Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

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Overview

“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 New York Times 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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Cohn and Levithan use a familiar but fun formula for this holiday-themed collaboration--think Saint Nick & Norah--mixing an enticing premise with offbeat characters and some introspective soul searching. Two New York City teens left alone for Christmas "meet" when Dash discovers Lily's cryptic notebook wedged between J.D. Salinger books at the Strand. Its clues lead him on a treasure hunt through the bookstore; he responds with his own clues, and soon they are using the notebook to send each other on adventures across the city and to trade their "innermost feelings and thoughts." Fans will enjoy the zingy descriptions and characterizations that populate this Big Apple romp (at one point, Dash must reach inside the coat of the Macy's Santa to retrieve Lily's message; later, he sends her to go see a "gay Jewish dancepop/indie/punk band called Silly Rabbi, Tricks Are for Yids"). Readers will be ready for the real romance to start long before the inevitable conclusion, but as with this duo's past books, there are more than enough amusing turns of phrase and zigzag plot twists to keep their attention. Ages 12–up. (Oct.)

VOYA

With Christmas vacation looking dismal, Lily accepts her brother's challenge and leaves a red moleskin notebook cleverly positioned on a shelf in the Strand bookstore. Inside are clues that she hopes will lead to her perfect mate, date, or even first kiss. "Word nerd" Dash discovers the notebook and relishes the escape from the "ersatz cheer" of Christmas that the puzzle-like dares propose. As the notebook travels back and forth, the clues encourage Lily and Dash to reveal their inner thoughts. But when they eventually meet, it is far from kismet. On New Year's Eve they accidentally get locked inside the Strand. It is neither the perfect date nor the perfect kiss, but it does give them the perfect opportunity to anticipate a special relationship. Cohn and Levithan (Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist [Knopf/Random House,2006]) obviously had fun creating the alternating voices of Lily and Dash. Both are refreshing and likable in their individuality and quest for self-discovery. Love of the literary does not preclude them from acting like other sixteen year olds. Lily takes sips of alcohol (disastrous results), and Dash spews the odd f-bomb. Full of New York City experiences—Madame Tussaud's Wax Gallery—and humorous slapstick scenes—Dash's encounter with Macy's Santa—the plot also contains a few twists. Although a gay relationship is out in the open, there is no graphic sex. Full of crisp vocabulary and diverse media and literary references, this light-hearted romance should have broad appeal. Reviewer: Betsy Johnston

More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews

Children's Literature

The premise of this smart, funny yet touching novel has the two protagonists, Dash (short for Dashiell) and Lily, getting to know each other by writing about themselves in Lily's red Moleskin notebook, which they hide in obscure locations for the other to find. Dash first finds the notebook, four days before Christmas, while scanning the shelves at New York's Strand Book Store. Though they've never met, they soon share their innermost feelings and thoughts. In addition to being unpopular (she gets along with everybody by not being friends with anyone) and weird, Lily's life is complicated by the fact that her parents are considering moving to Fiji, where they are vacationing over the holiday, leaving her behind with her older brother and his boyfriend. With divorced parents, Dash, too, is on his own. Her Christmas wish is to believe that she will find her special person. Dash's wish is to make enough money to buy the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. Though in different ways, each is looking for meaning. Told in alternating first-person accounts, the story is also peppered with quirky characters (such as her Grandpa, who is trying to convince a widow nicknamed Glamma to marry him) and locations (for instance, a nightclub holding a Hannukah show and guarded by a drag-queen). When Dash and Lily finally meet, they land in high jinks. The ending is equally creative, improbable, and satisfying. Reviewer: Cynthia Levinson

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Dash and Lily, 16, find themselves on their own in Manhattan at Christmas. Dash is alone by choice—he's told each of his divorced parents that he's spending the holiday with the other, leaving them both to take vacations out of town. Lily's parents are taking the honeymoon they couldn't afford when they got married. They think that Lily is in the capable hands of her older brother, but he's less interested in her than in his new boyfriend, and then he gets sick and spends most of the holiday in bed. He does, however, start in motion the activity that is central to the story. It involves a red Moleskine notebook with a list of literary clues that Lily leaves in the stacks at the Strand bookstore. Bookish and erudite Dash finds it and is intrigued enough to follow Lily's lead and leave some clues of his own. The dares in the book's title refer to innocent things such as going to various crowded places like Macy's and FAO Schwartz to pick up messages. As the dares go on, the teens reveal more and more about themselves in the pages of the notebook, until they finally meet under the worst possible circumstances. While the words, ideas, and sentiments are not those of typical kids, they are not out of the realm of possibility for well-read teens. As they did in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Knopf, 2006), the authors combine their talents to write an appealing book. It makes readers long to buy a notebook, begin filling its pages, and find a friend who might turn out to be more. This book will spend as much time off the shelf as Lily's notebook.—Suanne Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL

