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Thursday 17 January 2013

Review // Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List - Levithan & Cohn

Published - 26th August 2008
Publisher - Ember

Format - Paperback
Goodreads Synopsis - Naomi and Ely are best friends. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and Ely loves Naomi, but prefers to be in love with boys. So they create their "No Kiss List" of people neither of them is allowed to kiss. And this works fine - until Bruce. Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But Ely kissed Bruce even though he is boring. The result: a rift of universal proportions and the potential end of "Naomi and Ely: the institution." Can these best friends come back together again?

After being a long time fan of the film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, last year I discovered the book by Levithan & Cohn. I immediately read the book, followed by Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (which has since become my most adored book) and now this, the wonderful Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List.

It took me longer to get into the book than it did with the others but Levithan & Cohn are such brilliant writers, that before long I was deeply engrossed and couldn't get enough. It's a shorter than average book but I read it in just 3 hours! The thing I love most about Levithan & Cohn is that there characters are always flawed - completely loveable and relateable. 

As always with these two authors, my book is now covered in post-its of lines that I love and don't want to forget. The authors are not afraid to say it how it is and are open to discussing sex, sexuality, family breakdowns, what love is and what it means to be a friend. Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List is scattered with references to music (with Gabriel's playlists amongst others), television (LOTS of spoilers for Buffy & Dawson's Creek!) and the thing that got me the most was the repetition of the Nick & Norah reference from both Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. Though none of these books are related in anyway, they always find themselves in that same bathroom... It was just brilliant to read and had me nostalgic for quite a while. And of course the drag queens. 

I would definitely recommend not just this book but anything by the two authors, David Levithan & Rachel Cohn. Now that i've exhausted their joint books, I look forward to seeing what they do as single authors.

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