Plot: 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.
Rating: 6.5/10
Things you need to know about this book:
The movie and the book are two different things. The producers essentially used the names of the main characters and little else. There is no Madison at all, Toby is one of the sweetest characters in the book and I’m pretty sure they changed her best friends’ names too.
The book is very teenagy. It’s not a bad thing, I actually enjoyed jt very much, but keep it in mind.
That said, this book isn’t for everyone. It is quick and easy reading, and is surprisingly dark about a few topics, but it definitely isn’t a book that is going to appeal to everyone.
Book or Movie? Surprisingly I prefer the movie more, a rarity for me. That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the book, I just think the movie was better aimed at its’ target audience and had a lot more humor in.
The book is a bit optimistic about a few things, especially the return of Bianca’s father’s alcoholism. Perhaps it can happen that a person immediately snaps out of the relapse, but it is surely a rarity and I found it a bit ridiculous. Her reaction towards the divorce of her parents is also quite mellow, and it came across that the author didn’t want to invest time into this.
Are American teens really so promiscuous? I have always been a firm supporter when girls want to sleep around (cue: WANT). It is unfair that men can sleep with anyone they want to but women are judged harshly. I did feel a bit shocked though – the teens in this book is sleeping around freely and with everyone. Is this the norm or was it dramatized?? Am I still a bit of a prude? I don’t know, and I don’t really care, but that amount of free willy is a bit much to stomach.
This book was a whole lot of fun. It is super-fast and easy to read (I finished it in under eight hours across two days). It plays around with a lot of dark topics but doesn’t really get into it. I enjoyed whawt the book was telling us – someone might be absolutely perfect but if they aren’t compatible with you, it’s not going to work, and that a person’s actions are often not true to their real character.
Have you read the book? What did you think?
Life of this city girl 