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

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (UK) Ltd (5 Oct 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848451725
• ISBN-13: 978-1848451728

"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 ofNick & 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 cosmic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Cover: I really like that the titles and authors names are on the New York styled street signs, but others wise it's kind of a boring cover and doesn't scream 'READ ME' at me.

Unfortunately this just wasn't for me.

I found the protagonists Dash and Lily, plus the writing styles very pretentious.

Their characters and the plot lines were not believable and verged on the ridiculous.

Lily annoyed me- for a sixteen year old girl, she was highly immature and this just grated on me.  Maybe because I was not like that at sixteen, and even my brother who is now sixteen isn't even that immature- it just grated on my nerves.  I mean who would use a chalk board instead of talking to their parents at that age???

Plus the idea that family members would help you communicate with a random stranger in New York seems to go against all safe guarding to me.

I think it also tries too hard to be funny and resonating at the same time.  The over use of parenthesis drove me insane- to the point where if I see another bracket any time soon I may flip.

At the end of the day I was disappointed with this book.  What I really wanted was a cute, Christmas contemporary with a sweet romance to it.  And I didn't get that.  I got something I had to force myself to finish- it never gripped me and made me want to turn another page.

I think this book appeals to a niche sector that I'm not in.

Over all 1.5/5 stars.