Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Kody Keplinger

I shamelessly ripped this blurb off of Amazon: 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 "Duffy," she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that 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.

Websites for author: http://www.kodykeplinger.com/
                               http://kodymekellkeplinger.blogspot.com/

Now for my part – I came by this book via the YA Highway blog; it's the only ARC I've ever won. :)  I LOVE this book! I can so relate to being the Duff. In reading this, we come to learn that we all feel like the Duff at one time or another. The concept of a Duff reminds me very much of a partially written novel that I have going on right now as well. Bianca is smart, tough, and sassy. She has spent too long guarding her heart to just hand it over to a slimey womanizer. She’s got great friends that support her and look out for her. Remember that one guy in high school, the one you knew was not the nicest guy, but you just couldn’t help yourself being totally drawn in to him. Yeah, well Wesley is THAT guy. On the surface he’s not a good guy. But things are rarely only surface deep. While reading this book, I kept thinking of a saying that I’m a big fan of, “No matter where you go, there you are.” In other words, avoiding, running from, or otherwise not dealing with things, doesn’t make them go away.

Note: This book has a lot of swearing and a lot of sex! I would say about 17 and up.

This one gets four roses!


9 comments:

  1. Sounds like I'll have to check this one out. Hopefully it will give me insight on the high school book I'm writing.

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  2. I thought of your P&T WIP when I read the description, too (you mentioned it in the AQ chat), but that's good, because you have a title to compare it to in a query, now.

    DUFF sounds like a good book! I'm adding it to my list. :)

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  3. This sounds like another great book for my Lisa Gibson library!

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  4. Yay for winning the ARC copy! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book! It's one to put on the list for me!!! Thanks for sharing the story!

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  5. Awesome review. I really want to read this...even more now. I think this is the first Duff review I've read actually.

    Awesome quote, by the way. :)

    -lauren

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  6. Found you on TK Richardson's blog. Good review. I especially appreciate the content warning!

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  7. Sounds like a great book, and told from a point of view I'd definitely want to read.

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  8. I read about this book a while ago and was interested but not sold. Sounds like a great summer read!

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  9. yeah, congrats about getting the ARC! that's awesome : )
    this sounds interesting..i'll have to check it out. thanks for the review, Lisa!

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