The Ugly Duckling

The back cover of "The Ugly Duckling" asks: "If fate suddenly made you more beautiful than you ever dreamed possible, would it be the beginning of a fairy tale, or your worst nightmare...?" However, that rhetorical question does not even come close to scratching the surface on this thriller by Iris Johansen because by the time Nell Calder is transformed into a beautiful swan she is already living a horrible nightmare. As a little girl it was pounded into Nell's head by her mother than she was never going to be the swan, always the ugly duckling. As an adult Nell is married to a handsome executive and has a four-year old daughter, but the doubts are always there. Then there is an attack on a party at which her husband and child are show more killed and Nell is horribly scarred. Yes, she emerges as a stunning beauty, but inside is that creature of doubt, transformed not so much by the amazing surgery but by the brutality of events.

"The Ugly Duckling" is not great fiction, but it is a first class, fast moving thriller where the psychological dimensions of survival are given as much play as the physical. Of course, if you stop and think about it, most fairy tales have their nightmarish aspects, so maybe that back cover blurb was not off as much as we might have thought. show less

I was really surprised that I enjoyed this book. I don't usually go for romance-ish types of book. I typically like the tragic Romeo and Juliet to a sweet "happily ever after book" or ones too crammed with sex. But this one was nice and light. the romance wasn't heavy at all and I enjoyed the budding relationship between the two. I liked the plot (which was not about them just getting together) but was actually a type of mystery "who done it" more than romance. It was a great twist and has reminded me not to close the door on romance novels because they are not all alike.

Nell Calder is a plain looking, mousy wife of a successful international businessman. All she really cares about is her daughter but she tries to be the trophy wife. Then her daughter and husband are killed by terrorists and she is horribly maimed. A brilliant plastic surgeon gives her a traffic stopping new face and she uses it for revenge. I'd never heard of this author before - found the book on a table at a charity sale. It was a really good story - different but good. Then I did some research and discovered that Johnsen is a prolific romance novelist. I'm such a book snob that I'm sure glad I did the research after reading the book or I would have 'snobbed' myself out of a good read!

The best Johansen's book I read so far!!

Even if some general traits of this book are quite common among other books of the same genre and, most of all, other books of the same author, I think in this case the storyline and the characters were developped with more care and attention to the details and it really paid off! All the secrets machinations and intrigues that linked one character with the others made this book even more enjoyable and intriguing.

This isn't a book that I was dying to read. It was one that I had kind of left behind because it didn't sound that great. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have really liked it! In fact, I liked it enough that I read it in 2 days.

Tanek is the perfect savior for Nell. He's determined and driven, but soft and caring when he's needed to be. Nell is also driven and a little stubborn to boot. They work well together once they lay it all out there! There is one part of the story that Nell takes into her own hands, and I thought that it worked well for the story.

Overall, I'm really glad that I went back to read this one.

Nell Calder: The Ugly Duckling. Nothing was special about her. Her own mother said she was an ugly duckling and would never be a swan. Nell's life revolved around Jill, her daughter. This life fell apart in one night. The night of the hit. A Knife-man named Maritz was hired to murder her at a party. She was in her room when he attacked her and she ended up falling of the balcony into rocks (they were on an island) her face was smashed and Maritz killed Jill too. So a plastic surgeon gave her a new face and Nell only has one goal. She must kill Maritz. But along the way she has other questions to answer. Who is Gardeaux? Why does he want her dead? How can she get revenge against someone who ENJOYS killing people when she doesn't even show more know the basics o fighting? Simple. Nicholas Tanek. The man she met at the fateful party, the man who brought her to the plastic surgeon, who gave her purpose when she wanted to die. Still, going after the drug dealer Gardeaux and his many weapon specialists like Maritz won't be easy.

This book was great though a bit more adultish than I would like. the uncureable sickness was cool and how Tanek cleverly brought down Gardeaux. He died from what was supposed to kill his victims. show less

Johansen, like Roberts and Coulter, is one of those that has made it onto the bestseller lists and can be found in other than the romance section--in this case, this novel was found in general fiction and works as a thriller and mystery, and it has a fairly clean style that can hold point of view. It fits in the standard revenge plot, as the titular heroine, Nell, works to avenge her family's death--plastic surgery upgrades her from ugly duckling to swan. Well-paced, often suspenseful, this story zipped along and I cared about the characters, including and especially Nell and her love Nicholas, who works with her against the villains of the story. Nice twist too at the end.