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Along for the Ride

Sarah Dessen

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What Members Thought

Oct 25, 2016 Hannah added it

Shelves: romance, ya, 2016

I quite liked this.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2010 Philip rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. For all my new Team Readers, don't forget... if it say "spoilers" it means I may give something away that you don't want to know until after you read the book.

My review / What I learned from this book:

A. The world is full of selfish people, as evidenced by Auden's (the protagonist) mom and dad.

B. Even under less than ideal situations, things may sometimes turn out to be alright. Auden's home life was a wreck - which drove her to insomnia and coffee... (I'm not a doctor, but I bet coffee's not th For all my new Team Readers, don't forget... if it say "spoilers" it means I may give something away that you don't want to know until after you read the book.

My review / What I learned from this book:

A. The world is full of selfish people, as evidenced by Auden's (the protagonist) mom and dad.

B. Even under less than ideal situations, things may sometimes turn out to be alright. Auden's home life was a wreck - which drove her to insomnia and coffee... (I'm not a doctor, but I bet coffee's not the best prescription for someone who's having trouble sleeping.) Even in the face of all this adversity, Auden makes the best of things. (And ends up getting the boy in the end to boot.)

C. Things are not always what they appear. If I had to give one single theme to the book, I bet this would be it. Everybody in the book was making assumptions. Auden's mother assumed the worst (or her view of the worst) about everyone she came in contact with. Auden's dad assumed a lot about his second wife, Heidi dealing with how she was raising Thisbe. Auden made falty assumptions about Maggie (that she was shallow/ unintelligent), about Eli (that he was too cool for her, that the scar was from the car accident, and more), about Heidi (she agreed with her mom)... Dessen leads the reader to buy into the assumptions that the characters buy into... i.e. we think Maggie is shallow... we think, 'there's no way Heidi could have been a b**** earlier in her life - she's so sweet.' Dessen then shows us we were all wrong.

D. I learned that you can't judge a book by it's cover. I mean, come on... if you read the book, you know that Auden would not be caught DEAD in a pink dress like that... and she doesn't even know how to ride a bike... and when she learns it's a green bike. And it's not cute, it's like... gangsta. Also, the boy on the cover is definitely NOT Eli. Eli's supposed to be all grunged out with a dark hoodie. Who is THAT guy.

E. Of course, I could write plenty more, but I don't want to give too much away, and you're probably all tired of reading it by now anyway. Good job those of you who made it this far. : ) ...more

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Nov 17, 2018 Lori rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2018

As with all Dessen’s book, I really enjoyed this one. It just didn’t pack the same bunch as her later works seem to. I’d still recommend!

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Dec 16, 2008 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: age-ya, chicklit, 2009

I loved this just like I have loved every Sarah Dessen book. Of course I know the formula: girl with career-oriented mom goes someplace for the summer and learns how to fall in love. This time there was a dad in the picture and the girl (Auden) was also working through issues from her parents' divorce three years earlier. Auden reminded me a lot of the main character of The Truth About Forever, Macy, with her focus on school, and in fact Macy's ex-boyfriend Jason makes a cameo in this book.

(The ...more

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Jul 26, 2009 CLM rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, 21st-century

Dessen breaks no new ground here but I liked the characters better than in her last book. On the other hand, this book had too much baby crying just as the last book had too much yearning for a baby. And it does seem as if all her heroines have dreadful mothers, although this one slightly redeems herself at the end.

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Sep 06, 2009 Lisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

Another awesome book from Sarah Dessen - a problem novel again, where the girl has to work out a relationship with her mom, her dad, her new stepmother and stepsister. Also, there's a guy that she keeps at arms length once her father leaves her stepmother. But she also gets to develop real friendships with girls over the summer and do a bunch of things she's never done. ...more

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Oct 19, 2009 Marianne rated it it was amazing

This book is a romantic, girly book that manages to say something profound also. I really enjoy Dessen's characters. They are complex, do unexpected things, and you really care about them by the end of the novel!! Great read! ...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: old-reads, mt-bookpile-pre-2010

Not quite my cup of tea, but I can certainly see why Sarah Dessen's so popular with my students. This felt like a Joci Picault/Maeve Binchy/"AGA-saga" for teen readers - and that's not a bad thing.

There's no graphic sex, or language, which makes these more palatable than, say the Gossip/Clique/A-List books, and the plot (while predictable) is interesting enough to get girls reading more.

Biggest quibble? There's nothing equivalent for boys, a group that really needs the new Harry Potter to keep ...more

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Dec 06, 2010 Abigail rated it did not like it

blech more of the same

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Feb 21, 2011 Maggie rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, young-adult, author-to-look-into, read-2011, 2011-spring-challenge

One of the best YA books I've read in a long time! Realistic, funny, heartwarming and not over the top! I'll be checking out more from this author for sure! ...more

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