Up All Night is a collection of short stories that all take place between the time the sun goes down until it comes back up. I was interested in reading this collection because of the inclusion of authors Karen McManus and Tiffany D. Jackson. I was right to be excited about these stories but I also loved many more in the collection. Short stories are not easy to write as you need to pack everything you normally include in a full novel into only a couple of pages. When done well you still connect with the characters and feel a full range of emotions.

As I expected, my two favorite stories were written by Karen McManus and Tiffany D. Jackson. McManus kicks off the collection and gets things going on a high note. After both of their stories, I had to take a few minutes and regroup. I also loved stories by Nina LaCour, and Kayla Whaley.

The best part of this book for me was the diversity in topics, sexuality, gender, race, physical abilities, wealth, and more in this collection. If you are interested in a collection with many different genres and an excellent representation of our diverse country I highly recommend this book.

I'd like to thank NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Enjoyed all of the stories! Made me check out the night sky and think of all the things I do when I can't sleep.

This was a very solid anthology and I loved getting to know the writing of so many authors that I've been meaning to get to.

If I had to describe this book with one word though, I'd say it's diverse. Not only does it cover a bunch of different genres, it also has a lot of representation. I love that I got to see a bunch of queer characters on approximately 90% of the stories.

My favorite stories were:

- Con nights, Pararell Heats by Marieke Nijkamp (CW: sexual abuse)
- Creature Capture by Laura Silverman
- A place to start by Nina LaCour

I am not a short story reader in general, but the theme "between sunset and sunrise" of this collection was fascinating. Not to mention, most of these 13 authors were well known for writing YA stories. Thus, I am happy to say that I liked the diversity of genres and the representations of the characters in this book.  
  
My favorites (not in any particular order):  
✨ Never Have I Ever by Karen M. McManus (I loved the twist, but I wanted more)  
✨ Like Before by Maureen Goo (it made me sad)  
✨ Shark Bait by Tiffany D. Jackson (so powerful!)  
✨ A Place to Start by Nina LaCour (this tricked me, but I loved it)  
✨ When You Bring a Dog to Prom by Anna Meriano (witty and funny)  
✨ The Ghost of Goon Creek by Francesca Zappia (I loved the ending!)  
  
All the 13 stories were well written and very inclusive (kudos to this!). Each essay had its uniqueness to the theme.

A night-time set YA short story collection, Up All Night is a collection of stand-alone short stories. Some of the stories here were stronger than others, but this is one of the most balanced short story collections I’ve read to date. My favorite stories here were Shark Bait by Tiffany D. Jackson, A Place to Start by Nina LaCour, Old Rifts and Snowdrifts by Kayla Whaley, and Never Have I Ever by Karen M. McManus.

This young adult collection of 13 short stories all take place between sunset and sunrise:

Never Have I Ever by Karen M. McManus: A tame party game of never have I ever is flipped on its head when a dare involves spying on a neighbor.

Like Before by Maureen Goo: Pepper takes her two former best friends on a journey to recreate memories in an attempt to rekindle their friendship.

Old Rifts and Snowdrifts by Kayla Whaley: Eleanor and her boss’s son are stranded at their job at a floral shop overnight during a freak Atlanta snow-storm.

Con Nights, Parallel Hearts by Marieke Nijkamp: Told in parallel storylines, Quinn grapples with how to disclose her experience of childhood abuse.

Kiss the Boy by Amanda Joy: A group of high school friends has made a pact to all kiss their crushes before the end of high school, and hatch a plan to help Ayana, the last friend standing, fulfill the pact.

Creature Capture by Laura Silverman: Abby and her best friend go “hunting” a creature in the augmented reality game.

Shark Bait by Tiffany D. Jackson: After moving to Martha’s Vineyard with her mother, Candice meets Hunter, who challenges her perceptions.

A Place to Start by Nina LaCour: Claude and Jamie, new stepsiblings, are Uncomfortable in their new home, and work to get to know each other.

When You Bring a Dog to Prom by Ana Meriano: Jayla and Noemi have been working to plan the perfect prom. At the last minute, Jayla’s twin brother shows up with a date and her support dog.

Missing by Kathleen Glasgow: Kate, her friends, and her little sister Lissy go ghost hunting in an abandoned asylum.

What About Your Friends by Brandy Colbert: Michaela runs into her estranged former best friend, Eleanor, and grapples with the past and future of their friendship.

Under Our Masks by Julian Winters: When Tristan’s crush invites him to investigate the identity of masked vigilante, Raven, Tristan jumps at the opportunity. The only problem: Tristan IS Raven.

The Ghost of Goon Creek by Francesca Zappia: Sydney’s caught off-guard when classmates ask to go with her to look for a ghost.

