Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

Title: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
Author: David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Grade: A

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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This book was so great, I want to take a bath in it's awesomeness. I am seriously becoming very attached to all things David Levithan. I used to think of him as the weaker part of duos but I was way wrong.

The book jumps right into the action instead of lingering on background details. Eventually their pasts get brought in but it was nice not to have to live several boring days in a character's life while I wait for the action to start.

Dash and Lily were so fantastic. Personally I liked Dash more, mostly because I was jealous of Lily for having him. I wanted the whole story to happen to me so badly. Dash was very likable. Some people might have been annoyed with his lack of holiday spirit but I kind of found it refreshing after a long and stressful holiday season. Lily was also awesome but I couldn't get into her chapters as easily. I link this to the fact that I related more easily with Dash.

I've drove through New York with my family a couple of times but never got to see anything. The whole book was basically them going around New York to accomplish the dares and it really felt like I was there. The descriptions that were used were phenomenal.

Overall I adored this book. The characters were funny and relate able, and the plot and setting were very well written. I want you all to read this book, like now.

-Amanda