Along for the Ride

Dessen, S. (2009). Along for the ride: A novel. New York: Viking.

I liked this book a lot, and think that older teens will like it.  It's definitely a girl book, and one that will especially appeal to academically inclined girls.  Auden, the main character, has two college professor parents who expect great things for her education.  She has had a socially stunted life, with her entire focus on school.  The summer after she graduates high school, she goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and newborn baby sister.  Heidi, her stepmother, is very girly, but smart and successful at her clothing store.  Auden goes to work there, and makes friends with other girls who work there.  The others teach her how to be a girl, and how to have fun.  A local boy named Eli, a fellow insomniac, hangs out with her every night, and they check off things Auden never had a chance to do as a kid, like learning to ride a bike.