Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan is a delightful and romantic tale that is a perfect fit for readers who adore lighthearted, feel-good stories about young love, the magic of Christmas, and the thrill of exploring a new city, especially those who enjoy a mix of humor, wit, and heartwarming moments.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book! The title and this beautiful cover drew me in and i was excited to read another book about Dash and Lily. I love their relationship and story.

At this point, you know the deal - ridiculous situations, fun with old friends, and calamity galore.

Though not as strong of a story as the previous two, this addition to the collection will be loved by fans of Lily and Dash. My biggest worry, and perhaps the reason this story didn’t connect for me, is that both characters have had time to grow, yet they still retain all the emotional angst and internal struggle from the first book. That was charming then, seeing as how those events happened two years ago, but I would have liked more emotional growth and maturity. It is still an overall fun story and a nice holiday book.

Not really a surprising read. It's another cute romance that fits into the first two books, but it's not anything overly special. I feel like there was a too long of a gap between the first two books and this one. That doesn't mean this was a bad read though. If you're looking for a cute series in the winter, I'd suggest picking up all three of the dash and lily books. And then go binge watch it on Netflix. I'd be ok with the second and third books being added to Netflix as well :)

*trigger warnings: panic attacks, depression, anxiety

Dash gets accepted to Oxford University while Lily is in New York busy with her dog-walking business. Lily is very excited because Dash is coming home for Christmas until he isn't. So she decides to fly to London to surprise Dash. But things have changed for both of them.

This was a fun and quick read. I wasn't expecting too much after reading The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily. It was fun to see the two in a different setting aside from the U.S. I liked Dash more in this book and Lily gets more annoying. I didn't get why she is jealous of Dash's grandmother. It's not like she is mean to her or she didn't like her for Dash. She's a very cool and supportive grandmother so I hated Lily for that. Dash's character was quite relatable. Moving to a new country and trying to get used to his surroundings. It's really a lot to take. Lily was actually doing great with her dog-waling business. I mean, she has money to fly to England and people in England recognized her. Her main problem is how to tell her parents that she doesn't want to go to college. I didn't feel like their characters have developed throughout the series which was disappointing. The first book is still the strongest in the series for me.

Disclaimer: Thanks to PRH and NetGalley for providing the free e-arc. This did not affect my overall opinion of the book.

This was a fun continuation of Dash and Lily’s story, with Dash going to university in England and Lily taking a gap year and building her dog-focused business in New York. They reunite over the holidays in this novel, featuring old and new characters along the way. Fans of the other novels in the series will love this one, too!

The third Dash & Lily book should hopefully cement in my head that I like the idea of Dash & Lily more than the reality of them. They are not very likable people, bratty New York teenagers. Lily is a spoiled brat with a grating side of neverending optimist, and Dash is a sulky brooding misanthrope whose favorite book is unironically Catcher in the Rye. Am I missing something? Why are we on the third book with these people, and why are they still annoying? But, like childbirth, by the end they are tolerable enough to create a haze that they weren't so bad after all, and you end up reading the next one.

I remember now. The fog has been lifted.

Such a cute, inventive concept. If you like a meet-cute that is booknerdy fun, this is the novel for you. The characters come to life and make you really love them! The love story is also perfection. This is the perfect romance for people who love books and bookstores.

Super cute, kind of light. Fast paced and an easy breezy read. Nice transition into that late YA/new adult world. These teens reminded me of when I used to watch Dawson's Creek. Young with a lot of time to think of big expressive ways to interact with each other.

Dash and Lily are some of my favorite characters. Mind the gap is another great addition to the Dash and Lily series. Dash and Lily have now been together for two years. Dash is living in England going to Oxford while Lily is taking a gap year in New York working on her dog business. I love how these two characters begin the process of discovering who they want to be and what that process means as a couple. Great read.

Dash and Lily fans, rejoice! It's another Christmas and this one finds Dash studying at Oxford, his dream since he was little, and Lily becoming an internet sensation with her dog walking and couture business, but she's still in New York and seriously pining for Dash. What is a person to do but plan a surprise visit?

