Review: Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride

By Sarah Dessen

Published: June 1, 2009

Publisher: Speak

Paperback, 399 Pages

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. --Goodreads

4.5 Stars

Review

Sarah Dessen is basically the queen of all contemporary novels. If you are looking for a good contemporary novel, you won't go wrong with a Sarah Dessen one. I don't know about you, but I've been hearing from a lot of people that Along for the Ride is their favorite of all Sarah Dessen novels. I just love all of her novels, so I don't have a favorite favorite one.

Auden's parents were separated when she was younger and since then, Auden has tried to be the perfect daughter. By being the "perfect daughter", Auden has given up a lot of things in her life, such as her childhood and this is where Eli comes in. I thought it was just too sweet how Eli tries to give Auden her childhood back by doing things like teaching her how to ride a bike. But Eli also has a (dark) secret of his own. (hint: It may have something to do a bikes.)

I did not like Auden's mother. All Auden's mom does is invite a bunch of her grad students over for dinner parties (that's weird right? It's not just me that thinks having your students over your house for parties all the time is weird?) and make fun of Auden's step-mother. We only really see the mother in the beginning of the novel when Auden is still at home and not in Colby, where the actual story takes place, but we do see the mother time and time again throughout the book. The mom does get better and less irritating towards the end of the book, so that is always good.

I really liked how Auden grew throughout the book. Auden went from this shy, socially-awkward girl to making new friends and discovering things about herself! 

Purchase this book: Amazon / Barnes&Nobles / The Book Depository

(All the paperback covers of Sarah Dessen novels (as far as I know) have been changed, so the cover in this post is not the cover you will be getting if you order a paperback.)

P.S. Along for the Ride is a perfect summer read!