Shut Out By: Kody Keplinger

Title: Shut Out
Author: Kody Keplinger
HARDBACK
Amount of Pages: 288
Release Date: Septermber 5, 2011
Publisher: Poppy
Geared Towards: Older Teens
From: Publisher (Review)

"'It's the one thing they could never say no to. The one thing they beg and plead and cajole for. Up until now, I didn't realize we could use it to our advantage. But last night, I realized that it's our best shot.' I paused, took a breath. 'We go on...a sex strike!'" (P. 38).

Summary (From Front Flap): Most high school sports teams have rivalries with other schools. At Hamilton High, it's a civil war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part, Lissa is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her to go pick a fight or haze a freshman. And on three seperate occasions Randy's car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing iwth a bunch of sweaty boys for her own boyfriend's attention.

Lissa decides to end the rivalry once and for all: She and the other players' girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won't get any action from them until the football and soccer teams make peace. What they don't count on is a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. And Lissa never sees her own sexual tension with the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling, coming. In this hillarious and romantic reimagining of Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the battle of boys against girls is on.

Wdebo's Review: As a giant fan of Kody Keplinger's debut novel, The Duff, I could not wait to begin Shut Out. Though this was definitely an enjoyable read, it did not reach the level that The Duff had and, in turn, had disapointed me in that way.

The writing was very well done. It was a wonderful read from the very beginning and posessed a well thought out stroyline. Each event happened at the perfect time. It had a nice amount of romance and comedy and a smart mouthed protagonist. However, there just felt like there was something lacking to it that just made it not as impressive as The Duff.

It was one of those books that, though enjoyable, was easy to set down and pick up later. I did not have a giant longing to read it at all hours of the day, but the good thing about this book is that it is easy to get into again when you just pick it up from the middle. However, there was a section in the middle that was very slow, as if there was two distinct sections to the book and no perfected connection between the two. I also wished that there would be more of a battle between the boys and the girls as it is made to seem in the summary. It just felt like more of a girl beating down guys fight then an actual straight up battle of the sexes.

Lissa was a pretty good character, I liked her a lot in the beginning of the book but then she because very whinny and annoying towards the end of the book. However, I did really like the character of Cash.

Cafe Cover Chat: The cover is pretty good and shows the strength and fighting spirit of the girls. (B)

All in all, a pretty good read when one just looks at it by itself, however, if it is compared to Keplinger's debut novel, it falls short of it.

Grade: B

Wdebo :)