There are some authors who just get the teen experience. Keplinger is one of those authors which makes sense since she made her debut, The DUFF, when she was seventeen.

You may have heard of The DUFF movie, but the book, like always, is so so much beter. The movie just takes the phrase “Designated Ugly Fat Friend,” their plots are nothing alike.

In the novel’s case, when Bianca first hears this descriptor, it is frim the mouth of the despised Wesley Rush, man-whore of Hamilton. Rightfully, she dumps her cherry coke in his face, but the name haunts her as she unfairly compares herself to her more traditionally pretty Glamzonian friends. It also comes at a time when her life is spinning out of control with her mother delivering divorce papers on her unsuspecting Dad which makes him relapse to alcoholism. Turning the gentle, kind introverted Dad into someone she doesn’t recognize and she doesn’t want to see.

So it’s pretty lucky that Wesley is a manwhore who asks no questions when she jumps on him during a book report. Bianca finds that sex is a brilliant escape from her problems. A distraction that she quickly gets addicted to. She knows its sick and it adds to her shame and messes with her personal relationships but she just can’t deal.

Keplinger’s rawness as Bianca tries to unravel the strands of her crumbling life and her unnerving real feelings for Rush makes for a compelling read as you stay firmly on Bianca’s side, hoping she’ll accept her friend’s advice to stop bottling up and communicate. Wesley also gets a great arc to as you see behind the facade of the superficial party boy who is trying to escape through no-strings slutdom. Basically, all the teens are screwed up and that makes sense, they’re still figuring who they are and they should stop being so damn judgemental of each other while they’re at it. It’s no one’s place to judge someone through their sexual exploits because you could screw up just as bad.

That is a prevailing theme in her novels, sexuality, communication and messed up families from A Midsummer Nightmare to Shut In but I’ve discussed those in previous posts so I’ll focus on LOL, a companion to The DUFF.

Sonny is a liar. She knows it’s bad but it’s the only way she can retain control of her life where she has to secretly live with her best friend, Amy Rush (yep, Wesley’s sister) since her mom ran off again; never quite enough money to fix her beloved car, Gert; father in jail; and just not much money in general.

She’s basically white trash but she’s charming and the complete opposite of prep-school snob, Ryder Cross who has annoyed everyone in Hamilton. Even sweet, shy Amy whom he has a hopeless crush on. So when Ryder sends an email asking Amy out, the girls send a funny made-up one back to blow air out of his tires and some teasing IMs.

But it turns out it’s much easier to talk to Ryder by text, and it makes Sonny much more honest with the screen between them. Before the night is out, Sonny has to admit Ryder isn’t that bad. He’s funny and witty and has some issues too. She could actually like the guy. . .

But he thinks the one who’s been messaging him is Amy.

It leads to an ideal rom-com hijinks where Sonny ropes Amy into helping her convince Sonny is the one he really wants in real life, but the consequences aren’t so cute when Sonny’s lies catch up.

Just as before, Keplinger movingly writes on all the messy, complicated teen feelings we like to gloss over when we think of high school. We mean well, but we behave selfishly for the most part. Yet you feel for Sonny when her lies crumble including the ones she told herself. It’s heartbreaking and speaks to Sonny’s real insecurities that led to her compulsive lying behavior in the first place.

Not that Sonny is perfect. Even as she gets the bulk of the narrative, Amy and Ryder have their own arcs in relation to her screw-ups that force them to think critically on their own upbringing and obliviousness.

Plus it has all sorts of fun cameos from all her previous novels and her usual whip-smart humor, alluding to famous classics and the observational humor of those who are 100% done with frat party antics.

Keplinger gets it every time, and I can’t wait to see more from her catalogue.