Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
    Unavailable
    Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
    Unavailable
    Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
    Audiobook6 hours

    Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

    Written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Naomi and Ely are best friends. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and 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 fine - until Bruce. Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But Ely kissed Bruce even though he is boring. The result: a rift of universal proportions and the potential end of "Naomi and Ely: the institution." Can these best friends come back together again?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 13, 2009
    ISBN9780739381212
    Unavailable
    Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
    Author

    Rachel Cohn

    Rachel Cohn was born in Maryland but now also lives in New York. Her first novel, Gingerbread, was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and children's books, three of which were in collaboration with David Levithan.

    More audiobooks from Rachel Cohn

    Related to Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

    Related audiobooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Reviews for Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

    3.5/5

    282 ratings28 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      Nice story & writing but I did not like it that much. I'm okay with point of views & many characters but here it involves too many point of views of many characters. That that made it quite confusing.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      I really liked Ely's story a lot. I'd read a sequel about him. I found it difficult to read Naomi's chapters because of the images/emojis, but it created an immersive mood too. I'm surprised by so many negative reviews since this is just a light read with flawed characters and didn't set out to be anything else.
    • 4/5
      I loved this narration! The narrators suited the characters and it was just a great listen :)
    • 3/5
      I read this E book because a young adult came in to the Library and suggested it to me. I found the story to be unique and not something I would normally pick-up to read. Most of the characters were believable. Sometimes I felt upset towards Naomi because she was forever using people and being a "BIG" taker. Naomi did not realize she had a "true" friend until it almost was to late. I cheered when Ely wanted to work on his relationship with Bruce. I might try to read other books written by these two authors.
    • 4/5
      3.5/5 StarsI honestly struggled with rating this story. The writing deserves 5 stars. The secondary characters were great. I especially loved the chapters with Gabriel and Bruce the First POVs. Unfortunately, I really did not like the two main characters, Naomi and Ely. They did eventually grow on me. I felt frustrated with Ely for thinking he did nothing wrong when he messed around with his best friend's boyfriend. Even if she really did not care for Bruce the Second, Ely did not respect his friendship with Naomi by hitting on her boyfriend. Yes, Naomi was annoying in her obliviousness towards Ely. Yes, she needed a reality check. The dude is gay. Get with the program. Yet, it still does not excuse Ely's behavior. Bruce the Second ticked me off too. He seem to feel no remorse for the fact that he cheated on his girlfriend with her best friend. Hmmm...on the other hand, the struggles and the growth that Naomi, Ely and Bruce the Second went through made the ending tolerable.
    • 4/5
      Naomi and Ely have been best friends since they can remember. Naomi has been in love with Ely since she can remember and always assumed that they would get married, that is until Ely announced that he would much prefer to marry a boy...but Naomi still thinks that maybe it would work. When Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend, their friendship is over and Naomi starts to realize that her dreams might never come true...but can their friendship at least be saved?Very angsty, but a quick read and good messages about letting people be who they are instead of who you want them to be.
    • 3/5
      After loving the book Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by these two authors, I couldn’t wait to see what they had written next, but I didn’t like this book nearly as much.The book is about two teens, Naomi and Ely, who have been inseparable BFFs since they were little. Naomi is in love with Ely, but Ely is gay. Naomi, however, refuses to accept it. When Naomi’s boyfriend, “Bruce the Second,” and Ely unexpectedly discover that they click with each other better than Bruce did with Naomi, all of the relationships become unraveled. The three have to come to terms with who they really are, what they really want, and what it means for their interactions going forward. Discussion: The story is told from multiple points of view - not only by Naomi and Ely, but by Bruce the First (an earlier boyfriend of Naomi’s), Bruce the Second, and others in their lives. Some of the characters are more appealing than others. Strike that: I found only Bruce the Second likable. Ely was okay, but only in comparison to Naomi, who I found extremely unlikable. For reasons unfathomable to me, however, all the other characters adored Naomi.Ely had an unconvincing epiphany or two by the end of the book, but Naomi not so much.In addition, I thought the authors got carried away with adding cutesy aspects to the plot, possibly because of the popularity of the music playlists from the previous book. There is even a detailed music playlist in this one, but it seems more like a like-this-book-too appendage than an integral part to the story. The idea of the “no-kiss list” also just didn’t quite gel, and Naomi’s use in her chapters of the wingding font (which render letters or words as symbols) struck me as annoying rather than cute. Evaluation: Some of the issues covered in this book about acceptance of being gay (by both non-gays and potential gays) make it worth reading, but I wasn’t all that taken by the characters or the story. I loved the dedication though: “To Nancy the First.”
    • 2/5
      If I wasn’t working my way through all of David Levithan’s book’s I probably wouldn’t have read this. I read the other two books he co-wrote with Rachel Cohn and I didn’t like those one, so I doubted I would like this one either. It’s a bad way to start a book. But I was right – I didn’t like this book any more than the other two. I do like David Levithan’s writing. I’m not positive how the two co-write their books but I’ve always assumed that he wrote the male perspectives and she wrote the female perspectives. I usually like the male perspectives and not the female perspectives so that made sense. In this book, I really didn’t like Naomi. Like, really didn’t like. But what was surprising was that I didn’t like Ely all that much either. Good thing it was so short a book. Check it off the list and move on to other better books.
    • 2/5
      Not a whole lot happens in this book. Which is not necessarily a problem, but if there's not much in the way of plot then a book's really got to make up for it in the prose. Unfortunately, that doesn't really happen here. It's neither funny enough to make you laugh, deep or thoughtful enough to make you think, sensitive enough to make you cry or even fun enough to really want to be around. The language isn't clever enough to make you wish you'd thought of it, and the characters don't inspire me to move to New York. It is a little bit of all these things, and if you're a big Cohn and Levithan fan than why not, but I couldn't in all honestly recommend this book on its own merits. Which is a shame, because it should have been better. All the ingredients were there, but I don't think they were given long enough to simmer.Try Will Grayson Will Grayson instead, it's loads better.
    • 4/5
      Ah, youth. It's sort of sad how much I recognized my 12th grade self in Naomi and my own Ely. Hard lesson about the limits of friendship and its salvation. Changing perspectives like Nick and Norah the authors' other collaboration. The point of views were unique and engaging. And a quick read.
    • 3/5
      Aw. I wasn't totally sure about this one at first, but it turned out to be very sweet. Cohn/Levithan always find my tenderhearted place.

      Oh, and I <3 Robin (f) and Robin (m).
    • 4/5
      I liked this a lot better than Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. What really works is that the story isn't exclusively told through Naomi or Ely's point-of-view, but you get the perspectives of their friends and everyone who's effected by them- it really makes it feel like Naomi and Ely are a force to be reckoned with, and they will get everyone else involved in their problems. Speaking of, I'm really not a fan of the "bitchy" character, but the thing about Levithan/Cohn books is that they take those characters and make them realistic and more down-to-earth. It really shows in Naomi's character, who I expected not to like, but ended up rooting for. The only thing that really bothered me is that I was more interested in the peripheral stories about the Robins and Bruce the First, but the book is really more about the titular characters. Aside from that, I really enjoyed this book and want to pick up the next collaboration by these two.
    • 3/5
      This is NOT N&N. I spent the first 40 pages or so dealing with that. Once I got over it, though, this was wonderful. The characters are less likeable in some ways, but no less realistic, and in the end, no less engaging, I thought. Heterosexual romance, homosexual romance, and friendship are all kinds of love that are here. Part of what I find so great about C & L's writing is their fluid definitions of love and sexuality. I find myself feeling more at home there than in conventional romances. It's just more tolerant and equal - implicitly. It's like - not even worth talking about. Brilliant.
    • 2/5
      For me, this was a major disappointment after Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I felt almost no sympathy for Naomi at all, and most of the time just wanted to smack her. I finished it, but to me, it wasn't an enjoyable book until about the last 20 pages. Even then, I still almost wish I had never picked it up.
    • 3/5
      (2.5 stars) Eh...not my favorite from these two authors. Basic plot: Ely & Naomi are best friends & have been since they were young. Ely is gay & Naomi knows this & has always taken it in stride, but when he kisses her boyfriend, it's a step over the line & she must come to terms with her true feelings for Ely. The friendship suffers & must try to be resolved by the end of the book. I can respect the relationship(s) in this book. Lots of teenage/young adult angst as would be expected. Interesting exploration of such relationships. But many of the characters were so unlikeable that it was difficult to care for any of them. They often acted like adolescents as opposed to the emerging adults that they were supposed to be. I found it hard to respect any of these characters. Perhaps it's a generational gap/geographical problem on my part, me being a couple decades older & from the Midwest. I liked the idea behind this book, but it made me want to rewrite it to make it better.
    • 4/5
      Summary: Naomi and Ely have been neighbors and best friends for most of their lives. Naomi sees no reason why they shouldn't spend the rest of their lives together as well, plans that are only temporarily derailed by the fact that Ely's gay (he'll get over it and realize he's meant to be with her, she's sure). However, when Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend - and Naomi's boyfriend kisses back - the harsh truth comes crashing home, and the formerly inseperable duo are now no longer on speaking terms. It's a horrible fight, but each must somehow adapt to life without their other half until they can find a way back to what they had... if going back is even worth it.Review: Cohn &amp; Levithan do a lot of things right in Naomi &amp; Ely's No Kiss List, and they get a lot of things right, but they didn't quite recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle reading experience that was Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I think that's because in Naomi &amp; Ely's, they tried to widen their focus but wound up overreaching. Not in terms of the plot - the best-friend break-up is a fine subject, and one that's certainly germane to a lot of teenagers' lives - but in terms of the number of viewpoints they tried to pack into this relatively slim book. Obviously I was expecting Naomi and Ely, but Bruce the Second (Naomi's then Ely's boyfriend) got almost as many pages as either of the two titular characters, plus there were chapters from the POV of Bruce the First, Gabriel the hot doorman, Bruce the First's sister, girl Robin, boy Robin, etc., and the end result felt kind of fragmented, with segments and sub-plots that weren't as well-developed as they could have been.On the flip side of the too-many-POV-characters problem is that there were a multitude of characters to sympathize with when both of the leads were being insufferably bratty. I understand that both Naomi and Ely's becoming less self-involved and immature is the main character arc, and probably the point of the book, but it still meant that for large chunks of the story, I just wanted to smack both of the leads in the head and tell them to stop acting like obnoxious children. (Recognizably obnoxious, though; I'm sure some of my teenaged behavior was no better.) I think by the end, Bruce the Second wound up being my favorite character - he was definitely the one I understood and sympathized with the most, being much less inherently drama queen-y than either Naomi or Ely, despite going through just as radical of a change in his world. However, despite the overabundance of shifting viewpoints and other minor annoyances (I really could have lived without Naomi inserting wingdings instead of words throughout her chapters), I did quite enjoy this book. It is funny as hell in points, and really poignant in others, and the best thing about it is that it has a great way of capturing moments that are emotionally true, in language that is simultaneously beautifully observed and still genuine to the teenage experience. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Not quite as good as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist or Will Grayson, Will Grayson, although it's similar to both, but anyone who enjoys contemporary YA novels should definitely pick all three of them up.
    • 2/5
      Very long winded. It will be interesting to see whether the Australian teenager picks up on this book. Can be difficult to follow the line of thinking. It's about a relationship that goes wrong and where it leads to, how it affects the various players in the scene
    • 3/5
      Underwhelmed. Lots of teenage angst and looooove. Written by duo of nick and nora and trying really hard to be cool and withit. Poor, beautiful NYU student Naomi is in love with her neighbor Ely who likes boys. She has a hard time getting that he will never love her in the way she wants.
    • 5/5
      An delightfully fresh book about modern teens (and BFFs) Naomi and Ely. Naomi is in love with Ely, and Ely is gay. The best friends begin to fall apart when Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend. Both main characters are irresistible. The story is set in NYC, each chapter with an alternating narrator. Great premise, and a quick, adorable read.
    • 3/5
      I was really underwhelmed by this book. I can't even pick out for sure what was wrong with it.... it just took me forever to read and almost became a chore to pick back up. Maybe it's that I think Naomi should have come to grips earlier that Ely is gay and will always be gay and won't run off and marry her. I like books that switch narrators and POV, but it didn't seem like there was much point in it at times in this book. All of the sudden one of the Robins would narrate and I coiuldn't care less about what they had to say. Anyways, I definitely wouldn't read it again and I'm not sure I know anyone who I would recommend it to.
    • 5/5
      Loved it, loved it, loved it. I absolutely loved reading the authors' first novel, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and was not disappointed with this novel of theirs. It was a good book about love, coming out, lust, family, and all the complications with all that. It was funny and quirky and charming and amusing. The two writers manage to create another beautiful pairing. I can't wait to watch Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. =)
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, so I think my expectations were pretty high for Cohn and Levithan's second novel. Possibly too high at first, because while I found the plot interesting (Naomi loves Ely, Ely loves Naomi, but Ely loves boys more -- in brief. The book is so much more than that, though), I just couldn't get into, well, Naomi. But I progressed, mostly because I love the authors' style -- alternating points of view. Where Nick & Norah only had two points of view, Naomi and Ely had, well, lots. You have the exboyfriends, the best friends, the friends and, of course, Ely and Naomi. One of the things that kept me reading is the writing style. Cohn and Levithan do a fantastic job of integrating their styles, you don't know who is writing which part, and it doesn't matter. The book flows, just like Nick and Norah and, when all is said and done, I loved it. My problem was that I expected it to be like Nick and Norah, and it's (thankfully) not. This story is much more about hurt and love and loss (and everything in between), which is what makes it so good. You're not supposed to sympathize with Naomi (except for when you feel sorry for her -- especially since I've known people like her) and you're supposed to adore Ely. And then everything gets flipped upside down, which is perfect, too. I think what makes this novel especially good is that you get everyone's point of view, but you don't get all points of view. There's no omniscient narrator, just because you know what someone is thinking, doesn't mean that you know what everyone's thinking about that one scene. Sure, there's a lot of overlap, but it's good. Really, really good. I hope that Cohn and Levithan write more books together, because I cannot wait to read them.
