She tells Eli she has to get serious to be ready for college and that she can’t waste more time messing around. She'll conjure up a love interest with an equally touching background, a bunch of quirky but lovable friends for laughter and support, and the intricate webs of family drama that always followed. I'm happy to report that the movie is very faithful to the book — always a smart choice when your source material is this solid.

Together, they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she has missed; for Eli, to come to terms with the death of a friend.

I’ve always struggled to gauge someone’s tone through text, but books like Along for the Ride are an exception to that.

While I didn't think Along for the Ride had her usual spark, it's still miles better than a lot of YA fiction out there, and is a great addition to the Dessen library. This book is Slatebreaking because it includes those tropes that we crave in a summer read: emotionally struggling girl meets mysterious emotionally struggling boy, they have adventures, physical chemistry happens.Arriving there, Auden realizes her father is as flaky as ever, her stepmother is a mess, and the baby is extremely colicky. The beginning of the book talks about the main character, Auden, who is very dedicated to her school and doesn't have many friends because of that. I wasn't too sure what it was going to be like, because I loved the cover, but I'm told that's not how you're supposed to chose a book :).

They seem to be one-dimensional on the outside, but eventually they at least have the opportunity not only to surprise Auden the character, but to remind us as readers that people aren’t usually just cut-and-dried what they seem on the surface. And Auden and Eli actually go to Tallyho one night to share a dance and their first kiss during their quest. It is a liminal time – that limbo between who you were in high school and who you want to become in college. Auden's father barely helps Heidi care for Thisbe in the movie — he isn't even shown holding her until after he almost leaves his family entirely.Auden gets closer to the girls, being invited both to watch Maggie do cross-country BMXing and to a Conch House party. I could imagine these people living together in the small town of Colby, almost as if I was there myself. Jason asks Auden to go with him to the Beach Bash, an event Heidi had planned for the end of the summer. Due to the fighting during her parents' divorce, Auden became a night owl and would often stay up incredibly late at night. As Auden gets to know her stepmother Heidi and her new friend Maggie, she unlearns a lot of this, something that was amazing to see both spelled out and conveyed in subtle moments.

Her dad doesn’t alter his sleep or writing schedule to spend time with Thisbe, and these fights bring back unsettling memories of her parents’ disputes.Please keep in mind that because we deal mostly in used books, any extra components, such as CDs or access codes, are usually not included. But she is mostly pleasantly surprised to have friends and to have the opportunity to do some things she never got the chance to do when she was young, like riding a bike. Before a few weeks ago, I had never even so much as picked up a Sarah Dessen book, let alone read one.