How to Dance with a Duke (Ugly Ducklings, #1) in Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn

Feb 05, 2012 Melissa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

It is just a fact that historical romances tend to be a dime a dozen. After a while they all just tend to blend together. That makes it quite a task for a writer to write a novel in this genre that can stand above the crowd and touch a reader in a lasting way. There was potential in this story by Manda Collins. The plot of this novel is definitely different than the typical marriage hunt stories that dominate this type of book. Oh, there is definitely some marriage hunting going on in this story It is just a fact that historical romances tend to be a dime a dozen. After a while they all just tend to blend together. That makes it quite a task for a writer to write a novel in this genre that can stand above the crowd and touch a reader in a lasting way. There was potential in this story by Manda Collins. The plot of this novel is definitely different than the typical marriage hunt stories that dominate this type of book. Oh, there is definitely some marriage hunting going on in this story, but it takes place in the midst of intrigue and mystery surrounding the incapacitating illness of an Egyptian scholar and tomb explorer and the disappearance of a young man who was on an Egyptian expedition with him. Search for answers to these mysteries unites an unlikely pair -- Cecily, the daughter of the scholar, and Lucas, the brother of the missing man. Romance between the two of them seemed inevitable, and of course, they find themselves drawn to each other, as tends to happen in these stories.

The story begins with Cecily hatching out a plan to infiltrate the exclusive Egyptian club where only members and their spouses are allowed entry. She decides that her best plan to enter the club that has been forbidden to her, despite her amazing intellect and knowledge of Egyptian antiquity, is for her to woo and marry one of the current members of the club. Already, at the very beginning of the novel, I was rolling my eyes at this ridiculous plan. I recognize that marriage in that era was not the same as marriage today, and people were constantly making marriages of convenience that did not involve love or mutual affection. Still, it seemed that this ridiculous plan was not consistent with Cecily's character. She was supposed to be a strong and independent woman, and even though she tries to explain that she was looking to find a husband who would just leave her alone to pursue her scholarly interests, it seems as if she would have made some other attempts to gain entry into the club before she decided on this path. But it is what it is, and things seem to be going her way when Cecily comes across the dance card of Amelia Snowe, the cookie cutter snobby, snarky girl who is the hit of the ton. This whole scenario makes no sense to me. Do these young men who have signed her card have no idea who they have agreed to dance with? Do they not find it odd to be approached by Cecily, who has gained a bit of a reputation as an unapproachable wallflower? Yet they head off to the dance floor with her, and in the process she somehow becomes the most eligible debutante of the evening. It just seemed very contrived, something that simply existed as a plot device.

The romance of the story between Cecily and Lucas goes fairly quickly, with a marriage taking place by the halfway point of the novel. So obviously the development of the relationship is not the central issue of the story. As far as the relationship between Cecily and Lucas goes, the main dilemma that they face is Cecily's fear of falling in love. She has been hurt in the past, and so, in order to protect her heart, she decides that she would prefer to have a life without love. This line of the story was so frustrating for me to read because Cecily was so delusional about the whole thing. Just because you refuse to say the "L" word out loud to your partner, that does not mean that you do not, in actuality, truly love the guy. Cecily is obviously in love with Lucas, but she refuses to acknowledge the fact to herself or to him. Instead she devices hurtful ways to keep him at a distance. She is extremely lucky that he is a patient man with a good understanding of his marriage partner, because her behavior could have sent him away for good otherwise. I understand. All of us have been upset in love at one time or another. But for her to have such a strong push against this man who she is in love with just doesn't make sense. Now that she is married to him it seems as if she should let down her guard a bit and allow herself to be in love. Her actions only ended up hurting the man she cared for, and I didn't enjoy reading about it. Unfortunately, as a reader I was more interested in their relationship before the marriage. After it took place they became less interesting as a couple, and the difficulties of their relationship were more annoying than anything else, leading the story to drag a bit.

