Book Review: The Duff : Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

Goodreads Description:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. 

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Title: The Duff : Designated Ugly Fat Friend 
Author: Kody Keplinger
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance, Chick Lit, Mature YA
Format: Paperback
Pages: 277

Source: Purchased from the The Book Depository

With the hype, praise and endless recommendation to read this not to mention that its currently in the process of turned into a movie I finally picked up 'The Duff' thinking it will be a fun lighthearted YA romance.

Three pages in and wow... this book is so different from what I expected

The characters and storyline was unpredictable and very different. In fact my expectations was browned away as the book was everything I didn't expect!

The plot was obviously screaming "High School Drama" and "love hate relationship where they take forever to express their feelings for one another" but the way it got to those points was so different and unpredictable that it made the book a stand out!

Bianca is definitely my favorite character! She's sarcastic, stubborn, snarky yet strong, smart, practical, caring, witty and loyal. Trough the book she is going trough tough times with family and ex-boyfriend drama on top of being titled "The Duff" by Wesley aka the school's residential womanizer. Her character growth trough the book makes me love the story more and more and while she does not make good decision, she's still a good character in general. She eventually learns that everyone have their insecurities and have their moments when they feel like 'The Duff'. Also she learns that you can't run away from your problems no matter how you distract yourself.

Wesley... gosh! Where to start? Like Bianca I hated him especially when were first introduced to his character as the typical 'rich bad boy' who is a rude, arrogant, cocky man-whore and called Bianca "The Duff" since she is the ugly one in her group of friends. But when we get to know more and more about him, like Binaca I can't help but love this guy. He has a sensitive, understanding, compassionate side as well as being a good 'friend' to listen to Bianca's problems. Also some of the sweetest moments in the book come's from him.

The relationship between Bianca and Wesley was the highlight of the book for me. A love hate relationship done right!

Also Bianca's friends Casey and Jessica were amazing side characters! They both have a good developed back story and compliment the book as well as their friendship with Bianca really well where they all balance out each other. I especially adore Jessica who may come out a ditzy and naive but when she's your voice of reason, you're screwed. The relationship between the three friends was realistic and genuine where its shown they all really care about each other!

I enjoy the narration of what's going on in Bianca's head! The author's writing style was easy to follow and very entertaining with the melodrama and witty dialogs. 

I didn't read the blurb when I picked up the book so I didn't see the 'Enemies with benefit' part which surprised me with the amount sexual content in the book. While they were not graphic, in fact very vague, I will still suggest this to those who can handle mature content.

Even so, this book portray sex in a totally different content. While most books focus on a character being a virgin and eventually looses their virginity trough the book etc..., This book focuses on Bianca using this 'Enemy with benefit' relationship as a way to distract herself on her problems (not a spoiler! its part of the main point of the plot!). While her problems could have been handled differently with sports, food, shopping etc, I kinda understand that when people are in situations like this they tend to do 'stupid things' and

There are some really awesome messages in this book and even though some scenario's could have been handled differently/avoided, they were there for a good reason.

 Overall I love this book! Its worth the hype! Love Hate relationship is becoming one of my new favorite types of romance. Definitely check this out for a breath of fresh air in YA Contemporary and get ready to be blown away by the unique writing style and characters of Koby Keplinger. Also I read this in two sitting so check it our if you want a quick light reads.

 

Have you picked up The Duff ?? What do you think??