This was delightfully weird. The witchy aspect of the plot caught me off guard at first but it ended up being a really interesting way to unpack grief and tell the main character's story. Reading this made me send a text to a few friends I hadn't talked to in a while - it makes you grateful for who you have in your life while you have them.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Maybe it was the late out of every text conversation or just kind of a mess of everything. It just wasn't for me.

A beautiful story about love, friendship and grief. At first I had a hard time getting behind the medium/witch aspect of the story, but it ended up being a beautiful way to allow Eve, the main character to grieve the loss of her best friend who committed suicide.

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

“La Cuevita was one of our regular bars, recently renamed from the English (Little Cave) to the Spanish, potentially to make it seem more authentically Mexican. It wasn’t authentically anything, really, but it was cave-like to be sure; the ceilings were low and the rooms were dark and what lighting there was was red. I liked red bars. I looked good in pictures in red light.

I wanted to love this book and I did like it but I had a hard time getting into it. The main character is so hard to read. It was a great concept and well written. Mystery lovers might like it more

This was such an interesting read. First of all, we've all been on one end or another of the "U up?" text, so I was immediately drawn in by the title and the cover. This new adult novel has emotional turmoil, ghosts, meditation, represents multiple characters within the LGBTQIA community, and deals with the suicide of a friend. For those of you who are easily triggered by suicide, this might not be the best book for you—but I thought it addressed the people who are left behind rather beautifully. I appreciated the fact that our main character, Eve, is flawed. I also appreciated that even though she went through a nice character arc where she discovered and addressed those flaws, that she still remains a flawed human with a messy life—a real life.

I liked the setting of LA; and felt that the descriptions of the city, the different bars and streets that our character's wander were authentic. I want to head there right now and wander around from sun up to sun down. This was definitely a novel that felt lived rather than read. I was with Eve as we suffered through a hangover, panic, worry, anger—I walked beside her through the journey of grief and mourning. Definitely recommend this novel to 18+ readers who enjoy a contemporary fiction novel with a smidge of magic and a lot of love.

The premise of this novel sounded so interesting, but unfortunately I absolutely hated reading from the main character's perspective. I typically love unlikable characters, but this main character was simultaneously annoying and bland.

i was pretty ambivalent about this book, parts i found interesting but a lot of it was ?? what was the point. I finished it because i wanted to find out what happened with her missing friend, not really a mystery but a look at a sub culture of a certain age

Well written with good character development but very predictable to me. Booty calls and love and heartbreak games between friends and non friends. Awkward phases and the high and lows. This book was predictable and honestly not too engaging. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A super fun, current and hip book, U UP? was super delightful. A queer story about how millennials communication nowadays, I loved the journey through LA over one weekend. It also has ghosts, and is pretty creepy at times! Will def read anything from this author in the future as well.

It took me a minute to get into the format of this book, but when I did, I finished it in a single sitting. Interesting novel about friendship and boundaries and all the self(ish) things: self-care, self-harm, self-aggrandizement, self-importance.

Disclaimer: I got this ARC from @NetGalley.

I loved how this book talked about toxic exes and looked at friendships from a more relatable perspective!

From the blurb, I knew ghosts were mentioned in this book, but I wasn’t expecting the ghost to be text messaging. That was too much for me. Other people might enjoy this book, but it was not for me.