Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

by Rachel Levithan Cohn

[Amber]

A year later, I finally finished it.

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Review here: http://www.booksofamber.com/2012/01/dash-and-lilys-book-of-dares-by-rachel.html

I don’t know how to express how disappointed I am with this book. I had heard such amazing things about it last year when everyone in the book blogging community seemed to have a copy and I was dying to read it. I picked it up in January 2010, and I had to put it down. Until now. (Dun-dun-dun!)

The parts I was most looking forward to were the dares. I was expecting something creative and fun, but they weren’t interesting for me at all. The plot was boring, really. Nothing really happened that I could pick out and say ‘This was the book’s saving grace’.

Dash and Lily were both awful characters. Dash was overly moody, judgy and plain obnoxious. Lily was annoying, whiney and a childish brat. She is the most psychotic sane character I have ever read about. She randomly starts shouting at people at home or in the street if they pay her the slightest compliment. It’s not cute, or quirky, it’s just plain horrible. I would like to punch them both in the face Gannicus-style.

The writing wasn’t great either, as David Levithan used lots of big words and confusing dialogue for Dash. What sixteen year old talk like they’ve swallowed a dictionary? In the words of Dash, it was absurd.

And to top it all off, Lily – who is apparently very well read – referred to Hermione (yes, from HP) as Hermione POTTER. I can’t even...