Kody Keplinger is a revolutionary writer. She writes about sex. Wait, we need to emphasize that sentence more. SHE ACTUALLY ISN’T AFRAID TO WRITE ABOUT SEX. Thanks Kody, for your fresh writing, for your courage, for your awesome ideas.
If you’ve read The Duff, you definitely have an idea of what to expect. There’s always some sort of character development, some crisis, and a ton of chemistry with a certain boy. In other words, expect something much better than your average chick lit novel.
Lissa’s character is reminiscent of Bianca’s character. They’re both really blunt and sometimes rude. They lie because of embarrassment, but later the lies blow up in their face. However, sometimes such similarity causes a problem. You end up wanting a change in characters. You want Lissa to be shy, soft-spoken, candid, or ANYTHING DIFFERENT THAN BIANCA.
Cash Sterling is perfect. Judge a book by the love interest’s name, readers. That just affirms Cash’s perfection. He’s smart, honest, beautiful, understanding, and what else would you want? He’s a perfect friend and boy to crush on. I love the chemistry between Lissa and Cash.
The plot is sometimes a breath of fresh air. However, it gets a little annoying. Honestly, fighting over sex? The idea gets a little old at times. There’s quite a lot of sex talk, as you can imagine. If you’re on the conservative side, don’t read Shut Out. It might be offensive to some. Sex sells, as you can tell. But don’t buy it if you don’t know what you’re getting into.
High school life is portrayed quite accurately by Keplinger. The cliques and sports are all there. What’s so great about Kody’s writing is that it’s realistic and real. Divergent and Legend are great, but Shut Out is real and plausible. Girls in high school have a lot of insecurities, and Kody isn’t afraid to tackle them. It’s okay to be a virgin. It’s okay to have lost your virginity. Acceptance is a virtue, Kody writes.
There are really great scenes throughout Shut Out. Cash and Lissa have a lot of playful banter that makes you want to smile and melt. Lissa has a lot of serious moments with the girls. The serious moments make her grow as a person. Although it is chick-lit, it’s not the cliché chick-lit that we normally deal with.
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Shut Out is definitely worth checking out from the library. As for buying it, I suggest buying the Kindle version so no one can read the synopsis easily.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (September 5th, 2011)
Length: 273 pages (Paperback)
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Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Drama, Friendship, Sex, Girls vs Boys
Completed: December 2013
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