SHUT OUT
Author: Kody Keplinger
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Poppy (September 5, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316175560
ISBN-13: 978-0316175562

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…

After reading The D.U.F.F. some time back, I just knew that I would have to read any other books by author Kody Keplinger in the future.  She has the talent to write from a teens point of view that truly captures the spirit of what teens are feeling in this angst filled part of life.  So when the publisher sent me Shut Out, I dived right into the world of teen drama and relationship heartbreak!


Most schools have a rivalry between other schools and their sports teams.  Unfortunately, in Lissa’s school the rivalry is between their own soccer and football team.  Pranks are common, up to the point of injury, while the girlfriends are neglected and thrown into social circles for the separate teams.  Lissa is tired of the bickering and the girls having to choose sides according to the teams. What is a girl to do? Go on strike with all of the girlfriends and refuse any type of romantic contact including make out sessions and sex if need be.  Yes parents, this book does have the dreaded ‘sex’ in it but honestly, what teen doesn’t know about the birds and the bees by high school?  I applaud the author for using this as a plot point for the book.  


What this book also touches on is the power that women have in life.  Not just sex, but women also have the power to do things they set their mind to including using their brains to stop an old feud.  I also enjoyed the reference to the play, Lysistrata. I actually found myself checking it out at the library so I could have a better understanding of the book within this book.  


The only thing that I did not enjoy about this book was the fact that it could be predictable.  Yes, you know what the outcome is going to be, but the way the author writes the characters you just forgot about predictability and enjoy the story unfold.


A great new young adult book that adults will enjoy as well.  If you are a fan of this authors previous work, then you won’t be disappointed in Shut Out.

ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD
Author: Kendare Blake
Source: Publisher
*I received this book fee of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Tor Teen; First Edition edition (August 30, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765328658
ISBN-13: 978-0765328656

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas’s life. 

Do you know how long it has been since a book has sent chills up my spine with fear and suspense? I am still in awe of how this book achieved what so few books have done in the past for me.

Cas hunts ghosts that need to be put to rest using his Father’s athame.  His Father passed away after hunting a ghost and now Cas has been following in his footsteps in the hopes of one day putting the ghost to rest that killed him.  When Cas gets a request to put down Anna Dressed in Blood from an associate, he is intrigued and finds himself mysteriously pulled to the spirit of Anna.  Let me tell you my dear readers –Anna is one bad ass ghost!  She will swat you like a fly without even a second thought or breaking a ghostly sweat.  Cas is in for one hell of fight when he confronts Anna at her home and realizes that he is going to need some back up in dealing with her.  Enter Carmel, Thomas and Morfran to help save the day.  When  they try to figure out the source of Anna’s strength and the reason for her early death, they find out she is more than a haunting spirit.  They discover she can actually be a useful ally in the goal of killing a Voodoo Obeahman.

The author did an amazing job of describing all of the bone chilling details for this book.  I literally was on the edge of my seat and looked like a horror movie watcher yelling at the cast to get the hell out of that house!  My heart raced with each confrontation the characters had to face when a ghost appeared. I just new it was going to be bloody and painful.  What I didn’t expect was the way I felt about Anna.  I pitied her and wanted her to be alive again.  I wanted a happy ending for Anna and Cas.  What does happen is what needed to happen to finish the book, but I wanted more pages in this book so I could stay in their world a little longer!  I didn’t want the thrilling ride to end so soon.

I am so excited that there is going to be a sequel to this book in the future.  The ending that the author leaves you with is a hint at what is to come in the sequel and I can’t wait to see that journey revealed.  A fabulous new book that will keep your heart racing, your spine tingling, and listening closely at the things that go bump in the night.

Outstanding Book That Will Stay On My Bookshelf
For Rereading! 5 STARS