Along for the Ride

One of my favorite books is The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen. After reading that book I started reading more of Sarah's novels and she has become one of my favorite juvenile fiction authors.Two of her books were also made into a movie (They took characters and plot details from both books and combined them), How to Deal. Sarah Dessen released a new book last year, Along for the Ride. It finally came to my library, and I got to read it.

Screenshot from Sarah's website

I love reading Sarah's books in the summer (If only it was summer in Provo!) because most of her books are about the amazing, crazy adventures that happen only during the summertime. Along for the Ride is no exception. It's about a girl named Auden (No, they do not pretend this name is normal)who moves to be with her dad for the last summer before college. It takes place in Colby, a fictional town from one of Sarah's other books, Keeping the Moon. I hate to be vague, but I also really hate spoilers. So I'll give this very general description: Auden's summer doesn't exactly go as planned. She starts off her stay in Colby with a not-so-fun mistake, and then somehow ends up working in her stepmother's over the top girly botique. Her parents are exhausting, and she's also an insomniac who is bored to death wandering around in a small town all night. But lucky for her things get better. This book has fun characters, and a cute love interest, but what I really love about it is that it proves that everyone deserves second chances.

I really enjoyed reading this book(although The Truth about Forever is still my favorite). It was a nice chance for my brain to relax after all the textbook reading it's been doing lately.

Here is Sarah Dessen's website: http://www.sarahdessen.com/ She has the first chapter or two of every book up for free on her website (which I think is an amazing idea). If you need a fun book to read I suggest starting with one of these: The Truth about Forever, Lock and Key, Keeping the Moon, or Just Listen.

You can also see a video of Sarah reading a part of Along for the Ride on YouTube or read the reviews on Amazon ( I like this because you see real people's opinions as well as critics) or common sense media (this site is more geared toward parents; it talks more about the messages presented and what age should be reading the material, rather then the actual story).

Currently Listening to: Ingrid Michealson on Pandora