Rachel Cohn

Although they have been friends and neighbors all their lives, straight Naomi and gay Ely find their relationship severely strained during their freshman year at New York University.

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

Monicap

Originally reviewed May 26, 2015 | Imported from my Goodreads account

Alberto

I totally did not get this book's vibe. And truthfully, I never got any of Cohn-Levithan collab book's vibes. Ever. I liked Dash & Lily's fair enough because the plot worked very well, and although Nick & Norah's was (barely) tolerable, it was still original and romantic. However,I just don't like Naomi & Ely's. This one is probably the worst of the three, and I've had it, I AM SO DONE, with Cohn-Levithan collabs. Done. 

Naomi is an idiot. There, I've said it. Ely is openly gay, not to mention her best friend (ugh) and yet she still continues to entertain thoughts of him liking her back and getting married and having children and uhghhhh really?! As his best friend, she should know how Ely would respond. She should not expect anything more from him. Because of this, the book is filled of two hundred pages of Naomi complaining and bitching about him. 

But of course I can't completely blame the girl because Ely, the huge douchebag, is always flirting with her and kissing her and picking out places to get married and crossing the line all the freaking time. And like the self-centered jerk that he is, he goes on to flirt and kiss and steal her boyfriend, as if friendzoning her wasn't enough. The funny thing is, he never realizes she's in love with him the entire time, and I find that a very crappy showing of best friend duties.

And then of course, the worse supporting characters. Gabriel, the deus ex machina for Naomi to get over Ely, Bruce the (completely useless) First, and the two Robin's just to mess things up further. 

This is the kind of garbage that is published these days. No morals, no depth, no lessons, nothing. A huge epic fail for the two authors.

Cal Desmond‐Pearson

Just read John's review and thought: Gee, thanks for using such wonderful terms as "retarded" and "moron", you must be such a caring person to use such derogatory terms.

jess

[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.

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

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