The DUFF By Kody Keplinger
Stars: 5
Source: Gift and Netgalley
Bianca Piper isn't peppy, cheery or flirty. She'd rather stay home on a Friday night binge watching old TV shows than being dragged to a crappy club and forced to dance to music that she hates.
But that is exactly where we find her at the beginning of the book. Sitting alone at the bar, nursing a Cherry Coke and watching the minutes tick by so agonizingly slow that she is almost tempted to go out on the dance floor. Almost.
Cue Wesley Rush.
Bianca is less than thrilled when he starts chatting with her, so much so that she doesn't even try to hide her distaste for him, but that doesn't stop Wesley. After all if he talks to her (The DUFF (designated ugly fat friend) of the group) that will make him more appealing in the eyes of her two hot friends.
After processing what Wesley said and what he called her all Bianca can do it throw her Cherry Coke in his face, find her friends and leave.
But Bianca can't get that four letter word out of her head, no matter how hard she tries she keeps thinking of herself as the DUFF.
When her home life gets to be too much and a blast from the past shows up the only thing Bianca can do to distract herself is... Well... Wesley.
Suddenly she finds herself addicted to him, needing him to keep her mind off of all the drama unfolding in her life.
It's nothing real, they aren't dating, it's simply a friends with benefits situation, minus the friends part.
But after a series of rather unfortunate events Bianca realizes that Wesley isn't as bad as she thought he was and that maybe, just maybe she's falling for him.
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I don't know why I'm so surprised that I loved this book as much as I did.
I think this is the first time ever that I watched the movie adaptation before reading the book so maybe that has something to do with it but let me just be clear- THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER!
While the movie was all fun and games and centered mostly around the DUFF and what it meant, the book was so much deeper and felt much more real then it's counterpart.
I instantly felt a connection to Bianca, her snarky comments and constant cynicism spoke to my soul- or the lack there of.
I've never been a fan of 'insta-love' but after reading The DUFF I can say that I'm a HUGE fan of 'insta-hate'.
From the beginning Bianca despises Wesley and everything he stands for, he's a man-whore, nothing more.
But slowly she comes to realize that there is so much more to him than what she previously thought and that you can't judge a book by it's (seriously toned) cover.
One of my favorite parts is when Wesley tells Bianca "No matter where you go or what you do to distract yourself, reality catches up eventually."
I instantly had a flash back to Paul Varjack telling Holly Golightly that "No matter where you run you just end up running into yourself."
Distractions are just that, they don't make the problems go away, they don't make them any smaller or easier to deal with. Whether our problems center around being a DUFF, divorced parents or alcoholism.
Soon or later we have to face them head on.
For a man-whore Wesley had some pretty good advice. ;)
Simply put I adored this book.
I'm a little pissed at myself for having put off reading it for so long and I fully intend on making up for that with quite a few re-reads in the near future.
Until next time,
Ginger
In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review.
My review is my honest opinion.
