"Along for the Ride" was my first book by Sarah Dessen. And I have to say I don't understand what the all fuss is about. Maybe I just started with the wrong book? 
 The truth is I wasn't impressed. It didn't rock my world. And the problem wasn't with the writing (which was pleasant enough, but nothing to call home about), but with the characters. For the first half of the book I disliked all of the heroes. All of them! Auden was stuck up and judgmental, her mother and father were horrible in their own ways, Heidi was weak and a pushover, Maggie and other girls seemed shallow, Eli was too unfriendly. Only in the second half of the book they started to develop some positive qualities. And I understand that this happened because we saw through Auden eyes and when she started to realize that there is more to people around her, we started to realize the same thing. But even though I started to like some characters better, some of them (like Auden's mother, father and Auden herself) didn't change enough to make me like them. 
 I also didn't care about Auden and Eli relationship. It was cute, but a little bit too plain for my taste. 
 If you are looking for light summer reading, I could recommend you tens of other books that are better than "Along for the Ride". I won't make a final judgment about Sarah Dessen's book just jet. I think I will give her another chance and then announce my verdict. Any suggestion on what book I should try?