Kirkus Reviews

Grudging hipster love story meets un-ironic Christmas romance in this dual-narrator tale—an awkward but ultimately acceptable pairing not unlike that of the two title characters. One afternoon in late December, pretentious, world-weary Dash visits "that bastion of titillating erudition," New York City's Strand Bookstore. Next to a copy of his beloved Franny and Zooey, Dash discovers a red notebook with instructions inside for a sort of scavenger hunt through the store. He responds with an assignment of his own, and soon he and the elusive Lily are sending each other on absurd adventures throughout the city. The two are ringed by a merry band of side characters—among them, an unnervingly friendly department-store Santa, a big-hearted oaf and a pair of gay, fedora-topped "unorthodox Jews"—but the real show-stealer is Lily, an unabashed cookie-baking, embroidered-reindeer-skirt-wearing, dog-loving and ever so occasionally tantrum-throwing force of nature. Believable? No. Formulaic? A bit. But good fun, with some wisdom to boot. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780375859557
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication date: 10/11/2011
Pages: 272
Sales rank: 51,951
Age range: 12 - 17 Years
Lexile: 0860L (what's this?)
Product dimensions: 5.52 (w) x 8.26 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Meet the Author

Rachel Cohn

Rachel Cohn & David Levithan have written three books together. Their first, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, was made into a movie starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, directed by Peter Sollett. Their second, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List, was named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. For their third book, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, David wrote Dash’s chapters and Rachel wrote Lily’s. Although they did not pass the chapters back and forth in a red Moleskine notebook, they did email them to each other without planning anything out beforehand. That’s the way they work.

Rachel’s previous books include Gingerbread, Shrimp, Cupcake, You Know Where to Find Me, and Very LeFreak. David’s previous books include Boy Meets Boy, The Realm of Possibility, Are We There Yet?, Wide Awake, Love Is the Higher Law, and How They Met, and Other Stories.

For more information about Rachel and David, you can find them at RachelCohn.com and DavidLevithan.com, respectively. You may also catch them in the aisles at the Strand.

Read an Excerpt

-Dash-
December 21st

Imagine this:

You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where a favorite author's books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.

What do you do?

The choice, I think, is obvious:

You take down the red notebook and open it.

And then you do whatever it tells you to do.

It was Christmastime in New York City, the most detestable time of the year. The moo-like crowds, the endless visits from hapless relatives, the ersatz cheer, the joyless attempts at joyfulness—my natural aversion to human contact could only intensify in this context. Wherever I went, I was on the wrong end of the stampede. I was not willing to grant "salvation" through any "army." I would never care about the whiteness of Christmas. I was a Decemberist, a Bolshevik, a career criminal, a philatelist trapped by unknowable anguish—whatever everyone else was not, I was willing to be. I walked as invisibly as I could through the Pavlovian spend-drunk hordes, the broken winter breakers, the foreigners who had flown halfway across the world to see the lighting of a tree without realizing how completely pagan such a ritual was.

The only bright side of this dim season was that school was shuttered (presumably so everyone could shop ad nauseam and discover that family, like arsenic, works best in small doses . . . unless you prefer to die). This year I had managed to become a voluntary orphan for Christmas, telling my mother that I was spending it with my father, and my father that I was spending it with my mother, so that each of them booked nonrefundable vacations with their post-divorce paramours. My parents hadn't spoken to each other in eight years, which gave me a lot of leeway in the determination of factual accuracy, and therefore a lot of time to myself.