Lots of familiar feels in this book. Dash and Lily really are a dream couple. And now we get the backdrop of London and the introduction of Dash's grandmother, Gem (the name says it all!). I don't know what else to say, except that this is a feel-good book that has come out at a perfect time.

My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dash começou a estudar em Oxford há mais ou menos um ano. Enquanto Lily gerência seu negócio de sucesso como babá de cachorros em Nova York. Meses separados cobraram seu preço, apesar de se amarem muito, eles estão um a um oceano de distância. Quando Dash avisa a Lily que não virá para Nova York no natal, ela decide que está na hora de fazer uma surpresa para o namorado e viaja para Londres de surpresa. Porém, Dash não está tão bem quanto fez parecer, ele está lutando em Oxford contra suas próprias limitações e frustrações. Enquanto Lily vai a Londres para tomar uma importante decisão: ela quer mesmo ir para a faculdade? Será que o amor dos dois vai ser o suficiente quando tudo parece estar mudando?
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Mais um livrinho de natal com um climinha bem fofo, mas que se mostrou bem mais do que isso. A narrativa dos autores mostra que crescer nem sempre é fácil e que as vezes o que planejamos ou o que planejaram para nós não é o motivo pelo qual nosso coração bate mais forte.
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Dash sempre quis ir para Oxford, mas o sistema educacional britânico limita demais seus estudos e ele não sabe bem como lidar com isso. Desistir não parece bem uma opção, afinal ele lutou muito para seguir esse sonho.
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Lily, por sua vez, sofre com a pressão exercida por sua família sobre o assunto faculdade. Ela sabe que quer trabalhar com cachorros e já faz isso. Hoje ela é uma doginfluencer e faz muito sucesso no Instagram, mas ninguém parece levar a sério o trabalho que ela faz. E é assim que ela chega a Londres, para encontrar as respostas a todas essas perguntas.
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A história dos dois é sólida e Dash e Lily não só são um casal apaixonado, como são bastante maduros para a idade. Ambos são apaixonados pelo que fazem e querem estar na vida um do outro e farão de tudo para que ambos estejam felizes.
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Enfim, esse é um livro fofo e com um climinha de crescimento lindo de se ler. Esse é o terceiro livro de uma trilogia, o primeiro livro foi publicado pela Galera Record, esse terceiro ainda não está disponível em português.

My first interaction with Dash and Lily, creations of coauthors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, came via Netflix’s new series, Dash and Lily, rather than the first novel in the series, 'Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares.' Though I prefer to read the original before seeing the adaptation, I experienced 'Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,' another Cohn/Levithan collaboration, in the same manner. Since finishing the first season of the Netflix series, I’ve read 'The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily' (2016) and the newly released third book in the series, 'Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily.' This series is somewhat of a rarity since series in YA are usually the province of the speculative and supernatural; a YA romance is an altogether different beast. While this third entry treads some familiar ground at times, it is a welcome addition to Dash and Lily’s story.

Having graduated from high school the previous summer, Dash just finished sitting for his first set of exams at Oxford, and Lily has taken a gap year. Instead of matriculating as a legacy at Barnard, she has become a full-time dogfluencer—a combination of dog-walker, entrepreneur, and minor Instagram celebrity. Naturally, her family doesn’t approve. Dash, meanwhile, has finally found a family member who approves of him, his grandmother. Nothing else, however, has gone well so far during his time in England. Will that improve when Lily decides to surprise him for Christmas?

The decision to change the setting from New York to London is a good one; taking Dash and Lily out of the environment in which they are most comfortable forces them to grapple with the choices that they need to make. While the expected transition from high school to college allows many adolescents to delay grappling with big life choices, Cohn and Levithan don’t give Dash and Lily that opportunity. That’s what makes this third entry work; even though a lot of the same whimsy and potential relationship peril beats from the first two entries in the series reappear here, there’s enough new here for the story to be compelling. Plus, even though their quirkiness irks me at times, I still care about Dash and Lily.

What I like best about this novel—and the entire series—is that it is a wish-fulfillment romance with educative moments for adolescent readers interspersed throughout. Whereas Nick and Norah’s story was a bit heavy at times, the tone of Dash and Lily’s story is always light, even when it is fraught with angst. Is a gap year an acceptable choice for the college-bound adolescent? How much of a role should family play in determining an adolescent’s path in life? Though the concept is referred to somewhat derisively at one point, this series has something tangible to say about agency. The battle for agency isn’t only found in dystopian narratives; it’s found in everyday life. I appreciate how Cohn and Levithan present that struggle to their readers. Lily’s struggle to find her identity as well as Dash’s panic attacks, for example, will resonate with many adolescent readers.

What won’t likely resonate for many readers is the financial status of these characters. For some readers, I suspect the freedom that Dash and Lily have because of their finances is unrecognizable or even off-putting. If read as escapism, there’s no problem; if read as these choices are only available to those with means, then there’s a problem. For readers to see themselves in these novels, for that educative value to be realized, there have to be points of identification. I wonder if financial stakes will be addressed in possible future entries in the series.

Series have growing pains; while 'Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily' certainly has plenty, I’m hopeful that Cohn and Levithan aren’t finished with these characters yet. There’s more story here, I think. In the meantime, I enjoyed spending this Christmas season with Dash and Lily.

MInd the Gap Dash and Lily was beyond negative and had barely any Christmas in it. I thought it was boring. It was a quick read and the side characters are better than main characters. Mrs. Basil E is not like her past character and Gem feels like a rip off of normal Mrs. Basil E. Dash was very pretentious and Lily was angsty for no real reason. Also their conversations went from silly banter to just being mean to each other.
Based on an interview that the authors did I expected the characters to go to different bookstores in London. They barely were mentioned. Daunt books had a scene in it and Dash walked into a Waterstones. I have no idea who Carly Rae Jepsen is and I never want to know after reading the name so many times in one short book. It feels like two different authors took Dash and Lily and wrote a parody book.. I loved the first book in the series but the last two books have gotten increasingly worse.

Dash and Lily is one of my favorite holiday season reads, and this installment is no exception. The book starts a bit morose, but it was oddly fitting for the 2020 holiday season. Unsure of where they are at in their lives and the choices they had made thus far, Dash and Lily take the holiday season to consider what they actually want.

I loved the book's London setting and the secondary characters we get introduced to. I would love to see this book eventually get adapted for the Netflix series.

It was just lovely to spend time with Dash and Lily again. The second book, the 12 days of Dash and Lily was not as good as the first book. It does feel like while Dash is evolving as a person, Lily is devolving. She was really whiny in the second book and quite immature in this book. Sure, she and Dash have a very mature relationship for their age, which is excellent, but she just does things that an average 15 year old would do when it is clear in the first book, she “spends time with adults.” Still, I enjoyed it so much and I would be happy to read a Dash and Lily book every few years for forever.

Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily is a fun, quick read for fans of the Dash & Lily series. Dash & Lily have graduated from high school and Dash is attending Oxford while Lily takes a gap year. When Dash decides to stay in London to spend the Christmas holiday with his grandmother, Lily hops on a plance and surprises him. The entire novel takes place in London and is told in the familiar Dash & Lily pattern of going back and forth between the characters in different chapters. A great read for middle and high school students.

This was a great addition to the Dash & Lily series! Set against a Christmas backdrop again, this time Dash and Lily find themselves in London. Dash, now in college at Oxford, has decided to stay in London and celebrate Christmas with his grandmother. Lily, who is still in New York and has set up a lucrative dog walking business for herself, decides to surprise Dash and flies out to London to spend the holiday with him. Naturally, because it's a romcom, nothing goes as planned. Characters from the previous books all make appearances, whether through phone or Skype call, or also happening to be in London (which was a bit convenient). New characters, especially Dash's grandmother, Gem, were an excellent addition. I also loved the London setting! It made me want to go back and visit as soon as possible, especially around Christmas!
Here's hoping we get more Dash and Lily in the future!