“Imagine you’re in New York and it’s Christmas. You’re surrounded by people, by possibility, and the hope that somewhere in the city is that one person that’s meant for you. You just have to find them.” – Lily

It’s almost Christmas in New York City when 17-year-old Dash finds a red notebook at the Strand Book Store. Engraved on the front is the question, “Do you dare?” and he is intrigued. Despite thinking Christmas is “the most detestable time of the year,” he goes on to partake in a series of Christmas-themed dares to discover the author’s identity. 

The author is 17-year-old Lily who believes “Christmas is all about love.” But she is not feeling the Christmas love as her parents go off to Fiji for a “honeymoon they never got” and her grandad goes to Florida to visit his “lady friend” while she is left with her older brother who couldn’t care less about the family’s annual Christmas traditions.

But when Lily finds out that someone has dared, and taken her notebook from the Strand, she finally has something to look forward to this Christmas. As cynical Dash and optimistic Lily trade the notebook back and forth around famous places in New York, they get to know each other and start to fall in love. 

But are they really falling for each other or are they falling for the person they have made up in their minds? Because when you make up someone in your head, you can be met with disappointment. As Lily’s Great Aunt Lillian says, “Have you considered what you’ll do if the person in person isn’t the one in your head?”

Dash and Lily had become very comfortable with their lives the way they were, but the notebook and the dares push them both to be the people they never thought they could be. However when people from Dash and Lily’s past re-enter their lives and they don’t tell each other, things get complicated. Especially when those people start to overlap without their knowing. 

With many twists, turns, and setbacks along the way, Dash and Lily is a love story that shows if it is really meant to be, it will happen. And the ending, while a little messy, is filled with the sparkle and joy that makes Christmas, especially Christmas in  New York City, so unlike anything you have ever experienced.

This 8 episode series is a Christmas must watch. Based on the Young Adult book series Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares from authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Dash and Lily is perfect for every hopeless romantic who has always dreamed of falling in love in New York at Christmas.