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

Told in the alternating voices of Dash and Lily, two sixteen-year-olds carry on a wintry scavenger hunt at Christmas-time in New York, neither knowing quite what--or who--they will find.

Cute cute cute. Much better than Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, and probably about the same level as Nick and Norah. I liked Lily a lot. Dash not quite as much, but he was mildly annoying in a very realistic teenage-boy way.

This book shares quite a bit with Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (including its authors), but I found it much more enjoyable.

Dash, as a character, got on my nerves at times. I wasn't a huge fan, but Lily was warm and funny and very likable. The entire cast was pretty likable, and they added a lot of flavor and character to an already charming novel.

It's a light read, perfect for the holidays, and it made me laugh and smile throughout. And that's really all it tries to do.

“We believe in the wrong things, that's what frustrates me the most. Not the lack of belief, but the belief in the wrong things. You want meaning? Well, the meanings are out there. We're just so damn good at reading them wrong.”

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up–emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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I picked this up as the result of “I need something to listen to and the library's app just happened to have it at the top of the list.” This was about the time that the Netflix series was about to launch, so a good part of my Twitter feed was talking about it. I'd read something by Levithan years ago and had good memories, figured I'd try it out.

It was adorable. It was sweet. Pure silly fun. The narrators did a pretty decent job convincing me that they were teenagers. I think Lily can do better than Dash, but that's probably just me. I doubt I'll continue on in the series, but I'm glad I gave this a shot.