The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Title: The Duff
Author: Kody Keplinger
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 01-13-2015
Publisher: Poppy
Ratings 3.88
Add to Goodreads
Synopsis: "Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. 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 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"

When I first bought this book, I tried to read it, but I couldn't get into it. I think it was because I burned out from reading at the time. Over a year later I picked it up and finished it quickly and loved it. What would have made this book a five star book for me is the pacing is a little slow in the beginning and picks up around the fifth chapter. There was a lot of character development coming from the main character, Bianca. For me ,the whole point of story is to understand that everyone thinks badly about themselves.

This book is really real. I think a lot of people might feel that the plot line to be cheesy, especially in the synopsis. Yeah there are parts of the book where its super cheesy and overdone. For example, Bianca swears that she will never fall for Wesley, this basic sub-plot has been done over and over again. This works for the book because so many of the situations happen to people in real life. It deals with self-confidence, divorce, alcoholism. A teenager experiencing this can come to this book and build the connections with it. That will make the book mean so much more to the person.

Throughout our lives we grow and Bianca grows a lot, and becomes a better person in the end. In the beginning she's annoying and does blame all of her problems on someone else. I think deep down she is really afraid of falling in love and getting hurt. If she would have stayed this way throughout the book, I would have gone crazy. I also really enjoyed that we got to see the different side of Wesley, that wasn't shown in the school.

Overall, I had a fun time reading this book. It is a solid three star book. I'm sure as read more of Kody Keplinger that her books will get better and better. I would recommend this book to anyone because if you look over some of the flaws, then the message is worth it.  Have you read this book? What were your thoughts on it? Do you recommend any other of the author's books?A quick reminder is that I want to do a Q+A, and would love to see some of your questions. Remember always keeping searching for your Once Upon A Time.