My Date with a Rubber Duckie

by Thea Masen

Bath time just got a lot more fun!

When Anita picks up a Rubber Duckie just like the one she had as a kid, she thinks her terrible day is about to turn around. Nothing beats a duckie for a sounding board, and now that she has one, she’s determined to solve all her life’s problems with a long bath.

But this Rubber Duckie isn’t what he seems…

My Date With A Rubber Duckie is part of The Sentient Object Calendar Series, a shared series curated by some of your favorite off-the-wall Biblio Barbie, Dakota Cockaday, Holly Wilde, Luna Cantrip, Nicole Parker, Sylvia Morrow, Thea Masen, Unfortunate Reads, and Vera Valentine. It’s meant for readers 18 and over who are ready to embrace a deeper experience with some unusual holidays.

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Novella, Shapeshifters, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Monster Romance

87 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2025

Reviews

[Sadie E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sitting here emotionally attached to a sentient rubber duck.

What is my life.

Absolutely love the genius who looked at a bath toy and went, “that's boyfriend material.” Because apparently they were RIGHT??

Instead of cringing and laughing, I was giggling and kicking my feet. I was INVESTED.

This DUCK. Whyyy does my dude have more personality than half the brooding, emotionally distant alpha males in regular romance? Drake's charming? He's sweet? He's eloquent? He has depth?? I'm out here defending him like my life depends on it.

Thea Masen, legend that she is, stared into the abyss and the abyss quacked back. I'm here for it.

And the absolute commitment to the bit. The sheer audacity and confidence to take a gimmick and turn it into a romance for the ages. There's no wink-wink-nudge-nudge here, instead the book grabs you and tells you, "this is happening, buckle lather. TF. UP."

I do have questions. Like how this adult woman only has one towel?

It's so sincere 😭 which is destroying me because now I can’t even laugh properly. I TRIED to laugh at it and then I was like, “I actually want them to be happy though?”

[Kimbot the Destroyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda meh. He's a shifter so there is no ducky dicky or touching while he's a rubber duck. He's just a guy. Yuk.
She seems like a real loser... no job, shitty house and only owns one towel. Good thing he is sexually attracted to her.

[Biblio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh rubber duckie I love you so! Drake and Anita were SO FREAKING WE- ahem cute together. Low angst and all the feels. Speaking of feels- this would be a perfect bath read of you catch my drift. This was such a fun little SOR and I cannot wait for the rest of the series!

[Frida · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ meh...

Well, where do I even begin? It's not every day you find yourself reading a sentient object romance about a rubber duck shifter. And yet here we are, wading through a puddle of oddness, squishy innuendos, and a surprising amount of bubble baths.

The premise? Brilliantly bonkers. I mean, who wouldn’t be intrigued by the promise of a charming rubber duck shifter trying to woo a human? But sadly, the execution felt more like a lukewarm soak. The story could have pushed us into the truly absurd or outrageous territory it deserved. Instead, the author played it maddeningly safe. Sure, there were a few cute moments, but that's it.

[Liralen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything about Anita's day is going terribly wrong...until she takes a rubber duck home and hops in the bath. Except, plot twist*: the rubber duck is actually a shifter. And in his other form, he's a flesh-and-blood human...one with the hots for the woman who's been telling him (in his rubberized form) all her secrets and getting off to the thought of his beady little duck eyes watching.

I've been on a weird-romance tear, and I've read some entertaining things and some true stinkers, but this is maybe the first one I've found where the heroine is the one who raises my eyebrows. Don't get me wrong: she's in no way competition for the "heroes" who are walking sexual assault charges waiting to happen. She's not throwing up red flags, she's just...not the brightest crayon in the box? Or, put more kindly: she reads as quite naïve and, though kindhearted, not someone I'd expect to see voted "most likely to succeed" in senior superlatives. And that's fine and all (statistically speaking, most people are not voted "most likely to succeed"), but I was spent more time cringing for Anita than I did being entertained by the premise.

Put another way: The dedication (which I quite enjoyed) is To everyone who needs to process externally, but gets exhausted by people. Get yourself a rubber duckie. That's page 1...and it's kind of all down the drain from there.

*Can we call it a plot twist if it's right up front? Whatever, let's roll with it.

