First Lines: Imagine this: You’re in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where a favorite author’s books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.
I wanted to read this before Christmas, but my library seemed to think this was a normal fiction book instead of YA, so I didn’t find it before the holidays. But hey, I still read it before the end of Christmas break. That counts for something, right?
Just days before Christmas, Dash is scanning the bookstore for something to amuse himself when he spots a red notebook on the shelf. Intrigued, he starts doing the instructions on the inside. The notebook was left by a girl named Lily. Lily is a quiet girl with a huge family that tries to protect her from everything. Lily and Dash begin trading the book back and forth, filled with all sorts of dares and instructions. But how long before they begin losing their hearts?
I had a lot of fun reading this. Dash is so funny and he has the best friends. I kid you not, I’ve probably “liked” over 20 quotes on Goodreads from this book. There was some incredibly good advice, along with silly little comments that made me smile. It was all around entertaining.
I definitely liked Lily best, mostly because she’s pretty much me. Her love of Christmas only slightly outdoes mine, but I felt a kinship start.
The dares were fun. It was great to see what they got into and what they told the other one to do. Some were pretty dastardly. Like I said, it was entertaining. I finished it in less than 24 hours. That’s probably the fastest I’ll finish a book for the next 3 months.
It was fun. It was sassy. It was real. What else can I say? Rachel Cohn and David Levithan are geniuses.
