Title: How to Dance With a Duke
Author: Manda Collins
Genre: Historical Romance
Pages: 400
Published: January 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's
Source: NetGalley
Where to Buy: Amazon
Synopsis:
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…
Cecily's father believes that knowledge could be dangerous. That it could lead to a mental breakdown like her mother's. She is forbidden to accompany him on his travels for that reason, which makes this scholarly miss very annoyed. When he returns from a trip extremely ill and unable to speak or rise from his bed, she must take matters into her own hands to find out what happened on the trip.
While on an expedition with Lord Hurst, the Duke of Winterson's brother vanished. With Hurst's illness no one really knows what really happened on the trip, and imaginations are running wild with speculation. With the help of Cecily can they uncover the mystery?
I LOVED Cecily, she's witty, funny, intelligent and keeps Lucas on his toes. Initially the cover is what drew me to this book, but after reading the synopsis I had to have it. The first in a new series by debut author Manda Collins, we are swept up in a world of romance, mystery and an Egyptian expedition gone wrong.
With lives at stake, our two main characters will do almost anything to solve the mystery. Between breaking and entering, attempted theft and a couple of romantic interludes they not only fall in love but find not only what they are looking for but a whole lot more!
I honestly couldn't put this book down, I had to find out what happened to Lucas's brother and if Lucas and Cecily would finally be able to be together. I'm really looking forward to the second book in the series "How to Romance a Rake" coming later this summer!
Also by Manda Collins:
This is not really my kind of book but I really love the cover.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you liked it, and Cecily seems like a character I might like as well ;)