This book was extremely well written. It encapsulates what it’s like being Gen Z perfectly, and the way it’s written mirrors the nyc lifestyle, fast paced, with no time to linger in emotions, with work being a constant presence, trying to make connections with people but there are too few hours in a day. This book also made me hate almost every single character. They’re unlikable and frankly unrelatable (for me), which unfortunately brought down my enjoyment of it. I am not a situationship girly, I am demisexual through and through, so you can imagine how much I liked reading from Jane’s miserable pov. Books like these make me want to quit dating, never try finding love. But I know and hope that not every person in this world is as miserable as Jane,

I found the main character insufferable and irredeemable. I thought the plot was pretty basic. The prose was suitable but nothing felt especially unique or worthy of saying anything.

"Work Nights" has such heavy roots in Ernest Hemingway that I don't think it would be possible to fully appreciate it without knowing his work. It had several parallels to "The Sun Also Rises." Incredible work that captures the real world extremely well.

2.5 Stars

I often struggle with slice of life books as I find they can feel directionless and ramble-y. I really enjoyed the first 25% of the story, the main character has a strong and distinct voice and while that voice may not be particularly likeable, it stood out as strong character work and peaked my interest immediately. There's some great snark and dry humour that had me laughing out loud a few times.

Towards the middle of the book I started to lose steam, as it felt like nothing was going to happen and I hate to say it did end up feeling directionless. I wasn't completely satisfied with the conclusion, it felt just this side of what I needed to be happy with the book as a whole. A lot of the characters don't feel fully fleshed out, and the lack of much plot ultimately had me lose my interest.

Incoherent book with an unlikable protagonist and despite a strong writing style nothing substantial to keep from it...

Some elements began to feel a bit redundant towards the middle of the book, but I enjoyed this one! I especially loved the writing style.

a classic “nothing happens and everyone is terrible.”

jane is a queer late-twenties adspace saleseman who hates her life and herself. “work nights” is a conversational, slice-of-life style litfic that gives us a peek into her world.

i didn’t /like/ it, but i did enjoy reading it? felt sort of like a nature documentary, watching all these new york lesbians struggle through life as new york lesbians. personally i’m not a fan of books that are /so/ new york either, so i may have been predisposed to judge this one harshly.

i can definitely see the market for this one, i’m just not it.

Jane is a lesbian 20 yo working at a ny newspaper selling ad space. Between feeling like her soul dies a little bit every day, getting torturously rejected by her straight crush, she flits around without any true anchors as only a single 20 something yo without any desire to be on a career trajectory can. Until she meets someone who she gets along with really well who's looking for more permanence and monogamy...

I like the beginning a lot more than the middle around. As someone who's far older than the 20s, it was fun to feel closer to that escapism of not having any responsibilities and not needing to make any decisions, just floating around. There's also something really sad about that.

But I felt like the author didn't really know how to end it. This is actually probably an honest portrayal of a common type of a person. The question is who does she become after the book ends? Was it all a phase or is this who she really is?

In Thrall's Lynn walked so Hannah Horvath could run so our female protagonist here, Jane, could sprint. If that sentence makes sense to you, buy this book ASAP.

i had high hopes for this book but it ultimately was just okay. nothing legendary or life-changing. i will say that it is definitely a great lit fic book, but if you don’t like that genre you definitely won’t enjoy this. there were parts of it that made me laugh out loud, several witty conversations and lines that i highlighted, and several small moments that i audibly said “ew” to. overall, i really wanted jane and addy to end up together, and i was a little unsatisfied by the ending. there wasn’t really any closure. i also liked the workplace setting because it was really relatable, but sometimes the characters felt one-dimensional and it was hard to tell them apart. i also wasn’t fond of the descriptions of donna and alvin; jane’s impressions of them seemed a little hateful and judgey.

not a favorite but a quick read. thank you to netgalley and gallery books for this free arc in exchange for an honest review!

A mordant and well-observed novel about office jobs and gay relationships in your 20s. It reminded me of Rufi Thorpe, Jen Beagin, GREEN DOT by Madeleine Gray, and WORRY by Alexandra Tanner.