[Neapolitan670 📚🖤 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ya’ know when you just want to interject a bit of humour and ease to your dark/pitch/horror reads well, I’m going to be doing some of that with this series of books thank you @dirtygrey for the recommendation 🫶

It is a quick spicy read of a sentient object and obvs this one is in the title 🤣 Loved it, it was just what I needed to make me smile ☺️

[Haku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

This is one of multiple sentient-object books I have read and enjoyed. The dynamic between the characters is great and also slightly amusing. I don't have any negative thoughts about this book, but I wish that it were longer. Because the attraction between the two characters is really well written. I'm also excited to read the rest of the series with multiple authors since every book is based on a national day, with this book being National Rubber Duck Day.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was worried but you know what…not as bad as I thought it would be! Will be continuing the series

[Lisa Chavez · Rating 1 out of 5]

not what i wanted or expected 👎

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean.... sometimes you're just curious, ya know?

[Kat (Bookish Blades) · Rating 2 out of 5]

It all started when I saw an instagram post about weird duck facts. Fast forward to me searching for duck romance, possibly duck shifter romance and finding rubber ducks instead. Well, here we are. And what can I say? This was hilarious, completely bonkers and my best friend received many voice messages of me doing nothing but laugh. It was a weird and questionable but fun and quick read.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Date with a Rubber Duckie
Sentient Objects Holiday Series, Book 1

I Picked Up This Book Because: I’m in the mood for outlandish and absurd.

Media Type: eBook
Source: KindleUnlimited
Dates Read: 1/13/25 - 1/14/25
Rating: 3.5 Stars

The Characters:

Anita: Down on her luck lady in need of a life reset
Drake: Shifter do-gooder caught up in a weird situation


The Story:

This started out very promising. The duckie shifter was indeed unhinged, and I fully embraced that. However, weirdly, the intsalove part turned me away. Overall, it was what I signed up for and what I expected.

[Britt ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Date With A Rubber Duckie was such a cheeky, fun read. I had a blast reading it. It’s bite size with the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. I loved how Drake could shift at will in between his duckie and human forms. He found his perfect match in Anita and she found someone who matches her energy very well.

[Virginie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

My Date With A Rubber Duckie is a short story that is both funny and incredibly sweet. This is the first book I've read by Thea Masen and I don't regret discovering her thanks to this story, which makes me want to discover more books by this author.

I can't wait to discover the other stories in the Sentient Object Holiday shared series.

[Bri The Shameless Romance Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m positive Ernie didn’t have this in mind. 😂 Surprisingly this was a nice balance of sweet, smutty and absolutely absurd. I would think I would be use to these sentient object/unusual shifter books but is always something I haven’t stumbled upon yet out there.

[Kassybetweenpages · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay but this was just out there and fun.

[High Lady of Delulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

ok but why was this so cute?

I love Duckie, maybe my favourite sentence was 'My brother is a pen', though. Does he have a book, too? 👀

[Abbys⚔️Book World · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐⭐ 2.75 / 5

I'm on the blob and what better way to deal with cramps than to sit back with a bowl of ice cream and rubber duckie smut!!

It's as ridiculous as you think you think it is.

[Lena P · Rating 1 out of 5]

So disappointed ☹️

[Kayla Lodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ I just love reading these kinds of stories, they may be a bit on the weird side but they are always a fun time to read.

[Amandatory Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, smutty read but I had expectations from the title and it didn’t go that way. The author played it safe and turned it into a romance. The last chapter made this 3 instead of 4 stars.

[Dark And Thorny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely ridiculous 🤣 my best friend found this book and told me to read it. So I did. Killed the afternoon but it was actually even more absurd than I thought it would be.

[fern.does.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay yall. This was hilarious.
Listen when I saw Thea was writing sentient object romances that would be included along with many others in a series I was ecstatic and knew I had to get an ARC.
This was so much fun. Like seriously. I feel like the key to reading sentient object romances is to let all your inhibitions and morals go and just dive head first otherwise they can be off-putting. That's why this was so fun.
Bubbly (🤭) Anita is having a rough day sees a rubber duckie in a store and thinks back to all the times she would rant all her thoughts to the toy and must get it. Little does she realize it's Drake this guy who can shift into a rubber duckie that got stuck on the top shelf.
Now this is where you just gotta throw your morals away cause the second that girl got in the tub and started her little duckie fantasies it was easy to want to run and hide but instead, I was dying of laughter.
Honestly, these two are perfect for each other.
They just got each other and have such good chemistry it was hard not to love them.
Not to mention the sexual chemistryyy lord this was steamy (I can't help myself)
I just adored this. It was so easy and fun! I might need to start talking to random objects to see if any come to life🤣 55 pages never spent better!

