Megg added a quote:
"Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that's what makes you strong." — Sarah Dessen

Megg added a quote:
"I knew that there were no guarantees. No way of knowing what came next for me, or him, or anybody. Some things don't last forever, but some things do. Like a good song, or a good book, or a good memory you can take out and unfold in your darkest times, pressing down the corners and peering in close, hoping you still recognize the person you see there." — Sarah Dessen

Megg read and liked Cheryl's review of Along for the Ride:

"Even more than John Green, Sarah Dessen repeats the same plot elements over and over again:

1. ONE SUMMER,
2. AN OLDER TEENAGE GIRL WHO IS REPRESSED IN SOME WAY -- family secrets, personal secrets, others' expectations, her own cynic...more Even more than John Green, Sarah Dessen repeats the same plot elements over and over again:

1. ONE SUMMER,
2. AN OLDER TEENAGE GIRL WHO IS REPRESSED IN SOME WAY -- family secrets, personal secrets, others' expectations, her own cynicism or need for control
3. MEETS A WACKY GROUP OF PEOPLE -- long-distant family, a rock band, coworkers, a new group of friends
4. INCLUDING ONE UNUSUAL BOY -- usually artistic in some way
5. SHE DOES SOMETHING UNCHARACTERISTIC OF HER THAT STARTS OR DEEPENS HER RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM -- like confess a secret, or kiss the boy, or take on a job -- something that exposes her for a moment
6. AND THINGS GO ALONG SWIMMINGLY FOR A WHILE as she gets to know the boy and has her original assumptions about the people challenged and develops new skills through her association with them
7. But then, about 1/3 to 1/4 of the way from the end, SOMETHING HAPPENS TO SCREW THINGS UP, usually causing the girl's retreating for some reason into her original repressions/assumptions
8. A CONFRONTATION INVOLVING/REGARDING THE CAUSE OF THE GIRL'S REPRESSION OCCURS.
9. GIRL REUNITES WITH BOY; HAPPINESS INTO FORESEEABLE FUTURE.

There is no doubt Ms. Dessen works and reworks this material very, very well -- she has wonderful, fully developed image systems (in this one, the idea of what being a girl means, and riding a bike); the prose flows gorgeously; her supporting characters are consistently marvelous; the dialogue is terrific and realistic, particularly when it's teenagers sitting around b.s.'ing; every i is dotted and t crossed writingwise. I love the way she weaves all her characters into one large world. And I adored this plot the first time I read it, in THIS LULLABY, and also greatly enjoyed THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER and JUST LISTEN.

(Also, she creates great store names -- someone should hire her as a brander.)

But by this one, I was feeling a bit of diminishing returns in the familiarity of everything, chiefly in the fact that all her narrators sound the same, the same hiddenness, the same neatness. I'd love to see her do a book from the point of view of one of the supporting characters, or the boy . . . someone a little more scattered, more unpredictable and passionate, where the voice and the story wouldn't tie up in a neat bow. I do not know that this wish is fair to Ms. Dessen; when you know your material, you should own it and work it, and she's doing that, and I'm delighted that it's paying off for her. (Such a pleasure to see a GOOD writer of teenage romances on the Times bestseller list!) But all the supporting characters here felt more interesting than Auden to me, and the few changes she rung here just too familiar; and I'd love for Ms. Dessen to break some new ground in both structure and protagonist. (less) "