Book Review: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

My friend group just had a straight friend.

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of a 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 secret enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. 

Until it all goes horribly wrong. 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.

I read this book in one sitting. It was compelling to keep going, though I had already decided on all nighter because of reasons so it was good company. I heard that this book was good but no one ever say why? I'm going to tell you why.

The characters are realistic and I really liked the main characters Bianca, especially her cynical nature and her attitudes are appealing. The relationships were really good as well. The only thing I couldn't buy was someone having a bowl cut in 2010 (going off the year this book was originally published), those things are terrible looking.

This book deals with slut shaming and body image really well. It was definitely one of my favourite parts of the book and I would recommend it on this alone. Especially, since slut shaming is such a rampant problem in YA. It also has other things like divorce and alcoholism.

Overall, I gave this novel four of five stars for smashed pictures. This was a really great contemporary and definitely worth a read. It's real shame that they never actually made a film of this and just stole the idea of a duff from the book. Though, teens swearing, having sex and being complex are the things that terrify Hollywood. Back to the actual book, I would highly recommend this and it one of the few books I wish I had read sooner.

I got this for review off Netgalley and from Hodder Children's Books.