[Booksta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know what I expected when I picked up My Date with a Rubber Duckie—but it certainly wasn’t a rubber duck shifter romance. And yet, here I am, utterly obsessed.

This book is exactly the kind of chaotic, bonkers brilliance I live for. Our heroine? Having the worst day of her life. And what does she do? She takes a bath (as one does) and unknowingly brings home the shifter of her dreams—a literal rubber duck who turns into a man. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

First of all, let’s talk about the puns. I cackled. I giggled. I quacked. The humor in this book is top-tier ridiculous, and I was absolutely here for it. And the duck shifter?? Oh, he’s not just some random bird—he calls her his little bubble. HIS LITTLE BUBBLE. I swooned and laughed at the same time.

The chemistry? Shockingly good. The spice? Oh, it’s there. And the sheer commitment to this premise? Chef’s kiss.

Honestly, I didn’t know I needed a duck shifter romance in my life, but now I demand more. This book is unhinged, hilarious, and weirdly hot—and if that doesn’t make you want to read it, I don’t know what will.

5/5 feathery stars. QUACK QUACK, BABY.

[balayageandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I’ll never look at a rubber duckie the same way ever again.

And I’m not mad about it.

Author Thea Masen has this incredible talent of writing these stories that suck you in and before you know it you’re completely engrossed in this world she’s created!

This book was only the second sentient object romance book that I’ve ever read.

And it’s hands down my favorite so far.

You immediately fall in love with these characters!

The dual POV from both the MMC and FMC is super entertaining.

And it’s HOT…

Forget a hot bath you’re gonna need a cold shower after this one!

Honestly loved this book!

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this before bed with the intent to sleep after a few chapters. Before I knew it, I was 60% in and I’d forgotten all about sleep. There was no way I would close the book until I was finished. This book is sweet and spicy and so much fun. A situation that would have any rational person screaming in real life is somehow charming and fun in this cute story. I actually love that Drake can’t communicate (or do anything really) in his rubber duck form. It’s awkward for him and hilarious for the reader. Strong start to the Sentient Object Holiday Series, a collaboration between all of my favorite sentient object romance authors.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Date with a Rubber Duckie
By Thea Masen

“Come again for me, little bubble. I want to memorize how you look when you pop”

“Woah. He may turn into a little Rubber Duckie, but there’s nothing little about what I’m looking at now”

I think it’s time for me to grab my Rubber Duckie and take a nice hot bubble bath.
But seriously this was cute, it was funny and it was spicy. I’m loving all of The Sentient Object Holiday series and was one of my favorites so far. I’m totally reading them out of order…so take that into consideration too. 😂

Grab this book and take a hot bath. You’ll thank me later.

[monika_is_booked · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ending up on a shelf in a toy store was not in Drake's plans. But when he gets picked up by the gorgeous Alice, who doesn't know the rubber duck she's going to reveal her innermost thoughts to is in fact a shifter, his night is going to take a VERY unexpected turn.
This book is so fun! It's short, it's sweet, it's spicy AND funny. What more could you want? It's like everything you could want in a little novella rolled into one little yellow rubber duckie. Go draw yourself a bubble bath and get your own date with a hot rubber duckie 😉

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sentient Object Holiday Series is off to a great start with this one! I didn't know what to expect going in (one of my favorite things about sentient object romances) and I loved it so much! Drake is an object shifter that can change into a rubber duckie, once duckied he can't move at all, not even to close his eyes, until he shifts back to his human form. As always with Thea's books the spice in this was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the backstory for Drake's family and their jobs. This was a great way to end 2024 and I'm absolutely looking forward to reading all of these fun lil shorties throughout 2025.

[Vianca (Vee) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Your Duckie. Your plaything. Your confidante. Your…boyfriend.”
•
•
•
As always @author_thea_masen never disappoints with her spicy novellas. I loved the characters, Drake and Anita. They both like to watch one another as they self care. Their connection is instantaneous and honestly felt a little like fate. He’s someone she can confide in and he likes to take care of her. I love the nicknames they have for each other and enjoyed all the puns incorporated in this story! Definitely a fun read and I can’t wait for the others in this series!