Marbiee and the Ugly Duckling by Divine Onyejiuwa

Marbiee and the Ugly Duckling is a YA contemporary story about friendship, identity, and the courage to step outside the labels other people give you.

At Rosemont High, Griselda Willow is known as the Ugly Duckling. Bullied, overlooked, and desperate to stay invisible, Griz has learned to keep her head down and stay out of the spotlight. But behind the quiet girl everyone dismisses is a talented artist with a world of her own, expressed through the charcoal sketches she creates in private.

Then Marbiee Loberts walks into her life.

Glamorous, fearless, and completely uninterested in Rosemont's social rules, Marbiee sees something in Griz that everyone else has chosen to overlook. Instead of joining the crowd, she chooses Griz—and challenges her to stop hiding the talent and confidence she has spent so long keeping to herself.

But when a teenage crush, jealousy, and a devastating betrayal collide, Griz is forced to confront the identity that has followed her through high school. She can either retreat into the version of herself that everyone else created—or find the courage to decide who she really wants to be.