Melissa Joy Adams (Children's Literature)
Growing up in a divorced family, Auden never learned how to ride a bike. She became super focused on academics in order to appease her parents and was never really allowed to have a childhood. Because she studies all the time, she has no social life and even plans to spend her summer in-between high school and college reading ahead for her fall classes. But after getting a present from her highly social and carefree brother, Auden makes a sudden change of plans. Instead of spending her summer on academics, she decides to spend it at the beach with her dad, his new wife, and their new baby. Despite intending to spend the summer entirely free of work, Auden ends up helping her stepmother out by working in her kitschy, boardwalk boutique. There she begins to get a glimpse of the world of a normal teen--friendships, fashion, and even boys. Auden’s chronic insomnia results in her befriending one boy in particular, Eli, a local bike celebrity. Eli’s tragic past has turned him into a recluse and has kept him from bike riding for almost a year. Late at night, the two go on mini-quests to recapture Auden’s childhood and in the process they gain much more. Dessen’s complex characters and rich plot make this both an engaging and realistic novel. Not only will this novel appeal to readers looking for a quick and easy read, but also to those who insist on quality writing. 2009, Viking/Penguin, $19.99. Ages 14 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2009 (Vol. 77, No. 10))
Auden missed childhood thanks to her parents' divorce, which she navigated with the gravitas of a 30-year-old. No bike-riding, no giggly sleepovers. Just schoolwork, college ambitions and relentless insomnia. In the summer before college, she spontaneously joins her dad, his 20-something wife and new baby at their oceanfront house, hoping to transform into someone who enjoys normal teenage fun: beach, boardwalk, bonfires and beers. Dessen reworks well-traveled terrain and creates a remarkably original story with realistic teen dialogue, authentic girl friendships and a complex underlying question: Can people really change? Taut, witty first-person narration allows readers to both identify with Auden's insecurities and recognize her unfair, acerbic criticisms of people. It's Eli, a fellow insomniac, with whom she connects, and together they tick off items on her kid to-do list (food fights, bowling, paper-delivery route) while the rest of the town sleeps. The spark between these two sad teens and the joyful examples of girl connectivity deepen this ostensibly lighthearted, summer-fun story, which offers up complex issues—the residual effects of divorce, acceptance of imperfect parents and lip-gloss feminism. 2009, Viking, 384p, $19.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 14 up. Starred Review. © 2009 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, September 2009 (Vol. 63, No. 1))
Auden has been reared as a little adult among grownups who, ironically, are childishly narcissistic. Both academics, her parents couldn’t negotiate each other’s waxing and waning fame: when her father was the next big thing, her mother was jealous, but then when she eclipsed him in academic glory, the marriage fell apart; now he has a new wife and baby while she beds a series of graduate students. Auden decides that she needs to get away from her cold, demanding mother for a while before going to college, so she heads to her father’s beach house. There she meets a group of friends who challenge her to do the hang-out-with-people-her-own-age thing that she has missed all her life, and a boy who challenges her not to walk away when things get beyond her control. As she learns what it means to have and be a friend, she sorts through the various ways she reminds herself of both her mother and father—unsettling self-knowledge, to be sure, but at least it’s not too late to do something about it. Auden’s journey from uptight, lonely introvert to go-with-the-flow introvert with a few loyal friends and a semi-broody boyfriend is deftly handled. Dessen is at her best here, focusing in on Auden’s carefully crafted, densely realistic teen lifeworld. Her character arc is subtle, credible, and refreshingly unfinished, her parents are unapologetically and unredemptively flawed, and the narration of her summer experiences is as real as if you’d been there Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2009, Viking, 384p.; Reviewed from galleys, $19.99. Grades 7-10.

Ed Goldberg (VOYA, June 2009 (Vol. 32, No. 2))
Two years after her parents' divorce, Auden still feels that she could have prevented the break up. While Auden summers with her father and his new wife and baby, the hurt becomes more apparent--as do her parents' flaws. A year after local teen Eli's best friend, Abe, was killed in an auto accident in which Eli was driving, Eli still feels responsible even though it was not his fault. He has stopped doing things he loves, like championship biking. Auden and Eli literally bump into each other at the beach. Loners and insomniacs both, they begin spending their nights on a quest to salvage Auden's deprived teenage years, time spent studying rather than socializing. Working at her stepmother's store, Auden is drawn into the drama/life of co-workers Maggie, Esther, and Leah, and their friends. But as Auden and Eli become closer, Auden discovers herself emulating her father by distancing herself from Eli and her new friends. Dessen, queen of the intelligently written, thoroughly enjoyable novel about loners coming together, populates this novel with parents into whom one longs to knock some sense, teens who are smarter than their parents, and friends who are fun, loveable, and loyal. The subtheme of bike riding is a perfect ploy--especially because she never learned as a child--for Auden to grow. The juxtaposition of Auden's carefree older brother falling in love and settling down while Auden spreads her wings shows how people can change given the right circumstances. The dialogue is true to both adult and teenage language. The summer resort town setting is perfect. As with all Dessen's books, her latest is a must-have. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2009, Viking, 384p., $19.99. Ages 12 to 18.