I liked this book well enough, but I would have liked it more a few years ago. Just a few years ago, I would have been able to really identify with the main character and her situation. I've been through that time when your friendships can get weird and I know how it feels to think they are all falling apart. But, I wouldn't say I'm still in that place, so the book didn't hit me the same way it would have if I had read it sooner. If you are in that place, that quarter-life crisis time, then this book will probably speak to you more. If you are just shy of the quarter-life crisis, then you will probably like this book a lot too because you'll feel normal if/when it happens to you. If, however, you are over that hump, you might only be reminded of that rocky time and find yourself not enjoying it very much.

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Good book about a 27 yr old woman who has a fine taste for food gets fired and has to move back in with her ex boyfriend. A very fun easy read!

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This is my first Ariella Papa book and I have two additional Red Dress Ink titles by this author buried in my to be read pile.

Up & Out centers around a young woman named Rebecca, whose life is made up of working at a television network, eating out at as many restaurants as her wallet will allow her and the occasional sexual encounter with her ex boyfriend. Rebecca's life takes a sudden and unexpected turn when she is terminated from her job after the network is taken over by a bank. Left to make ends meet and facing homelessness, Rebecca moves back in with her boyfriend to figure out what direction her life will take her next.

If this was all the story entailed, I would have given up on this book as a waste of time. Fortunately, this story is rich in characters. Surrounding Rebecca are her three best friends, all of whom are going through their own trials and tribulations. I was often left wondering if the stress and anxieties these women were experiencing would bring them closer together as friends or drive them apart.

Rebecca comes off stronger than I initially was led to believe and though some of her choices are not choices I would have made, she manages to land on her feet and better off than where she started. I especially liked that I was surprised at one of her choices where her ex-boyfriend was concerned and they both turned out to be not at all what I was expecting.

Though there is a "boy meets girl" twist in this story, it comes from a very unexpected place and made the story so much more enjoyable. If you like the unexpected and enjoy being surprised, give this one a go.

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I loved this book, Rebecca is so funny, she made Esme into a great cartoon and then a show untill the "bigwigs" take it over....how will she ever eat expensive food again????

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Excellent chicklit. The characters and the storyline are complex and enjoyable.

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