Along for the Ride

Sarah Dessen

Jun 2009 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

A New York Times bestseller

Up all night.
 
Nights have always been Auden’s time, her chance to escape everything that’s going on around her.
 
Then she meets Eli, a fellow insomniac, and he becomes her nocturnal tour guide.
 
Now, with an endless supply of summer nights between them, almost anything can happen. . . .
 
“As with all Dessen’s books, [this] is a must-have” —VOYA, starred review
 
Also by Sarah Dessen:
Dreamland
Just Listen
Keeping the Moon
Lock and Key
The Moon and More
Someone Like You
That Summer
This Lullaby
The Truth About Forever
What Happened to Goodbye

Ratings and reviews

Auden hasn't been able to sleep since her parents' divorce. She's built up a routine that gets her through every night: going down to a little restaurant, by the name of Ray's Diner. "Since I hadn't been sleeping, I'd spent more nights than not in a booth there, reading or studying, tipping a buck every hour on whatever I ordered until the sun came up." (Pg. 5) Technically, Auden is suffering from insomnia and she only sleep after the night was gone. The insomnia had been caused by staying up to overhear or wait until her parents' fighting was over for the evening. This story takes place in a tiny beach town called Colby, where everybody knows everybody. I think that Colby is on the North Carolina coast. Auden goes to Colby to visit her father for the summer before she goes off to college. I personally truly loved Auden as a character. I could totally imagine her being a real person. She's bright, vulnerable, witty, and like many of Sarah Dessen's leading roles: finding her place in the world. She's just coming out of her shell and she doesn't have anyone to lead her along the way. Until she meets Eli. Eli is a fellow insomniac. His insomnia came about after a car wreck he was in that killed his best friend, Abe. Eli and Abe were major bikers (not motorcycles, the kind like skaters can do tricks on) and after the wreck, Eli stopped riding. I really like Eli; I didn't, however, love him in the way I loved Wes from The Truth About Forever. Eli was funny, sweet, loyal, and as steady as a flowing river. He saw Auden struggling to figure out who she was and scooped her up. They spent endless summer nights together, while they couldn't sleep. "Instead, it was understood that we met each evening after I got off work at the Gas/Gro, where we fueled up on both gas (coffee) and gro (you never knew what you might need) and planned our evening's activities. Which mean errands, eating pie with Clyde, and working on my quest, one item at a time." (Pg. 209) Eli and Auden formed a quest where he helped her go through all of her "rite of passages" that he thought she should do. They went to a club, they went bowling, they did all sorts of things. Eli was good for her, being that in the middle of all this, her father's new marriage to a whole lot younger woman, Heidi, was going downhill. Heidi, on the other hand, I liked. She was iffy, though. She could be super-helpful or super annoying. Sometimes, I just couldn't stand her. She was asking Auden for help too much when all Auden ever did was help others. All her life, she'd never really done anything fun for herself. Her dad, on the other hand, I hated. He was despicable and extremely selfish. He acts like he can't help out with anything because he has a "sleep problem". Yeah right. "The baby's up a lot at night, you know, and I'm not much help because I have this sleep condition and have to get my nine hours, or else. I keep trying to convince her to get in some help, but she won't do it." (Auden's dad talking about Heidi, Pg. 27) Anyway, throughout Auden's quest, she and Eli fall in love. They're so sweet together and I easily rooted for them throughout the whole book. "Then I stood on tiptoes, bringing my lips to his. The kiss was slow and sweet, and while it was happening, I had that image again of us so small, standing the middle of Colby, under that spotlight, as the entire town and world turned around us. And in that moment, if only for that moment, we were right where we were supposed to be." (Pg. 377) Though so many things happened throughout this book, it's mainly about learning to live life without regrets and second chances. "But now, it seemed natural to turn to Eli and say, 'You were right, you know.' 'About what?' 'Me,' I said. 'How I always quit if I don't get something right the first time. It's been a big mistake.' 'So you believe in second

This was the first book I'd read by Sarah and I absolutely loved it. Sometimes I wish I could of just yelled at Auden to move faster but It was still a great book and got me hooked on her books.

I thought this book was lovely, Sarah Dessen always surprises girls with the endings, and gives happy ones at the same times. I also liked how Auden is learning most of everything with the sexy mysterious guy. Sarah Dessen always offers characters that in some ways are hard to forget.

About the author

Sarah Dessen is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen novels for teens, which have received numerous awards and rave reviews, and have sold millions of copies worldwide. She is the recipient of the 2017 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association.  Sarah lives in North Carolina with her family. Visit her online at sarahdessen.com.