Review of The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Book:  The DUFF
Author:  Kody Keplinger
Published by:  Little Brown/Poppy
Pages:  288

From Goodreads:  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.

I absolutely adored this book.  It was refreshingly realistic read.  The teenagers acted like teenagers (or at least how I remember high school being).  Bianca was great.  To me it felt like she was a close friend.  I understood her and what she was going through.  I could easily image being stressed and confused and wanting to escape...don't we all need that from time to time?  She didn't turn to alcohol or to drugs, instead she turned to sex.  Sex helped her escape her problems and made her to feel special.  While I don't necessarily condone this behavior I understand how it happened.  She was one hot mess!  At least they were safe and it isn't like she messed around with multiple guys...only Wesley *sigh*.

I also really liked Wesley.  I found him to be a jerk at first and I really couldn't understand Bianca's attraction but as the story continued he started to grow on me.  By the end, I thought he was a great guy and I had high hopes for him.

My favorite aspect of the story was Bianca's relationship with her two best friends.  It reminded me of my two best friends who are absolutely amazing and mean the world to me.  They balance me out and are normally my escape from my hectic work schedule and life in general.  It was so great to see friends in a novel who really cared about each other and stuck up for each other.

The one thing I wasn't too fond of in this novel was all the swearing.  (I know it's ironic that the meaningless sex didn't bother me but the swearing did.)  I'm not a person who swears often so when I see it in print for some reason it seems even more offensive.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to mature teenagers because of the adult content and language.  I give this novel ★★★★ and 1/2