ARC Review #46: Shut Out

Title: Shut Out.
Author: Kody Keplinger.
Format: ARC.
Pages: 288.
Series: Nope.
Publisher: Little Brown.
Published Date: September 5, 2011.

Summary:

"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."

Cover:

I usually like covers, where you can guess what the story might be about before you even turn the book around and read the summary! Yeah, yeah, don't judge a book by it's cover, but truth be told, that's what pulls in interest. Unlike just a face, or a girl in a dress, or any character for that matter.

Obviously this cover has a face, but I'm actually really liking it. The black paint stripes tells a lot about the story! It has something to do with sports, my guess was football, and since it's a girl on the cover, maybe girls sports? Or boys against girls?

Characters-

Favorite:

Lissa (the main character) and Chelsea (and her bestfriend), all the way!

Even though Lissa was a little over protective of her brother and dad, it was understandable. Her mother passed away in a car crash and she doesn't want to lose some else who's really important to her. She seems like someone I could be close friends with.

While Lissa is more conservative, Chelsea is crazy! She's hilarious, she's open about everything; including her love for sex. Not caring what any of the over girls think, Chelsea admits to liking sex, and just because she's a girl doesn't mean she's not allowed to. Chelsea is really funny and I had a great time reading about her.


Least Favorite:

In Shut Out, I didn't really dislike anyone, all of the characters were really interesting; especially Chelsea!

When Lissa started this "hook up" strike, she did it because her boyfriend, Randy,was paying more attention to their High School, football and soccer rivalry, than her. She was tired of it. Getting together with a few of the other players' girlfriends, they decided not to give them sex, until they finally ended the rivalry.

But throughout this strike, Lissa lost her focus. Instead of doing this for the strike to end, she was doing it for herself; cause another rivalry, but this time between the girls and the boys.

I think this was the only thing that would bother me. Instead of noticing that the boys were done fighting with each, and actually started working together to finally get their girlfriends back, Lissa just kept pushing the girls farther away.

Story Line:

School rivalries? Yep, very high school has them. But ever heard of a rivalry between the football team and soccer team of the SAME school? No? Well of course not!

But at Hamilton High School, that's how it's been for a long time. So long the players don't even remember how it all started.

When Lissa, the girlfriend of the football team's quarterback, gets tired of this rivalry, she starts a sex strike. Of course she can't do this alone, so she gets a few of the players' girlfriends, and her best friend Chelsea (who doesn't actually date any player, but does occasionally have sex with a select few) together; agreeing not to have sex until the rivalry stops.

Instead of just ending one rivalry, Lissa and the girls start a whole new one; this time between themselves and the boys.

I had a great time reading Shut Out! It was HILARIOUS, and I can't wait to read more from Kody Keplinger(: Especially The DUFF!