"And knowing that the choices we make - the choices that matter - aren't just the big, sweeping ones. Sometimes a meaningful choice is a simple choice, as simple as five words."

Anthologies are so often hit or miss for me. I'll enjoy a few stories but most of them are just "eh" for me and so I forget about them rather quickly. Luckily, this is one of my favorite ya anthologies I've read to date and I've read plenty: Three Sides of a Heart: Stories about Love Triangles, Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America, Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet, Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, and My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories. I really enjoyed how this book didn't feature solely characters falling in love as so many of these anthologies do. I appreciated the fact there were some stories about friendship and family in addition to the falling in love montage we are subjected to so often in ya lit (not bashing on it by any means!). Having stories that took place over the course of one night led to a different story experience and was one that I really enjoyed. I loved the representation of LGBTQ+ characters as well as stories that spanned a variety of genres. This anthology was so much fun to read, especially at the beginning of summer when I'm more apt to see longer periods of the night hours.

My favorite stories in this anthology were (in no particular order):
Never Have I Ever by Karen McManus
Shark Bait by Tiffany D. Jackson (duh)
Creature Capture by Laura Silverman
When You Bring a Dog to Prom by Anna Meriano
Old Rifts and Snowdrifts by Kayla Whaley
Kiss the Boy by Amanda Joy

**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise, is a solid collection or short stories that is diverse and thoughtfully comprised. It is about the lives of predominately teenagers/YA who are coming of age and beginning to explore life and all of its nuances. It highlights themes relating to love, disability, LGBTQ, trauma, and abuse. And in these 13 stories, essentially anything can happen.

My favorite story in this collection is: Con Nights, Parallel Heart which I found to be incredibly written and structured. It is written in three different versions that each yield different outcomes. It is about friends who are camping out while waiting to attend a convention. In that space, one person reveals childhood trauma while another becomes a source of comfort.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

These stories were fine. Not great, but fine. I think that it might be me as a reader rather than the book, though. I lacked investment and it took me a long time to get through these, but it’s hard to be invested and motivated to read when the characters and stories change every few pages. I don’t know if I would read/request a collection of short stories again. They don’t move very well in my library so I might give them a pass for now.

I loved this short story anthology! It brought back so many memories of late nights in high school with friends out having fun or making mischief. Great rep and interesting stories touching on many aspects of growing up. This is honestly a perfect summer read. The second story was my favorite.

I love this book! You get a little bit of everything in this book: fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, realistic, etc. They almost feel like campfire stories, but I loved that I could read them quickly. I also loved that not every story was a happy ending.

This was such a nice anthology. I enjoyed most of the stories and enjoyed discovering new authors.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Young Readers for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

My sleep schedule is completely off, so it’s very fitting UP ALL NIGHT is my current late night read. This part of the description: “It’s a time for romance and adventure. For prom night and ghost hunts. It’s a time for breaking up, for falling in love, for finding yourself” is what ultimately persuaded me that I needed to read this short story collection. Plus I was reading contributing author Karen McManus’s latest book, THE COUSINS, when I learned of UP ALL NIGHT, and I was enjoying her book so much, I was convinced.



One thing that excites me about UP ALL NIGHT is that most of the authors are new-to-me. With the exception of Nina LaCour (LOVE HER BOOKS) and Karen McManus, I have the opportunity to find new authors to read. That’s one of my favorite things about short story collections is discovering new-to-me authors and getting the chance to read the words on some favorites too.

As an adult reading UP ALL NIGHT, there is a sense of nostalgia for my high school years. I have fond (and not-so-fond) memories of late night adventures with my friends and these stories take me back to those moments when everything felt significant and you were living in the moment.

And that’s another thing that I love about reading, and reading these stories specifically, is that it can ignite a spark of creativity. This UP ALL NIGHT collection gives me the urge (and maybe some courage) to pick up a pen and write some of my own stories.

I’ve read a handful of these stories and am sure that I’ll read the rest soon enough. These sleepless nights are becoming all too common. Thank goodness for books.

One of my most anticipated books of the year, Up All Night by a variety of authors was not what I was expecting...


Spoiler alert, I didn’t like it. I also DNFed at around the 30% mark because I was bored and didn’t care at all anymore. But before I share my thoughts let me tell you what this book is about.


This is a YA contemporary anthology about staying up all night. Or in other words, stories that take place during the night. To me this sounds like a very fun premise and something I would be interested in as I think the variety of stories possible under this theme is wide enough to cover all types of stories but also narrow enough to give direction to the stories.


