She was not a needle. This was not a haystack. We were people, and people had ways of finding each other.
It started with a red moleskin journal nestled between Salinger books at the Strand. When Dash pulled the book from the shelf, he didn't expect there to be instructions on just what to do next. Bored by with winter break and intrigued by this mysterious find, Dash does what the notebook says. Once he completes the task, he has a choice to either put the journal back and forget about it OR respond with his own list of dares.
When Lily discovers that someone has responded to the book, she's not sure how she feels. She's a loner and finds herself to be really weird. Was someone serious about this or were they just messing with her? But Lily wants to do something new, something different. With her parents away in Fiji for Christmas, her grandpa down in Florida and her brother too obsessed with his new boyfriend to care about her, she needs to find something to busy herself with, so she accepts his dares, too.
Back and forth, back and forth over a week and a half the notebook is passed between the two. Always a list of new dares, always something to look forward to. But what happens if they meet? Are they going to be everything they dreamed of or be a complete disappointment? Are they falling for the idea of the other person or the real thing? Or are they just portraying false versions of themselves to keep it interesting? By keeping the journal going, they discover what it means to embrace the new and different while still maintaining just who you are.
I absolutely loved this book. I had read their previous collaboration, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, last year and thought it was good, but this was just great. They seemed like people I wanted to be friends with. It was funny, but really relatable. I thought the more minor characters were also really great. They really added to the main characters. I would also like to point out that they mention my favorite Evelyn Waugh book, Vile Bodies, and Lily mentions that she wanted to be at home watching Meet Me in St.Louis and crying when Margaret O'Brien smashes the village of snow people. I screamed and said, "Rachel Cohn, you do that, too?!" That happens to me every Christmas Ever without fail. It's terrible. Anyway, I really did love this book and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who loves books and witty dialogue and really smart love stories.
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