Tag Archives: book reviews

What YA I’ve Just Read: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Posted on March 14, 2011 by | Leave a comment


The DUFF. The Designated Ugly Fat Friend. This debut novel by Kody Keplinger deals with what’s it like being called the DUFF and then falling for the very guy who called you the DUFF. Bianca Piper is cynical and lonely. And she thinks her best friends are beautiful and she is not. When Wesley Rush, a notorious flirt and hook-up king, gives her the nickname of the DUFF, Bianca hates him for it. They develop a love/hate relationship that ends up developing as Bianca and Wesley learn more about each other.

As a girl who felt like the DUFF in high school, I think every girl feels this way at some point—that her friends are prettier and that she’ll be alone for the rest of her life. (Especially when her friends are all stick skinny.) I thought Bianca was funny, smart, real, and just like most of us did in high school, feels ugly. Her relationship with Wesley develops naturally and I even grew to like Wesley (which is saying something since he came up with the disgusting nickname).

The only moments that I thought were unrealistic were Bianca’s moments with her alcoholic father. Those family moments wrap and resolve rather quickly for someone who has been sober for so long.

What I enjoyed the most was seeing Bianca grow up and the bond that she has with her “prettier” friends. The girls are real friends and their relationship makes the book more than just an “I-feel-ugly” story.

I highly recommend THE DUFF. Kody’s second book, Shut Out, is due out September 2011. I’m looking forward to reading more from this young, talented author.

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What YA I’ve Just Read: HUNTRESS by Malinda Lo

Posted on January 19, 2011 by | 1 Comment


After “meeting” young adult author Malinda Lo on a Twitter #yalitchat one Wednesday evening (if you don’t know about #yalitchat, here’s some info), I requested an ARC (advanced reading copy) through her publisher of her book, HUNTRESS.

HUNTRESS tells the story of two 17-year-old girls, Kaede and Taisin, who are plucked out of school and chosen to go on a dangerous journey to the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage who has an early vision of seeing herself and Kaede on an empty beach and she worries what her vision may mean for their future. As the adventure gets more treacherous, the girls become close, eventually falling in love. But the Kingdom only needs one huntress to save them. Who will it be?

This novel is a prequel to ASH and has details inspired by the I CHING.

I haven’t read ASH yet but HUNTRESS stands well on its own for someone who is just diving in. Lo writes beautifully. The details of her world are lush, stark, and otherworldly all at the same time. What I admired about the novel is the relationship between Kaede and Taisin and their lesbian love story. The love story is central to the book but no one in the world of the novel is shocked by their relationship. I like how their love grows slowly in time and becomes not only a strong friendship but a blossoming first love for both of them.

I won’t give away any spoilers for the end of the book but the only thing I will say about the end is that I felt like two separate endings. I had reached one point that I thought was the end but then the novel continued on. Otherwise, I loved what I read. Kick-ass female characters? Check. Beautiful writing? Check. Had me hooked? Yes!

HUNTRESS by Malinda Lo is out in bookstores in April 2011. Be sure to pick up your copy when it comes out!

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What YA I’ve Just Read: The Sky is Everywhere / Story of a Girl

Posted on September 27, 2010 by | 2 Comments

I just finished two amazing YA books that I got from my local library. (Side note: Support your local library. Every time you visit and check books out, you help them.) Both were books that were recommended to me by my agent or other YA authors who said you MUST read these books. And they were right.

While both different from each other, they both are haunting. The kind of books that stay with you long after you’ve read them.

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson


When Lennie’s sister Bailey dies unexpectedly, Lennie (short for John Lennon) finds herself stuck. Stuck in the closet where her dead sister’s clothes are, stuck in the bedroom they shared, stuck with Bailey’s boyfriend, Toby, who also is grieving. Lennie and Toby start an unhealthy affair, which might possibly ruin her chances with a boy who can make her happy.

I loved, loved, loved this book. It’s clear that Jandy Nelson has an MFA in poetry from Brown because she writes so poetically and stunning, it made me stop and re-read again. When I was 12 and reading THE BABYSITTER’S CLUB, I always thought the notes the club wrote to each other were so cool (like Claudia’s artsy hearts over her i’s). Jandy takes the notes-in-a-book format and turns it upside down. In the book, Lennie leaves notes behind scribbled on paper cups, the back of sheet music, notebook pages from class to help her remember moments with her sister. They are touching, funny, little poems of true heartbreak. For me, this was the gem of the book (and there are so many).

STORY OF A GIRL by Sara Zarr


Deanna Lambert got caught having sex with Tommy when she was 13. Tommy was 17. And her dad caught her. Now at age 16, Deanna’s trying to move past her “bad reputation” and get on with her life, but Tommy works at the local pizza place she just got a job at and everyone at school still think she’s a slut.

So many YA authors recommended Sara Zarr that when I finally saw her book at my local library, I snatched it up. See my earlier post on what books YA authors recommend (including Lauren Strasnick!) I was glad I did. Now that I live in the Bay Area, a lot of the locales that Zarr mentions in her novel like the Stonestown Mall are places I’ve driven past. When I drove past the Stonestown Mall, I smiled, thinking of Deanna wandering the food court. What really got me about this book is how real it is. How girls get pinned with reps like “easy” or “sluts” while boys are lauded for losing their virginity. Deanna was like girls I knew, and in some ways I felt like Deanna since I grew up with a size 36D chest by the time I went to high school. Deanna was very real to me, flaws and all, and I just wanted to sit with her and tell her that everything would be okay.

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