Auden West is the best kid you could ask for, although she has a weird schedule -- she stays up all night and sleeps half the day. She's been doing her own thing for awhile. She uses her free time to study and take notes for college, even though she's 18 years old and hasn't gone to college. She is very mature and isn't like all the other girls her age. She doesn't care about the latest fashion or who's dating who -- she just wants to do her own thing. When Auden was 16, she saw her parents nasty divorce. A couple years after, her father met Heidi, got married and had a baby -- a little girl named Thisbe. Auden also has an older brother named Hollis, who was backpacking around Europe. Auden's mother was busy with her own life, having dinner parties with scholarly students every night. That's when Auden chose to move in with her dad for the summer.The beautiful beaches, the bright shining sun, and clear skies -- this was Colby in the summer. Auden wanted to spend time with her dad and stay away from her new step-mom, Heidi. She'd always seen Heidi as the girl who wears pink and high heels, though she found out this was not the case. Heidi was very tired and emotional from just having her baby. It was hard on her with no help from her husband. Auden saw all the popular girls in miniskirts and the popular guys all riding bikes and doing tricks, seeing them all happy. She still felt left out, like she did at home.
Auden realizes she will have to spend her whole summer with her dad in Colby and knows she needs to meet the kids there. This is when she meets Jake Stock, a major player who has his eyes on her. Colby is so small that Auden ends up getting together with Jake, who happens to be Maggie's boyfriend. Maggie also works at Auden's step-mom's boutique, Clementine's. After Auden apologizes, Auden and Maggie are able to become friends. That's when Auden meets Eli, a boy with nocturnal habits and a past like her own. They form a strong relationship throughout the book.
Every character in the book needs to face his or her own fears and grow up. They all make mistakes and have their own problems, which underscores the fact that no person is perfect though at first they may look that way.
Find it in YA FIC Dessen, S.