Quick and enjoyable, matter-of-fact rather than overly emotional, and more like the TV show GIRLS than the movie THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA.

When I saw this compared to devil wears Prada I thought it would be a fun rom com vibe in the fashion world and it was not. Every single person in this book is insufferable and learns absolutely nothing at all. They all need therapy immediately. I marked it as fast paced because technically the mc is ping ponging around doing various things quickly but actually plot wise nothing happens at all. The depiction of the queer nyc scene was very negative and made everyone seem like vapid assholes. I never had a good time and wasted 3 hours trying to find something enjoyable in this.

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

Funny, fast-paced, and insightful. Jane is a charming narrator, and you want to root for her despite her flaws. I had a great time reading this and could’ve stayed in this world longer. My only critique is that the book moves so fast, I wanted it to slow down at times and have some room to breathe. There are also so many names and positions in this book, and I confess I couldn’t keep them straight (lol) even by the end. But all these people are secondary anyway—it’s really Jane’s story.

Emily Austen meets Jen Beagin in a lit-fic novel about Jane, a girl working a 9-5 in a job she hates while also juggling two relationships. She is meeting a girl names Madeline, who is afraid of labels and free-spirited and a girl named Addy, who is romantic and ready to settle into a committed relationship.

Like I said, reminded me of Austen and Beagin. Austen's stream of consciousness type writing meets Beagin's dry-humored, insufferable characters. I had so much fun with this. The dialogue was hilarious, brimming with sarcasm and dry humor that had me laughing out loud. Jane was also the perfect main character for this type of book. She was funny, cringy, relatable, the worst person ever... the perfect kind of character for lit-fic lol.

An extraordinarily strong debut. I am excited to follow Erica Peplin's career!

Work Nights follows Jane as she navigates being a 9-5 worker in a mundane job and her crushes on a straight girl and queer girl. This was a very stream of consciousness novel looking at ~7 months of Jane's life. I had a little trouble following the writing style as it felt very journal like.

Seeing Jane's conflict between Addy and Madeline felt like a quintessential queer person experience. Falling for a straight person who isn't able to commit but also having the option of a queer person who is ready to have a relationship with you. Because of the writing style being so new to me, I had trouble enjoying the book as it was basically just a laundry list of what happened to Jane. 3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

4.5 stars but I can't do half stars on this website. Reading this felt like listening to a MUNA song. Initially I found this a little bit of a hard read because I didn't like any of the characters and so didn't see how I could become invested in their lives. However, Peplin did a brilliant job at revealing parts about them as the storyline progressed and now I love how complex and authentic the characters are. I especially loved Jane's growing friendships with the people at her job and I loved Erin. Another character that I really appreciated the growth of was Madeline, she didn't necessarily change massively over the course of the novel but my perception of her did and I think this author is very skilled at creating detailed characters. On the other hand, I also loved how we were given little details about certain side characters (for example some of Jane's friends/ people she knew) and we were left to fill in the blanks ourselves. The description of setting was really immersive as well, I've never been to New York so I can't comment on how realistic it is but I really enjoyed the descriptions of Jane and Addy's neighbourhoods and the clubs and bars they went to. Thank you Simon& Schuster and NetGalley an most importantly Nina from Sapphlit for letting me read this ARC!!

Like eavesdropping on a reticent friend who’s secretly anxious and poetically hilarious, “Surrounded by fog and music and people with herpes”

This premise sounded amazing, but it fell a little flat for me. While it was a fun read at times, it did seem that it was trying too hard to be funny, which made it really difficult for me to stick with!

Bisexual books are all the rage for 2025 and I’m eating up each one that shows up on netgally. It was polished to perfection. Delightful read.

WORK NIGHTS is THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA meets BIG SWISS. Jane’s unrequited obsession with intern Madeline is a central focus of this book against the backdrop of New York City. Super atmospheric read that makes you feel like you are also slogging through a workweek in the publishing industry and wandering aimlessly through nightlife, living a life almost completely void of human connection.