"You know, if you don't know how to ride a bike, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Eli said.  " I can ride a bike," I said.  " I just.... I haven't had the opportunity in a while."

            

Along for the Ride, by Sarah Dessen, is a realistic and powerful look at love and friendship, and a great book about a teenage girl named Auden.  Auden, a serious and well educated person, is staying with her farther and his new wife, Heidi, along with the baby, in the small town of Colby for the summer.  Auden soon finds herself transforming into a carefree and girly- girl life, with the help of her friends.  Then there's Eli, a boy who runs a bike shop next to Clementines,who has the same sleeping condition and takes Auden on quest of what she missed out in her childhood.  At the end of the summer who will she choose? Eli and her friends, or college and her education?

Sarah Dessen, New York Times bestselling author, has written another great and amazing novel. Dessen has a great style of dialogue, that shows the characters true colors. What I enjoyed about Along for the Ride was that you couldn’t just read one page, it had to be many! I felt that Along for the Ride, was one of my favorite realistic romance novels that I have read. I think I liked it so much was because I could relate to most of the characters, and while I would read the novel, there was a movie skit playing in my mind. The book was just overall excellent. I would recommend this novel to young adults of the age of thirteen to seventeen.