How to Dance With a Duke: Ugly Duckling Trilogy, Book 1

If you like Amanda Quick books, you'll love this one. It reminded me of her earlier books.
It has wit, murder, attempted murder, mystery, romance and its sexy. Throw in a good looking Duke, and you've got it all. Very good story. You won't get bored half way through it like so many.

Love Anne Flosnik. She always adds so much to an audible book.

Ann Flosnik gives her usual great performance. This is expected.

The story is entertaining and not diluted with too many heavy sexual scenes which seem to permeate most historical romance novels. This IMO is refreshing. I certainly don't mind the sex, but many novels take it to extreme and it diminishes the stories.

Its hard to put my finger on why I didn't give it five stars all the way. It just seemed to lack something.

I would have rather gotten to know the characters better than I did, and discovery of the mystery's solution a little better found.

However it is definitely good enough that I bought the second book in the series.

I adore Anne Flosnick but I found the descriptive prose in this volume a cut about the usual. The heroine is one of my favorites ever. I loved her character development and her style.

The gambling matches between the newlyweds. I liked all of the sideplots with the supporting cast. The book was very well paced. Motivations were explained and it was very satisfying to discover this author.

Another winner. I have to admit sometimes when I need something to listen to I search for this narrator.

I savored it a bit. I wanted it to last because it was worth the listen and when I heard a thought provoking plotline I chose to take a break. Once you finish a listen then it is not new and I enjoyed each new chapter.

The mystery in this book is what really makes it, the development of the romance being secondary in many ways. Of course, the romance could not develop without the protagonists working at finding the answers to the questions they have. I liked the protagonists, especially because I have a fondness for bluestockings and the men who are open-minded enough to see beyond the intellectual bent of the woman. Intelligence and spinsterhood (a woman being over 22 or so made her almost unmarriagable) were huge drawbacks in the old days - you know, that time before the 1960s. Anne Flosnik is not in the category of favorite narrators, but she is does a tolerably good job, especially if I don't listen to too many of her narrations in a row.

Very, very good

Maybe the historical romances by Eloisa James or Julie Garwood - steamy romance, humor and intrigue

Lucas!

Intrigue, humor, and romance!

Well worth the time, money, and credit!

This was the WORST voicing of a story I have ever heard. 12 minutes in and I'm done! The woman cuts sentences apart so you can't follow her. Voiceovers are supposed to let sentences flow - not this one. Do not buy.

Story may be great - I'd buy it and read it rather than listen to it.

What a poorly plotted mess of a book! I'm sorry I wasted my money on it. The worst of it is, the book had real potential. The author writes well, has some interesting turns of a phrase and makes some nice incidental observations. The broad outlines of the plot are promising--the bluestocking Egyptologist and the former Army officer turned unexpected Duke meet when both are investigating the aftermath of an expedition to Egypt in which his brother went missing and her father had an apoplexy, leaving him unable to speak. From there, unfortunately, the plot went completely off the rails and left the characters behaving like complete ninnies. By the end, I thought they were among the stupidest, shallowest people I'd ever spent time with. It didn't have to turn out that way by any means. I think the author could develop into a decent one if she had a really good editor who could point out the idiocies and inconsistencies in her plotting and characters' motivations. Alas, I suspect that won't happen. Don't waste your time with this.

Very good story, mystery and romance. The best narration and I will listen to this story again.