Along For The Ride - Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
Date Released: June 11th 2009
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pages: 383 pages
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borders

Summary

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.

My Review:

When I first saw the trailer for Along for The Ride I was SOOO disappointed. I thought the story line sounded shallow and just so not Sarah Dessen…. I bought it, but it took me 8 months to actually pick it up and read it. I think I hate the trailer. It is one of my favorite books of all time and I’ve re-read it like twelve times already. Yup, I hate the trailer :)

Ok, so, for those of you who haven’t seen the trailer it is here, though I’ll still say the short version. Auden – main character of Along For The Ride – makes out with a guy on the beach and he has a girlfriend and she meets the girlfriend and oh boy she is in trouble. Shallow. Though this DOES happen but it happens in 2 chapters! At the beginning! And once you’ve finished it you can’t even remember that scene!

Here’s how things go: Auden goes to spend her summer with her dad and her new wife and baby, Auden does not feel thrilled about this but, she’ll be going off to college soon and so she goes visit her dad. Auden has been having trouble sleeping since the problems with her parents started and she finds that hard habits are hard to break, so she just lives thanks to coffee and keeps not sleeping. Soon she find herself working at a boutique with a bunch of girls that act like, well, teens and Auden has spent most of her teenage years trying to be perfect for her demanding mother instead of actually living a life and being, well, a teen.

In the middle of her non-sleeping episodes, she meets Eli – because there’s always a boy. A guy who seems haunted and that hides a secret from his past, but he is also in a mission to give Auden back her life and show her what she’s missed out on and what she can still have. Soon they are spending every night together, setting out on different tasks, and also, learning how to ride a bike – at least Auden.

Along for the ride is a lesson to let go, to always get back on that bike no matter how many times you fall, to go on a quest, and to enjoy the ride.

This is my favorite Sarah Dessen Novel so far. Can’t wait to get What Happened With Goodbye in my hands :)

Last but not Least: Only Sarah Dessen could’ve done it :P

"It shouldn't be easy to be amazing. then everything would be. It's the thing you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something difficult to come by, you'll do that much more to make sure it's even harder--or impossible-- to lose."