Fangirling About Sarah Dessen's Along for the Ride

This book review may contain spoilers.

If I had to pick one author that I'd say is living my dream right now, it'd be Sarah Dessen. She's written so may romance books and has a great career. She's the Stephen King of romance which is totally awesome! What I love about her books is that they have Hallmark vibes without being cliché. All of her characters have a deep backstory and learn something and are 3D; they feel real. Even side characters I get close to. I also love how a lot of her books are interconnected in ways only true fans would notice in the first place. It's similar to Taylor Swift's Easter eggs, and I love it; it makes reading her books even more fun.

Along for the Ride has always been one of my favorites. I love the story. So when I saw it was now a Netflix movie I low-key freaked out. I thought it was actually pretty good. It's nothing compared to the book, but as I watched it, it reminded me of the book and I loved that. It gave me a nostalgic feeling. Dessen is so good with lighthearted romances that remind you of the happiness that are relationships. If there's anyone who's gotten so heartbroken that they've given up on love all together, I encourage you to read her books. They will remind you why love is worth it.

If we're talking about Along for the Ride in particular, it'll remind you of that feeling when you learn to do something for the first time like ride a bike. It'll remind you of meeting new friends for the first time, when you finally feel like you belong. It'll remind you of the fourth of July and food fights and what it's like to break into places and roll around in a grocery cart like you're two-years-old. This story will have you smiling. I promise.

All of the lovey-dovey parts are great. The friendship parts too; I love that Auden is finally able to find friends and let people in. Her friends have this thing where just the three of them dance spontaneously in the store where they work and dance like no one's watching and it takes Auden a while to give in. That shows progression right there how she's able to get out of her shell. I definitely relate to Auden in that way, and while it may seem like a small milestone, I assure you it's a lot bigger than that.

The craft piece that I have always taken the most from it is the characterization and all the powerful changes that happen to the characters. Eli lost his best friend, his best friend! And they shared the same passion, and it took Auden to make him realize that he needed to get back to that passion. It got me thinking. If I lost my best friend, I probably wouldn't feel like doing anything. I know my writing would get me through it, but in order for that to happen I'd have to be willing to let the writing back into my life. It's not easy what Eli did; it's not easy to go on without Abe, his best friend who he did BMX riding with. But if you think about life, it's a waste to not let yourself be happy. Even if Auden were to die and Eli was destroyed again, I have to think he'll always be able to find BMX racing again. I think passions like BMX racing, writing, drawing, helping people, etc. are important to think about because they're never going away. They can't die, only people can. They're here for us, and this movie and book really got me thinking about that.

As for Auden, she has family issues going on. Her parents never even taught her how to ride a bike. Her dad is never around, and her stepmom (she is the sweetest) has to raise a baby all on her own. What I love that Dessen did here was it would be cliché to just have a mean stepmom and to make the mom the good one and the dad the bad one. But instead she made the stepmom an awesome person, a mom 2.0 who almost gets hurt by her husband just like the same man hurt his wife before her. But Dessen showed girl power by bringing Auden closer with her biological mom but having her come in to help the stepmom who took her place. She connected all her characters together. Auden's biological mom felt like Auden didn't need her anymore and all it took was them being brought together and talking to get things back on track. And her dad, she confronted him for the jerk he was being to their family. Auden is like me, and trust me, being assertive is not always the easiest of battles. It's not even close. But Auden did it.

The conflict between Eli and Auden were keeping those parts of them away from each other, so when they let each other in, it was magic.

Eli in particular would not open up. It took him soooo long. He would always change the subject. And the romantic in me likes that because it shows how important vulnerability is.

This story truly meant something. It may seem small since it's just about a girl moving to a different town to start over, but it's so much more complicated than it seems.

Auden missed her prom, and I missed mine too because of COVID. In the end, she redid her prom, and I'm thinking I might do it too!

I hope more of Sarah Dessen's books get turned into movies, although I'll always love the books. The next one I'm reading is Saint Anything. I went to the bookstore with my friends, saw the protagonist has the same name is me, and was like "This is a sign!"