The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

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. -via Goodreads

The Review

Contains slight spoilers, the big ones have been hidden

Where do I start? 

Well, first off. I've seen places like The Nest. They're gross. People high out of their minds, grinding (*shutters*), and plenty of alcohol. My friends try to drag me there and I'm like nuh uh, I ain't going in that dump. So, yes, I applaud Bianca for refusing to take part in that madness. And from then on, I could relate to her fairly well. 

Until the meaningless sex with a boy she hates. Then I slowly pulled my pompoms down and stopped rooting for her. Why sex? Get involved in a damn sport. Work on your cardio. I'm not a religious person, really. I just don't see how having sex with a guy for a distraction from your life is something that's okay? I thought it was kind of weird that she was completely fine with being naked in front of him with all of her insecurities, it just didn't seem like something she would do. At that point, I was rethinking her whole character. And it never caught up with her. She never really felt horrible about it. I thought it was really disgusting, considering the fact that he slept with any girl that was willing. I mean, he slept with someone he considered a DUFF, right? 

Okay, now, the whole DUFF thing. I get it! This novel was not created to tell you about avoiding your problems in life by having casual sex with people you hate. Everyone feels like the DUFF sometimes, even the pretty girls that you think have it all. And love yourself no matter your faults. The message was good. I liked it. Keplinger did it in a fun way, too. Designated Ugly Fat Friend, I mean, c'mon, that's funny. 

Then there's [highlight for spoiler->]the divorce. I would be pretty pissed id my mom or dad sent divorce papers in the mail like that. In fact, I would refuse to talk to them until they faced the other one like an adult.  And when her dad, oh, her undeveloped dad, starts drinking and has his tirade, I was thinking, great, more reason to have more sex with good 'ol Wes *facepalm*. But then immediately after, her dad realizes his mistakes and jumps back into AA meetings. This was totally unrealistic. In most cases, alcoholics need outside help and encouragement to stop drinking. Her dad really wasn't getting any help from Bianca, seeing that every time she had a problem she would run the opposite direction to Wesley. It was just odd. 

I didn't like Toby. He radiated blandness. Good guys always have to be the boring ones, it kills me. It also kills me to say this, I was rooting for Wesley. Oh my. I can't believe I just wrote that... I loathe guys like him. They walk around with this self assurance that makes me want to slap them silly. But he did go through a good change. It wasn't entirely believable, okay, it wasn't really believable at all, but this is a love story, you're prepared for these kind of things going in. 

Over all, a fun read. I also question the morals of every single person in this high school that are willing to do it on a moment's notice. Had a good message with the whole DUFF thing. So it balanced out.

3/5 stars