Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Synopsis

The girls of Hamilton High School are going on strike. Sick of the rivalry between their boyfriends' American football and soccer teams, Lissa and her friends are determined that the boys won't see any action from them until they put an end to their immature pranks. But Lissa hasn't counted on a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. From the author of The Duff comes another Hamilton High story.

Review

I really enjoyed reading Shut Out. It was one of those books that once I started it, I had to keep on reading, so I finished it quite quickly.

Shut Out is written in Lissa's point of view. She is fed up of the rivalry between two of the boys teams at Hamilton High; the soccer team and the football team (they are different teams in America) because her boyfriend Randy keeps putting the rivalry before her. So Lissa comes up with a plan and gathers all the girls with boyfriends on each team together and all agree to go on a sex strike until the rivalry ends.

I thought Shut Out had a great underlying message and managed to deal with the pressures that teenage girls face around sex. I really liked how Kody was able to bring these issues to light, as many teenage girls grow up with stereotypes of how they should be when it comes to sex; from virgin to a girl who likes sex and isn't afraid to let people know. I particularly liked that it brought up the double standards that there are for boys and girls when it comes to sex. Kody manages to talk about these issues, but still keep the novel light and fun.

The characters were all really likeable in this which help make it an easy read. The only time I got really annoyed with Lissa was towards the end when I just wanted her to face her problems and stop running away from them. I have totally fallen for Cash though, such a gentleman and perfect boyfriend material.

This was a really great read to just curl up on the sofa with which is light and fun with the right amount of reality thrown in.

4/5

Shut Out is available from Amazon UK, Waterstones and most online book shops