Following the success of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have collaborated once more this time on Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List.

Best friends since childhood, Naomi and Ely live across the hall from each other, were each other’s first kiss, they share clothes, they helped each other though their parents break-ups, they love each other. However, Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, whereas, 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 just fine – until Bruce the Second.

Bruce is Naomi’s boyfriend, so there’s no reason to put him on the List. But then Ely kissed Bruce even though he is boring. The result: a rift of universal proportions and the potential end of Naomi and Ely’s friendship. Can these best friends come back together again?

For me, this book just was not as good as Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and I think I’ve settled on two reasons why, firstly neither Naomi or Eli, are particularly agreeable characters (I want to state I didn’t dislike them, just didn’t care for them very much) meaning, I couldn’t really root for them, they way I did, Nick and Norah, that being said, the friendship Naomi and Eli have shared over the years is obviously a ‘true’ one and is played out well enough for you to care that it survives. it is however, hard to root for the pair in their new lives and love affairs post the falling out. Again this is only saved by the fact, the the other two people involved – the ‘true loves’ – are more likable than Naomi and Eli, and do you want it to work for for them at least.

Secondly, to me at least, the book feels like the authors were trying to re-capture the magic rather than creating new. The increased number of view points, from exes, friends, acquaintances, the silly talking in logos that Naomi uses, just smacks of trying too hard – forcing the story, rather than letting it flow.

That said it is a decent generally enjoyable story of romance, friendship, and all kinds of love.

“It’s a total lie to say there’s only one person you’re going to be with for the rest of your life. If you’re lucky – and if you try really hard – there will always be more than one.”

[rating:69/100]

Buy, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List at Amazon

It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who’s just walked in to his band’s show. With a new guy. And then, with one kiss, Nick and Norah are off on an adventure set against the backdrop of New York City—and smack in the middle of all the joy, anxiety, confusion, and excitement of a first date.

As the POV switches with each chapter we get to meet and know Nick & Norah as they meet each other for the first time, during the following few hours, their story develops. Intermingled with New York’s underground music scene, the characters honest and appropriate language (notes the ‘F’ word appears at least a couple of times on every page), and a ever present yearning for sex, a surprisingly sweet and optimistic story emerges, and whether this is just a one-night only thing or something more, it’s clear that this relationship or what ever it is has come at an important time for both of them. You will end up pulling for a postive outcome (again whatever that ends up being!) for the both of them.

Music the third main character, always in the background, setting the mood, dragging memories to the fore, feeding the emotions, in essence a beat that drives you from the front cover of this very enjoyable book, to the last.

[rating:77/100]