Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn- Book Review
Title: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares
Author: David Levithan, Rachel Cohn
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publish Date: October 26, 2010
Rating: 5/5
Summary(blurb): 16-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on her favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first guy to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges. What follows is a whirlwind romance as Dash and Lily trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations all across New York City. But can their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions, or will their scavenger hunt end in a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
**This book review may contain spoilers**
This book is a light, fun, cheesey whirlwind holiday rom-com you can read to refresh your mind after a series of unfortunate events like homework or assignments or tests. It's a book for book lovers-- the first chapter really gets those bibliophiles-- and Dash is the man for unnecessarily complicated linguistics-slash-logistics lovers!
The setting is Christmastime New York City, where a teenage and bibiliophilical but still quite childish girl named Lily- who loves Christmas- is looking for love via a red Moleskine notebook hidden between other books in the Strand bookstore. Dash, a cynical grouch who hates Christmas but loves books and words, happens to find the notebook in his favorite bookstore (The Strand). Although they haven't seen each other in person, Dash and Lily start to converse through the notebook and leave dare after dare for each other, all while revealing more and more things about themselves and becoming vulnerable to each other. This sets up the perfect slowburn holiday romance, and later they actually do meet in person. And more things happen leading up to the new year...
This book is a cheesy rom-com about two bibliophiles, but I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was reading it. The ridiculous dares they place on each other, the snarky clever witty comments of Dash's narrative, the undying cheeriness of Lily, and the New York Christmas atmosphere was perfect for this book. The characters had their own distinctive mood and personality which was so different.
The plot is simple, and the book's whole flavor comes from the Christmas atmosphere and the two characters. Dash is my favorite-- he describes himself as a 'linguistic rabblerouser' and I couldn't think of a better term for his personality. He loves big words and using them to confuse people, but not necessarily being an intellectual snob. A word nerd and bookish cynical disillusioned person, he slowly opens up to Lily's ever-present cheerfulness and joy through the moleskine.
Lily, on the other hand, is Dash's complete opposite-- her favorite holiday is Christmas and she fully embraces the magic and joy of Christmas, she is full of life and often gets quirky to have fun in the Christmas spirit.
The side characters are amazing as well, Dash's friend Boomer has extreme comedic potential and Lily's great-aunt is a great great-aunt, I wish I had someone like that. Both characters bring readers more than a few smiles, as well as a certain dog and a "Crimson Alert". I laughed my head off reading this book, this is one of the best light-reading romantic comedies I've ever read.
The premise and setting of the book was also brilliant. The idea of having a romance by making the characters not physically meet is amazing and very well executed, and the blurb at the end reveals that the two authors who co-wrote this book (David Levithan and Rachel Cohn) each wrote their own parts (D.L. for Dash and R.C. for Lily), then emailed the chapters to each other, so the book would bounce back and forth between the two authors just like the notebook with Dash and Lily. Although it's not an epistolary novel, the red Moleskine feels like the letters of the epistolary novel. It's a tangible memory which Dash and Lily won't ever forget-- shame there's only one copy of it.
In conclusion, this became also one of my favorite books, and one that plastered a smile to my face for the entire read, from the first chapter to the final. A light, happy, super enjoyable read.
I would recommend this book for grade 8 and up, there's some cursing in the book but Dash gets philosophical about that too at some point. It's the perfect novel to read for a constant smile to be plastered onto your face-- it's cheesy, but it's yummy cheese.
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