Along for the Ride

Reader reviewed by Aud

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen is centered around a simple brainiac girl named Auden. Since she was little and her parents were fighting at all hours of the night she hasn't had a good night sleep. It is the summer before she goes to college and instead of being just a waitress for her some what unemotional mother she decides its time for a change. She packs up and goes to her fathers for the summer. She is welcomed by her step mother and new baby sister who seems to never stop crying.

Auden has never had the social interaction of a normal child. Her parents saw her as an adult so they treated her as one. She never got to go out and just be a kid. This is when Auden meets Eli. Eli who is guilt stricken by the death of his best friend also stays up most nights and they form a friendship fast. They embark and a Quest to help Auden do all the things that she never accomplished in her childhood so she can at least have the chance. For the first time ever Auden actually gets to experience what it is like to be young.

Sarah Dessen is a wonderful writer! If you haven't read her books.. you should go right now and get some to read ASAP! She doesn't spend too long on items that don't matter like some authors do. Her books are fantastic! Along for the Ride has everything you could ask for... beach, friends, bikes, AND hot guys! What else do you need?

Reader reviewed by Aud

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen is centered around a simple brainiac girl named Auden. Since she was little and her parents were fighting at all hours of the night she hasn't had a good night sleep. It is the summer before she goes to college and instead of being just a waitress for her some what unemotional mother she decides its time for a change. She packs up and goes to her fathers for the summer. She is welcomed by her step mother and new baby sister who seems to never stop crying.

Auden has never had the social interaction of a normal child. Her parents saw her as an adult so they treated her as one. She never got to go out and just be a kid. This is when Auden meets Eli. Eli who is guilt stricken by the death of his best friend also stays up most nights and they form a friendship fast. They embark and a Quest to help Auden do all the things that she never accomplished in her childhood so she can at least have the chance. For the first time ever Auden actually gets to experience what it is like to be young.

Sarah Dessen is a wonderful writer! If you haven't read her books.. you should go right now and get some to read ASAP! She doesn't spend too long on items that don't matter like some authors do. Her books are fantastic! Along for the Ride has everything you could ask for... beach, friends, bikes, AND hot guys! What else do you need?

Reader reviewed by Nian

Auden is given an oppurtunity to get away from all the bad air when she gets to spend the summer with her dad and his new family. There, she is introduced to a new world filled with all the things she'd missed out while playing to her mother's demands. She also meets Eli, a boy who shows her a whole new world at night, and together, they start a new chapter of their lives.

Dessen's books never disappoint, and this was no different. Like many of her previous books, I love how much of a role friendship plays in these protagonist's life. In a typical YA book, you usually have some guya love interest, no doubthelp the protagonist find her way. But those YA books fail to include the importance of both friend and family support, too. But Dessen has the perfect balance of that. She'll conjure up a love interest with an equally touching background, a bunch of quirky but lovable friends for laughter and support, and the intricate webs of family drama that always followed. It's really hard not to fall head over heels in love with a Dessen bookthere's just so much stuff to grasp, to learn, and to relate to. Because it's not just a story, it's also life lessons packed into one novel. And you could tell this one was especially dear to Dessen herselfafter all, the featured baby, Thisbe, must have been the inspiration from the author's own baby.

Along for the Ride is a story about Auden, a girl who is in the midst of the seemingly predictable summer before her first semester of college. Auden has lived with her control-freak college professor mother her entire life, and in order to get away from her mother and the grad student she’s currently sleeping with, Auden decides to go visit her flaky father and his young wife, Heidi, and their newborn baby.

Arriving there, Auden realizes her father is as flaky as ever, her stepmother is a mess, and the baby is extremely colicky. She almost immediately she regrets her decision to visit after her carefree summer is taken away from her.

Auden attracts negative attention from several local girls after she unwittingly hooks up with one of their exes. Then she gets stuck with helping Heidi out with the baby and being a bookkeeper for her store. But as Auden gets to know the people in the small town around her, especially Eli who is alike Auden in so many ways but still a mystery to her, she grows into a person who is so unlike her mother and unlike her father that she can’t be described as anyone but herself.

I really enjoyed Along for the Ride. Like almost all of Sarah Dessen’s characters, Auden can easily be related to by even the average reader. She has her flaws and her good points, and nothing about her screams too perfect, or too much of a mess. She’s socially awkward, and it’s interesting to watch her grows as a person and become more at ease with everyone around her. Eli is cute, mysterious, and the perfect romantic interest for Auden and Sarah Dessen portrays their story wonderfully.

Along for the Ride is not my favourite Dessen book, but if you’re a Sarah Dessen fan, or even new to reading Sarah Dessen, it’s definitely a must read.

