Another sizzling story from Hamilton High.
Whitley Johnson's dream summer of shopping, partying and tanning on the beach has just turned into a nightmare. Because Dad didn't tell her he doesn't live by the beach anymore, or that he's no longer a bachelor. He's picked up and moved to a tiny, lame town called Hamilton and gotten himself a fiance. A fiance whose son just happens to be what's-his-name from last week's drunken graduation party one night stand. Just freakin' great.
As if the summer couldn't get worse, Dad seems to forget Whitley's even there. She doesn't fit in with his perfect new country club family, and Whitley does what any kid lucky enough to go all summer unsupervised does: she parties. Hard.
So hard that she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a younger future step-sister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't 'do friends') and a smoking hot, sweet guy who isn't her step brother (yet) and who actually seems to care for her. It will take all three of them to convince her that they're not phoneys, and to get Whitley to get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.
Published: 6th February 2014
Publisher: Hodder
Goodreads : Click here
Series: Not part of a series
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
My Review (5 out of 5)
What I loved about this book...
Wow and I mean WOW! This book was so amazing I really don't know where to start.
Ok, let's go. First let's talk about the main character. Whitley is so out of control at the beginning of the story and I really can't blame her given her situation at that time. The way she reacts to situations throughout the book are both emotional and funny (and believe me sometimes at the same time). I loved the way that her character progresses through the book and watch how she deals with things that are thrown into her path.
What made this book great for me was the relationships between each of the characters, including Whitley, and how they develop throughout the book. The people that I thought would have been not very nice turned out to be the opposite and one character, in particular, really surprised me but I won't say who as I don't want to spoil the story for you.
What I was not fond of with this book...
I'm only adding this point here as it was a negative point to a character but was not necessarily a negative point against the story as a whole. I really did not like Whitley's Dad. His personality was one that seemed to just change when he met someone new, treating Whitley completely different to what he had done in the past and completely disregarding their relationship in its entirety, choosing just to go to work and let others deal with his child. Grr.....
In summary...
A hilariously fantastic read with great emotional depth in most of the characters... Add this book to your shelf now..... :-)
About the Author
"I always felt like the 'ugly girl' in high school, so when I was introduced to the word during my senior year, I knew I was the Duff. The idea of writing a book with DUFF as the title started as a joke, but when I realized that my friends felt like Duffs, too, I knew I had to write this story!"
—Kody Keplinger on her inspiration for THE DUFF, her debut novel
Kody Keplinger was born and raised in rural western Kentucky. She always enjoyed writing and began working on "novels" when she was eleven. She wrote her first published work, THE DUFF, during her senior year of high school. Since then, Kody has written two other novels, SHUT OUT and A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE.
Kody currently lives in NYC and writes full time. She enjoys Thai food, Converse tennis shoes, and way too much television.
Kodya writes for YA Highway, a blog devoted to the young adult publishing industry. She is also a featured writer for Poptimal.com, a popular pop culture blog, where she reviews TV shows and movies.
Author Website : http://kodykeplinger.com
Best wishes
Debs :-)
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