The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily

September 26, 2016
Dash and Lily met and fell for each other over the holidays in 2010’s Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, and this rowdy sequel picks up one year later as the teens’ relationship is showing signs of stress. Lily is concerned about her grandfather’s health (he suffered a heart attack and a bad fall) and about Dash’s true feelings for her; as a result, her typical holiday exuberance is all but gone. The authors again alternate between Dash and Lily’s first-person perspectives, which are peppered with sharp banter and up-to-the-minute New York City references, and they send Lily on another clue-driven tour of the city. Like its predecessor, it’s a full-fledged rom-com, though the rommy moments (Lily’s heart-to-heart with her mother about relationships, Dash watching happiness sneak its way back into Lily’s life) can sit uncomfortably beside the commy ones, which include a tomato juice squirt gun duel, X-rated gingerbread cookies, and an event that becomes known as the Great Glitterskating Massacre. Ages 12–up. Agent: (for Cohn) Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, William Morris Endeavor; (for Levithan) Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency.