Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

From the dream team David Levithan and Rachel Cohn who brought you Nick and Norah’s Infinite playlist. Naomi and Ely prove that any great friendship can be as confusing, treacherous, inspiring and wonderful as any great romance.

Naomi and Ely have been best friends forever. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and Ely loves Naomi, but prefers to be in love with boys. So they create their “No Kiss List… of people neither of them is allowed to kiss.

And this works fine – until Bruce.

Bruce is Naomi’s boyfriend, so there’s no reason to put him on the List. But Ely kissed Bruce – and the resulting fallout is going to shake up the world!

Perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Rainbow Rowell, and Morgan Matson.

David and Rachel’s other collaborations include Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and The 12 Days of Dash and Lily.

David Levithan is the New York Times best-selling author of Boy Meets Boy, Every Day, and Another Day. His many collaborations include Will Grayson, Will Grayson with Fault in Our Stars author John Green. Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, now has his own novel: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story. David's latest collaboration with Rachel Cohn, The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, was picked by Zoella for her Book Club with WHSmiths. David is also a highly respected children’s book editor, whose list includes many luminaries of children’s literature, including Garth Nix, Libba Bray and Suzanne Collins. He lives and works in New York.

Rachel Cohn was born in Maryland but now also lives in New York. Among her many YA novels are Gingerbread, Shrimp, and Cupcake.

Reviewed by notajammiedodger on

4 of 5 stars

Share
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan is a story of friendship and love, overcoming your problems and finding what matters most in life. When Naomi's gay best friend since forever, Ely, kisses her boyfriend all the problems that they have which they usually just choose to ignore begin to rise to the surface and causes a break-up between the best of friends.

Naomi is this hottest-girl-in-the-school type chick who has some serious problems caused by some hard family problems that have happened in her life. Ely is the gay guy that everyone loves, the guy that everyone adores and wants to be friends with, and a total man-whore of course. At first I didn't like Naomi and Ely, they both really annoyed me. But by the end of the book they could pick out their own flaws and tried to change them and turn their lives around.
"It is not easy. Things that matter are not. Feelings of happiness are easy. Happiness is not. Flirting is easy. Love is not. Saying you're friends is easy. Being friends is not." - Ely, page. 199
At the beginning of the book I started getting a little annoyed and confused with getting the background story of all the minor characters, like Robin and Robin, Bruce the First, Gabriel, etc. But I realised that everyone's story was important. You need to know their story to know how they fit into Naomi and Ely's story.

There was one thing about the book that I really loved. I don't know why, i guess I just love when you get cross overs in books that no-one but those who has read all of their books will get. I am going to be vague cause I don't want to ruin it for anyone, it was nice to read it not knowing it was going to be there. But those of you who have read the book will know what I am talking about. My favourite part was when Bruce went into the toilet and wrote on the wall. I was like, Oh My Llama!! That is so cool! :D I liked it :P It makes me want to read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares right now to see if there is anything like that in there :)

I really enjoyed this story. Friendship (especially one like Naomi and Ely's) is a special thing, it should be cherished and enjoyed. I could really relate to these characters. I lost my best friend in the entire world at the beginning of this year, it is hard to have the one person in the world that you love more than anything just up and leave you (speaking figuratively). I am over it now, I know that it wasn't my fault and I don't care any more. But friendship (especially one like what Naomi and Ely share) should always be enjoyed and cherished. It is a beautiful thing. Their story really makes you appreciate all of the friends that you have. Don't let them go! I would definitely recommend this book :)

This review is also on my blog The Confessions of a Book Nerd :)

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 1 August, 2011: Finished reading
  • 1 August, 2011: Reviewed