I was popping back and forth between their apartments while they were away—but mostly I was spending time in the Strand, that bastion of titillating erudition, not so much a bookstore as the collision of a hundred different bookstores, with literary wreckage strewn over eighteen miles of shelves. All the clerks there saunter-slouch around distractedly in their skinny jeans and their thrift-store button-downs, like older siblings who will never, ever be bothered to talk to you or care about you or even acknowledge your existence if their friends are around . . . which they always are. Some bookstores want you to believe they're a community center, like they need to host a cookie-making class in order to sell you some Proust. But the Strand leaves you completely on your own, caught between the warring forces of organization and idiosyncrasy, with idiosyncrasy winning every time. In other words, it was my kind of graveyard.

I was usually in the mood to look for nothing in particular when I went to the Strand. Some days I would decide that the afternoon was sponsored by a particular letter, and would visit each and every section to check out the authors whose last names began with that letter. Other days, I would decide to tackle a single section, or would investigate the recently unloaded tomes, thrown in bins that never really conformed to alphabetization. Or maybe I'd only look at books with green covers, because it had been too long since I'd read a book with a green cover.

I could have been hanging out with my friends, but most of them were hanging out with their families or their Wiis. (Wiis? Wiii? What is the plural?) I preferred to hang out with the dead, dying, or desperate books—used we call them, in a way that we'd never call a person, unless we meant it cruelly. ("Look at Clarissa . . . she's such a used girl.")

I was horribly bookish, to the point of coming right out and saying it, which I knew was not socially acceptable. I particularly loved the adjective bookish, which I found other people used about as often as ramrod or chum or teetotaler.

On this particular day, I decided to check out a few of my favorite authors, to see if any irregular editions had emerged from a newly deceased person's library sale. I was perusing a particular favorite (he shall remain nameless, because I might turn against him someday) when I saw a peek of red. It was a red Moleskine—made of neither mole nor skin, but nonetheless the preferred journal of my associates who felt the need to journal in non-electronic form. You can tell a lot about a person from the page she or she chooses to journal on—I was strictly a college-ruled man myself, having no talent for illustration and a microscopic scrawl that made wide-ruled seem roomy. The blank pages were usually the most popular—I only had one friend, Thibaud, who went for the grid. Or at least he did until the guidance counselors confiscated his journals to prove that he had been plotting to kill our history teacher. (This is a true story.)

There wasn't any writing on the spine of this particular journal—I had to take it off the shelf to see the front, where there was a piece of masking tape with the words DO YOU DARE? written in black Sharpie. When I opened the covers, I found a note on the first page.

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.

The handwriting was a girl's. I mean, you can tell. That enchanted cursive. Either way, I would've endeavored to turn the page.

So here we are.

1. Let's start with French Pianism.

I don't really know what it is,
but I'm guessing
nobody's going to take it off the shelf.
Charles Timbrell's your man.
88/7/2
88/4/8
Do not turn the page
until you fill in the blanks
(just don't write in the notebook, please)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5

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GraceART

Posted October 28, 2010

Amazing third novel by two amazing authors.

If you've never read a book written by both Rachel Cohn and David Levithan you are difinetly missing out. Their first book, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, was amazing and in my opinion this one was even better. Told in alternating points of view the story unfolds through a small red mole-skin notebook and by the... end I was eagerly awaiting the two of them to meet. Dash's chapters written by David and Lily's by Rachel they complement each other perfectly and make you laugh at loud with the things they come up with. I personally felt a great connection to this book and was rooting for the two of them to end up together by the last few chapters. A nice read that will also increase your vocabulary skills, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is a must for any of you who've read their other books (written alone or together) or if you just want a good old fashioned love story with some gay boys, books, and a love of words. Now that I've read this book I personally want to go out and make my own notebook, leaving it in a local used bookstore and see what adventures it sends me on. Definetly an amazing book by all of my standards.

14 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
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XZFL

Posted December 6, 2010

BRILLIANT, loved it!

A short fun read for sure, i asked myself after i finished it "Is it really over?" I didn't want it to end, it was great. Try it!

8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Stephenie-Meyer-fan1

Posted November 12, 2010

more from this reviewer

Awesome!! Must read this! :DDD

This book is one of the best I've ever read! I literaly could NOT put it down. Every second was intriguing. It was well written and it was HILARIOUS! I'm not kidding. I would highly recommend this book. I promise you will at least laugh. Even if you don't like the book. It's hard not to. :D

7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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TSReviews

Posted November 23, 2010

Perfect Easy Read With a Twist

When i Read this book I was expecting an easy read. That is what i received but with a vocabulary lesson attached. On almost every page a new word would appear that you were not prepared for. The love of words by the characters brought a great element to the book. Although the plot does follow most teen reads it does add something that no other books I have read. The main characters', Dash and Lily, personalities brought was unexpected and had a great effect. This is because they are not your typical teen characters, they could be considered strange or different but in the best way possible. This is the perfect book for a person who enjoys books by these authors, romance, and teen novels in general. I suggest this book to all people looking for the perfect holiday book.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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acbcac

Posted November 10, 2010

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Wonderful Story

This story makes you want to get a notebook find a bookstore and hide it. Very intriguing story.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted November 26, 2011

Love love love it!!

I absolutely adore this book! Ive read it too many times to remember. Perfect for reading during winter(even if you dont live in NYC). Dont we all wish this would happen to us girls?! Great buy!!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted November 20, 2011

Loved it!!

AWESOME!!! I loved it, its different than most love stories, i could not put it down!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted April 12, 2011

Funny, witty, and fantastic!

This book kept me laughing hysterically and completely absorbed and enthralled through every page. Not only was it a blast to read, but also had some really deep points to it while maintaining it's very realistic feel. I highly recommend it!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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mistressofdark

Posted January 30, 2012

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Disappointed

I generally disliked this book. I just felt it was weak in so many ways. First of all, the story is already a known one, but that wasn't the reason I disliked it. It could still have been interesting and there were a few parts (only when the red notebook was concerned) that were rather interesting, but not that many. I found myself rushing through the parts where the characters talked about their lives because I just couldn't care less about them and their family. Perhaps it was because I couldn't identify with the characters, i just didn't find them that likeable, or at least they didn't appeal to me at all.

None of the characters introduced seemed that realistic to me, not even the secondary ones. Lily I found was a bit selfish and a hypocrite and she tended to dramatize everything while Dash was, well, rude and kind of a douche. Plus, there were so many convenient coincidences that made it even harder for the story to seem real.

I also didn't really like the writing. It felt like the authors were over-trying for humor but the result was not humorous or funny at all. It seems childish at parts and full of clichés. Furthermore, it was so predictable and not at all original; this is a story we have seen or heard of before.

Lastly, something else i didn't like at all was the way Lily referred to her things by adding her name to them, for example, her room (or bed) was the "Lily pad", her coffee was the "Lilychinno" and the world was apparently called the "Lilyverse". I did NOT enjoy these nicknames; I did NOT find them cute or smart.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh but I did not enjoy this book at all. Perhaps it just wasn't for me because I know there are a lot of people who did enjoy it and who have rated it highly. Perhaps it's just a matter of personal taste.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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8346283

Posted July 9, 2011

A Clever and Captivating Read

This novel, although (I'm assuming) geared toward an audience of teenage readers, is a fun and interesting read for both teens and adults alike. Through the use of highly likeable characters (I adore Boomer for his vigor and enthusiasm for life), a witty and cleverly designed plot, and surprisingly elegant prose, the authors manage to present readers with a cute, feel-good, romance story without being too overtly romantic (which I found to be refreshing, actually). What's more, the story addresses realistic teenage issues in a manner quite opposite the continually whiny over-angst so highly favored in by many authors today. Overall, a well-paced, amusing novel that I would readily recommend to teens and adults.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Brunette_Chick

Posted February 17, 2011

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LOVED it!

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist has been an absolute favorite of mine since I read it! This book was ALMOST as good! (like I said, it's a FAV! Hard to compete) but I love the reality these authors bring to teenagers. I'm not a fan of YA fiction because so often the teens are depicted as being very unlike any teenager I've ever met... But books by these authors never fail to make me smile and remember my own teen years. Perfect! Amazing! LOVE it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted May 14, 2012

Anonymous

Loved the book! But wished it were longer
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StalkinTheBooks

Posted April 4, 2012

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I found Dash & Lily to be a very fun and enjoyable book. Hav

I found Dash & Lily to be a very fun and enjoyable book. Having never read anything by either author before, I didn't really know what to expect, but I'd heard lots of wonderful things about their writing and humor. However, I can't help but admit to being slightly disappointed and although the novel did have lots of funny moments, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would or it seems like everyone else did.

