I have been looking forward to reading this book ever since I heard about it's title and premise. It's such a winning idea: what would you do if a neighbour left their child in your care and disappeared? I loved Eve Ainsworth's ideas and writing and how she wove difficult themes into a novel that carries you along with great pace. It's a hard trick to pull off, writing a child character, but Ainsworth does it with such authentic ease with Rubi. That skill is not surprising, I guess, given Ainsworth's impressive track record of writing for a younger audience. This is her first book for adults but I'm sure it won't be her last.

I loved this book. It started slowly, building the tension up to go alongside the journey for Lucy the main character. Her journey was an emotional one but also an actual one, so as she searches for her neighbour who has gone missing she ends up finding strength and self belief she didn’t know she had. I felt I was taking this journey with her. A kind of coming of age, acceptance of yourself and in life - kind of story. Really different and very well done!

An absolutely delightful gem of a book. Totally engaging and quite naïve in part, with somewhat quirky but quite believable characters who for the part, are very likeable and loveable. Unexpected storyline that's a perfect mix of sadness, happiness together with a dark side and a touch of humour. This absorbing book that will stay with the reader for a long time as it tackles life's unexpected twists and turns with longer lasting consequences when the surface is scratched. Uplifting and heartwarming whilst exposing some real desperation that some people face.

I haven't read anything by this author before but certainly intend to in the future.

A real page-turner of a book with a flawed protagonist - just the way I like a protagonist to be as it a) makes them more believable and b) makes them more relatable. IMHO anyway.
Have to admit that this book didn't go down the route I expected but I liked it all the more for that.
Really recommended.

Gosh, what a surprise this read proved to be.
With so much character growth and intriguing mystery!
Lucy is kind of reclusive, an introvert, living alone
Lets no one in, keeps safe, doesn't moan.
But all that changes when new neighbours move next door,
Life will never be the same any more!

Asked to look after Rubi, Cassie's seven year old daughter,
Lucy is adamant that she can't and didn't ought to.
But Cassie has some family things to sort out
And promises to be back in a couple of hours or there about.
However, when Cassie fails to return or get in touch
Lucy is sure this is really too much!

As straightforward, blunt speaking, Rubi demands her Mum
Lucy knows she needs to discover just what she's done.
Where is Cassie and why hasn't she returned on time?
Is it mischief, fun, danger or a crime?
Lucy and Rubi are determined to find Cassie now
And get the family together again some how.

Whilst this is a fun, easy read it also includes some parts
That'll really tug at the strings of your heart.
It deals with grief and feelings of guilt, too,
That aren't resolved without honestly talking them through.
I really enjoyed how Lucy comes out of her shell
And Rubi really is a precocious young lady as well!

There's family drama on more than one side
And so much character growth, from shy to with pride
So much not an ugly duckling story, and I'll tell you why
It is more about a young duckling growing and learning to fly.
For my complementary copy of this book, I say thank you,
A very different, enjoyable read and this is my honest review.

Wow, what can I say, a massive thank you for my ARC copy of this book. I don't think I would have read it if I hadn't had the ARC copy and I am really pleased that I did read it. Really brilliant book written about a women called who suffers with anxiety and likes to live her life through a routine. She goes through life just to get by whilst looking after her father. However, this is until Rubi enters her life. After being asked to babysit oddly by her new neighbour, she and Rubi go on an adventure which changes Lucy's life; not just the way she lives her life but analyses and views the others in her life in a completely different way. Lucy is a character that you cannot help but love and through her new relationship with 6 year Rubi comes this amazing story. Really easy to read and really enjoyable novel. Highly recommended!

Duckling is a true page turner and Lucy is a character that you won't forget in a hurry….. A gem of a novel, intimate yet sweeping, modern yet timeless. Bits of this book lingered in my head the way ghosts of Tetris pieces continue to fall in your mind's eye after playing.

Fantastic read. Loved reading about the different characters, it was great how the author captured Rubi's perceptiveness and resilience. Touched on some very current topics with dignity and grace. I would recommend!

