THE DUFF: DESIGNATED UGLY FAT FRIEND by Kody Keplinger | Review

Title: The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend

Author: Kody Keplinger

Book #: Standalone

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary

Publication: September 2010 by LittleBrown/Poppy

Pages: 280

Author’s Website and Twitter

Rating: 

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.

Synopsis from Goodreads.com

“Your sense of humor needs some work, then,” Wesley suggested. “Most girls find my jokes charming.”
“Those girls must have IQs low enough to trip over.”

Review

This was everything I’m looking for in a young adult romance book!

I was kind of disappointed by the chick lit young adult genre, because I haven’t liked any of the books I’ve read so far. But this one totally changed my mind! The main character, the story, the love interest, everything was exactly how I wanted it!

What I liked about the main character, Bianca, was that she was not only stubborn (which is something that we often see with female protagonists), but she was also pessimistic, sarcastic and cynical. Generally a very refreshing point of view to read from! The love interest was the typical “bad boy” / man whore that we read about again and again. I kind of wish there was something more special about him, but I cannot say that I didn’t find him enjoyable and fun. There were definitely a good dynamic and a lot of witty dialogs between those two. What I also very much enjoyed were the secondary characters, like Bianca’s friends and her father, that were far from stereotypical and made the story that much more interesting.

The storyline wasn’t anything very special on its own. I actually think I’ve seen a movie where a girl is being told that she’s the ugliest of her friends, so it was not the most original plot. The thing that made it special was Bianca’s character and if it wasn’t for her, this would be a typical love story and would have nothing interesting about it.

I could definitely see this being turned into a movie, as it’s one of the best romance/chick-lit books I’ve read!

First Line

This was getting old.

Recommend it for…

• a quick and easy read
• fans of sassy, cynical characters