Like their previous collaboration "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist", Rachel Cohn and David Levithan set their second book firmly in the NYC big-city world. Naomi and Ely have lived across the hall in a New York City co-op apartment their entire lives. Ely lives with his two moms, and now Naomi lives with just her mom, since her dad moved out after having an affair with one of Ely's moms. (That's kind of a miserable story, really, and they are all trying to move on with their lives.) Naomi and Ely are inseperable, best friends forever. They share clothes, music, DVDs -- everything except boys. To protect their friendship, they create the "No Kiss List" and anytime that there is a boy (or girl) that they might both like, they put the name on the list, to avoid competition or hurt feelings. There is one definite glitch in their plan though. Even though Ely is obviously and openly gay, Naomi idolizes their perfect life together and imagines that they will always be together, even romantically. Everything is peachy until Naomi's current boyfriend Bruce the Second ends up kissing Ely. Even though Naomi didn't like Bruce the second enough to add him to the list, she is devastated and angry that Ely has stolen her boyfriend. Will their friendship every be the same?
This story is told in a unique fashion through alternating chapters from Naomi, Ely, two Bruces, two Robins, and the hot doorman named Gabriel. I have trouble believing these stories where kids have easy access to nightclubs and drugs, stay out all night in the city and generally seem to have more freedom than I remember having at seventeen or eighteen years old. But I still love to live vicariously through their coming of age stories!
I checked it out. 230 pages.