When Lucy is left with her next door neighbours child, she doesn’t know what to. Especially when she does come back to collect her….

Lucy has to learn to look after the child and look for her AWOL mother whilst facing demons from her childhood

This book has me gripped from the beginning, the story lines were so engaging and all the main characters were really likeable.

Highly recommend this book

This was an easy but enjoyable read. The main character struggles to connect with others after a traumatic childhood. When a new neighbour moves in, Lucy's life changes over the course of a weekend. Put in a very difficult position, leads to a rollercoaster of emotions but in the end the 'duckling' finds her feet and learns to fly. The book unravels the history of the character, shows her reconciliation with her ailing father and how she has the ability to fall in love and care for others. Highly recommended.

A lovely feel good story about not fitting in - or thinking you don't fit in - and finding your people and being happy with yourself and your life.

It’s a nightmare scenario many of us have contemplated when babysitting for longer than expected. But we voice it only to ourselves – What if they don’t back? This time the worry is justified.

I loved this book as I knew I would. It ticked all my boxes – a quirky, edge-of-things protagonist; page-turning plot and believable characters who become friends. Eve Ainsworth knows how to hook readers in with her fluid prose and careful setting which is so well drawn that you feel you’re breathing the same air as Lucy and Rubi et al.

We immediately start rooting for Lucy whose past has convinced her she is a misfit of the highest order and not worthy of the things others can expect from life. Left suddenly in charge of young Rubi, she is forced to face up to some of her fears and as the story unfolds, we see her beginning to step out of the self-imposed cocoon she has woven around herself. How much longer can she keep others out?

Rubi is sweet and sassy with a kind of simple wisdom of the sort that children can often instinctively tap into. Distraught at her mother’s disappearance, she clings to Lucy, choosing to believe she can find Cassie. But who will Lucy turn to while trying to find out where Cassie’s gone.

This is a beautiful and deeply satisfying read which will restore your faith in life, people and the power of community to fight for you when things go wrong. Highly recommended.

This novel is rich, warm and full of life, real life of messy families and messy lives, where people make the best of imperfect situations, some fail and some find friendship, love and hope. It was such a joy and relief to see normal working class lives depicted with respect, without shying away from tough realities but without cliche.

I wasn't sure on this book when I first started it but it opened up the story into an enjoyable read.

Despite the synopsis, I went into this book thinking it would be different to what it was. I expected a drawn out scenario where a woman has to learn to raise a child and in the process, essentially comes out of her shell. While this technically did happen, this book actually only takes places primarily over 2 days and is much more a mystery than I expected. While this wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it's my own fault, and overall I did enjoy this story. I ended up reading it over 3 days, after all!

While I found it relatively easy to guess plot points, this didn't detract from the story too much as the character's also caught on pretty quickly after given clues. I wasn't the biggest fan of the MC, but I did like the other characters. Overall, a good read that was written well.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I felt like I really connected with this book. I felt like I knew the character really well as she reminded me of me. It's hard to preserve yourself in a different way when you are treated or called certain things by the people around you. Thus is a great finding who you are books really well written, great paced and I really enjoyed jg.

4+

“You’re tall, aren’t you” is the usual greeting for 6’2” Duckling, her father’s nickname for Lucy. She’s 30, socially awkward, shy, introverted, a fan of TV detective Columbo and solitary which is just the way she likes it. She works in a bookshop with Jimmy and lives alone with Boris, her cat. She has new neighbours, mum Cassie and seven-year-old Rubi. One evening Cassie asks Lucy to look after little girl for an hour or so but doesn’t return at the appointed time. What would Columbo do?

This is a very well written, enjoyable and easy to read novel with the standout feature being the characters whose personalities come across strongly. I love Lucy and watching her “grow“ is an absolute delight. Rubi is quite simply fabulous, I love her straightforward honesty and she’s full of smarts and Jimmy and Lucy’s dad are good characters too. This is a novel of love and friendship, or finding yourself and learning to trust.

