I really enjoyed this book. It felt a little exaggerated with all of the events that took place. However I think it touched on a lot of really important social issues and topics and for that reason I gave it 3 stars. It was a really quick read for me. I wish I knew a little more about Lena’s life and family because she was still a bit of a mystery at the end. Thanks for the chance to read!

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight “chronicles a fight that breaks out at a racially divided Atlanta high school and escalates into citywide riots, told in alternating point of views between two girls—one black and one white.”

This book tells a really important story, and I think it's a great addition to the YA world. Campbell and Lena get sucked into the middle of downtown rioting after escaping from an escalating situation at their high school after shots are fired. They don't know each other at all as this was Campbell's first year at the school, and as Campbell later reflects on, she didn't bother to do anything to get to know the people in her new community. Lena doesn't hang out with "Beckies" either as she refers to Campbell for a good portion of the book, until they find each other relying on each in a literal life or death situation. It's so fast paced, and the tension level stays so high and emotional that I raced through this book in about a day. Campbell finds herself re-evaluating what she think she knows about the Black Lives Matter movement and Lena realizes that the people she was surrounding herself with may not be who she thought they were. My only critique of this book is that I'm so sad it ended where it did. I want more from these characters. I wanted to see what happened the next day, did they stay friends? Did Lena stay with her boyfriend? Is Lena's cousin okay? Does Campbell help her Dad see the error of his obvious opinions? I need SO. MUCH MORE. I know the book told the story it set out to tell, but I would certainly not be sad to see a whole series of books about these characters.

I really enjoyed this read.
Lena and Campbell are two girls who attend the same high school but are in completely different social circles and have never interacted. Until a series of events throws them together for the fight of their lives. Some parts of this book were super suspenseful and had me holding my breath. Like most books there is always something that could have been done differently and in this one I believe a map would have been helpful.. At some points I wasn't sure where they were or even what the end goal was. This book is about a very important topic and because of that I believe it should surpass the YA genre. Definitely worth a read and I will look forward to seeing more books by these authours!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for and honest review :)

I loved this book! I will be recommending it to all my young adult readers! Thank you for this opportunity to connect books to their readers.

Would appeal to readers of "The Hate U Give" and others like it. Good dialogue and character development.

This book deals topics we unfortunately see all too much of in news nearly every day. Novels such as this are crucial and timely, and when I saw that author Nic Stone blurbed it, I knew I wanted to read it.

The contrasting characters and their viewpoints really make this novel. Lena is in a familiar environment, but is very much aware of its dangerous undercurrents, much more so than Campbell, new to the neighborhood, and the epitome of a fish out of water. With alternating chapters, their voices are distinct, and the narrative is well done. Their conversations, and occasionally clashing opinions, throughout the evening do a good job at shedding light on the reality of their lives and shattering stereotypes they hold of each other.

No doubt the girls' situation is intense and precarious, and this is communicated well. That being said, I questioned some of their actions. Lena leads them toward her boyfriend, who is supposed to take them to safety, but he's in the direction of the rioting. It's mentioned early on that Campbell's house is a twenty minute walk from the stadium, where it all began, so I wondered why they didn't go there to begin with. Maybe a map at the front of the book would have been helpful? Their reasoning wasn't made clear, especially when Campbell had a phone, and there must have been other friends or people at the stadium who could have given them a ride. I also thought a peaceful protest at such a late hour was odd.

This is a compelling book with strong characterization, but parts of it seemed random, and I would have liked more information on the characters' reasoning, and more of an overview of the rioting.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

There wasn't anything about this book that I didn't like. We alternate between two POVs, Campbell's and Lena's. One being a white girl, new to the school and town. The other being a black girl who has style and popularity. Their lives begin to intertwine when they're both attending a school football game. When a fight breaks out and leads to shots being fired, they both work together to figure out how to escape the danger. On their way to meeting up with Lena's boyfriend, Black, to get a ride home, they get mixed up in a protest turned riot downtown.
The whole story is fast paced and action packed. I also became invested in the characters and was curious to see how their stories progressed. This story does a great job holding it's own amongst other great YA books addressing race relations.
I enjoyed that they had two different POVs from two different girls experiencing the same thing. I liked how their friendship blossomed under the circumstances. I was also satisfied with the conclusion of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed or is planning to read Dear Martin or The Hate U Give.

Yawn. For a book about riots where the characters are frequently in peril, this was SO BORING. And it didn't make much sense, either. My internal monologue while reading this book was entirely, "WHY ARE YOU DUMB?!"

