This review was first posted on Music, Books and TeaThere’s something about my Christmas holidays that screams out for a holiday read, and Dash and Lily was my pick for last year. I devoured this book over two days thanks to the red moleskin notebook full of adventure and Dash and Lily’s distinctive voices.I loved the adventure in Dash and Lily, it really made me want to discover my own red moleskin and go traipsing around New York during the end of December. This was a book that was filled to the brim with laugh-out-loud moments, and they were all excellent. They didn’t feel forced at all, and helped to keep the story moving along, like where Dash was forced into Macy’s right on top of the Christmas holidays, something that was pure torture for him! There’s a scene involving Dash and a department store Santa that is just pure comedic gold, and had me busting out laughing in the middle of my lunch break!I loved how the exchanging notes in the notebook changed Dash and Lily, but only for the better. Lily really came out of her shell and did things she would have never normally done, like dressing up in a gold dress and dance crazily by herself in a club where she didn’t fit in (even if she lost her boot in the process!) And, truth be told, I just want to be best friends with Lily and hang out in The Strand with Dash. I don’t think I’ve come across two characters who I have instantly liked as soon as I started reading a book. When the interactions in the notebook became more serious, I just wanted the pair to meet face-to-face and have a happily ever after ending. Of course, when they did meet, it wasn’t perfect. It was far funnier than I expected it to be, especially as I didn’t think anyone could get as drunk as Lily did from taking tiny sips of other people’s drinks! And then when they met again, and Lily was trying to control that unruly dog? Absolutely hilarious! It seemed like it shouldn’t have been totally realistic, after all, Dash is wanted by some angry mothers after he attacked a kid with a snowball and Lily saved a flying baby (later getting accused of kidnap!) but it was so crazy it worked. And that’s what I loved about this book. The whole idea is crazy. Going on an adventure purely based on a red moleskin notebook? It shouldn’t have worked, but it did.I found it really interesting that Dash and Lily ended in exactly the same place where it all started. It was an incredibly fitting ending, left rather open so we can determine our own endings for Dash and Lily. I can only sum up the book in one way: it was so clever. And it was so, so awesome.
