Along for the Ride

Ever since her parents' divorce, Auden has had insomnia. When she decides to spend the summer between high school and her first year at college with her dad and stepmom and their new daughter, Auden hopes to get a little time with her dad, avoid her overly exuberant stepmom as much as possible, and spend a lot of time prepping for college courses. However, life at the beach is not what Auden expected. Finding her niche in her dad's new family is far different from what she anticipated and unexpectedly falling into a summer job, Auden must also negotiate her relationship with the girls at work with tight friendships, gossip, and all other things girly. But the biggest surprise is Eli, a fellow insomniac who plays her tour guide and helps show more her discover that at night, anything can happen.

Dessen's ability to so accurately describe the feeling of potential that always comes with summer is delightful. Ignoring all of her family issues, Auden was a character I could really identify with as she's spent all of high school exclusively focused on academics and has sort of missed out on much of the more social aspects of those years. The family drama that happens around Auden gives her far more depth and Dessen uses them to make some truly brilliant insights into life and relationships. Of course, Auden and Eli's relationship is delightful and their many night-time adventures are entertaining and sweet with just the right dash of romantic potential. A beautiful novel that explores how family and friendships can truly change us and reminds us that it is never too late to have all of the experiences life offers us, I enjoyed every page. show less

Along for the Ride was just what I needed in the middle of the most depressing season of the year. . . winter. There is something about snow and other crummy weather that makes me long for the days of a warm, lazy summer. For some reason every single time I think of Dessen, I think of summer so when I saw this book was available via my local library I knew this was just what I needed to fight the winter-time blues.

Auden is your typical overachiever. She reads and memorizes the textbooks before class, but isn't quite a knowitall. . .thank goodness. Her life has been all about academics since day one and her parents are to blame. Her mother is an English professor and her father a writer. They both seem to have quite a few undesirable show more traits and I'm honestly surprised Auden survived eighteen years without snapping. Just reading about these infuriating people made me so angry. Auden realizes thanks to her carefree brother that she needs to break free for once and do something out of the norm so she goes to stay with her father and stepmother in Colby, North Carolina.

At first she thinks this entire trip was a mistake. Her father is too busy for everyone and she thinks her stepmother is a shallow bimbo. Maybe not quite those words, but you know what I mean. She also does some serious judging of the locals and determines that they are not quite worth her time. Then the journey of self-discovery begins and it is one fantastic journey.

Along for the Ride was incredibly well-written. The characters were never one-dimensional. . .even those who play a minor role are presented in such a way that you can see various aspects of who they are. The pacing was absolutely perfect. I could see some complaining that nothing happened quickly enough, but this is contemporary fiction and self-discovery doesn't happen in a few hours. I think if you enjoy the development of characters more than anything else then you will likely really love this story.

Overall, I completely enjoyed my time in Colby. I made some great, albeit fictional, friends and will remember this experience for some time to come. show less

Look, before you judge, I have a good excuse. My flight was delayed for two hours and I needed something fluffy and stupid to read. Not to mention all my good books were packed in my check-in. And it was 11 pm. I was tired. Sue me.

Anyways, this book is pretty nauseating. Dessen is terrifyingly good at concocting addictive, quick-paced stories. But they’re still bad stories.

Also, Dessen has a formula and by god she sticks to it. Girl With an Unusual Name who hates love has a magical summer right before college and meets A Boy who she connects with like no other, because as stated before she hates (or hated, seeing as we’re chugging along in the story and Unique Name has rediscovered her heart) love. And then there is a fight show more because our characters are seventeen and their brains haven’t developed fully yet. BUT TRUE LOVE PREVAILS, or the summer fling variety at any rate.

Dessen isn’t above milking real tragedy for the sake of plot. A previous book featured a school shooting as a plot point, because how else do you tragically kill off Special Name’s first love so El Boy can heal her tragically cracked heart? Sarcasm aside, the school shooting exists solely for plot. There isn’t a larger discussion or theme. It’s literally just for plot reasons. And that’s kind of disgusting and exploitive of actual tragedies that happen and affect real people.

Dessen is also remarkably committed to tying up every romantic single loose end. Everyone needs to get paired up, even if that pairing is unhealthy and messed up. The guy who follows his ex around and sleeps in his car parked in her driveway? LOVE. The awful, fucked up marriage where he writes his book and sleeps nine hours a night while she takes care of their difficult newborn child entirely by herself? LOVE. The woman who is single and loving it? She meets a useless plot lump on vacation with twenty pages til the end because LOVE.

But for a book to keep me awake while I wait for my truant plane to arrive? Gets the job done. show less

Auden is the intelligent, driven daughter of two aggressively intellectual – and competitive – parents. As she grew up, she witnessed their marriage disintegrating and tried her utmost to compensate by being the perfect daughter. As a result she’s missed out on many typical teenage experiences; she doesn’t go to school dances or parties, and she doesn’t really have any friends. The summer after her senior year, however, she decides she needs a change. She goes to visit her dad, his second wife, and their new baby in a small town near the beach. There she gradually gets to know some of the local teenagers. While she distrusts them at first, she eventually learns to open herself up to friendship – and even, with a mysterious show more boy named Eli, the possibility of something more.

