The Ugly Duckling: A Romantic Comedy

The Ugly Duckling: A Romantic Comedy

Annabelle Costa

  • 4.1 out of 5
  • 1,074 ratings
  • 271 pages
  • R
Buy on Amazon

Overall Content Rating: Restricted R

This contemporary romance follows a young woman in New York juggling self-esteem, roommates, and two very different men. Expect frequent profanity, including religious swearing, and steady focus on adult sexual relationships—not a clean read for younger teens. Parents should know the heroine is sexually active, compares partners in explicit terms, and the story spends meaningful time on intimacy with a quadriplegic love interest (medication, what works physically, and emotional fallout). Themes worth flagging from reader notes: sexual content, profanity, and disability as it affects dating and sex life. Bullying about weight and appearance is a recurring emotional thread but stays non-graphic on violence.

How content ratings are chosen

Reviews first uploaded September 30, 2026 2:28 am. Revised October 9, 2026 1:40 am. Page updated October 9, 2026 1:40 am.

These summaries are AI-generated from relevant Amazon reviews of this book.

Crude Mild

2

Apart from profanity lists, occasional vulgar body banter and a few intimate actions described bluntly; most crude-word matches are ordinary speech.

Amazon reviews mentioning crude

Specific words
  • suck: 2

LGBTQ+ Mild

1

Identity themes are minimal: a single humorous line about wishing to be a lesbian, with no sustained plot focus.

Amazon reviews mentioning lgbtq

Specific words
  • lesbian: 1

Profanity Heavy

110

Swearing runs through much of the book in the narrator's thoughts and in arguments with exes, friends, and coworkers. Mild terms appear constantly; stronger insults show up in dating drama. Reviewers specifically mention language that misuses religious names.

Amazon reviews mentioning profanity

Specific words
  • hell: 29
  • damn: 26
  • shit: 17
  • goddamn: 14
  • ass: 11
  • bitch: 6
  • bastard: 3
  • bullshit: 3
  • dick: 1

Sex Heavy

13

Adult dating and sleeping together are central. Characters talk openly about bodies, arousal, orgasm, and medical aids for sex. Reviews describe recurring intimate scenes, including detailed discussion of oral intimacy and the realities of a paralyzed partner's limitations; some find it mildly erotic rather than fully graphic.

Amazon reviews mentioning sex

Specific words
  • orgasm: 4
  • tit: 4
  • slut: 2
  • boob: 1
  • dick: 1
  • viagra: 1

Violence

2
Specific words
  • kick: 1
  • punch: 1

Related books

More by Annabelle Costa

All books by Annabelle Costa

About this book

What would you do to get your happily ever after? Libby Saunders, who spent the first seventeen years of her life as an ugly duckling, bleaches her hair and drops forty pounds in order to get her fairytale ending. Once she evolves into a beautiful swan, the handsome princes are tripping each other’s royal steeds in order to get a date with her. But while the princes in fairy tales may be perfect gentlemen, Libby finds that her real life princes tend to be somewhat less than perfect. Actually, they tend to be a bunch of two-timing jerks. Will Kaplan, the roommate of Libby’s latest boyfriend, is definitely not her idea of a handsome prince. He’s missing a cleft in his chin, he doesn’t have a British accent or even a French or Italian accent. But the more Libby gets to know Will, the more she starts to wonder if handsome princes are really all they’re cracked up to be. And maybe a nice, ordinary drake is the only one who can give a former ugly duckling the happily ever after she’s been waiting for. Read more