The novel is written in alternates chapters between Dash & Lily, as they use the red notebook to give out dares and tell each other stories. I love the entire concept of the red notebooks and how it was used to not only drive the novel forward but keep the two main characters apart. The notebook allows both Dash & Lily to be intimidate with each other in a way that perhaps that couldn't or wouldn't be in person and therefor raises the question of whether or not they should met at all.

I found the first half of the novel to be rather slow, I'm not really sure why though, since the pacing throughout the novel doesn't change. I can only explain this by saying that I found Dash to be the more interesting character, he's sarcastic, clever, fun and angst ridden. I really loved spending time with his character, whether it was performing a dare he was dreading or sitting alone in his apartment. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Lily, as I found her to be slightly annoying and extremely immature. I did feel bad that she had such an awful family, with the exception of her Aunt, I couldn't stand any of them but the whole "Shrilly" thing certainly didn't help her out any. In fact, I often wanted Lily to discover that she was in love with Dash's best friend Boomer, so I could have Dash all to myself!

There are loads of supporting characters throughout the novel, my favorites being Dash's best friend Boomer and Lily's Great Aunt Ida. Boomer is the kind of goofy, weirdo you can't help but love. He's constantly saying random things and though you often wonder how he made it to high school, he is the kind of person who would never let you down. Aunt Ida, on the other hand, is the intelligent, sweet and disgustingly wealthy relative we all wish we had. The kind that would willingly get you out of a jam and then help take care of you after. Also I can't forget to mention New York City, since it felt more like an extra character, instead of just being the city where the novel is set.

The ending is slightly anticlimactic, if not still sweet, but I actually wish there would have been a little more romance within the story.

I do look forward to reading more from Cohn & Levithan in the future though, since I not only enjoyed all the wonderful humor but their writing style as well. Plus both have a knack for creating smart quirky characters. Although not perfect, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares was still a lot of fun to read.
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Anonymous

Posted March 31, 2012

OMG!

really well-written and interesting, i couldn't put it down-- pls write a sequel!
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Dazzlamb

Posted March 6, 2012

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Dash & Lily¿s Book of Dares- A light comedy about books, holiday spirit, books, finding love and more books. A fantastic holiday read to warm your heart!

The story switches between Dash's and Lily’s point of view. Each chapter gives entertaining and insightful excursions into both of their lives and emotions. Rachel Cohn wrote Lily’s and David Levithan Dash’s chapters and although they hadn’t worked out a storyline beforehand and just passed each new written chapter on to the other so he could continue writing, the writing style doesn’t appear incoherent or cut up.

Rachel’s and David’s individual writing style, their own ideas of a good joke or a meaningful quote fits the development of our protagonists, Dash and Lily, perfectly. Dash is a down-to-earth book lover whose best method to survive Christmas festivities is ignorance. Lily, on the other hand appears as a little angel, that can’t wait to spread Christmas spirit everywhere. The very contrary opinions about Christmas and also very different character traits contribute to a lively dialogue and cause anticipation.
Secondary characters like family members, friends or curious strangers complete the picture of a rich character ensemble.

We’ve got wonderful quotations of famous authors, hilarious dares and two profound protagonists that want to spend their Christmas holidays together with us. Some would say Dash & Lily’s story is set or begins in the Strand Bookstore, I would say in heaven. As a booklover one has to love this book even more just because of its setting and various relations to books.

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares always circles around the little red notebook and its exchange between Dash and Lily. I consider this little red notebook as a fantastic idea to create a dynamic writing style and storyline but above all it stands for so much more than having new adventures, accepting hilarious dares or getting the chance to fall in love. This little red notebook and so Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is about writing your own story, creating your life as exciting and unique as you like it, never hesitating to write down a new so far unknown phrase.

Have you bought your little red notebook and started daring yet? If the answer is no, then Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is the right choice to get introduced to the trendiest way of finding new companions and fellow book lovers over the holidays or any other time of the year.

