Shut Out by Kody Keplinger Review

"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 with the soccer team or to prank their locker room. And on three separate occasions Randy's car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with 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."

I want to ask you all something. DOES EVERYONE KNOW HARRISON? Seriously, does everyone know him? Or know about him? It seems like he is the popular guy in town. Like the most popular guy. Second to him is probably Vikki (a minor character compared to Harrison), the almost-pregnant cheerleader.

I think I LOL-ed at nearly everything in Shut Out. Well, it is sort of funny. The boys vs. girls plot comes a bit later than I thought, and it isn't as smooth as I expected. In my opinion, Shut Out is below Kody Keplinger's standard. I mean, Duff and The Midsummer's Nightmare are perfect. Shut Out is just... Well, let me explain it in the next few paragraphs.

Here we go. The plot isn't as smooth as it is in Duff and The Midsummer's Nightmare. Its deliverance isn't exactly perfect, but I can understand why Ms. Keplinger delivered it so late (because of the plot and buildup). The characters aren't as easy, and they are even a bit hard to empathize with. Including the main character, Lissa. Cash isn't very difficult, but he feels a bit 2D in my opinion. He isn't as rounded out as other love interests like Wesley and Nathan.

However, she deals with issues like sex very well. That is up to her usual standard, and I do find some parts of it to be genuine and touching. I can yell very much at some secondary characters, but it is easy to understand that they are trying to find their own path. They are trying to make their own way. (Which is why this book perhaps can pass as "Coming of Age"). They are trying to figure out who they are. What their identity is. What it is going to be like.

So Dean and I will stop screaming at the characters.

Anyway, Shut Out is a (better than) great book. I can read it again and again (though I prefer Duff and The Midsummer's Nightmare over it). Plus, the references to that Greek play (whose name I can't remember, because I hate Greek) is awesome!

Rating: Four out of Five