17 year old Bianca Piper could be your best friend; she could be your sister; she could be you. She’s smart, loyal, cynical and sarcastic, and, as far as she’s concerned, pretty average looking. She’s too smart to fall for the charms of Wesley Rush, her school’s gorgeous, wealthy playboy even if he has taken to flirting with her to score points with Bianca’s much prettier friends. When he nicknames her “the DUFF”, her dislike of him crosses over into all out hatred. But Bianca’s home life is in turmoil right now and eager for an escape, she throws herself at Wesley and an intensely sexy “enemies with benefits” relationship. What surprises Bianca, however, is that the more time she spends with Wesley, the more she finds herself connecting to him on a personal level. When she realizes that her secret affair has been jeopardizing her friendships and has resulted in her falling in love with Wesley, she does an about face and runs into another relationship that she always thought she wanted. But everything’s much more complicated than she planned and eventually Bianca has to face up to her choices, her needs, and her true feelings.
I’m impressed. First time author Kody Keplinger, who is also only 18, has written an interesting, well-flushed out, thoughtful novel that was so easy to relate to I felt an instant kinship to Bianca. Too often for me, teen girl novels come off as either “been there, done that” or like a bowl of sugary cereal that can be too sweet & cute to swallow. But in The DUFF, Keplinger creates a young woman whose issues, relationships, character flaws, and personality are so realistically portrayed that readers will have no problems connecting with and cheering for Bianca as she comes to terms with her own issues. There’s a lot of language and sex throughout this book, which feels totally genuine and authentic to the story and the characters, but may be too much for younger, less mature readers. But for young women searching for a realistic, although somewhat predictable and too easily-resolved, story about a teen just like them, The DUFF is a must read.
- Posted by Cori