Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Alfred A. Knopf, 2010
260 pages
9780375866593

Lily, or Lily Bear to her overprotective family, has gone too far in her life without a boyfriend, or so her brother thinks. He devises a plan to leave a red moleskine notebook in a popular bookstore for a potential boy to pick up.

Dash, a boy of the bookish sort, must go on a scavenger hunt with the clues provided in the notebook in order to prove he's worthy of Lily's affections. This hunt starts the two off on a Christmas adventure through New York City.

Why I picked it up: It was on the cart of new books to be processed. I needed a quick and fun book to read, and boy did I find it.

Judging by the cover...: A fun and interesting cover. That some of the snowflakes are shaped like hearts is a fact that did not escape me, and the picture in the background just screams NYC.

Favorite Elements

• Awesome book store - Barnes and Noble The Strand is not. No corporate craziness here. Just a good old fashioned family owned bookstore. With 18 miles of books. Sounds an awful lot like heaven.
  

• New York City - While I would not want to live there, it can be quite fun to visit, and I would love to be there during Christmas. Since I have many friends who live there, it's fun to think about Dash and Lily crossing paths and never even knowing the others existed.

• Epic Journey - Okay, while this isn't a cross-country road trip, a mad dash (see what I did there?) around NYC can certainly feel that way.

• Tiny Cooper-esque - Since my post about Across the Universe (last post), I have been thinking A LOT about Tiny. Levithan has obviously been thinking a lot about him, too, as Dash's best friend Boomer falls short of screaming that he's the straight version of Tiny (and if you haven't picked up Will Grayson, Will Grayson, you should be ashamed of yourself).
  

Overall (out of 5): 4.75
The journal is written in alternating viewpoints, Dash's by Levithan, Lily's by Cohn. It has a very natural feel to it, and one can almost believe that they are real people. Dash and Lily have real relationship issues, too. I had this feeling while reading that Lily and I were cut from the same cloth; her reaction to the gerbil incident, while worrying to her family, seemed totally normal to me. My only hesitance in giving this book a 5 comes from the title. The duo's past two books were Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist and Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. Now Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. I know I can't be the only one who sees the pattern, and it makes me slightly annoyed that there isn't more creativity in title creation. Oh well. I guess since they write amazing together I shouldn't complain too much.

Recommendation: If you liked the two's other collaborations, you'll most definitely enjoy this one. If you've seen the movie version of Nick and Nora you'll enjoy this book. If you're a living, breathing human, you will love this book. In fact, I'm not entirely sure why you're still reading (though I'm flattered). Go to the library and request it! Now!

P.S. I'm intrigued by my excessive use of italics today. Must further observe this behavior.