THE VERDICT

Dash and Lily is an adorable holiday read and I fear I don’t have to dare you to put this novel up but put it down again!
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TpersonTB

Posted March 5, 2012

What a fantastic read! Here's what I thought: 1. It didn't feel

What a fantastic read! Here's what I thought:
1. It didn't feel short at all. There's so much that happens within these 260 pages.
2. The characters are amazing. Great voices and personalities; very relatable, I saw myself in both Dash and Lily.
3. It was an interesting storyline, with many sub-plots happening along with the main idea.
4. A bit slow at times. Full pages of no dialogue, just descriptions of things. Some of these things readers may know about, some they may not. For the times I had no ideas what the authors were saying, I was bored, but for others, I was quite entertained. This probably brings it to the lower end of the 5-star scale, but 5 stars nonetheless.
5. Kind of targets a specific type of audience, and as I said before, those who don't belong in that category may be bored. Luckily, for the most part, I did.
6. I love the writing style and the chapters, how they alternate perspectives; I was never confused as to who was speaking.
7. It was pretty hilarious!
8. Wonderful Christmas read. It made me excited for Christmas, kind of. It was...cute?
Recommended!
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Oklea

Posted March 3, 2012

Hilarious! Extremely well written. One of the best books I've re

Hilarious! Extremely well written. One of the best books I've read in my life.
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MissPrint

Posted February 28, 2012

more from this reviewer

A breezy, hilarious story firmly grounded both in New York City and the holiday season.

"Imagine this:

"You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where a favorite author's books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.

"What do you do?

"The choice, I think, is obvious:

"You take down the red notebook and open it.

"And then you do whatever it tells you to do."

It's Christmas in New York City and Dash wants nothing to do with it. So great is his hatred of the holiday season that Dash has conspired to spend the entire holiday alone. And he will enjoy it. Oh how he will enjoy it.

Lily, on the other hand, is horrified to find her finely tuned Christmas plans thrown out the window when the rest of her family makes better plans. Left alone with a brother eager to get rid of her, well, writing a book filled with dares for the right boy to find suddenly starts to seem like a very good idea indeed.

When Dash finds said notebook he doesn't know what to expect. But he does know it's not an opportunity to be missed.

Dash and Lily don't have much in common but somehow they connect on the papers bound in that red notebook. Will these two misfits make sense in person? Only time will tell if their fledgling relationship can survive Lily's family, Dash's friends, some comical disasters and, of course, the holiday season in New York City in Dash and Lily's Book of Dares (2010) by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is Cohn and Levithan's third collaborative novel. Levithan wrote Dash's chapters, Cohn wrote Lily's. The plot was not planned ahead.

And maybe that's part of why it works so well. Written in alternating chapters from both protagonists, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is a breezy, hilarious story firmly grounded both in New York City* and the holiday season.

I loved Lily and her zany Christmas-loving ways. I loved Dash's curmudgeonly yet hopeful narration. I loved them together. And I totally want to see Collation** now.

Truly this book is magical. Not only did it have me laughing out loud on the bus, it put me in such a good mood that I wanted to tell the gentleman who asked WHY it had me laughing out loud on the bus. Such is the inherently festive nature of this delightful book.

*Locations mentioned include: The Strand, Max Brenner's, Dyker Heights, FAO and more!

**Don't get the reference? After reading it you will. And believe me, you will also want to see it.

Possible Pairings: So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti, Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst, Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley, The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson, Drawing the Ocean by Carolyn MacCullough
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Anonymous

Posted February 3, 2012

Go buy it! Amazing teen read

The book was way to good and fillled with wit. At the end of the book you crave more dash and lily adventures in their red moleskin. Watch out and you might start craving your own lily or your on dash.
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Anonymous

Posted January 21, 2012

Hey girl hey!

Who r u guys and do u want 2b my new bffls?

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Amazing third novel by two amazing authors.

BRILLIANT, loved it!

Awesome!! Must read this! :DDD

Perfect Easy Read With a Twist

Wonderful Story

Love love love it!!

Loved it!!

Funny, witty, and fantastic!

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A Clever and Captivating Read

LOVED it!

Anonymous

I found Dash & Lily to be a very fun and enjoyable book. Hav

OMG!

Dash & Lily¿s Book of Dares- A light comedy about books, holiday spirit, books, finding love and more books. A fantastic holiday read to warm your heart!

What a fantastic read! Here's what I thought: 1. It didn't feel

Hilarious! Extremely well written. One of the best books I've re

A breezy, hilarious story firmly grounded both in New York City and the holiday season.

Go buy it! Amazing teen read

Hey girl hey!