Along for the Ride

Along for the Ride

By Sarah Dessen

416 pages

12 hours and 46 minutes listening time

Grade B-

Oh Sarah......Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, you trapped me into one of your books once again, and I love you for it.

I have read quite a few books by Sarah Dessen, and like other authors I know ::coughSophieKinsellacough:: if you jam all their books together in one shot, you will get tired of them. Fortunately for me and for Sarah, I split her books up. So they are a lot more enjoyable.

This one in particular has the same story premise, perfect/troubled girl gets thrown into a very out of the ordinary situation, meets a guy that is not her type that she falls for, and then completely changes into a more well rounded fun loving girl. I am not saying all her books are like this, but chose at least two of those three and you have a SD book.

I think I liked this book so much because the main character Auden reminds me so much of my BFF Christina. Great student, spends a lot of time studying, working towards being great. Her parents (Auden, not Christina) got divorced and her dad remarries and they have another baby. Auden decides she wants to spend her last summer before running off to college with her dad and her stepmom, and of course the new baby. She learns a lot about herself, her dad, her stepmom, and about other people over the summer. It was a light quick read (or listen) and I really enjoyed being in that world for a little bit.

I will also say, that I love the name Auden, and I loved her brother's name Hollis. I just liked the 'out of the norm' feeling they had.

Anyway, if you have read one SD book and liked it, you will like them all and Along for the Ride is no exception. For a quick, fast, easy going read, pick this one up.