Questions I had:
1. Why would you go into the riot zone?! YOU HAD OTHER OPTIONS. YOU COULD HAVE JUST WALKED HOME. WHY ARE YOU DUMB.
2. Why would you KEEP going into the riot zone? I get that Lena's boyfriend was supposedly there, but like... GIRL. He ignores you pretty frequently. He doesn't even care enough to text you that he left the place he told you to meet him. WHY ARE YOU SO SET ON MEETING UP WITH HIM. WHY ARE YOU DUMB.
3. Why would you STOP in the MIDDLE OF A RIOT to have a philosophical conversation about racism? YOU WOULDN'T. THAT WOULD NOT HAPPEN. EXCEPT CAMPBELL AND LENA DO THIS, MULTIPLE TIMES. WHY. ARE. YOU. DUMB.
4. Why would you not call your grownup?? I know Lena didn't want to get in trouble, but she got in trouble anyway at the end and I just DO NOT understand why she would put herself in danger so Pops wouldn't call the church ladies. Also, like, I cannot think of ANYONE in a parental role who isn't abusive or neglectful (and it doesn't seem like Pops is either of those things) who would be mad after being called to pick you up after you've left a riot zone. Especially if your plan is to go INTO ANOTHER RIOT ZONE (WHY ARE YOU DUMB) like NO GROWNUP WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A CHILD WOULD BE ANGRY THAT YOU CALLED THEM TO COME GET YOU. Angry for lying, sure, but that pales in comparison to how angry I would be that they decided to WALK. THROUGH. A. RIOT. instead of calling me. WHY ARE YOU DUMB?!
5. Why does Lena's voice change so much halfway through? She drops the AAVE almost entirely. This isn't a WHY ARE YOU DUMB question, but I did genuinely have trouble telling the girls' chapters apart after the beginning.

This book has been done before, and done better. Read Lies We Tell Ourselves if you're interested in a book with two perspectives and a historical view on race relations. Read The Hate U Give if you want a modern YA about race. Read The Stars Beneath Our Feet or Ghost Boys if you want something that's appropriate for a younger audience. Don't read this book unless you want to be screaming WHY ARE YOU DUMB!??!?! after every page.

Yet another example of why the gap between races, classes, gender, gender identification needs to be closed. Multi-fauceted characters, centered around today's hot topics, with just a few plot holds that somehow still allows the story ti work. Not my favorite story but still one that needs to be told.

If you like Nic Stone, Jason Reynolds and Angie Thomas you will like I'm Not Dying With You Tonight! I loved this book! Two girls; Campbell who is new to the school, an introvert and missing everything from her old life....and Lena; the pretty, popular outgoing 'princess" of the school (or at least Campbell thinks so). Then one Friday night at the school football game Lena and Campbell's worlds collide. Soon they have to learn to depend on each other to get through the night and safely home. Can these two opposites in every way actually find common ground and make it home safely? Read I'm Not Dying With You Tonight and find out! I really loved this book and the dynamic between Lena and Campbell. It's really great to see how these two totally different girls in every way learn to work together and respect each other along the way too!

When a riot breaks out near a high school concessions stand, two girls of different race and with different perspectives, join up to save each other from the ensuing chaos. Through the adventures of the evening and mutually shared, often scary experiences, they bond and learn about each other. The reader grows with them.

This dual-authored novel is dual-narrated by Lena and Campbell, a Black and a white girl who get caught up in a riot. They begin the night strangers, but in having to rely on one another become close. New in town Campbell is ignorantly, but actively racist. Lena has a boyfriend who may not be that into her.

Lena is a compelling character--strong and surprising. Campbell--not so much. I appreciate the premise of the story, but the telling didn't do much for me.

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Gilly Segal; Kimberly Jones is a great story! I loved the characters and the story, very interesting and thought provoking.

What could be so dangerous about a Friday night high school football game? Not much until a fight breaks about and all hell breaks looks. Simmering racial tensions are unleashed. Lena and Campbell, two girls with nothing in common except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lena is an African American girl and Campbell is white. Even though they really don't know or understand each other, they must rely on each other to get home as the chaos takes over the town.

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones is a compelling novel of two high school girls who are swept up in a scary situation by accident. After a fight breaks out at a high school football game, Lena and Campbell are thrown together by chance and placed in a very dangerous situation. They learn a lot about racism and each other as they struggle to to make their way to safety. Don't miss this YA novel! Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire, NetGalley and the authors for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tough one to rate. The voice and narration in this are absolutely stellar, and characters like Lena are so very uncommon and valuable in the YA cannon right now. But other than that, I found myself unable to suspend disbelief and get absorbed in the story. Ultimately, is it worth the read though? I think so.

A few minimal spoilers ahead.

