A review by kthornette
Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise by Laura Silverman

2.0

tl;dr - This was an anthology of stories with an intriguing concept but didn’t quite live up to my standards, seeing that I recognize a lot of the author’s names on this list. All of the stories were VERY diverse which I loved reading. As an audiobook, I was so glad there were different narrators for each story but it was kind of annoying to change the speed with each story. It would’ve been cool if all the stories explicitly took place in the same universe - I don’t recall if it was mentioned here but I’d believe it. As mentioned below, I do think some stories would’ve been better as full novels or even novellas.

Overall ranking:

1. Shark Bait
2. A Place to Start
3. What About Your Friends
4. Con Nights, Parallel Hearts
5. Kiss The Boy
6. Under Your Mask
7. Like Before
8. The Night Before
9. When You Bring Your Dog to Prom
10. Creature Catcher
11. Never Have I Ever
12. Old Rifts and Snowdrifts
13. The Ghost of Goon Creek

If anyone actually cares for small bullet-point reviews for each story, then here you go:

Never Have I Ever
* Possible Karen McManus bias
* This would’ve would’ve been a really cool full novel but didn’t do well here because it was so short

Like Before
* Long-time besties is a favourite trope of mine
* Fixing a friendship that’s broken? Sign me up
* Scavenger hunt? Fuck yeah.
* “ABBA was her favourite bad during her uncool years” ... how dare you. Those were her cool years.

Old Rifts and Snowdrifts
* It could be because I listened to this at nearly 2 AM but I didn’t retain much from this story
* Really love the representation

Con Nights, Parallel Hearts
* I loved the fangirl besties confiding in each other about their past traumas
* Also noticed the use of “their/they/them” as an identifying pronoun. Nice touch that I don’t think I’ve seen in a lot of YA books

Kiss The Boy
* I loved all the makeup going on and the high school scavenger hunt
* The fact they were set up to be partners for the hunt? Yes!

Creature Catcher
* I relate to the “unable to make friends” — hell, I’ll be your friend
* Just tell me it’s Pokémon Go because it basically is (when was this book written?)

Shark Bait
* I think this was my favourite story in the bunch but, again, SHOULD’VE BEEN LONGER! Fucking cliffhanger. I hate it.
* Worrying about where to find chicken nuggets is my priority too
* I loved her not me forgetting MC’s name relationship with Hunter … until that slight miscommunication at the end

Spoiler

and they really needed a car crash to talk? Get out of here. BUT IF HUNTER IS DEAD I SWEAR TO GOD.

* I’ve read a lot of stories dealing with race and racism, and I liked how this story presented it

A Place to Start
* Possible Nina LaCour bias
* Again, would’ve been better as a longer story - or at least a novella. I would’ve loved to read more about the step-siblings in their new unified life.

When You Bring Your Dog to Prom
* Please, I love this title
* I wanted more of the dog. I wanted the dog to be prom king/queen. Sometimes, I forgot the dog was in the story.

Missing
* Best opening to a story and the plot was super interesting.
* Damn, all these girls are so mean…
* Okay, I draw the line at the creepy voodoo dolls. Girl, what the hell? This whole story was creepy.

What About Your Friends
* You know what? This was a cute one. I feel like this was one where the shorter length worked.

Under Our Masks
* This title triggers me since I’m typing this in school while wearing a mask.
* Unexpected hero/vigilante theme ... very interesting concept but the execution was a bit boring. I do appreciate the secret identity/hidden sexual identity parallel. I was expecting more hero action rather than conversations.
* Shorter Dude and Taller Girl? Hell yeah. Roasting Gatsby? Hell yeah.

The Ghost of Goon Creek
* I won’t lie, I forgot to listen to this while it was playing.