Review: Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen

 

Publication Date: June 2009

Source: Borrowed from library

Blurb:     [ Goodreads ]

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.

I haven't read much Sarah Dessen, despite her being the queen of teen when I was a teenager, and I found myself pleasantly surprised by this one. 

I really enjoyed the characters of this book and how the author didn't try to make everyone "likeable" or justify their actions. Auden has spent to long working hard, avoiding any real teenage experiences so she can get into her dream college and escape her divorced parents - absentee dad and suffocating mother. Her growth over the novel and how her relationship not only with Eli but the other girls from the shop and her stepmom lead her onto a real path of self discovery and growing into a more true version of herself by the end of the novel. 

At times, the story dragged a little or felt somewhat repetitive but I feel like it would be a perfect low stakes summer read for any teenager or young adult. A book that reinforces the message, you can't judge a book by it's cover.