Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
Auden goes to live with her father, his new wife Heidi and new baby Thisby for the summer. Being an insomniac after her parents divorce, she becomes friends with another insomniac, Eli. Her friendship with Eli is complicated like many teenage girl-boy friendships. Sort of by accident, Auden starts working her stepmother’s very pink boutique. Auden doesn’t want to like her stepmother or any of the girls at the store, they seem too shallow at first but as the story goes on Auden comes to find friendship in some of the least likely people.
The book was a fun and enjoyable listen. Sarah Dessen’s books are really authentic and her the books may be serious but also fun and light at times. The banter between the girls at the boutique is so familiar and real. The friendship that develops between Auden and her stepmother was a nice change from the usual “I-hate-my-step-mother” story that so often we get in stories about a child who has been through a divorce. Then there is Auden’s dad. I don’t remember encountering a more self-absorbed and arrogant father in a book in a long time.
I love Sarah Dessen’s books on audio. They just are the perfect books to listen to during my commute.
