Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
By: Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Published Year: 2019
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 260
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): “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 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.
First Impression
This book has been on my to-read list for a few years. I love the mysterious Christmassy cover and the idea of following dares from a stranger. When I saw that Netflix was making a series based off of the book I knew that it was finally time for me to read this book.
What I thought
I’m doing this review after reading the book and then watching the series. First, I’ll start with my review of the book and then I’ll talk a little bit about how the series compares.
Lily is spending Christmas without her parents and grandparents for the first time. Her parents have decided to spend Christmas in Fiji and her grandpa is going to Florida, so her brother Langston is watching her in New York City. Dash is also spending Christmas alone. He has told his father he’s spending it with his mother and his mother he’s spending it with his father so that he can stay in the city by himself. Dash finds a red notebook next to one of his favorite books in the bookstore The Strand and follows the instructions within. He then sends the book back to Lily with his own instructions and the back and forth begins.
Even though it’s a relatively short book, parts of it moved slowly. I loved all of the characters. Lily’s whole family is great and I especially love her great aunt. Her brother Langston has a good heart but definitely has no idea how to take care of his sister. I also really like Dash’s best friend Boomer. I guess the only issue is that I liked most of these characters more than Dash and Lily. Not to say I didn’t like them, but I loved when they were interacting with the other characters.
I did prefer the first half of the book where they were sending dares back and forth and there was a lot of mystery. The second half of the book where they finally meet was a bit more boring and felt a little anticlimactic. It was also a little hard for me to believe that Dash and Lily would get along in real life, but it’s nice to believe. The only other issue I had with the book was that it was a bit abrupt, but there are two more books, so I guess I’ll have to check them out.
The TV series was very similar to the book until about episode 5. There were some changes that were made to make it translate to TV better. For example, Boomer works at a pizza parlor in the show and he does not in the book. But when you get to episode 5 is when it really start to diverge. Slight spoiler, but Dash’s relationship with his ex in the book is very different from his relationship with her in the show and I have to say I liked it better in the book. I appreciate that in the book he is able to acknowledge that they liked each other while they were together but they knew it wouldn’t be love and that was ok.