Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen

Auden just graduated high school and has a summer to kill before heading to college. She has been so wrapped up with pleasing her parents and getting excellent grades she has forgotten to do basic things, like have fun. So she is off to Colby, for a summer at the beach.

I liked this book the most of all the Sarah Dessen books I have read thus far. I am sure I have said that before but this one was more developed and I didn't feel a lacking of understanding for any of the characters, even the side characters were whole.

I love that Sarah Dessen mentions other characters from her other books. Just slight mentions that if you aren't familiar with her writing wouldn't mean anything. It is like a secret between you and the writer that you know about these other people that are only passing through a paragraph. In a lot of ways it makes her writing better, it isn't that she is creating a world per se it is that she is pointing out how small our world really is. Every one has a story, you just may not have read it yet.

In this story Auden develops the child in her. This is something I can relate with. I often let fear hold me back from behaving like a kid sometimes. I was so uptight, and still am in a lot of ways. I could relate to being uptight and also letting go of a lot of it while still maintaining who you are. This book made me want to go bowling in the middle of the night while drinking excessive amounts of coffee.

I recommend this book to my friend Miss A. I also recommend this book to anyone who likes Sarah Dessen or a good read that doesn't take a year to get through.

While writing this review I was listening to Emma play with her bone by throwing it around the room and pouncing on it.