Book Review | The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Goodreads Summary:

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 received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Bianca Piper was a strong character that didn't take anybody's bullshit. That was probably one of the main reasons that made her my favorite character and unlike other people, she didn't annoy me.. maybe a little bit?.. and I have my reasons that belong in the spoiler section. Wesley is a man whore, but the fact that I started liking him in the end kind of took me by surprise, it showed how much of a good writer Kody Keplinger is.

DID YOU KNOW she wrote this book when she was seventeen years old?! The thing is, this was extremely relatable and knowing that it was written by somebody who were the same age as the characters (and myself) was very refreshing. I also felt bad for being 18 now and haven't done something as great as write a book. The writing style and the pace of this book were incredible; the writing was easy and simple. The words flowed quickly and I had absolutely no trouble understanding the words, the language used was exactly the language that teenagers use (full of cursing and stuff, that didn't once tick me off). I really think this book is targeted towards high-schoolers and they would greatly enjoy this! Not to mention how fast it will take them to get through this book. 

Don't you just LOVE relationships that start out with the love interests despising each other? It reminded me of Kat & Daemon from the Lux Series [My all-time fictional OTP], it made me giddy how much they were attracted to each other and trying to deny it because of the hate that has been brewing between both of them for the longest time. I liked the aspect of not making this an insta-love, because I hate that about most comtemps and is simply a turn off. The romance was developed nicely and I was eagerly waiting for them to be together, just like Anna and the French Kiss. 

Aside from being a contemporary, this book dealt with some serious topics like family issues, body-image problems and a lot more. I liked the greater picture that is being painted of loving yourself and that it's completely normal to dislike something about your body because everyone in the world goes through this. I especially liked that that something you utterly dislike, can be someone else's favorite thing about you. It's a matter of opinions. 

I recommend this book to everyone pretty much, it's VERY relatable, but it is a little bit on the cliche side, so if you don't like that, then you will not like this book. I also mentioned that this contains a lot of cursing, so if you are easily offended by curse words, (nothing too drastic) then don't bother.

ALSO, this book is now a movie, and I loved the trailer. I don't see why most people say that it deviated from the book (maybe because I watched the trailer before reading the book). We'll see how this turns out though.. 

SPOILERS 

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Onto the things that I didn't like about this.. I didn't like that it took Bianca a guy for her to realize her self-worth. I despised the thought of a man boosting up her self-esteem, but Bianca has grown A LOT by the end of the book and it just wasn't an issue anymore by the end of it. 

I disliked the excessive objectifying of the female body, but I must say that this is EXACTLY the way that high-school kids think, so it just portrayed real-life situations. On the other side, I fell in love with the "not calling anybody a whore" part, I don't exactly remember where it was actually located in the book, but I took note of it and wrote down that it was a very good call. 

I loved the journalism aspect, because in fact, it's my dream to major in journalism and become a journalist one day :) 

Have you read The Duff?! Comment down below if you did and how excited you are for the movie. 

Have a great day everybody!