The Duff by Kody Keplinger

 Title: The Duff

 Author: Kody Keplinger

 Publisher: Poppy

 Date Published: June 7, 2011

 Genre: Contemporary

 Pages: 304 (Paperback)

 Age Range: 15+ (Language, Inappropriate Content)








                                                                      Summary:

     Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush, who calls Bianca the Duff--the designated ugly fat friend--of her crew.

     But things aren't so great at home and Bianca, desperate for a distraction, 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.

                                                                        Review:

     I'm so disappointed in this book. It has been hyped up a ton, and I was really let down by the story and the characters. I have seen the movie, so I will be comparing the movie to the book. For those of you that just want to skip my awkward rambling, the movie was so much better than the book.
     So, first, the plot was so plain. It was very meh, done before, and dry. Basically, we have a girl who is best friends with two smokin' babes, and all of a sudden, the hottest guy that walks on earth tells her that she is the DUFF (DUFF= Designated Ugly Fat Friend). I found the part about the DUFF very relatable and really interesting, but then that part just vanished into all of the other drama with Wesley. The plot seemed to get very focused on the DUFF, and then the stuff with Wesley, then back to Bianca's DUFF-ness.
     Bianca was a character that I really couldn't get behind. I honestly just couldn't see what her problem was. I can totally see a few people being the DUFF in certain friend groups- I can even see myself being the DUFF- and no one is making the stupid decisions that Bianca did. Besides disliking her decisions, I just could not relate to her for my life. However, there were other characters! Wesley was... well, I have a hate-love relationship with him. I really actually liked him, and I liked his character development. However, I disliked his decisions in life as well. Besides these two, I don't really care about any other characters, and have already forgotten all of their names (except for Toby!! I did love him!!)
     I didn't like all of the sex that was in this book. Literally, the main point in this book was using sex to get over DUFF-ness, and I realllyyyy did not like this. AT ALL.

      MOVIE TALK!!!!!!!! Now, I enjoyed the movie more than I did the book. The movie was more about embracing your DUFF-ness, and appreciating yourself. I didn't really like Mae Whitman (I think that's her name) because she just grated on my nerves, but Robbie Amell made an amazing Welsey- I really loved him! Bella Thorne made a decent Madison, even if her performance felt slightly forced and stilted, I did like her. Besides them, I did hate Toby in the movie (frowny face), annnnd that's about it....

     Sooo, that's about it. In conclusion, the movie is better, so just skip the book!