As for the Egyptian mystery -- it was fairly interesting, I think. I was able to guess the villain fairly early on, but generally that doesn't harm my enjoyment of a mystery as I follow along to see how the main investigators will discover who it is. However, in this case it seemed as if the story dragged on too much. I found myself bored with events rather than prodded forward with the intrigue of it. And then in the end when the mystery finally was solved -- well, it just became a giant soap opera. The villain could have just been portrayed with a handlebar mustache, black hat, and matching evil sidekick. He was just so bad that he wasn't even closely believable as a character. As he went on and on and on explaining all of his evil deeds I found myself rolling my eyes. And everything was just nicely packaged and discovered all within a chapter -- even the whole issue with Cecily having trouble telling Lucas that she loved him. Like magic!

This story is meant to be the beginning of a series of books in the Ugly Ducklings series. That can be typical in these types of stories, and I generally do enjoy seeing the spinoff romances that arise in them. I loved the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas and the Bridgertons series by Julia Quinn. However, in this case there are a couple of things that will prevent me from breathlessly waiting for the next book in this series. First of all, there was not a lot of discussion about exactly why these three girls are labeled the Ugly Ducklings. It was mentioned in almost a passing moment. In Kleypas's Wallflowers series it was obvious why each of the women involved was labeled as a wallflower. From the beginning of the first novel in that series I could see why they struggled in the social scenes of the day and why the four of them became great friends. In this case it wasn't as obvious. I could make my own deductions, but it wasn't enough for me to feel any amount of sympathy for their situation. I felt no driving desire to see any of them lifted out of their present situations. The scenes involving the three of these "ugly ducklings" were not good enough to get me to care for any of them enough to care about their futures, and for that reason I don't feel any need to continue reading in the series. I could see that there was a bit of foreshadowing that hinted at who the next love match would be, but since there was not really any interaction in this book between the two characters in this book I only had a passing sentence in a conversation to know this, and that isn't interesting at all as a reader.

So, in a genre that is littered with story after story of the unlikely match of two adversaries, the discovery of love by someone who had sworn it off, and the handsome hero falling desperately in love with the previously unmarriageable heroine, this story just didn't rise above the crowd. Any attempts to set it apart as something different simply came across as contrived and melodramatic. I didn't dislike this book. It just wasn't anything special, and for historical romances, unfortunately that harms the book immensely. I will not be continuing on in this series. ...more

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Oct 12, 2016 Antica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, fiction, historical-fiction, regency, england, series, 19th-century, favorite, audiobooks, heroines-i-love

I've started listening to this audiobook a while ago and forgot about it then restarted again from the start

How i was ever able to stop the first time around was beyond me. I love the characters in this story, how the ugly ducklings had their place in the ton, the history of Cecily's childhood, her fears and struggles of wanting to be a scholar but is limited by her overprotective father. I loved Lucas and Cecily's first meeting, i think their dynamic as a couple is so colorful and fun, the cla ...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Caz rated it liked it

Shelves: romance-regency, kindle, romance-1800-1850

This was an okay read, but I felt a bit disappointed by the time I’d finished. Manda Collins is clearly a good writer; her characterisation is consistent and she can write sexual tension that just leaps off the page – but I don’t think she did herself justice here. The plot is fairly commonplace – bluestocking in her twenties who feels she’s unattractive meets and falls for an incredibly handsome man who is intrigued by her; they spend the first part of their acquaintance verbally sparring and s ...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Kat ~ Forever Book Lover ♥ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical, arc

You can find the entire review at Forever Book Lover.

The story line intrigued me, it had a unique blend of historical fiction, romance and mystery. Manda Collins, is an amazing story teller, “How to Dance with a Duke” pulled me in from the very beginning and I was hooked all the way to the last page.

Her writing in some ways reminded me of Julia Quinn, more for her quick oneliners. I found myself chuckling out loud. I enjoyed the way her writing amused me all the way through, and the same time sh ...more

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Feb 04, 2012 (Nat) Reading Romances rated it liked it

"Isn’t that cover simply gorgeous? How to Dance With A Duke is the charming debut novel by Manda Collins. There was some lack of reality and more suspense towards the villain. I really enjoyed the beginning of this book but as the story developed, I found myself less and less interested in the plot. The characters were likable and the romance between Lucas and Cecily was adorable!(...)"

Read my full review here!
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