Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Release Date: June 11, 2009
Publisher: Viking
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 383
Overall:

It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.

A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.

In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.

I’m just going to start this out saying that I love Sarah Dessen. Along for the Ride is definitely on my Dessen all time favorite list. Right up there with Just Listen and This Lullaby.

The characters is this novel are freaggin fabulous! That is one thing I can always count on with Dessen, she knows how to create a believable and relatable character no matter the situation. And Auden is no exception. I reveled in her transformation throughout the story. Ultimately that’s what this story was about for me, some people might see it as a love story, but for me is was a story of transformation.

Even though I’ve read almost every novel Dessen has written, it still surprises me how engrossed I can become in the atmosphere and settings that she creates. I mean the places she writes about are often based on actual places, but she has a knack for making them rich and enticing places. For example; a coffee place in the back of a laundromat, with pie! How ingenious is that!

I’ve read people complain about how every Dessen book is the same, and to some extent I agree with them. They follow similar plot lines, but each individual story is unique in it’s own way. I’ve never felt the same emotionally with any of her novels. She’s a spectacular writer. I’d love to see her do a male pov.

Along for the Ride is outstanding and it’s a great summer read!

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