I really enjoy Sarah Dessen’s young adult books – the woman can certainly write a dysfunctional family! My heart went out to Auden and the tough situation she has to deal with: while her parents both love her, they’re also selfish and oblivious to how much pressure they’ve placed on their daughter. Auden is so tightly wound that she can’t sleep through the night, and she has no idea how to interact socially with people her own age. So I was really glad to see her grow and develop throughout the book. I also really liked that, while there is a love story in the book, its main focus is on friendship rather than romance. So many YA books these days focus on romantic turmoil and love triangles, but here most of Auden’s important relationships are with women. I liked this book a lot, even though I’m not its target demographic, but I definitely think it would be a great read for teen girls as well! show less

Ever since her parents’ divorce, Auden, mentally old for her age, has been unable to sleep. In an uncharacteristic move, she decides to spend her summer before college away from her demanding mother and at the home of her selfish father, her girly stepmother, and her new baby half-sister.

What happens to Auden at the sleepy beach town of Colby is not what she expects. For once in her life, she just might be making friends, and there’s this guy, Eli, who has a troubled past and is unable to sleep too. Together they make it a quest to rediscover Auden’s unclaimed childhood, so that maybe, after knowing how it is to be a child, Auden can ready herself to take on the world and the future.

Once again, Sarah Dessen doesn’t disappoint. show more ALONG FOR THE RIDE is another nearly perfect example of Sarah’s unique ability to perfectly blend backstory, stellar characterization, and lessons in family, romance, and self-esteem to create the quintessential coming-of-age story.

Sarah’s greatest strength is probably in characterization. Every single character in this book is genuine, unique, and sympathetic. Auden’s parents are despicable to the point where you want to scream at them whenever they appear in the book, and yet at the same time you’re able to totally understand why they act the way they do. Auden’s maturation from too-serious young adult to someone who is able to say her mind and let herself feel what she wants to feel is the kind of change that makes for a great feel-good story.

My one complaint—or suggestion, however you want to call it—is that I’d like to see Sarah write something different soon. Most of her books revolve around the growth of a high school girl, and often include a nearly perfect guy and a dysfunctional family, and now, more than ever, characters from her various books are beginning to blend together.

That is not to say that ALONG FOR THE RIDE won’t please a Dessen fan. It has everything we have come to expect from this amazing author. You won’t be able to put it down, preferring instead to, like Auden, lose sleep in order to find out how Auden and her friends and family change for the better. show less

Auden has always been mature and responsible, excelling academically but missing out on all those regular high school things people do - like go to parties, hang out with friends, go to the prom (Jason of _The Truth About Forever_ stood her up). The summer before she goes to college, she rather whimsically decides to go to her father's house and meet his new wife and baby Thisbe. While there, she meets a group of kids about her age and will learn whether or not people really can change.

Though I enjoyed the story and would consider rereading it, Auden is not one of my favorite protagonists. She was more distant, even though the narration was in first-person, and I found myself liking some of the secondary characters like Eli and Maggie show more and Heidi much more. A nice, light summer read that I would readily recommend to Sarah Dessen fans. show less

Along for the Ride was utterly, completely and thoroughly so much fun to read. A great introduction to Sarah Dessen.

Auden is different: her parents, both professors/academics/writers have always expected the very best from her (and expect nothing from her older brother) and so she's always been quiet, studious and very UN-childlike. Now that her parents are separated (despite Auden doing what she could to prevent it...which lead to her insomnia) Auden lives with her mother. Her mother is the star of her own little universe - witty, charming, smart, cutting (she's sharp). So Auden, when faced with the prospect of this last summer before college doing nothing but studying and shadowing her mother, decides to spend her last days of freedom show more with her father, his new wife and baby.

But this escape is not quite what Auden expected. Her father is trying to finish a book and so shuts himself away in his office all day and Heidi just had a baby, so she's entirely focused on her first child. Also, Heidi is the complete opposite of her mother. She's vivacious, bubbly, warm and likes pink. Auden is less than impressed with Heidi, but when she sees how her father is so withdrawn from her and the new baby, she starts to help Heidi out with little things. One of those things is balancing the books at Heidi's clothing store on Colby's boardwalk. That only takes a few hours, and Auden spends the rest of her nights driving around Colby, drinking coffee and being solitary.

Right next door to Heidi's shop is a bike shop. And the guys from the bike shop like to flirt with the girl's from Clementine's (Heidi's shop). Auden at first feels like an outsider - always on the fringes and looking in. But eventually one of the girls, Maggie, reaches out and befriends Auden. And when Auden tells her new friends about her lack of childhood, they are more understanding of her seemingly aloof, standoff-ish ways.

And last but not least is the guy. Eli is the manager of the bike shop. He also used to compete in bike competitions (the kind with ramps and jumps - interesting glimpse into that world) but after a tragedy, he quit competing, deferred his first year of college and retreated from the world as much as he could. But in all her wanderings around Colby, Auden sees Eli around and eventually they get to know each other, and it was good.

I don't really want to go into more that happens with Auden and Eli. But I loved it. I loved experiencing her brush with summer love right along with her. Experiencing a crush! When was the last time you had a crush on someone and got butterflies in your stomach? (That's why I like YA too, it takes me back to the good stuff!)

Along for the Ride is not just about summer love. That's just a teeny part of it. So much more is going on with this book. Auden learns how to relate to her peers, she learns to see beyond the surface and to not be so superior. She also learns she's not at fault for being unable to prevent her parents' divorce. Really, this book is about growing up and in order to do that, Auden had to embrace her lost childhood. How classic is that?

I feel like I'm not doing this great book justice but if anything, just know I was entirely captivated by Auden and the other characters in this book and AFTR gets 5 stars from me. I cannot wait to read more by Sarah Dessen! show less