Dash & Lily

The Dash & Lily series by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan revolves around Christmas and holiday traditions, which is why I so loved turning tradition on its head and reading all the books in August.

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares first introduces us to high schoolers Dash and Lily, who meet due to Lily hiding a notebook of riddles in one of New York’s most iconic bookstores, The Strand. The notebook becomes a collaborative project, bringing them together and helping some of Lily’s holiday cheer rub off on the perpetually snarly Dash.

The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily shows us Dash and Lily a year later, seemingly settled in their relationship. But this year has a lot to live up to, after the fireworks of their first magical holiday season. And this time even always jolly Lily is struggling to get in the spirit.

Finally, Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily is yet another year later, and this time Dash has begun his freshman year all the way at Oxford University while Lily stayed in New York to take a gap year and expand her dog-walking business. As Christmas approaches they reunite for the first time since summer and find themselves questioning just how much change they want in both their relationship and their lives as newly minted adults.

These books are fun YA rom-coms and like Ted Lasso, I believe in rom-communism. I love that basically all of the places they reference actually exist in real New York and London. And I love how Dash and Lily are both exaggerated enough to remind me that even though their surroundings are very much real, they are still fictional, idealized characters. I also love how because all three books take place during the thick of the holiday season, they never get too heavy and ~holiday magic~ is always there to step in when things look like they’re getting out of control. They’re perfect light reads for any time of year.

Usually when books become movies or TV shows I prefer reading the books first. But I must admit I watched the series last year without even realizing it was based on a book. And ultimately, I’m ok with that order of events because I liked having the mental image of the cast throughout the entire book series, beyond the one season of the TV show we’ve gotten.

You can buy the Dash & Lily series here, here, and here or borrow it from your local library.

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