Along for the Ride
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publication Date: June 16th 2009
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
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.
Genre: Contemporay
Synopsis:
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.
My Thoughts: Sarah Dessen, Sarah Dessen, Sarah Dessen. I'm not sure how much praise I've heard for her, a lot. Everyone seems to love her. So I finally bought some of her books. After asking a friend which one I should start out with, I picked Along for the Ride as my first Sarah Dessen book. It was really, really good!
I have to admit, I felt really bad for Auden. Her parents pretty much didn't pay any attention to her and she ended up becoming and insomniac for it. It's really hard to get out of a routine once you're in it. And once you're used to staying up all night, well that just makes things hard. Auden's parents are divorced and she lives with her mom, but her mom seems to be too busy with grad students to have anything to do with Auden, so she gets sick of it and goes to visit her dad and his new wife, who just had a baby for the summer.
Well her dad's not much better than her mom, worse really in some ways. His wife jut had a baby and he doesn't help at all. Heidi (Auden's stepmother) is really struggling and Auden is the only one who will step up and help out, but she doesn't want Heidi to become dependent on her, so doesn't help all the time. But there were some points where I wanted to strangle her father for being a jerk. Plain and simple.
As far as contemporaries go, this is a pretty good one. Auden grows and changes a lot through out the book, in a good way. Yes, there in a boy, but they help each other get over a few things and it's adorable. Both of them are insomniacs, so the night is theirs. Eli is a really great guy and it was nice to see him finally letting go, but never forgetting, something that wasn't his fault at all. Eli and Auden were meant to be together. I also enjoyed seeing Auden find some girls to be friends with, she didn't have a very normal childhood. So to see things becoming normal for her is great.
Along for the Ride is a great story that will pull at your heart strings! I'm definitely glad I gave Sarah Dessen a chance and can't wait to read more by her!
I'm glad you liked this one!! This is my FAVOURITE Sarah Dessen book and the first one I ever tried. Loved Auden's character. I also like that she shows up in other books, as well as Heidi's store and the whole town ... it's very fun!
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Jenn!
Yeah, I was happy with it. Auden was a pretty good character, I didn't realize that she shows up in other stories, so that's interesting! I have 3 more to read, so I'm looking forward to reading them. It was a really good book to introduce me to her writing!
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