Review: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

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

Then 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. But what Lissa never sees coming is her own sexual tension with the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling.

My Review:

I knew I would love Shut Out, since I loved Keplinger's first novel, The DUFF.  I was right; I did love Shut Out.  I did not love quite as much as I loved The DUFF, yet I still really enjoyed it.  

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

The two guys, Randy and Cash, were like opposites.  They were on different teams in the rivalry, and they had different personalities as well.  I personally did not like Randy since he ditched Lissa for some random girl at homecoming.  The strike should not have come between Randy's and Lissa's relationship, yet Randy let it.  Cash, on the other hand, seemed like a genuinely sweet guy.  Lissa thought he was manipulating her in the boys versus girls battle, but he actually liked her.  The romance that developed between them was great.


I liked Lissa's character.  She had her quirks, and those were what made Lissa Lissa.  She was a strong leader in the girls' side of the war.  I enjoyed reading about the sleepovers that the girls would have.  All the girls - Chloe, Kelsey, Ellen, Mary, etc. - had their own stories that the reader found out throughout the book.  The banter between Kelsey and Chloe was pretty funny, too.


Lissa's family was interesting as well.  I liked reading about Logan dating Jenna and how Lissa did not like that.  Her dad seemed like a nice dad, and he really cared about Lissa.  Even though he liked Randy, he would prefer her being with someone who makes her happy. 


If you want to read good YA contemporary romance, pick up this book.


Katie