From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend (Hamilton High, #1)

Kody Keplinger

Start date: April 1, 2015

Finish date: April 30, 2015

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: It won the poll for the stand alone BOTM
[close] It won the poll for the stand alone BOTM

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Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
By Bailey · 3 posts · 29 views

last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

* Stand Alone- The Summer of Broken Rules
By Bailey · 4 posts · 48 views

last updated Jul 08, 2025 08:57AM

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What Members Thought

Aug 18, 2021 Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction rated it it was ok

Shelves: substance-abuse, tortured-hero-or-heroine, family-issues, hyped, own-ebook-read, audio, enemies-to-lovers, romance, emotional-reads, dealing-with-heavy-issues-or-crisis

I have so many conflicting feelings about this book. There is so much hype surrounding this book and after reading the book it is easy to see why.

First of all, if you saw the movie based on this novel and are thinking of picking up the book then be prepared to be surprised because the movie and the book have completely different plots. I dare say that they are barely connected. They are vastly different stories. The movie is loosely based on the book at best. There are some of the same characte I have so many conflicting feelings about this book. There is so much hype surrounding this book and after reading the book it is easy to see why.

First of all, if you saw the movie based on this novel and are thinking of picking up the book then be prepared to be surprised because the movie and the book have completely different plots. I dare say that they are barely connected. They are vastly different stories. The movie is loosely based on the book at best. There are some of the same characters and a few of the scenes in the book take place in the movie but they are simply not the same story. I was a little shocked by this. I really loved the movie so my expectations were kind of high going into the book. Getting a completely different story was a bit of a letdown for me. But such things happen with movie adaptations. It's just that this didn't feel like an adaptation to me, it felt like a completely separate thing with barely any ties to its original source. If I were the author I would probably be insulted.

The fact that the story I got was not the story I was expecting aside, the book's premise was not totally lacking. The plot was okay for the most part and engaging enough, I just didn't much care for the execution. There were so many plot points that I felt were unnecessary or went against the characters' personalities. It just felt kind of messy in general.

The major issue that I had with this book was the main character, Bianca. She was probably the most annoying, immature, and hypocritical character that I have ever read. Most of the time, anyway. Once in a while, she would say or do something that would spark a bit of pride inside my chest, but for the most part, I could not stand her character. Her cynicism really grated on my nerves and her internal thought process was irritating and absolutely aggravating. I could not connect with her character one bit. It isn't often that I dislike a character to such an extreme degree that it affects my opinion of the entire book but such is the case with Bianca. Wesley's character was a bit underdeveloped in my opinion. I think that he had so much more potential. I liked his character for the most part but his character development was pretty lackluster.

Bianca and Wesley's relationship was messy. They jump into a physical relationship right away and Bianca hates him at that point. I guess I just didn't feel like they had much chemistry. At least, nothing to write home about. They do get to know one another throughout all of the time they spend sleeping together so they do start to care for one another. That felt very organic but the rest of their relationship felt so disconnected. There was very little actual romance. I did love how Wesley showed Bianca that he cared though. He stood up for her against her own dad and then he pursued her after she rejected him. He did some romantic things but the same really can't be said for Bianca. The romance felt very one-sided the entire time. There just wasn't enough emotion so their entire relationship felt unconvincing.

Overall, this book is the DUFF in YA Contemporary Romance. This book really had so much potential but ultimately fell flat in so many ways. While I can applaud the author for some of the ideas in the story, I felt that the execution really needed some work. This book has a great premise and is certainly entertaining but everything else really drags down my opinion of the book. Unfortunately, all of the problematic things outweighed all of the good things for me.

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Apr 03, 2015 Kristie rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-lit-realistic

I'm giving this book 3 stars based on its readability--it was a fun and easy read. However, I found the characters to be cliched, and I didn't believe that Bianca would be friends with her friends--I didn't see that they had much in common. I wasn't sure I really bought her relationship with Wesley, either. Bianca seemed to be the typical "too cool for school" high school girl archetype that plagues a lot of YA books, but it made sense when I found out that the author was only 19 when she wrote ...more

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Aug 06, 2017 Shelbycat rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle, tbr-pile, netgalley

I have to say that this book wasn't that great in my opinion, it wasn't bad but it's not one i would recommend as being a great book to read. Maybe i'm not the target demographic so that's why it didn't work for me, i just found it a little annoying in places and the final message was really hammered home, not at all subtle! I did like the main character and her relationship with her two best friends, but i felt that Bianca took on far too much responsibility that she really didn't have to and t ...more

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Jun 25, 2015 Cara rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, audiobook, fiction, too-adult-themed, too-much-language, teens-being-teens, books-read-in-2015, books-listened-in-2015

Um....I guess we all make mistakes. Hopefully, we will learn from them. I pray that my kids won't get into this type of behavior. I'm mad a bought this book.

Jessica Day George gives the best review that aligns with my take of this book. ...more

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Dec 04, 2014 Renuka rated it it was ok

Shelves: land-of-blah-and-boring, e-book, meh-romance, romance, young-adult, realistic, owned, contemporary, to-review, new-adult

The movie looks nothing like this book, except for the fact that both are pretty awful looking. I just wasn't a fan. Review to come. ...more

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Mar 04, 2015 Sara rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015-book-challenge

Basically a quintessential YA novel about how the "ugly" girl gets the "hot" guy.

I liked it enough when I was reading it, but nothing really stood out to me about it. ...more

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