Author: David Levithan


Friday, October 07, 2016

Review: The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

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I received this book for free from Knopf Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David LevithanThe Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by David Levithan, Rachel Cohn
Series: Dash & Lily #2
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on October 18th, 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Holiday, YA
Source: Knopf Books for Young Readers
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three-half-stars

New York Times bestselling authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan are back with a life-affirming Christmas romance starring Dash and Lily.

Dash and Lily have had a tough year since readers first watched the couple fall in love. Lily’s beloved grandfather suffered a heart attack, and his difficult road to recovery has taken a major toll on her typically sunny disposition.

With only twelve days left until Christmas—Lily’s favorite time of the year—Dash, Lily’s brother Langston, and their closest friends take Manhattan by storm to help Lily recapture the holiday magic of New York City in December.

Told in alternating chapters, The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily reunites two beloved characters and is bound to be a Christmas favorite, season after season.

I KNOW IT’S TOO EARLY to be reading Christmas-y books but I am already getting into the mood for the holidays and I really wanted to be reunited with Dash & Lily so I READ THE BOOK and it was 100% worth it. Also, to be fair, this book comes out this month so I am allowed to read a christmas-y book in October.

The biggest issue I had with this book (because rarely is a book perfect) is that it was a lot more angsty than the original Dash & Lily. Lily was justified in being angsty but the lack of communication between Dash & Lily was so off-putting given that they had been good at in the first book. If Dash & Lily just talked to each other, there would be no need for half the drama that occurred.

The other half was mostly just Lily acting out and rebelling against something I didn’t quite understand. She was tired of being Lily but she also wanted to be Lily. There was a whole lot of internal conflict going on with her throughout the book because of the kind of stress she was under (her grandpa wasn’t doing so well).

Dash was a lot more put together in this book. He was a great boyfriend and you could see him really trying to reach out to Lily during such a stressful time in her life but he also failed to understand what it was that Lily needed.

They hadn’t been dating long when the whole incident with her Grandfather took place but I would have thought that they would know each other well enough to know what it was the other was looking for. Seriously.

My mini-rant makes it seem like I didn’t enjoy the book at all but I DID. It was heart-warming and so very Christmas-y that I literally cannot stop singing Christmas carols and dreaming about hot chocolate. In fact, I am probably going to get myself some once I am done writing this review because it’s FALL goddamnit it and nobody can stop me from drinking all the hot chocolate ever.

Read this book: if you are trash like me and enjoy reading Christmas books in October. But also, more seriously, read this book because it is fun, adorable and a great book to have on your holiday season TBR.

three-half-stars

3.5 Hot Espressos

Review: My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories Edited by Stephanie Perkins

Posted by on 12/22/2015 • 6 Comments

I love the holidays, so when I was approached about reviewing this book I couldn’t pass it up. I also always love “feel good” stories and knew this would be filled with them. It didn’t disappoint. It has twelve different stories having to do with the holidays written by an amazing variety of authors. No matter what holiday you celebrate, this book will make you smile. Some even had me tearing up with happy tears. I always really have a hard time reviewing anthologies because I don’t want to have a review that is super long or too short, but I am going to try to do it as good as I can, but be assured, this is a book you want to read around the holidays or any time…