“I have always found peace among books.”

“Sometimes you make plans. Sometimes plans make themselves.”

While I enjoyed this second book in the Dash & Lily series more than the first, it still wasn't a favourite. The lack of communication between Dash and Lily, in addition to her overall sour mood (even if semi-understandable) was a tad on the exhausting side. ( )

I really loved this story. I loved how it was very different story which did deal with some hard issues. Butt his book is so funny and the characters are so unique it was easy to fall in love these characters all over again. SUCH A FAST PACE READ AS WELL! ( )

I really loved this story. I loved how it was very different story which did deal with some hard issues. Butt his book is so funny and the characters are so unique it was easy to fall in love these characters all over again. SUCH A FAST PACE READ AS WELL! ( )

When I first started the book, I was skeptical because it didn't seem to have the same magical feel as the first book, but as the book went on, I ended up loving it. I think I loved that it wasn't as "magical". It focused on how hard life is and how hard navigating a relationship can be when your whole world is falling apart. Lily annoyed me sometimes, but then I remembered about how emotional I can be even though I'm not a teenager anymore. Dash, however, is still my favorite character, and I can't wait for the second season of Dash & Lily on Netflix. ( )

I read the first Dash and Lily book (and absolutely adored it) way back in the day, but in typical fashion missed the fact that it had a sequel until the mini series came out on Netflix this past year. Things I am admittedly terrible at: keeping up with the absolute slew of new publications...After revisiting the sheer joy of the tv series and original story I was so ready for another sweet, heartfelt, and hopeful story about oddball pair Dash and Lily, but at the outset of the story I started to get concerned. Instead of floating blissfully along with their newfound young love, the story starts out on a concerning note. Lily’s grandfather has had some unfortunate health issues, necessitating some unexpected change in her family’s operations and putting a lot of stress on ever-worrisome Lily, who doesn’t deal well with change. Because of her newfound role in caring for her grandfather, Lily is spending less time with Dash, has lost some of the whimsical carefree-ness that made up her personality, and is SO not in the mood for Christmas cheer. As the story moves along, we get to experience Lily’s (small) moments of worrisome teenage rebellion, and see Dash rise to the occasion and channel his inner holiday elf (an amusing scenario for this largely cynical guy) to bring Lily out of her slump. We’re missing some of the original whimsical charm that made the first book a smash hit (you can’t repeat success quite so well the second time around), but I think that the deeper themes in this story are truthfully authentic to relationships of any age, and give this book a solid grounding in reality to balance out the sheer romance and whimsy of Dash and Lily’s madcap meeting. ( )