Along For the Ride - Finally Done

I finally finished this book, and it was great. I could not put it down this weekend until it was done. The book as a whole was very inspirational, and had many life lessons in it. Sarah Dessen emphasizes the importance of taking advantage of second chances, and that it is okay for people to change. She helps the reader follow along with the emotions of the characters, feeling how they feel and thinking what they think. This book is extremely realistic; it tells the story of a girl who's parents got divorced. Living with her over-achieving mother she feels suffocated, so she visits her father in his beach town for the summer. There, she meets new people, has friends for once and experiences things she thought she never would. This book illustrates how people grow up, and how we interact with others. I loved it, and I recommend it to anyone who likes realistic fiction romances.