In the last few years my goal has been to read the entirety of David Levithan’s work. As an author that i’ve been fond of for quite some time, i’d like to read everything he’s done to be firm in my love for him. Last year i read Dash and Lily’s Book Of Dares, co-written by Rachel Cohn in order to add to ,my read list.
I also picked up The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn last Christmas, thinking that i’d get around to reading it. Sadly i didn’t. This Christmas i knew i had to get around to get around to it so i didn’t lose the story or what i felt for the characters. If you want to read my full review of Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, it’s HERE.
So i picked it up as a quick read just before Christmas. I’d heard a few spoilers throughout the year that to be honest, i wasn’t overly pleased with. They were a little dramatic and what put me off reading it for so long i think. I didn’t want to know what happened in this contemporary story and if the spoilers i heard were true, i didn’t understand how it would form in to a successful Christmas novel.
However it didn’t. Yes it has a festive setting with little bits of festivity spread out within the chapters, but first and foremost, The Twelve Days Of Dash And Lily is not a Christmas novel. It’s the continued story of these characters around Christmas time, which is a wonderful thing if you want to feel a little bit festive without all the cheese of a more common Christmas story.
I also really enjoyed the amount of information we got about Dash and Lily’s families in this book. Christmas is usually seen as a time for families, and i think that the authors worked this very well in to the story and gave the reader a lot more context regarding the side characters mentioned in the first story. We get to understand Dash and Lily a little more and see more of their personalities, and maybe where those personalities came from. I always find a story about family to be the most interesting with all the different characters so closely linked, this was no different.
For me, this was the perfect addition to the Dash And Lily collection. I didn’t feel as though i was reading a sequel, but it felt like a lovely extra in to their world and relationship. There are a few more bits that i would have liked more of. For example their friends fell a little flat sometimes, as they were used for comedy one-liners. And i definitely would have loved more information about Lily’s brother. Maybe my dream for these characters is prequels from their family life. That i definitely would be interested in.
But for now i still really enjoy these characters and their adventures. They’re a very familiar and comforting couple within YA. They’re different without trying too hard and don’t have many of the cliches that YA inhabits. I very much appreciate this companionship and if you’re still feeling a little festive, i’d pick up The Twelve Days Of Dash and Lily!
The Little Contemporary Corner 