Hello Fellow Bookworms, I hope all is well and that everyone is safe and sound tucked away in their favorite place with their favorite drink. I know that’s the case for me therefore I want that for you. Us together, each in our cozy spots, reading as we relax. Sounds so nice, like the book series we are going to talk about today.
Our book review is going to be about, Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares. The book is by coauthors, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. I will start off by first admitting that I did not pick to read this book intentionally. As with a previous book, it caught my eye on the clearance shelf at the bookstore where I work at. I noticed it was a young adult book and I couldn’t miss the Netflix original series stamped on the front left bottom side of the paper back. The description on the back sounded good and the price tag looked even better. The cover showed me the book is based in the winter time by the back drop of snow flakes behind the two characters. I purchased the book for $1.99.
I had just finished my last book and was at a good place to start a new book. After I ate dinner, showered, and laid in bed I began to read. Immediately I fell in love with Lily’s view of Christmas and family. Her love for animals especially dogs is very pronounced straight from the beginning.
I was sucked in by Lily’s personality and the mention of a red notebook that she was going to leave on the shelves of a New York library in hopes of finding someone to spend time with that was not included in her family circle. In comes a male character name Dash to find the notebook and began to play Lily’s game by figuring out riddles to get the notebook to its next destination. Once at the next destination, a message is sent to Lily. Interesting enough this notebook gets passed back and forth between the two for a while until they finally meet. It was not love at first sight which I thought added a spin to the story. I don’t want to spoil it but I noticed this book was a series towards the end. I looked it up and immediately ordered the next book as I was almost done reading the first. I couldn’t put Dash and Lily down. I wanted to know what was next for the two of them as they grew up and what age they would be in the next book. I finished book one on Jan 19, 2026.
I started the second book titled, The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, the very next day. I read whenever I could as I have been cutting back on my screen time. I basically read every chance I got. The book was that good. I felt vested in these character’s lives as funny as that sounds. Without saying too much, I’ll just say I finished book two on February 5, 2026. I started reading it January 20th. It didn’t take me long to read the second book. By the time I finished it I had received the third.
The third book, Mind The Gap, Dash and Lily, was started February 6, 2026, the day after I finished book two. The scenery changed in this last book and took place in London verses the other two took place in New York. I thought that was a nice spin for the coauthors to throw in there. I couldn’t help but wonder if they where recently in London to be able to describe the streets and locations to add familiarity to the story line or did they just do their research and read up on London? I know as a writer myself if I had the chance to explore a city where I was going to base my characters in I would want to visit the city as well. Of course I’d do my research if I couldn’t go so that my writing would have a bit of an authentic feel to it. Ultimately I think there’s nothing like being able to go and feel the atmosphere outside of what you are able to learn and read on the internet.
Either way all three books were very well written and kept my attention. One thing that I loved that these coauthors did was base each book on the few weeks leading up to Christmas. Each book in the series consisted of updating the reader on the years events leading the reader up to Christmas bringing the reader up to current speed. You start the series with these two main characters in high school and by the third book you are with them in their college years.
I do highly recommend this book series for young adults and for adults as well. There is some underage drinking with a stage that Lily goes through as she tries to figure herself out but other than that there’s no drugs or sex. As far as the drinking goes it’s minimal. I give this book series 4 stars out of 5 because I didn’t care too much for Lily’s under age drinking scenes. In retrospect these still are good books that are worth the read.
Until next time Bookworms, stay safe, and stay positive.
M.C. Addington 