    • 4/5
      I finished Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List about a week ago and boy oh boy did I dislike Naomi. I know she has issues to deal with, and as such, perhaps I'm supposed to cut her some slack, but wow, she's horrible. I truly hated reading the chapters told from her perspective. Plus, being a bit of a grammar nerd, I really hated the use of icons throughout Naomi's narrative. So painful. It hurt my brain a little! Just another reason to hate her, I guess.Thankfully, unlike Nick and Norah, this collaboration isn't told from the alternating perspectives of the two titular characters, but rather from a number of different characters. And that, for me, saved the book. If I had been forced to read half the book for Naomi's point of view I'm sure I would have felt a great deal of wrath. But as it were, the narratives in the other voices really resonated with me. Especially the voice of Bruce the Second. He's lovely.On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not quite as much as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist but enough to finish it in one sitting. Two thumbs up!
    • 4/5
      On the surface, this book seems a lot like Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. It has the alternating points of view, the fabulous New York lifestyle that I suspect only exists in teen novels, and two people trying to get their lives started.That's where the similarities end however, because Ely and Naomi are childhood friends, and they created the No-Kiss list when it became clear that Ely liked some of the same boys as Naomi. However, even though Ely is gay, Naomi can't give up on the idea that one day, he'll love her the way she loves him. Their whole world comes crashing down when Ely breaks the rules and kisses Bruce the Second, Naomi's current boyfriend. Naomi has to deal with Ely's betrayal, and more importantly, come to grips with the idea that he's never going to be what she wants. Ely realizes, maybe for the first time, what it is to really fall in love.When I started reading this book, my first reaction was, "it's not as good as Nick and Nora" -- and in a lot of ways, I still think that's true. Ely and Naomi are a lot less likable, and they have a complicated back-story that never really gets the attention it deserves. Also, aside from the two main characters there are other points of view included, and many of these characters just seem like they're along for the ride -- their contributions don't do much to move the plot along or help the reader understand the situation.However, when I got to the end of the book, I felt like crying. Not that the ending is sad, necessarily, but I really felt for these two people, and what they had lost, and what they were facing in the future. Kearsten once said that nobody writes falling in love like David Levithan, and she's right; the relationship between Bruce the Second and Ely is very sweet and very fragile. Even Naomi, who I pretty much disliked on sight, turns out to be more than she seems.So, while I wouldn't say that Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List is one of my favorite books, it is very compelling. Not as wonderful as Nick and Nora... but still good.
    • 3/5
      This one didn't grab me as much as Nick and Norah did. Naomi and Ely have been best friends since they were very little. Naomi has been in love with Ely, who is gay, for almost as long. Their friendship takes a turn for the worse when Ely steals Naomi's boyfriend. This makes Naomi realize that Ely will never love her the way she loves him and forces her to confront her feelings and sort out her life.
    • 4/5
      Naomi has been secretly in love with her gay best friend Ely for years. Now they are both in college, and their relationship reaches a breaking point when Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend Bruce. They must come to terms with their friendship to have a future together.Cohn and Levithan collaborate to put together a unique novel with multiple narrators. Everyone at all involved with the story weighs in, which is both intriguing and at times confusing.