Publisher:
Hodder
Release
Date: 5th
June 2014
Edition:
UK paperback,
review copy
Let
the battle of the sexes begin!
The
girls of Hamilton High are sick of the rivalry between their boyfriends’
football and soccer teams. Lissa’s quarterback boyfriend Randy is always
ditching her to pick a fight on or prank the other team. The girls are tired of
competing for the boy’s attention.
They
want their boyfriends back!
Lissa
rallies the girls and calls a sex strike. The boys won’t get any action from
them until the teams make peace. What they don’t count on is a new rivalry: a
girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave first. And Lissa finds
that it’s much harder than she ever thought it would be...
I’ve recently become a huge fan
of Kody Keplinger’s books and reading Shut
Out only furthered that. It’s brilliant!
The battle of the sexes is as
old as time, and so is the tactic of a sex strike, but Keplinger brings it up
to date and firmly into the hands of modern teenage girls with ease and aplomb.
The girls dating boys from the football and soccer teams are fed up with coming
second to a rivalry the boys don’t even remember the origins of and decide to
do something about it. Their leader, Lissa, was by far my favourite character. I
love that she has anxieties, an OCD tendency to count everything and an
inclination to babble.
But one of the best things
about Lissa’s character? The loss of her mum didn’t define her character,
dominate the story or lie at the root of her problems; the accident was a
horrible even in her life that has changed her, but doesn’t rule her. A dead
parent is usually used as a crutch in YA to pin issues on so it was incredibly
refreshing to see that not being the case. It even alleviated the annoyance
that, yet again, some poor character has lost a parent. It comes up so often
nowadays.
The strike caused an eventual
outpouring of honesty from all of the girls involved that was desperately
needed by all of them, even if they didn’t know it. Even now, sex still has a
taboo attached to it. It was discovered by all that there were major double
standards occurring between the boys and the girls, they shouldn’t believe
everything they hear about each other and that there’s no such thing as normal.
The way Keplinger looks at female sexuality, especially for teens, is
illuminating and important. I want to push her books into the hands of every
teenage, and young adult, girl I come across.
Lissa’s relationship with Randy
felt wrong from the start, and put it this way, his name pretty much sums up
his personality. He’s just not right for her. And he’s a bit of a dick. Then came
Cash who has a little history with Lissa and the sparks started flying. I loved
the connection they had and how different it was to the one with Randy. Cash starts to reinforce lots of the lessons
that Lissa and the girls are learning about themselves and what it’s okay to
think and feel.
I adored Shut Out and I’m anxiously awaiting news of her next release. Please
let it be soon!
Thanks to Hodder for the review
copy!
Sophie
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