The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend - Kody Keplinger (2010)

4.5 stars

I bought this book after I saw the movie and loved it, and reading this book in one day gave me the same feeling.

Part of the reason that I loved this book may have been due to picturing Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell as the characters the whole time, but I think even without that excellent visual it is still a really fun read. Bianca is such a relatable narrator that it makes this book very easy to read and it's easy to understand her decisions without heaps of unneccessary or extra explanation. I also really love the swearing because teenagers swear, I hate it when you read a book about teenagers and they're constantly saying damn or theres just no expletives at all, it makes me feel like I'm just reading about my friends rather than fictional people. My favourite character in this book was Bianca, she was so sarcastic and loveable and insecure and I think the book wouldn't have been half as good with a different main character. I would definitely recommend anyone who liked the movie to give the book a try, and otherwise if you like a good teen romance then give this a try.

Bianca reluctantly goes to a party with her friends Casey and Jessica where Wesley Rush talks to her because she is the DUFF, the designated ugly fat friend, and if he talks to her it will give him a better chance with Casey and Jessica. A few days later she overhears her dad begging her mum to come home over the phone and then when she goes out she kisses Wesley as a distraction from it. A few days after that she comes home to find her dad had started drinking again after being sober for 16 years because her mum had sent divorce papers over in the mail, Wesley calls because he is supposed to be coming over to work on a group project but she goes to his house instead and she starts having sex with him as a distraction from her home life. Her and Wesley become friends with all the time they're spending together and one night he comes over to her house but her dad comes home early so they play scrabble all night. When Wesley goes to leave Bianca's dad calls her a whore and hits her after she tries to take the whiskey from him so Wesley punches him in the face and takes Bianca home with him. She wakes up the next morning and realizes that she's in love with Wesley, the biggest womanizer in school so she tells him she can't sleep with him anymore and leaves. She returns home, her dad stops drinking and she starts dating her long time crush Toby Tucker but she is often comparing him to Wesley, who bursts in on them making out a week later. Bianca tells him he couldn't possibly have feelings for her when he constantly calls her duffy and is really just sleeping with girls to try to fill the void his parents leaving made. He then stops sleeping with girls and sneds Bianca a note that says (my favourite part): Wesley Rush doesn't chase girls but he's chasing you. Her and Toby end up out at the underage bar and he tells her that she's clearly in love with Wesley and to just go be with him, which she does.