Every now and then, when I come off the back of something really heavy and adult, I want a little light YA fiction to cleanse my palate.
Levithan (always want to type Leviathan when I see that) and Cohen are firm favourites for me in this respect. Occupying the land somewhere between Nick at Night, John Hughes and Gregg Araki, their books are a source of incredible comfort and simplicity.

Don't we all miss the times when all you had to do was flunk out of school and care about records and these were the most important things in the world?
The times when you were genuinely massively excited about what your whole life held for you and all the new experiences that were waiting?

This is what that is. with a slight edge.

As in Nick & Norah's and Dash & Lily's the story is set in NYC and references a bunch of bands that you love (and guys, I once read a Tao Lin book because he mentioned Jawbreaker once) This book isn't going to change your life, but I don't think that makes it any less valid.

As for all the people saying that the characters are unlikeable, hi guys! I'm not sure if you noticed this about yourselves, but most people in their late teens/early 20s are horrible, self centred idiots. It's who you are before you figure out how to be awesome, eh?

I didn't love this book as much as the other two, but it completely satisfies that Paula Danzinger craving that I sometimes get. If you're at the right age to read it, it's probably ace. ( )

I didn't make it past the first 20 pages. The format is just awful, and the writing isn't much better. ( )

I really liked Ely's story a lot. I'd read a sequel about him. I found it difficult to read Naomi's chapters because of the images/emojis, but it created an immersive mood too. I'm surprised by so many negative reviews since this is just a light read with flawed characters and didn't set out to be anything else. ( )

We should all have our own damn souls. ( )

[review written 2011]

Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List was the second David Levithan and Rachel Cohn novel I have ever read, and I must say, it was quite as good as Dash and Lily. I loved it. Naomi’s writing with the symbols was great, Gabriel the Hot Doorman (I pictured Aaron Tveit) writing with songs narrating it … it was quite easy to tell their writing styles from each other, which marks talent, because usually first-person viewpoints that switch between two characters is hard enough for me. To be able to tell viewpoints between five, six characters, that was amazing.

It was also really funny, and I had a giggle fit at Ely showing the bouncer his dick in the middle of class, which lead to awkwardness. All in all, it was a great book. If you are a fan of either Rachel Cohn or David Levithan’s work, it would be a good idea to read this book (and Dash and Lily, and Nick and Norah) because they’re just so amazing. ( )