? Use all the pluck and moxie she can muster to get what she wants…

Miss Cecily Hurston would much rather explore the antiquities of Egypt than the uncharted territory of marriage. But the rules of her father’s exclusive academic society forbid her entrance unless she weds one of its members. To clear her ailing father’s name of a scandalous rumor, Cecily needs to gain admission into the Egyptian Club—and is willing to marry any old dullard to do it.

Lucas Dalton, Duke of Winterson, is anything but dull. He’s a dashing and decorated war hero determined to help Cecily—even if that means looking the other way when she claims the dance card of Amelia Snow, this season’s most sought-after beauty. But Lucas has a reason for wanting Cecily to join the Egyptian Club: His brother went missing during one of Lord Hurston’s expeditions to Egypt. An alliance with the explorer’s bluestocking daughter could bring Lucas closer to the truth about what happened…or it could lead him to a more dangerous love than either he or Cecily could have imagined….

A pleasant enough read for story that is hanging out in the back of the historical pack.

Miss Cecily is determined to clear her ailing father's name. But in order to clear her father's name, she must gain admittance to the Egyptian Club and get to his journals. In order to get into the club, she must be married and now she's willing to marry any dullard member in order to achieve her goal of clearing her father's name.

Lucas Dalton is determined to find out what happened to his missing brother. His brother went missing on an expedition to Egypt while being employed by Cecily's father. Since Lucas hasn't been able to talk to Cecily's father, who has mysteriously become afflicted with some undiagnosed illness, he's willing to get close to the daughter of the man accused of being involved in the disappearance of his brother.

Phew! That was a bit wordy wasn't it? Maybe a little repetitive? I bet that description could have been chopped by in half and that is my biggest problem with this story. The repetitive, fillery and oftentimes, extraneous prose.

Now, I love wallflower, injured hero, mystery, unexpected love type of stories. All of that is in this book. It should have been a fun, quick read with likeable characters, but the way the story is told (and there is a whole lot of telling) just drags down the pace to a point that it was about to permanently cure my insomnia. There was simply too much information that did nothing to move the story along and what was essential kept being repeated, not by beating a dead horse, but more like flaying the decomposing body over an open pit.

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a horrid story. There are very likeable characters and the Ugly Ducklings concept is solid. I just think that the editing needed to have been much more focused on keeping the pace brisk and lively, not bogged down by repetition and filler.