Book Review- Shut Out

Early this morning I finished reading Shut Out by Kody Keplinger for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

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.

Inspired by Aristophanes' play Lysistrata, critically acclaimed author of The Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) Kody Keplinger adds her own trademark humor in this fresh take on modern teenage romance, rivalry and sexuality.
 
It took me a while to get into this book.  Simply because the main character, Lissa, got on my nerves.  She was totally bitchy the whole time.  I get that she is OCD and a control freak.  But guess what?  So am I.  But hers went above and beyond that.  She was bossy and often times just plain mean.  You can be OCD without being rude about it.  Once I got past just how much I disliked her, I got into the story.
 
I really liked Cash.  What a sweet guy.  I liked how he was a jock, yet had a soft side.  And I loved how he was working, just to help his parents pay bills.  And he was well-read!  My kind of guy! 
 
The plot was pretty good, as was the underlying message about how there's not really "normal" when it comes to sex and everyone is unique in their own way and thoughts of sex.  I liked how Chloe embraced her sexuality and wasn't afraid of it while Mary wasn't too afraid of her virgin status.  I think this would be an important read for teens.
 
I gave this book a rating of 3/5.
 
Shut Out will be released on September 5, 2011.
 
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 56
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 46
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 43
2011 YA Contemporary Challenge: 8
 
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.