Along for the Ride

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.

Title: Along for the Ride
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publication: June 16th 2009
Where to buy: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

Review:



Sara Dessen has a way of touching home with her writing. She can type her fingers away on her keyboard and it reminds me of the Fugees Killing Me Softly. She writes my pain as if she is copying it from my own life. 

Perfect grades, and no social life equal Auden. Both her parents are English professors and authors. Both so egotistical and self-absorbed that Auden has pretty much raised herself. Emotionally that is. Deciding to take a break from her mother's house, and her infamous cocktail parties with her grad students, Auden goes to stay with her dad, his newlywed and their baby, who suffers from colic. In the same location that Keeping the Moon took place, Colby, North Carolina. We are brought back to Last Chance Cafe and the fun, free life Colby has to offer. 

Only...Auden's a loner and always has been. She struggles with sleep, since her parents started fighting about their divorce. So the nightlife is where it's at for our confused and lonely main character. As the story progresses she begins to come closer to a few girls, and also a boy, Eli. He has a tragic story of his own, one where he was driving the car during a car crash that killed his best friend. Ever since he has never been the same. 

Auden and Eli explore the night together and even start checking off stuff for Auden list of things she never experienced because she was too busy studying. 

Everything gets to real for Auden, especially when she feels herself, the loner, not so alone anymore. She pulls back, away from the world and her new friends, afraid that she is going to get hurt. Only to realize, maybe all things don't have to come to an end. And maybe if you're not afraid to say what you want, and fight for it, things just might turn out to how they were meant to be. 


Another fun and refreshing story from Sarah Dessen. She has a way with words and so easily she finds a way into our hearts. Auden is no exception to that, she'll become your best friend, and maybe you might find yourself right along with her. 


Rating:












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