Ugly Ducklings Books in Order

The Ugly Ducklings series follows three Regency-era cousins who have spent years being treated as wallflowers by London society. Cecily Hurston, Juliet Shelby, and Madeline Essex have more on their minds than winning approval at a ball. They are curious, capable women who would rather pursue a real question than wait politely for a suitable proposal.

Their nickname comes from the unfair comparisons made between them and their celebratedly beautiful mothers. Collins uses that setup for plenty of social comedy, but the books are not simply makeover stories. Each heroine has her own interests, fears, and reasons for resisting the easy path expected of a well-born young woman.

Then trouble arrives.

In How to Dance with a Duke, Cecily wants access to an exclusive Egyptian club so she can clear her father’s name and learn what happened on a troubled expedition. Her investigation brings her together with Lucas Dalton, the Duke of Winterson, whose own family has been affected by the disappearance. Their romance grows out of a shared need for answers, not just a convenient introduction.

How to Romance a Rake shifts to shy Juliet and Lord Alec Deveril. A dance lesson opens the door to attraction, but a missing friend and secrets connected to London’s underworld give the story its suspense. Juliet’s physical limitations and her frustration with society’s assumptions are part of her character, rather than something the book simply brushes aside.

The third novel, How to Entice an Earl, centers on the outspoken Maddie and Christian Monteith, the Earl of Gresham. Maddie’s research takes her somewhere she should not be, at least by the rules of the ton, and she finds herself caught up in a murder investigation with possible ties to espionage. Their long friendship makes the romantic shift feel different from the earlier books.

The novella The Perks of Being a Beauty offers a change of perspective. Amelia Snow, once the fashionable beauty who made life difficult for the cousins, has lost the security she took for granted. Working as a companion brings her face-to-face with old mistakes and an old love, giving the series a quieter story about accountability and a second chance.

Expect Regency settings, lively family connections, romantic suspense, and heroines who keep investigating even when the sensible people around them tell them not to. The books work as individual romances, but reading in order lets the cousins’ friendships and earlier adventures build naturally from one story to the next.