Title: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares
Authors: Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Published: 26 October 2010
Pages: 260
Rating: 4/5
Description from the book:
While writing in the red notebook, Dash and Lily seem like they could be the perfect couple. They aren't afraid to be completely honest with each other....as long as it's all written in the notebook. When it comes to books that don't fall into the category of paranormal or supernatural, I like them to be realistic and true to how the world works. So when I first started reading this book, I was thinking how realistic is it that a random red notebook placed by an off the wall teenage girl will be picked up by a quirky yet persnickety teenage boy who happens to know someone she went to elementary school with. The odds are pretty slim in a huge city such as New York. Although I was enjoying the story I was still skeptical that it would turn out to be an impractical love story.
My earlier mindset shifted immediately when Dash's ex-girlfriend started talking about how no one ever really lives up to the perfect person that lives inside our heads, the person we think we will love the most. Suddenly, this book became grounded and concrete and hit a nerve in me. Do we not always compare whomever we are dating with the perfect person inside our heads? I really liked this part because it made Dash think about the expectations he had for Lily.
What I love even more about this book is that when they do finally meet, they don't even hit it off right away and they both have to do some work just to make the first stages of their friendship last. Cohn and Levithan turn the most exciting, impossible scavenger hunt into a realistic love story that allows you to choose how it ultimately ends.
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?My thoughts:
While writing in the red notebook, Dash and Lily seem like they could be the perfect couple. They aren't afraid to be completely honest with each other....as long as it's all written in the notebook. When it comes to books that don't fall into the category of paranormal or supernatural, I like them to be realistic and true to how the world works. So when I first started reading this book, I was thinking how realistic is it that a random red notebook placed by an off the wall teenage girl will be picked up by a quirky yet persnickety teenage boy who happens to know someone she went to elementary school with. The odds are pretty slim in a huge city such as New York. Although I was enjoying the story I was still skeptical that it would turn out to be an impractical love story.
My earlier mindset shifted immediately when Dash's ex-girlfriend started talking about how no one ever really lives up to the perfect person that lives inside our heads, the person we think we will love the most. Suddenly, this book became grounded and concrete and hit a nerve in me. Do we not always compare whomever we are dating with the perfect person inside our heads? I really liked this part because it made Dash think about the expectations he had for Lily.
What I love even more about this book is that when they do finally meet, they don't even hit it off right away and they both have to do some work just to make the first stages of their friendship last. Cohn and Levithan turn the most exciting, impossible scavenger hunt into a realistic love story that allows you to choose how it ultimately ends.
2 comments:
I read this a while ago and loved the characters. There was a little something that was lacking in the writing to give it 4 stars, but I agree with you on the realism front. I love realistic books, and this was definitely one of them. I really liked Lily's quirkiness and I fell in love with Dash.
And now I want to read it again. Great. ;)
I love the original premise of the book; it sounds like a totally fun read. Thanks for the review!
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