My biggest problem here was that all the events felt so random and I wanted more context and explanation instead of the constant moving away. This revolves mainly around riots that come out of protests, but starts off with a big fight at the girls' high school. I wanted more details on how this fight went down. I didn't buy that the teacher just forgot about them. I wanted more information on where everyone went--there was a whole football field of students that just...disappeared? Surely other kids were leaving in vehicles. Surely they could have at least asked for a ride.
And then these riots. Yes, yes yes yes. I have a lot of thoughts about rioting as a form of protest, and I really appreciated how they acknowledged in the book that it's one of very, very few ways to get attention and that though it might not seem fair, breaking and vandalizing is arguably necessary in order to get any attention to a cause while a peaceful protest is very easy to ignore. However, I found it hard to believe that all of the events of the night strung from a protest and weren't more preplanned. Generally, protests take place during the day because government officials aren't really in their offices on Friday nights. I could have believed this, but I needed a lot more context--maybe through these news reporters or through texts, or maybe Campbell might have checked Twitter or something--in order to suspend my disbelief.
So if one or the other had happened, I'd believe it more, or if there had been a clear connection drawn (a single line! to ackowledge it!) I might have believed it more but it just seems so very unlikely that these would both happen in one night. And I don't think that's my privilege talking.
And then the blurb--"chaos born from violence and hate"--completely dismisses the idea that protesters had anything to do with this. I just really wish that the authors had delved that little bit deeper in and really explored what the roots of all these horrors were.
And Lena and Campbell were both reasonably intelligent, it seemed. So I really struggled to believe that they would just keep moving into this warzone and not be like "well, guess I'm walking a couple of miles tonight!" Campbell had a phone--surely Lena knew other people she could have used social media to contact? I just don't buy it. Surely they would have walked in a different direction. Black had a car, yes, but there are other cars in Atlanta, and since it took them hours to walk to him, why not just walk home?

And setting! Campbell mentions once that they're in Atlanta but I actually had to go back and find that line. I've never been to Atlanta (two weeks until Shaky Knees!) so maybe if I were familiar with the area I'd get it more, but it felt so very insert-generic-city-here. (Also, Campbell's mom moves to Venezuela--what? for a job? what year was this written? why? if you're going to move someone to Venezuela for a job, you need a line about what her job is.)

But on the other hand, this book exCELS in capturing voice. Campbell was a character that could have been plucked from any generic YA book, but Lena felt like a real live black girl and I'm so glad that she used real slang in actual context and it felt very natural. They did an excellent job of observing inherent racism and prejudices that we all have whether we like it or not which is super important, especially to those of us who might not often think about it. The blurb and cover are a bit misleading as they pit the girls against each other when in reality they just didn't know each other outside of having a class together--neither was actively against the other despite their prejudices.

<spoiler>I'm glad Black turned out to be less of a radishweed, but I also wish Lena had stood up to him and put him in his place because wow did she deserve better.

BUT WHAT ABOUT MARCUS????????? DO WE JUST LEAVE HIM TO DIE???????? I was SO upset when I hit acknowledgements without hearing how he was after just being taken to hospital! (Which was also weird. That Lena would just trust that the police would take him to hospital? And not lock him up? After all of her understandable mistrust?<spoiler>

I guess I have a lot to say about this book because it had such potential and did some parts so well, but I feel like it almost got caught up in patting itself on the back about what it did right. I was wavering between 3 and 4 stars when I started writing this, but I think I'm actually at 2.5 now. There were just so many times where I thought "but why not just do this?" and couldn't suspend my disbelief.

Could not put this book down. The two main characters draw you in very quickly. This book makes you see a terrible situation from multiple perspectives.
Two teenage girls with very different backgrounds are thrown into a a quickly escalating situation. Neither girl has someone they can count on when things turn bad. They rely on each other to make it through the night. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed the hate you give.
The only negative I would say about the book is that I was disappointed by the role the boyfriend plays in the book. I feel like he was an additional character that took away from the 2 main characters.
Overall I highly recommend this book!

I enjoyed this book. The main characters, Lena and Campbell, were both well-developed and believable. I also liked the idea of them being from two different backgrounds and having to come together to survive that night. The one thing I was not crazy about was how quickly all of the drama started. I would have liked a little more background information and character development in the first few chapters before the action got so intense.

The writing is distinctive and each main character’s voice is individual. The story was not that interesting to me.

Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of I'm Not Dying with You Tonight. Wow. Lena and Campbell alternate telling us the story. There was a lot of great in this story. Several times I found myself holding my breath or leaning forward as if I was running or hiding. The pace of the sentences caused me to feel like winded. Several characters were really developed well. The ending sort of gave me pause like WHAT??? But the more I mulled it, I thought yes, that works.