Book Jacket:
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.
You can read an excerpt here.
Review:
If you liked Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist or Juno, you will love this book. With the same style of smart but awkward teens, witty repartee and outsider cool, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is Serendipity for the teen crowd. This book is very much like the Rice Krispie treats that make a cameo towards the end: fluffy, sugary fun, in a way that will be teeth achingly sweet for some.
With teens, you often get the sense that they are just trying way too hard (I know I was at 13), and honestly at times this book gave me that same kind of feeling – it was almost an affectation; it was trying so hard to be quirky, hip, teenage cool, that it didn’t feel entirely natural or authentic. But whether that was the intelligent design of the authors, to represent that facet of the teen experience all the more truthfully, or if it was a byproduct of self conscious cleverness that was trying very hard to live up to it’s own rep, I can’t say.
Much of this book will be familiar to fans of Nick and Norah’s Infinte Playlist – cool but damaged boy, secure in his outsider status; girl on the fringes of the popular crowd, trying to find her own place; the requisite gay friends couple; it even had the writing on the bathroom stall. The big difference was the journal that featured as the narrative spine of the story, and as a device it worked beautifully, tying together the dueling narratives in fun and amusing ways. This book also does a lovely job of exploring the awkward, uncomfortable, embarrasing first stages of a relationship, and all the stumbles and crossed wires that occur when two people are trying to figure each other out. I particularly loved how the story touched on and played with the differences between who we make someone out to be, in our own heads, and who they really are.
But despite touching on some lovely themes, this book never truly delves into anything on a deeper level – this is strictly light entertainment. These teens are doing just fine, nothing too terribly serious to overcome, and all is in good fun.
Towards the end, as this book strays further and further from the journal being the narrative drive, the story did seem to falter a bit, like it was dancing and suddenly lost the beat, but the awkwardness doesn’t derail the story, and the ending is exactly what you’d wish it to be.
So if you enjoy verb-osity that is a bit affected but undisputably smart, New York references, having fun with teenage insecurities, and a cute couple, this book is definitely for you
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is pure dessert fare – as for me, it’s a little more sugary than I like my desserts to be, but I didn’t have any problems finishing it. Empty calories it may be, but who doesn’t like sweets?
Byrt Grade: B+
As Levar Burton used to say – you don’t have to take my word for it…
This book has a frenetic energy about it, like everything is happening so quickly that neither Dash nor Lily can keep their changing opinions straight. It’s like an explosion of hormones and opinions and pretentious language and really honest emotion, all barely contained within a shell of insecurity and feigned apathy. It’s like this book is screaming, “READ ME IF YOU ARE A TEENAGER. NO, SERIOUSLY.”
On a deeper level, Dash & Lily doesn’t quite fully succeed in being the introspective, philosophical stimulus it seems to want to be…Despite that, most readers should be enamored with Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares. It’s not exactly a feel-good romance, but would make a nice break from the real world in terms of holiday reads.
OK, I really, really, really wanted to like this one – honestly I did. But it just fell flat for me. I loved the idea of trading a notebook back and forth and getting to know each other, but the execution just wasn’t what I wanted.
This latest collaboration between David Levithan and Rachel Cohn is the best yet. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares
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