It covers some ground in terms of issues, Cassie for instance has some complex situations going on and the mystery of her whereabouts intensifies, introducing a darker side to the storyline. It deals too with sadness and guilt and overcoming fears notably of yourself and if it seems as if it might be going to get a bit heavy, it’s actually a very positive book. It does make you smile in several places and sad in others at the lot which some people are dealt in life and what they have to do to survive. I like the ending which finishes on just the right note.

I had no particular expectations of this one, I like the cover and the blurb piques my interest and it turns out to be a little gem of a book.

With thanks to NetGalleyShelf and Random House UK, Cornerstone, Penguin for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

This tells the story of a 30 year old woman, Lucy. She is a very quiet and sheltered woman as she is happiest when she is in her simple and minimal home along with her cat named Boris (yes, like the prime minister) and loves her routine.

Lucy has a difficult relationship with her father and does not seem to see the need for socialisation as she’s never really had much of it. This all changes when her new neighbour Cassie asks Lucy to babysit her daughter last minute and from the moment she is left alone with the 7 year old she is so beyond stressed out. What originally was supposed to be a couple hours turns out to be a very long journey. I found Cassie to be rude, doing this to her when she must obviously see that Lucy has some issues and therefore she should not take advantage of her.

I enjoyed that this novel tackles being an introvert and the difficulties in social situations as Lucy finds herself looking after Rubi and uses her love of detective shows to solve how to find Cassie. Lucy grows as a person in this novel and we can also see how Rubi is a very smart child. Lucy learns a little late on the things she should have done if only her and her dad had communicated in the earlier years and everyone around Lucy comes to her rescue to help with the situation.

The main character does not seem to realise how many people care about her when she has called herself alone all these years.
This is a heart-warming and uplifting story of an introvert learning to go from a Duckling to learning how to fly.

Thank you to the publishers for this in exchange for an honest review.

With thanks to NetGalley and Eve Ainsworth for allowing me to review this amazing book.

'Look for the girl with sun in her eyes'


Now where to start with this book...

First off Duckling is an amazing book that had me laughing, crying and smiling all in just a matter of a few pages

Lucy, who is known as Duckling (by her father) keeps herself to herself, letting no one in bar her cat Boris and Joy Adeyemi, the old lady who lives next door to Lucy.

Lucy loves books, watching Columbo and working in a bookshop. This is her world and she wants to keep it that way.

When Joy dies and new neighbours Cassie and Rubi (a mother and her young daughter) move in, Lucy's world is turned up side down.

One day Cassie knock's on Lucy's door and asks her to look after Rubi for a few hours. Lucy agrees, but soon her life is turned on it's head as Cassie fails to turn up.

Duckling had me hooked from the very first page and I couldn't put it down, I even nearly missed my metro stop.

Lucy and Rubi make a great great detective duo, that would make Columbo very proud. They are helped by the bookshop owner, Jimmy, Liam and Lucy's own father (who her nickname Duckling came from)

Of course we can't forget Boris and Colin, a cat and dog who almost steal the limelight of the book from Lucy,

I'm sure Duckling will become a best seller and Lucy/Duckling is an unlikely hero that everyone will fall in love with,

In all Duckling is an amazing adult debut from Eve Ainsworth.

10/10 for me.

What a wonderful book! An engaging read with a suspenseful thread and an emotional and uplifting story at its heart. It really does have it all.

Lucy is a such a well drawn character that I feel as if I could go on any journey with her. She is real and likeable, but with a heartbreaking past that she hauls around with her. She keeps to herself, other than visiting her father with problems of his own, and working in a bookshop across town. She doesn't really talk to the neighbours, but when new residents Cassie and her young daughter, Rubi, knock on her door one day, things begin to change. Left in charge of Rubi, Lucy is distinctly out of her comfort zone, but slowly she begins to take control.

Duckling is a true page turner and Lucy is a character that you won't forget. You will wish her well as you turn the last page!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.