#90- Along For The Ride
Rating- 8.5/10
Growing up I read all of Sarah Dessens books. Not to say that I am not still growing up, but specifically in high school I really enjoyed the stories that she wrote. Because I decided to re-read even books I had read before in order to give the best reviews, I was saving some of the Dessen books as filler between books I knew I wouldn't enjoy to read. Almost like a breath of fresh air between the fantasy novels. (sorry, just not my choice of genre!)
Along For The Ride is about a girl named Auden, its the summer after high school and she made the decision to go spend it with her father, his new wife, and their new baby-her half sister. They live on the beach in a small touristy town where her father writes his books and teaches at the local college and her step-mom owns a small botique. This sounds like a perfect summer for a typical teenage girl, which Auden is anything but.
Auden's mother is a college professor and her entire life has been surrounded by grown ups, literature, and school related items. She chooses to stay in on a Friday night and read school books and prepare for her future. She has never had a serious boyfriend, never been to a school dance, and generally missed out on many teenage rights of passage. She never considered this a problem until she gets to her dads house this summer after high school.
Auden starts working part time at her stepmothers boutique and while working there finds herself meeting a group of girls, and having an adventurous summer that she never imagined would happen to her. Along with the girls, she meets a boy named Eli, throughout the weeks of hanging out her new friends, together they all decide that she needs to experience a summer of true teenage adventures. With the help of her friends, and most surprising of all, stepmom, she finds a summer that makes up for all of her friday nights spent in her bedroom.
There isnt much bad to say about Dessen books, she clearly knows what she is doing and is quite good at it. Generally a romance with the added adventures of a few girlfriends and some family drama, its written in a mind of a teenage girl and is very relatable. There just isnt anything bad to say. She writes books that are quick reads, enjoyable stories, and memorable characters and I am always excited to pick up one of her novels. As I said above, a much needed breath of fresh air.
“It shouldn't be easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something's difficult to come by, you'll do that much more to make sure it's even harder--or impossible-- to lose.”