However, although I still love the idea of the book (and also the cover), I did not really care for the execution. For me, it was really boring and put me into the slump. They were very unmemorable and I found myself forgetting reading a story even if I had just read it the night before. I ended up just not caring enough to read more and that was the reason why I DNFed. This is not to say I have fully given up and still feel like I could credit some of disliking as a me problem and not the book. I do plan on checking out the book from my library to try again in not ebook format. As it stands though now, I don‘t feel right giving it any kind of star rating but I don’t want to fully give up quite yet.


Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an e-ARC. I really appreciate it and I wish I had enjoyed this book more given it was one of my most anticipated books of the year. All my opinions are my own.

This was such a fun read. I enjoyed each of the stories and appreciated how different each one of them was. There was a broad selection of topics from lighter to more seriously themed. The collection of stories are relatable to a variety of readers and I thought that was well done.

I discovered new authors and revisited some of my favorites. I picked up the audio and the variety of narrators also lent so much to each individual story and I could hear the tone of each author in each story. I would recommend the audio for those who are avid audiobook listeners because it was a great experience.

If you're not sure what you're looking for something to read but aren't sure what you're in the mood for than I definitely recommend this anthology. These stories range from romantic to spooky to emotional to comedic. There's even a story that makes a play on Pokemon Go but with monsters. You'll get a taste of different genres which made this a great experience.

I definitely recommend this!!

So I did initially rate this 3 stars since a few stories I actually DNFed. But after some thought I decided to give this 4 full stars because although I didn't care for a few others stories. Overall, this book was great. The ones that I just totally fell in love with are listed below!

1. 5 Stars: Never Have I Ever by Karen McManus: This one LORD it reminded me of My Sister Rosa! I so need a full fledged story to this short story. It was so shocking towards the end that I was like speechless. It was a total shocker!!

2. 4 Stars: Like Before by Maurene Goo: This one made me kind of sad. I never had a close friend growing up and seeing these three girls fall out of friendship was just heartbreaking.

3. 5 Stars: Old Rifts and Snowdrifts by Kayla Whaley: This one was adorable!! I would love a full fledged story with this short as well. I loved both characters and I just need more!! This one features a disabled MC that spoke to my heart.

4. 5 Stars: Creature Capture by Laura Silverman: This one made my Pokemon heart fly! I love playing that game and the HP one and man this one was wonderful!! It was exciting and I need more!



Go Into This One Knowing: Some stories are better than others.

This turned out to be one of my favorite short story collections. Not one story got lower than three stars. The group of writers that contributed were all so strong and there was such an incredible variety of types of stories: the dissolution of a friendship trio, the end of high school, and the merging of two families, to name a few. And yet, they all seem to capture the same sort of essence and theme—like the dawning of a new day, things change.

I do think the anthology definitely started out the gate really strong, but finished a little on the weaker side. here are my individual ratings:

Never Have I Ever - Karen M McManus (4 stars)
What a great way to kick off this collection! A dare gone wrong giving a plot twist I did not see coming.

Like Before - Maureen Goo (4 stars)
Honestly, this story hit me hard. A friendship breakup can sometimes be worse than the ending of a relationship.

Old Rifts and Snowdrifts - Kayla Whaley (5 stars): I always like to see some great disability representation!!! I really loved the atmosphere Whaley created in this story of two former best friends stuck in a flower shop overnight during a snowstorm. What went wrong to break up their relationship in the first place and is it too late to repair?

Con Nights, Parallel Hearts - Marieke Nijkamp (3.5 stars)
Ambitious piece following two people waiting overnight in line at a convention that may have packed too much into a short story.

Kiss the Boy - Amanda Joy (3 stars)
An average quintessential tale of a girl trying to kiss her longtime crush at a Senior Lock-in event for the end of high school. A sweet tale that had a nice little adventure but was just okay.

Creature Capture - Laura Silverman (3 stars)
Two best friends who go out searching for creatures on a Pokemon Go-like game. Extremely average.

Shark Bait - Tiffany D. Jackson (5 stars): even in short form, Tiffany D Jackson can make me cry. I want, no need, an entire expanded novel of this story. She is a master writer who knows just how much to give in a story to keep the reader wanting more. And I want more!

A Place to Start - Nina LaCour (4 stars)
make their house feel more like a home. Nina LaCour always creates such vivid stories and characters and I always love to read her character dynamics.

When You Bring a Dog to Prom - Anna Meriano (4 stars)
Can't have a YA anthology about nightlife without including the prom! Such a sweet story about a post-prom adventure that includes a party, a lost dog, and a little romance.

Missing - Kathleen Glasgow (5 stars): I was surprised at how much I LOVED this. Me? A ghost story? I was totally hooked from the start and on the edge of my seat for the whole ride.

What About Your Friends - Brandy Colbert (4 stars)
A quieter story about the complications of a friendship where one girl chooses to spend her freshman year of college at school, while the other experiences a failed gap year. Are they able to mend their relationship when one friend ghosts the other out of embarrassment?

Under Our Masks - Julian Winters (3 stars)
Following in the footsteps of the rest of his family, we follow a masked vigilante who protects his neighborhood from crime at night, while living the life a regular boy by day. Interesting and creative concept, just not for me.

The Ghost of Goon Creek - Francesca Zappia (3.5 stars)
Ending on an average note. The school's resident ghost expert and loner helps a classmate with a local ghost story. They spend the night in the cemetery awaiting a ghost when other classmates interrupt. This had a lot potential but just ended up a little flat.

Through race, sexuality, and culture these stories reflect on that precious time between sunset and sunrise where anything can happen.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was invited to participate in this blog tour by @algonquinyr for this collection of 13 YA stories. I enjoyed some more than others. Awkwardness and hopefulness coexisting during the angsty teen years. POC and LGBTQ were represented and the stories felt current. Some had satisfying conclusions. Others fell flat for me. However, one cannot deny the representation of all that is part of adolescence and high school. First loves, early friendships, feeling like you are the only one who is different when most around you are feeling the exact same way. Thank you to @netgalley and @algonquinyr for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and for the complimentary copy of this ARC, just released on 7/13/21. My opinions are solely my own. #bookreviewer #bookstagrammer #algonqunyr #upallnight #netgalley #goodreads #booksandmrdarcy #withhernosestuckinabook❤️📚

I love a good anthology, and this one does not disappoint!! I love that ‘between sunset and sunrise’ is the only connecting thread. It allows for so much diversity. It allows Karen McManus to do what she does best, leave us scratching our heads wondering how we didn’t see it all along. It lets Nina LaCour give us a peek into the budding relationship between new step siblings. It allows Tiffany D Jackson to force our jaws to the floor like she always does! I obviously enjoy the stories from authors I know, especially Kathleen Glasgow’s story. But the new to me authors were just as enjoyable! There isn’t a bad story in this collection!!

I had high hopes for this anthology as my entire junior and senior year of high school was spent being up all night and I have fond memories of such. This anthology really managed to encapsulate those moments of everyone else being asleep and the inherent vulnerabilities that come with being up that late.
Most of these stories were contemporary, but a few veered into the supernatural or thriller genre, which was fitting considering the theme.
Also, my god is this anthology diverse! Multiple stories have main or side characters with disabilities, characters who are BIPOC, and characters who are gay and trans. It was really nice to see, especially as this isn't an anthology who's purpose is to be about a certain group of people. These authors just understood that any teenager can have wild adventures at night.
And now, my individual ratings for each story!
Never Have I Ever by Karen M. McManus - 3.25 stars
Like Before by Maureen Goo - 3.5 stars
Old Rifts and Snowdrifts by Kayla Whaley - 3.5 stars
Con Nights, Parallel Hearts by Marieke Nijkamp - 3.25 stars
Kiss the Boy by Amanda Joy - 3.75 stars
Creature Creature by Laura Silverman - 4 stars
Shark Bait by Tiffany D. Jackson - 3 stars
A Place to Start by Nina LaCour - 4 stars
When You Bring a Dog to Prom by Anna Meriano - 2.5 stars
Missing by Kathleen Glasgow - 2.5 stars
What About Your Friends by Brandy Colbert - 3.25 stars
Under Our Masks by Julian Winters - 3.25 stars
The Ghost of Goon Creek by Francesca Zappia - 3.75 stars
If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to say A Place to Start by Nina LaCour, but even if I rated a story 3 stars, believe me when I say I still really enjoyed it!
I’m not averaging the ratings to get the overall rating I’m giving the book. Instead. I’m just going to give this book 4 stars because it was that good!

Up All Night is a collection of YA contemporary short stories that take place overnight, where teens stay up late and the whole world is their oyster. There are themes of friendship, love, family, and second chances. Not all stories have happy endings, but each story feels full and complete.

I often struggle with short stories because I never feel like they are long enough to tell the story and have it feel satisfying. This was not the case with any of the 13 stories included in this collection, each story is fully developed, beautifully written, and flowed well in the story - but also with each other as you read. 13 different authors wrote these stories, but they fit together so well you don't get caught up in different writing styles.

Another huge plus in this collection is the amount of diversity. These stories provide representation for BIPOC, AAPI, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ communities. A lot of the stories involve a romantic arc, but not all of them. Some are heartwarming stories of friendship and second chances. There are a few that delve more into the magical realism realm with ghosts and superpowers though most are contemporary.

**Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**