How to Dance with a Duke by Manda Collins

Cecily Hurston's father is a renowned Egyptologist. In fact, he was one of the founding members of the Egyptian Club in London. Which makes the distancing of the club from her father after his attack (stroke?) puzzling. There are rumors of a curse from his last expedition where her father quarreled with his secretary, Will Dalton, who subsequently disappeared. 
Will's brother Lucas, the Duke of , is also worried. Though his brother did not have a good marriage, he knows that Will should have returned home after the last expedition. When he runs into Cecily outside the Egyptian Club, he is at first amused by her attempts to get in (unmarried ladies are not allowed) because he empathizes with her predicament (he is not allowed in because he isn't a member) and because he admires her persistence and intelligence. 
This is a romance novel so it should be no surprise that, after some fits and starts, Cecily and Lucas decide to work together to discover what is going on. And, of course, close proximity and mutual attraction will lead them into a partnership of a different sort. 
Very close to a five star book for me. It wasn't the cover that turned me off although, seriously, what were the publishers thinking? This cropping creates a weird optical illusion and, although I think they've fixed it a little since it was first put out, the man still doesn't have a goddamn nipple. Is this like one of those books where the hero on the cover doesn't actually depict what's in the book? Maybe it's a war wound that was never described? 
It was an overall well-written book but there were a couple of places (which, of course I didn't write down) where I was pulled out of the story through annoyance or just plain frustration with one character or another. 
Very much looking forward to the stories of Maddie and Juliet, Cecily's cousins. The three girls are daughters (Cecily is a step) of the three Featherstone sisters who took London by storm, quickly snatching up eligible bachelors even though they were the daughters of a church man. 
Readalikes: Legend Hunter series by Robyn DeHart (historical treasure hunting, Stephanie Laurens (peppy patter) 
Spelling errors (ebook): 241 "though" instead of "through"

Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl

Ah! Finally, a return to Dahl's best form. The first two books in this series featured characters I wasn't very fond of. Tessa was whiny and needy, Jamie refused to be saved, and Eric was just a know-it-all jerk. The three are siblings whose parents died leaving Eric in charge. He felt like he had to become the man his father was. Well, the man who had adopted him and then fathered Jamie and Tessa. Even though Eric took over the family brewery, he never really felt like a Donovan, even after all these years.
He's incredibly uptight and has only let loose with a woman once in recent history. It was the manager of the local sex store, Beth Cantrell, and he pretended to be his brother Jamie (who is a man-slut, at least in Eric's view.) They had a torrid one-night-stand, he couldn't figure out how to admit the truth to her and, frankly, was a little scared of how much she did rock his world.
Beth has her own problems. She's not nearly as adventurous as she appears to be. The sex column she supposedly writes is actually authored by several of the employees in her store. Meanwhile, the scars of a horrible high school rumor still haunt her to this day, making her relationship with her father nonexistent. 
But the two are massively attracted to each other and there are some s-t-e-a-m-y sex scenes. The writing was awesome.
I couldn't give the book five stars because both Tessa and Jamie, who had come pretty far in their own books, seemed to regress back to their original personalities. That being said, I have to repeat that this is probably my favorite of the trilogy.
Read alikes: Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl, Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

The Return of the Prodigal by Kasey Michaels

Picture from Amazon

Assumed dead by his family, Rian Beckett is actually somewhat less than whole (he lost an arm), but definitely alive. He is been kept alive, but drugged by his family's enemy, Edmund Beales. More specifically, he has been receiving personal attention (both figuratively and literally) from Beale's daughter, Lisette. Beales wants her to help Rian escape so that he can then track the two of them back to the Becket stronghold. Can the connection between Lisette and Rian overcome the ties she feels to her father?

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

It's always nice when a literary series follows the cinematic version. If I didn't watch the show, I don't know that I would have finished the book but I liked hearing the voices of Castle and Beckett in my head and thinking about that character writing this book.
Heat is pissed off at Rook for the profile he wrote about her. But they run into each other again when the famous Cassidy Towne, gossip columnist, is murdered. Rook had been interviewing Cassidy and seems to know more about her than almost anyone, especially her extensive list of enemies. That list includes almost anyone famous in the upper echelon of New York, baseball players, chefs, and the like. The sex that's missing in the TV series (so far) is definitely available in this book.

Love Letters from a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle

Mistaken identity to the extreme. Felicity Langley thinks the handsome man on her front porch is the new footman, not her presumed fiance. While she falls more and more in love with him, the Duke of Hollindrake is trying to figure out if she's really the woman she seems to be, not the schemer he had first believed (his grandfather had corresponded with Felicity making her believe that she was engaged to the current duke which he doesn't know about.

Good Girls Don't by Victoria Dahl

A break-in at a family restaurant usually has siblings circling the wagons. But the Donovans are a little different. Tessa is the youngest but she has been desperately trying to hold the three of them together for years. Ever sine their parents died, Eric has been raising both Tessa and their brother Jamie ("the irresponsible one.") The bickering between the two brothers threatens to tear the family apart and ruin a pending business deal. It seems that Jamie went home with the daughter of Roland Kendall, got caught by Roland, and may or may not have let her see the alarm code, thus creating more suspects for the break-in.

Luke Asher is on the scene as a detective investigating the crime. He's a friend of Jamie's who is rumored to have impregnated his partner. He and Tessa are immediately attracted to each other and when she asks him to dinner, Luke immediately accepts. Of course, Jamie and Eric aren't too happy about this but Tessa doesn't seem to care. She's too busy telling little white lies to keep her family whole. She doesn't want a reationship... but she can't seem to let Luke go.

I'll put it out there. Tessa irritated me. Alot. She had some issues stemming from her parent's death but it wasn't explained until the end. And really,, even with those issues, it doesn't explain why she's willing to risk the family business just to cover up for a brother who is old enough to take care of himself. Enable much? I like characters to have flaws but this Tessa is beyond annoying. It really took the entire experience of reading this book down a couple of notches for me. It is probably the least favorite of my books by this author.

That being said, I love Victoria Dahl and am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell by Eloisa James

Okay, I've read a LOT of reviews from people who loved this book, so it might be worth a try. 
Simon Blackwell has been hiding himself away since (from the back cover) a "cruel twist of fate changed [his] life irreperably." He came out of mourning only for his aunt's birthday and helped to save the life of Annabel's (honorary) nephew. Thinking that Annabel is the nephew's mother, he reams her a new one. When the boys actual mother, Annabel's best friend, shows up, he is seduced by her beauty. But he is still attracted to Anne. Enough to accidentally seduce her. He doesn't want to marry her but he does the right thing. Annabel has to somehow work to win Simon's heart... because he's already won hers.
Too dark and grim for me. I like stories with a moral but frankly, this one was mostly ruined by the back cover blurb.