REVIEW! Dash & Lily's Book of Dares.

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



FROM THE COVER:

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.

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 the 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 rating: 3 hearts.

MY THOUGHTS:

Ultimately unconvincing.

The notebook Dash and Lily exchange is hardly a book of dares, and what they do share is hardly dreams and desires. Instead it more resembles fluff – stereotypical boy/girl issues.

Dash is charming and creative, but also too pragmatic; the mix of his personality is unsettling and remains that way throughout the novel. Lily can hardly be considered a sixteen-year-old. Her character is overwhelmingly immature and bland. If anything saves the two of them, it’s Dash’s dialogue, which is most times witty. But the two of them are very unconvincing in terms of chemistry.

The plot seems scatterbrained and unfocused. Events happen and characters appear and all I can ask is, Why? The main premise of the notebook is ditched halfway through the story. There’s buildup to their meeting, and then it simply falls flat. Some issues are never resolved, especially parental issues, and so they feel unnecessary.

The writing itself is lacking. It’s repetitive, descriptions are dull, and the dialogue seems forced. Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares leaves much to be desired.