Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (2011) (MIRA Ink)Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Grade: C+
Genre: young adult
Source: own / NetGalley
TBR RBC 2015: A NetGalley title
When Dash leads his separated parents
to believe that he’ll be spending Christmas with the other, they each plan
holidays with their new partners and leave Dash to his own devices in New York
City. He despises Christmas, but when he finds a notebook in his favourite
bookshop filled with clues and dares left by a stranger, this is the perfect
thing to keep him occupied. The notebook is Lily’s project, as directed by her
brother, in a bid to keep her busy while their parents take a second honeymoon
in Fiji over Christmas. As the pair lead each other in a scavenger’s hunt over
New York, recruiting friends and relatives to help keep their identities
secret in the process, they begin falling for each other on paper. Meeting in
person will be their biggest dare yet …
Unfortunately, this is one of
those books that I expected to like a lot more than was actually the case.
Don’t get me wrong: the two POVs were entertaining and Rachel Cohn and David
Levithan make a great writing team. The tasks that Dash and Lily set each other
were funny and daring and it was great to discover each character’s personality
as they did. To be honest, the first half of the book where they hadn’t met was
more exciting than when they did meet. The mystery surrounding their anonymity
was the real driver in this book and once that bubble had been burst, a lot of
the fun was lost. Still, it was good while it lasted.
This is another book that’s
joining the growing stack of books that I’ll be getting rid of; this time,
David Levithan and Rachel Cohn didn’t deliver as well as they have done in the
past. Further, it’s also joining the growing list of young adult books that
I’ve read in 2015 and not enjoyed as much as I expected to, when I first bought
the book. Perhaps this is an indication that I’m growing out of young adult, but
I’m inclined to disagree as there have still been a few young adult books that I’ve
read in the past six weeks and loved – Sweethearts
and We Were Liars come to mind. Maybe
I’ve just become pickier in general and to be honest, the statistics back it
up: of the 20 books I’ve already read this year, I’ve only really loved 5 of
them – a depressing statistic in my books. Fingers crossed that this figure
increases over the course of the year, but I’ll definitely be trying to find Dash & Lily a new home where it’ll
be loved as much as it should be.
Image courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.
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