Mundie Moms

Thursday, December 10, 2009

VOTE for City of Glass!!

Congratulations to Cassandra!! The City of Glass is up for two awards on the Goodreads Best YA books of 2009 Poll. The awards are, "All Time Favorite Book Of 2009" and the "Best Young Adult Series".
Please go vote here http://www.goodreads.com/user/sign_in?rd=true and be sure to vote for our other favorite YA books in other other categories listed. *You do need a goodreads accounts to vote*

Review - Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen


Published by Viking Childrens Books, 16 June 2009
Hardcover, 383 pages
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.

A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.

The story follows Auden, an insomniac overachiever who doesn’t know how to let her hair down and have a fun time. Ever since her parents messy divorce she’s been unable to connect to anyone her age and has always struggled when making friends. Her mum is a influential scholar and drills it into Auden’s head that being intelligent and getting good grades is far more important than having friends. During the summer after graduating from high school, Auden decides to go and stay with her dad and his new wife, Heidi, in the beach town of Colby. The normal girl would pack mementos of her friends and family, but not Auden, she packs her case full of text books, hoping to get a head start on reading before her freshman year.

Once in Colby, Auden finds Heidi is a broken mess, struggling to deal with her new arrival, and Auden discovers everything her mum told her about her dad is true; he is a terrible father, preferring to work on his novel. Sick of being stuck in the house with a screaming baby, Auden roams the town of Colby in the night, and what she finds is something she never imagined; a friend. Eli is another insomniac, struggling to deal with events from his past. He helps Auden do all the things she missed out on in her childhood. An unlikely connection occurs, but can it last the summer, or is it just something that exists in the dead of night?

I bought this book straight after reading This Lullaby and I was not disappointed. Sarah Dessen is the master at young adult romance novels and this is proved in this amazing novel about self discovery; about how friends can shape the way your life pans out and that maybe this isn’t necessarily a bad thing like some people think. I was drawn into the world of Colby instantly and loved all the locals and connected with every character, even the ones I had little in common with. The characters are well formed and the relationships are so real, I felt like she was talking about people I knew; friends even. This is Sarahs strong point; her characters are always so life like and she has a way with words that actually makes you care what happens to them.

I loved the connection between Auden and Eli, their relationship developed at a natural pace and didn't seem forced. Eli was a fascinating character, one whose life had been turned upside down by events out of his control. How things that happen in your past can change your whole outlook on life and how it doesn't help you or the people who love you to be give up, no matter how much you want to. The messages in this book were extremely powerful and profound for a young adult novel, and Sarah dealt with this issues extremely well.

The issues that the characters have to deal with aren’t far-fetched, they could easily happen to me or you. She shows us how girls don’t have to fit the stereotypical mould, they can be grungy or immensely girly, its not appearance that cements you as a good person. The book tells us that sometimes awful things happen to normal people, things that can destroy your life; but these things don’t define you as a person, its how you put yourself together that does. I really loved this book and will continue to read every single Sarah Dessen book I can get my hands on. She is truly an extraordinary writer.

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