Rating: 
(67 reviews)
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Product Description
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.
5 Comments
This was my first book by Sarah Dessen and it is defiantly not my last. I absolutely loved this book. I connected with the characters right from the start and was sad to see the book end. But I am very happy with the ending.
Auden is the girl who grew up too fast and only studied. She never did anything adventurous until she met Eli. what an awesome couple. They both are insomniacs so they meet up every night to go grocery shopping and hang out together. it is fun to see her meet other girls her age and become with them, and just have fun for once
I’ve read every Sarah Dessen book (with exception of Someone Like You) and had varying degrees of like as I finished with them. Regardless of that, Auden, the main character of Along for the Ride, is the first Dessen heroine that I disliked.
At the beginning, I found Auden snobby, pretentious, selfish, etc. I don’t know if it’s because that’s the way the parents were portrayed, but I just couldn’t completely warm to her. After a while I did start to find her less annoying, although, a couple of bothersome aspects remained.
In my opinion, where Dessen excels are the supporting characters, but even they felt a bit forced to me. I didn’t fall in love with Eli the way I usually do with the guy in her other books. I also felt that while Maggie was a bit fleshed out, nothing came of Leah or Esther. I had no idea what their purpose was in the book. Their presence just fell flat.
But I gave it three stars. That’s mostly because Sarah Dessen’s books are comfortable. They’re just about a regular girl falling in love with a normal guy. And after a plethora of supernatural YA novels out there on the market, it’s refreshing to just go back to the basic formula. Girl goes away for the summer. She meets regular boy. They fall in love. It is a predictable formula, but I like it.
So, Along for the Ride wasn’t my favorite Sarah Dessen novel (Keeping the Moon is), but it was better than That Summer, it just didn’t keep up with Keeping the Moon, Just Listen, or Dreamland. Still, it was a quick read (read it in about a day and a half) and had a few funny and heartwarming parts.
Along for the Ride
by Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
# of Pages: 383
Age Rating: +13
My Rating: 10 Stars
Where I got it: Library
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.
Review:
This is the second Sarah Dessen book that I read and I have to say, WOW! Sarah’s books are Amazing, Beautiful, Perfect, I could go on forever but I am going to stop so I can tell you why you have to read this book( or any other of her books)
First thing is the storyline. I saw some reviews on this book complaining that her storyline is the same in every book and here whats I have to say about it, I love the storyline, it is kind of the same but it’s like a chocolate, you can make all different kind of things with chocolate but it’s still chocolate( and it’s good too.)
Same thing with the storyline, it’s made in different ways but it’s has the same taste and it’s NOT a taste that you grow sick of too.
Now that the storyline is out of the way, lets move on. the whole story felt very realistic but it’s predictable,(but that’s ok) and the ending? Two words. Perfect and incredible. I LOVE it, it was so…even.
All of the characters seem very real, you could relate with them. Auden, I really like, she not a girl who doesn’t do anything but she try to make the best of what’s going on. And we can’t forget Eli, he was kind of moody around people at first but then you start seeing why he is.
This book is a perfect light read that you should read (unless you are like my sister where she doesn’t like to read any thing except for action fill books, then you may skip reading this book.)
I give it 10 stars. (I know.)
Enjoy!
:D:D
i have read only a few books by Sarah Dessen and I thought they were ok. But i read this book and ended up loving it!
I loved this book. Yes, I usually enjoy Dessen’s books, stepping into her world for a few hours is always fun and heartwrenching. I particularly enjoyed Auden, though. Her voice was unique, compared to the female characters of her previous novels, not that I didn’t love all of them. She’s sarcastic and blunt and inexperienced and smart. But something about Auden struck a cord with me. I laughed with her, I felt for her, I even wanted to shake her. Dessen does it again, allowing all of us to step into Colby for a little while, and have some onion rings at the Last Chance.