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

It's Christmastime in the City!

Lily loves it, but Dash not so much.  Lily and Dash don't know each other.  Not yet anyway.

Dash was minding his own business browsing the shelves of at the Strand, a used bookstore, avoiding all of the people that seemed to come out of nowhere in New York City in the days and weeks pre-Christmas.  As far as Dash is concerned, all things Christmas-y could disappear forever and he wouldn't miss them.  Just like he doesn't miss that Mom is away with her boyfriend and Dad is spending time with his girlfriend and Dash is on his own for the holidays.  Anyway, he's minding his own business when he finds a red Moleskine journal with the words "Do You Dare?" black-sharpied on the cover and a note on the first page challenging him to a scavenger hunt of clues.

Lily can't get enough of Christmas!  The crowds, the caroling, the good cheer and goodwill and all of that.  Unfortunately, she can't get enough of her family, either - literally.  Her mom and dad decided to take a romantic vacation in Fiji for the holidays, leaving Lily alone for the holidays with her brother (and, unbeknownst to them, his boyfriend).  It was Langston and Benny's idea, actually, for the notebook.

A crazy adventure packed with light-hearted humor, this is most definitively a less saccharine and less irritating holiday story than the typical adult (or children's) fare.  Riddled with f-bombs and innuendos, lovers of David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, Nick, Norah, and a bit of Will Grayson, won't be able to resist Dash and Lily, before, after, or during the holidays! 
Call number: YA COHN (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian.