Review: Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares (Dash and Lily #1)

Title: Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares (Dash and Lily #1)
Author: Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 26, 2010
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

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?

Co-written by Rachel Cohn (GINGERBREAD) and David Levithan, co-author of WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON with John Green (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS), DASH & LILY’S BOOK OF DARES is a love story that will have readers scouring bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.

Review:

Lily, a sixteen-year-old girl in New York City, left a notebook with dares written inside it in The Strand bookstore. She was hoping that the right guy for her would find the notebook and complete the dares. Dash finds the notebook and starts the scavenger hunt around the bookstore to complete the dares. Then he sends the notebook back to her with his own dares inside. The notebook sends Dash and Lily around New York City over Christmas and eventually leads them to each other.

This story is a fun holiday book. Dash and Lily were brought together by chance, because Dash happened to find Lily’s notebook where it was hidden. As they progressed through the dares, it became obvious that they had a lot in common. They even almost crossed paths a few times before they actually met.

A bookstore romance is the dream for book lovers! This hunt around New York City would be so much fun, but I wouldn’t do some of the dares they had to do, which included going into crowded stores on Christmas Eve and going to a night club on Christmas night.

I loved how this was a romantic story, yet the characters didn’t even met in person for most of the story. There was a clear romance developing between Dash and Lily through their dares, but they were only communicating through the notebook. This made it even more special and unique, since they fell for each other without actually being physically together.

This was a fun story! I’m excited to watch the new Netflix adaptation.

What to read next:

Other books in the series:

• The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily
• Mind the Gap, Dash and Lily

Have you read Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares? What did you think of it?