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Book Summary and Reviews of Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride

by Sarah Dessen

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  • Published:
  • Jun 2009, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Auden's thoughtful observations make for enjoyable reading - this is solid, if not 'top shelf'." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Dessen reworks well-traveled terrain and creates a remarkably original story with realistic teen dialogue, authentic girl friendships and a complex underlying question: Can people really change?" -Kirkus Reviews

"Along for the Ride ... provides the interpersonal intricacies fans expect from a Dessen plot. Rounding out her latest offering with richly depicted female friendships, Dessen offers up a summertime tale of self-discovery." - Horn Book

"This summer vacation-themed story will be savored." - School Library Journal

This information about Along for the Ride was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and attended UNC-Chapel Hill, graduating with highest honors in Creative Writing. She is the author of eight acclaimed novels; including Just Listen, which spent a total of 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and Lock and Key, also a New York Times bestseller. Her first two books, That Summer and Someone Like You, were the basis for the movie How to Deal starring Mandy Moore.

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