Thank you to NetGalley and Clarion Books for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

A meet-cute via car accident puts these two together on the ride of a lifetime.

Let me set the scene: First you have Charlie who wants nothing more than to get out of her small town, ideally by going to help her favorite home renovator with architecture design, as that is her life passion. Then you have Andre, who wants the exact opposite - for everything to stay the same, to not leave their city, and for the perfection that is his life to continue.

The amount of growth the two show is realistic and adorable. It is an easy book to read but it draws you in & doesn't let you go. The characters are realistically flawed, and the ending isn't tied up with a neat little bow the way many YA romcom's do - not to say this doesn't have a HEA/HFN, but there is realism to this that there isn't in lots of other books. I really enjoyed this and I hope to read other books by Lucy Keating soon!

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarion Books for the e-ARC to read and review. Content-wise, I think this is 3.5 stars for me, but it was a fun and quick reading experience so I'm rounding up. This story has a very entertaining cast of characters, as we get small vignettes about each of Charlie's riders and the new friends she meets throughout the book. I find the main character herself to be the least interesting of them all, as I'm way more invested in the side stories and the brief encounters she has with dynamic individuals around the town. This book is also one of the rare cases (for me personally) where having a lot of names and characters thrown in throughout *isn't* hard for me to keep up with, and I think that's a credit to how well-developed and real they feel, even when we don't spend a lot of time with any of them.

I was thinking about it and honestly, a lot of my issues with this book would have been solved if the characters were either 2 years older (new to college or midway through), OR if Charlie wasn't driving for a professional service and instead, giving her friends rides in exchange for cash. I did think the characters spoke as if they were already college students or new to jobs reflecting back on their high school years?) But I kept getting stuck on how implausible it would be for a professional rideshare app to only have teen drivers and have high school students as their main clientele - but not their exclusive clientele? Like someone brand new to their license could get a job riding for another company but to think of this entire network of teen drivers, but sometimes random adults would join in too? A lot of the plot rests on the concept, and we have to believe that Charlie is driving long hours and taking on every job -- yet any minor reaction that she has causes her to swerve wildly on the road, because she's ultimately inexperienced and newer to driving? (And she keeps saying her older Prius is the source of some big embarrassment as if it's supposed to show how her family has no money? It's a nice enough car, even as a hand-me-down, I literally do not understand!)

A charming coming of age novel about figuring out who you are, first time love, and learning to love where you are at that moment in life.
This isn't one of those sit down and read in one sitting books. It made you think in between chapters. And I loved it all the more for it.

Charlie Owens is a driver for her town's local rideshare app.She loves the freedom it gives her, and the money that it helps with her fund to get out of town. She has an almost perfect record too but one more mishap and she may lose her job.

Crashing into Andre, the town's party boy, becomes that mishap. They come up with a deal that she gives him whatever rides he needs around town while his car is in the shop, and he wont turn her in. During the weeks that follow, she feels her heart softening towards him and her small town.

I would definitely recommend this one to others. It was a very enjoyable read.
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#newrelease #comtemporaryYA #sweetromance #comingofagenovel #lucykeating #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookreview #recommendedbook

A coming of age story with a touch of small-town romance.

This book is soooo cute! If you're in a mood for a light summer read, this book is perfect for you. The aesthetics of Chester Falls, the architecture talks, the character development, and of course, the romance is ❤😫. Charlie and Andre are giving off grumpy/sunshine vibe. I also love that this book is not only about falling in love with a person but also it is about falling in love with a place.

Thank you NetGalley and Clarion Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Lucy Keating, and the publisher for the eARC copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
Charlie Owens is a teenage workaholic. She is a driver for her town's ride share app, so she can save for an epic road trip to New Mexico. But when she hits the car of the popular party boy, Andre, it puts her ratings and road trip in jeopardy. Charlie makes a deal with Andre that she will drive him anywhere he wants/needs to go, if he won't report her to the app. Suddenly, the two are stuck together. Charlie wants to get our of her town while Andre wants to leave. Will these two people who are totally different be able to work out their differences or even fall in love?
I enjoyed reading, "Ride with Me". I like to read about young people who are working hard to save for something special. I also enjoyed Andre's loyalty and commitment to his family. I will be recommending this YA read to others!

Thank you NetGalley and Clarion books for an eARC.

The main thing I disliked about this book is the pacing. I love slow burns, but for the first 20% of this book, I was confused about who the love interest was. Even by 30% they’ve only had two to three conversations.

I didn’t understand why Charlie hated Andre. It made complete sense why he didn’t like her, but she was just annoyed with him.

I don’t like it when a book is super predictable, and I knew where this was going the entire time. A predictable plot can often be saved by amazing characters, but none of them stood out that much. I didn’t hate them, but they were just cliche YA romance main characters.

I know this sounds super negative, but it was still cute and enjoyable. It just took me a little while to read because of the pacing.

After free-spirit Charlie crashes into party-boy Andre's car, she agrees to drive him until his ride is fixed. Will these opposites attract?

This is a YA version of sweet small-town romance. Lots of quirky characters and slapstick comedy.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

YA can be hit or miss sometimes, but Ride with Me by Lucy Keating is a definite hit.

We drop in on Charlie, a high school student with dreams to get out of her small New England town. She accidentally hits the car of a classmate as she leaves a party and then gets roped into giving him rides for the next few months until his car is fixed. It's a device to bring two people together in an "enemies to lovers" kind of way, but Keating handles the trope with charm (and funny secondary characters).

Other reviewers have said Charlie is too judgmental, and maybe that's why I identify with her so much. She's single-minded about her goal (some neurodivergence there?), and she frequently lets in get in the way of her friendships, relationships with her parents, and Andre. Over the few months that the story takes place, we see some character growth -- in a two steps forward, one step back kind of way. I would be interested to see what Charlie's life is like six months down the road!

Reviews Posted: June 24, 2022
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Storygraph

This book was so freaking cute! Both of the main characters I related to in different ways, but I would have liked at least one chapter from Andre’s perspective. The premise was also really cute, and I think it made a lot of sense for this day and age. I also believe that this book did an excellent job of addressing the different dynamics people have with their hometowns, their families, and their futures. And this book just made me smile a whole lot.
Charlie is a high schooler who is saving up money to get out of her small town and, hopefully, figure out who she is. Andre loves their hometown and is dead set on staying there forever. I think these two fed off of each other really well and were able to learn from each other. I felt the chemistry between the two of them right away and just could not get enough of it. Honestly, anything with banter like this is always going to hook me. Watching Charlie embark on this journey of self-discovery and realizing that people spend their whole lives trying to figure out who they are and that it is okay is something that I relate to on many levels. Andre bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders, felt like I was seeing a reflection of myself.
The whole ride-share concept made a lot of sense and was a great way to set up great conversations. Also, in today's world, so many teenagers are doing what they can to make ends meet, which also felt like something I could relate to.
This book does an excellent job of addressing how people, despite growing up in similar situations, see the world differently.
Overall this was such a fun and cute read, yet t still had a lot of depth and addressed things in ways that I see as very manageable for most people. I found myself smiling throughout most of this book and think it was really heartwarming.

I'm a sucker for any book, movie, TV show that is set in a small, sleepy town so I was super excited to be able to read Ride With Me by Lucy Keating. Charlie is stuck in Chester Falls, Massachusetts and can't wait until she can leave and be free. She gets her extra cash by being a driver for her local ride share app and is doing well until one day, she picks up Andre, her school's notorious party boy. You'll need to buckle in to see what happens once their lives collide!

While this book is categorized as a romance, I found it to be more of a love story between Charlie and her small town. She realizes that home is sweet and has been all along. Ride With Me was such a sweet summer read for me! Thank you NetGalley and Clarion Books for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This book really wowed me from the first few pages.

First of all, I really loved the background information and lore behind the ridesharing app this small town uses. It was easy to tell from this tiny detail that the author had really thought through this story and knew this universe well.

I’m also somewhat impressed by my understanding of this book in the beginning versus the ending. I have a note that comments on how its hard to keep up with who is who in the story. However, as I got farther into this book, I began realizing that our main character’s journey was one of falling in love with the community in her small town, and I now think the confusion in the beginning of this book made sense for the readers’ perspective. Much like how Charlie doesn’t know the people in her town that well, readers also don’t know characters as well as they should in the beginning, but eventually gain an understanding throughout the book.

Anyway.

I found the base plot–that Charlie runs into someone’s car and is forced to drive him around while he waits for his car to be fixed–a bit confusing. Andre’s car is described as basically being held together by duct tape and the accident itself didn’t even seem to be that bad, so this section felt as though it was weirdly catastrophizing the event.

But I fell in love with Andre quickly in this story. I really liked the banter between Andre and Charlie, which usually plays a big role in me liking a character, but I also just enjoyed how absolutely pitiful he is. Surprisingly, nothing can win me over more than a cool guy dejectedly hanging his head when found to be doing something decidedly uncool.

I’ve touched before on the sense of community in this book, but I want to quickly touch on it again near the end here. I found myself crying during the final page, not because anything was particularly sad, but because the book was over and I could no longer live within these pages. I’m heartbroken to find myself back in the real world, and I’ll never get over it.

Overall a cute YA coming of age story with minor romance notes.

There were a few things that I didn't enjoy in this book, such as Andre having a secret girlfriend and how judge-y Charlie was.

I felt like Charlie and Andre had little chemistry and connection and wasn't fully sold on their romance.

Thank you to Netgalley + the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy Keating's newest young adult contemporary, "Ride With Me" follows local ride share app teen driver Charlie Owens. When she literally crashes into her school's notorious party boy, Andre, her life as she knows it changes. Forced to drive him anywhere he needs to go, the two are stuck together. Growing closer together, Charlie has to choose whether to take the biggest risk of all: falling in love.

This was a really quick, fun contemporary read. I found the characters really likeable and I liked seeing the relationship that developed between Charlie and Andre, there were a lot of cute moments and also some more serious conversations about moving on and finding the right path for their futures.

If you’re in the mood for a light hearted, cute contemporary romance then this book is perfect!

A cute summer read that I'm sure other readers would enjoy. It was a run ride (pun intended) with Charlie and Andre, and I liked how they both found something they hadn't even been looking for. The pacing was kind of off, which threw me off a bit, but otherwise it was a good read.

Im at that age where i truly do not enjoy alot of YAs but this one honestly took me by surprise!

It was such a heartwarming story about discovering yourself, about what it truly means to be a teenager, and about community!

Truly enjoyed it and highly recommend it! all the characters were very dimensional with their own issues and goals. Loved the romance as well, Andre was just the perfect boy ever.

Thank you to Clarion Books and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a sweet YA romance. A love letter to architecture, hometowns and New England. Being a New Yorker, the author got the geography right! It’s a story about discovering that home is right in front of you, that even if you want to run from it, it will always be there for you. First love isn’t too bad either. Read this in one sitting. Nice romcom escape for the summer!

This was a cute ya summer read! I liked how Charlie and Andre both found what they were looking for and how it wasn’t what either of them thought. I did find the pacing a bit weird and choppy at times and parts of it became repetitive. I really enjoyed how we got to see Charlie interact with all of her customers and how each one taught her a new lesson! The backseat reviews were also so cute at the end of some of the chapters!

I found Ride with Me to be a very engaging young adult novel with an engaging story and characters. Seventeen year old Charlie drives for Backseat, a local rideshare in her small town. Her desire is to earn enough money to get away and travel. Her thoughts and decisions go through many currents when she has to drive Andre, a fellow student, everywhere. He challenges her as much as she challenges him.
I voluntarily read a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Ride With Me by Lucy Keating, 320 pages. Clarion Books, 2022. $19.
Language: R (40 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Charlie (17yo) is basically the town Uber driver, saving up for a road trip the summer after graduation that will help her finally get away from the stagnancy of Chester Falls. Her job and rider reviews are on the line when she accidentally backs into Andre’s car. They strike up a deal: Andre won’t report the accident if Charlie drives him everywhere he would have driven himself.
The beautiful descriptions of art and buildings through Charlie’s point of view were my favorite parts of the book. Charlie and Andre represent two different extremes on the issue of staying in a small town versus wanting to leave as soon as possible, and Keating writes the journey of her characters learning to focus on what makes them happy instead of what they think will make them happy. Sometimes we need to step back from the labels we give ourselves and look with clear eyes. You might just surprise yourself.
Charlie is implied White, and Andre is implied Brazilian, described as having “olive skin.” The mature content rating is for underage drinking and innuendo.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen