Title by Author: Dash & Lily’s Book of
Dares by Rachel Cohn and David
Levithan
Series (if applicable): none
Publisher: Knopf Books
for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 2010
Page Count: 260
Source: netgalley
for UK release
Blurb:
“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own
My Interest in
this book is: I have seen it around and when I had the chance to read it from
netgalley.com I had to take it, especially after reading Every Day by David Leviathan.
My Review:
“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
I was ready to turn the page, and
I was very glad that I did. This was a
delightful story of two teenagers home alone in NYC for Christmas. Dash was wandering through one of his
favorite spots in New York, as he was well read, and seemed to spend so much
time in the world of literature. When he
went in to the bookstore, The Strand, to see if there was an older edition of
one of his favorite books, he noticed a red moleskin stuck between the books
with no writing on the spine. Out of
curiosity, he pulled it out and had no idea what an adventure he had before
him.
Lily and her older brother, Langston,
were left home while their parents went to Fiji for a very late honeymoon. Langston talked Lily in to leaving the
moleskin so that she could have a little adventure and see if it was a way for
her to meet a guy, as well as get out of her comfort zone.
Little did either of them realize
what an adventure was ahead for either of them.
To figure out the puzzle that was set before them in the notebook, and
then to execute that dare, Dash and Lily sent one another around New York
during the holidays to one another’s favorite places, as well as within themselves.
Even though they had not met one
another, Dash and Lily had no compunctions about baring their souls to the
other through the journal and the questions that they posed on the pages with
seeming anonymity. Could it be an
adventure to lead to true love, or were they destined to only be friends
through a red moleskin notebook?
I loved how this book was
written. David Leviathan started his
chapter, and then passed it on to Rachel Cohn to respond, and send David’s Dash
on the next quest for the notebook. What
a great concept, a story written in turn between two authors, and it was very
well executed. Their writing styles were
perfectly matched, and the characters were so true and human. I was definitely part of the journey of the
notebook between these two characters and constantly hoping that Dash and Lily
would take the next dare to see where it brought them, and if they ever were to
meet. There were also two wonderful side
characters, Dash’s best friend, Boomer and Lily’s Great Aunt both stole the
scene when they were on the page.
This was a well-written, and
quite fun, story. It takes two people
who are alone for the Holidays around the town that they love, and show it to
one another. These same two people reflect
on themselves because of a question posed by the other. It was a delightful story that captured two
teenagers looking for something outside of themselves.
Favorite Quotes: so many of them! Here are a few highlights…
It is
possibly true what Grandpa’s buddies have repeatedly told me: Teenage boys
cannot be trusted. Their intentions are
not pure. This must be part of Mother
Nature’s master plan – making these boys so irresistibly cute, in such a
naughty way, that the purity of their intentions becomes irrelevant.
Because you
know when a cow chews grass? And he or she chews and chews and chews? Well,
green tea tastes like French-kissing that cow after it’s done chewing all that
grass.
I meant that
the love I felt for him was huge and real, and, while painful, it forever
changed me as a person, in the same way that being your brother reflects and
changes how I evolve, and vice versa.
The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm,
but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your
heart. There’s no getting over that.
When I finished
this book, I felt: very glad I had the chance to read this story, especially during the
holidays… a perfect time to read Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares.
Rating: 4 stars
Other books to
read by this author or theme: Every Day by David Leviathan – which I highly recommend.
Tag: YA,
holidays, dares, heart-felt
