About the Book
-
Author:
- Cecilia Vinesse
- Genres:
- Contemporary
- Girl-Girl Romance
- YA Romance
Cover Story: Party Time
BFF Charms: Eventually, Big Sister
Talky Talk: One Night
Bonus Factors: Queer Representation, Horse Girls
Anti-Bonus Factor: Not for the Olds
Relationship Status: Cheer Squad
Cover Story: Party Time
This cover certainly looks like a stereotypical my-parents-are-away-so-let’s-have-a-party kind of party, with a great focus on the book’s protagonists. My biggest complaint is that Autumn doesn’t have freckles, and that’s a serious oversight.
The Deal:
Autum Povitsky hates Tara Esposito. The two have been nemesis for years now, each doing their best to get back at the other whenever they can. But tonight, on the night of prom and the night before the traditional Swansea College Senior Plunge into the frigid ocean off the coast of Massachusetts, there’s magic in the air. And two sworn enemies who have to rely on each other to make it through to morning.
BFF Charms: Eventually and Big Sister
Autumn is the kind of girl I was in high school. Smart, dedicated, not wanting to even bend rules and doing what it takes to keep her valedictorian golden girl status. I didn’t much care for her at first, but that is likely because I saw too much of my high school self in her, and it wasn’t a pretty reflection. She certainly grows on a person, though, when you realize that her Type A personality stems from a wish to make people proud and show them that she can do i, rather than an innate jerkiness. She’s much more fragile than she seems, but she’s also got a great amount of strength that shines through by the end of the novel.
Tara is exactly the kind of girl I wouldn’t have liked in high school, and much like Autumn, I likely would have gone out of my way to see that she got in trouble for being a delinquent. (Like I said, I had a lot of maturing to do. Adult me really likes her, though, because I could see through her tough facade immediately and quickly realized that her slacker nature was just a costume she’d forgotten how to remove. I can’t help wanting to help, especially (and eye-rollingly) when someone has so much dormant potential.
Swoonworthy Scale: 8
If you’ve ever read or seen or even heard of the idea of a romantic comedy, you can easily see where the relationship between Autumn and Tara is going from the very start of the book. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t fun to read their realizations that their hatred wasn’t hatred after all. (And for a “slacker,” Tara has some really swoony lines.)
Talky Talk: One Night
Vinesse hasn’t broken the rom-com mold with All-Nighter, but the novel is a solid addition to the genre. The plot is filled with antics from Autumn’s need to get a fake college ID so that she attend a 2 a.m. open mic to Tara’s rush to complete an essay that will make it possible for her to graduate with the rest of her class. Prom scenes, house parties, mistaken identities, broken-down vehicles, miscommunication, a haunted inn … the list goes on. But what makes All-Nighter fit with other rom-coms isn’t a detriment to the story; no one who reads this genre wants someone to break the mold. Vinesse’s success stems from her strong voice and excellent characters, even the most tertiary of folks. (I <3 Franko!) Her writing is lovely and filled with prose that toes the sometimes razor-thin line between cute and purple to great effect.
It’s the feeling of stumbling across a line in a book that could have been written just for you. It’s a catch in your chest and a sense of rightness when that line seems to lift from the page, every word slotting inside you, like this whole time, they’re exactly what you’ve been missing.
Ed. note: I pulled this quote from an advance copy. The final text might be different.
Bonus Factor: Queer Representation
All-Nighter was a perfect way to kick off my reading during Pride month. It features a variety of queer characters; Autumn is a lesbian, Tara is pansexual, a secondary character is a trans woman, etc. It felt realer for having characters in it that weren’t all just straight white folks. DEI is important, y’all!
Bonus Factor: Horse Girls
I won’t spoil this silly part of the book for you, but I absolutely loved Vinesse’s inclusion of the horse girl stereotype.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Not for the Olds
I know YA is for the youths, but could authors please stop the brutal digs at people who aren’t teens? Every time an author does something like this—
She was so amped up after she got the news that she invited Autumn, Ezra, May, and Sheldon to her house so they could give her karaoke machine a whirl, Ben and her mom joining for some ancient song called “The Boy Is Mine” …
—another butterscotch wrapper appears in the bottom of my purse and my knees start to ache (more).
Ed. note: I pulled this quote from an advance copy. The final text might be different.
Relationship Status: Cheer Squad
I want so much goodness for you, Book. I want a life filled with joy and excitement and smooches and books. At first, I wasn’t sure how well our date would go, but by the end I was super appreciative that you took me along me on your journey. I’m rooting for you!
Literary Matchmaking
Jeff Zentner and Brittany Cavallaro’s Sunrise Nights is another book that takes place over the span of, you guessed it, one night.
Eric Thomas’s Kings of B’more is another one-day adventure with a main character who doesn’t deal well with the idea of change.
Gayle Forman’s Just One Day is a pinnacle of the one-day trope that also features a great amount of swoon.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Quill Tree Books, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. All-Nighter is available now.