Review originally posted on my blog http://hobbitsies.net/2010/09/along-for-the-ride-by-sarah-dessen/

Reader reviewed by Yan

Sarah Dessen has made a name for herself in this tough industry, so it was no wonder that Along for the Ride would be an enjoyable read. But to what extent can Ms. Dessen bring something new to the table?

It was of no doubt that Along for the Ride was a wonderful story of love and triumph. Auden faces the pressure of her mother and the selfishness of her father forcing her to become a social failure. Trapped to the confines of the books and studies, Auden has never actually had a childhood, bowling, food fights, or even learning to ride a bike. That is where Eli comes in. Eli, with his troubled past and distant take on life, he might be the one to show what Auden has been missing all this time. Together they embark on a quest to what may be love?

There always seem to be family troubles in young adult books nowadays. Along for the Ride was no different.

Overall: Along for the Ride will be on my bookshelf because I greatly enjoy. New fans of Sarah Dessen will fall in love immediately but returning fans will be somewhat disappointed with the same ol same ol material. If this had been my first Sarah Dessen the grade would have been much, much, higher.

Reader reviewed by Lizzy

I picked up this book the day it was released, but ended up waiting a
month and a half to read it (oops). I always anticipate a new Sarah
Dessen novel. I wasn't a huge fan of Lock & Key, which may have had
something to do with the fact that I guessed exactly what was going to
happen after the first few chapters. So, when I heard that this one was
coming out I hoped it would be a little different. I was pleasantly
surprised at how different this book felt. Despite my non-love for Lock
& Key, I've found that in all Sarah Dessen novels the characters
relatable, and the stories have satisfying endings, so I can't go wrong
when I pick one up.

Auden was an interesting character, and was
the character who I sympathized with most in the story (as was the
point, I'm sure). She wasn't really sure of who she was, aside from a
good student, and she spent most of her time trying to act like an
adult for her parents benefit. Basically, she missed all the fun of
being a child. Eli, the mysterious boy that she meets in town, has
acted like a child a little t00 much over the course of his lifetime.
After a tragic accident, however, Eli has shut himself off from
everyone. Auden and Eli work together to help each other overcome their
respective problems. I'm just going to say that it seemed like this
book focused a lot more on Auden and her family then it did on her
relationship with Eli. Sure, their friendship took up a big chunk of
the book, but her main issues stemmed from her family. Eventually,
Auden realizes that she needs to start doing things for herself,
instead of doing them to gain approval from her parents.

I would
have liked to see the book travel a little bit father from the typical
path that some of Dessen's books take, but it was still a very
enjoyable read.

Before a few weeks ago, I had never even so much as picked up a Sarah Dessen book, let alone read one. And, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that impressed. I would have been very disappointed if I had paid full price for it. But I purchased it along with That Summer and a few other books (some good and some dreadfully bad) at a yard sale for 50 cents each.

As much hype as Sarah Dessen gets, I expected this to be really good. I read That Summer as well, and found them both so hauntingly similar that I just had to skim through them before writing this review to remember what happened in which book. Of course, they have their subtle differences, but it's the same basic story structure.

Plot: Auden can't sleep. Eli can't sleep. They go shopping at a gas station at night. Or ride bikes/learn how to ride a bike. That's about it. The story had enough to go deeper, but the part that had the potential to be gripping and emotional wasn't delved into enough, in my opinion.

There is a subplot of Auden helping her stepmother, Heidi, with her new baby. I found myself pitying Heidi quite often, but it's an over done story line. Dad leaves for younger woman, but he wants nothing to do with their kid.

Characters: Auden is your typical stressed-by-parents-with-impossibly-high-standards girl that I've noticed a lot of in this genre lately. That's not to say that she wasn't likable. I did find myself rooting for her and Eli to get together, though.

Eli has this great back story of why he's the typical brooding-mysterious-hot-coveted guy we all know so much, but, as I mentioned above, it could have been done better.

Maggie, Leah and Esther were good for a few smiles throughout the story, but over all they were just typical teenage girls with nothing to make them stand out. Maggie has this great guy in love with her and everyone knows but her (big surprise there, right?), but she's to busy crying about the guy who hooked up with Auden right after they broke up. Just more typical characters with typical story lines.

I loved her brother, Hollis. He's traveling all over Europe dating tons of girls. I almost laughed when Heidi points out who the girl he ends up with resembles. Almost.

Writing Style: There was nothing that stood out about the way Sarah Dessen wrote to me. It wasn't bad, but I didn't find it mesmerizing either.

Overall: It really wasn't my cup of tea. Normally, I'm a huge fan of chick lit and curling up with a good romance book. There was just nothing special. I didn't find myself wishing I was Auden or wishing the guys at my school were more like Eli. It was just all very typical; when I was finished, I put them right into my own yard sale box.

Reader reviewed by Leah McLovin