4 1/2

Far too often lately I’ve felt like I’ve read prescient books, or perhaps that I’ve not been paying closer attention to past events. Both may be true, I am more than willing to concede.

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal is a powerful, unrelenting book that is as much a page turner as it is a force-of-nature.

Lena is a popular girl but puts all of her faith in her boyfriend, “Black”, who sometimes doesn’t answer her texts or isn’t there when she needs him. Campbell has just moved from her private school to this new town for her senior year after her mother gets a job in South America and can’t take her with her and is just trying to blend in. She and her father are just trying to make ends meet.

Where Lena is street-wise and knowing, Campbell is naive, used to a safe space. Lena believes that Campbell has everything going for her, Campbell knows that’s not true. During the course of a very harsh night, both girls learn a lot about each other, realizing that the knowledge they possess about each other before is wrong, very wrong.

When I say that this book is unrelenting, I mean it. Never does it let up. A few scenes in and you just need to buckle up and hang on. Even when you think things are about to let up and the girls are safe and sound, you’re wrong.

The girls irritate each other at times, frequently, but they come to have a better understanding of each other, and may even grow as close as people can be through the difficulties they encounter. They accept and even defend each other even though before this night they would probably have never even contemplated friendship. They see their own preconceptions, their misuse of words, their misconceptions.

I liked how this novel was told from both points-of-view and in two different voices. The voices sounded realistic to me. The ideas felt real. I felt like Lena and Campbell were presenting their worlds very realistically and that I could feel their realities. I also felt that their sharing was real.

I did feel that maybe the novel ran a bit long, that at one point I reached saturation, but maybe that was intentional. Maybe we all need to feel a beyond-saturation point in order to fully comprehend this experience. Maybe we need to go that extra bit just to *feel* in a world that has become so inured to the suffering of people, our neighbors, friends. If that was indeed the point, I got it. I feel. Definitely.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful and heartbreaking story about violence and race. I'm glad I read this book even though some parts were hard to get through.

This was a good read but unfortunately fell flat with its characters and - due to the length - didn't get to explore and flesh out the conversations I think readers could've gotten.

Lena and Campbell's worlds are turned upside down when a huge fight breaks out at a high school football game. Though they know each other, they aren't friends and they find that their worlds suddenly collide. What follows is them trying to work together to survive an increasingly difficult night filled with racial injustices. I enjoyed the alternating voices of this book and how it tackled some very difficult subjects. It had a lot of heart but it probably wouldn't be the first book I would recommend in the category of social justice/realistic fiction. That being said, I enjoyed it.

There are times when the POV feels a little shallow, but the subject matter is timely enough for this book to make it on anyone's TBR list.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Campbell (white) is new to her high school and volunteers to work the concession stand at her high school's Friday night football game. When someone starts shooting, Trying to get away from the chaos, Lena (black) jumps into the concession stand and hides with Campbell. Soon the girls are trying to make it home and they forge a bond on their way. With looting, crowd mentality, racism and more, this book is fast paced and message filled. Recommend.

What a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, yet uplifting book I'm Not Dying With You Tonight is. While I do not read much from the young adult genre, I had heard such good things about this book that I just had to read it. And i am so glad that I did!! What an incredible story that made me contemplate so many things, including the way I live my life and the choices I make.

Fast read. Perfect book to show two different sides of the devastation that can happen during riots. A book that everyone should read.

Set in one evening during race riots in Atlanta and told in alternating points of view, this was an intense read that I could not put down. Very timely and, although I had some issues overall (some fat shaming and reliance on stereotypes that took away from the story), it would make a great book for discussion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am ashamed to admit that I put off reading it for much too long, but now that I have I will be raving about it to everyone. Campbell, a white girl, and Lena, a black girl, get thrown together in circumstances leading to rioting in what is supposed to be a peaceful protest for the Black Lives Matter movement. During their time together, they learn a lot about each other and race relations. After the events of this past summer and fall, this book should be required reading for everyone trying to see where each other is coming from. I don't know if there will be a sequel, but I would love to see a friendship develop between Lena and Campbell.

A timely and page turning read about two high school girls - one Black and one white - living through the night of a fight-turned-riot in their town. Strong voices presenting myriad opinions on one event; an event that represents so much of what we're all experiencing internationally. A great conversation starter. I'll certainly recommend this to high school students, and would love to see it on more reading lists.

A story written by two women from very different ethnic backgrounds that rang true. I have some mixed feelings about the story, but I see why people would enjoy it and why it is important to read about this subject.

Rating: 3/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: there's a lot to unpack with this read; this is such a tiny window of time, I don't feel like everything was accomplished the authors hoped would be; strong narratives, compelling journey, but the characters fell a bit flat for me

There is an awful lot to unpack from this read, Penguins. So let's start with the biggest one. This entire narrative takes place over the course of just a few slim HOURS. Not years, months, weeks, days.... HOURS. And in those slim hours, a HELL of a lot happened to our two leading ladies. But given such a short window of time, there was very little opportunity for actual GROWTH. We see glimmers of it, sure--the way these two start out annoyed and frustrated with each other, and wind up protecting and having the other's back. The changes, though subtle, in their internal monologues. When this story ended, I left off knowing that the night had brought about a change in each of them--small as those changes may have been in the long run. But I feel like a lot of people might go into this story expecting MORE than what they're given. As much as happens here...the truth is, these two are only two high school girls, facing a world of hatred and violence. The truth is, in just a slim number of hours, I'm honestly not sure ANYONE could find an answer, let alone figure out where to even begin looking.

The fact of the matter is, this was not meant to make some wide-sweeping statement about HOW to change things. In my opinion...this was written just as the authors meant it to be: as a glimpse, a tiny snapshot, into two polar opposite ends of a spectrum -- their reactions, their interactions, and the ways that maybe small steps might go a long way. I'm not trying to downplay the story, don't get me wrong. This was impactful. Powerful. Haunting. These authors took a daunting idea, and turned it into something that CAN make a statement--just a more subtle one than maybe you were hoping for. The conversation MUST start somewhere, and I think books such as this one? Are just such a starting point. I devoured this within a matter of hours--just as quick as the story itself went, is how fast I read it. The prose is PERFECTION. Each character has her own unique, very distinct voice--after the first couple of chapters, I didn't even need to read the heading to see which girl's POV we were following. And with their clear voices, came their sides of this journey. I do wish, a little, that we had gotten a bit MORE from them both--there was so much drama and tension happening, I don't feel like they were really given room to BREATHE or be wholly themselves, which was disappointing for me.

With everything that's happened in the world the last year or two, this book is timely and makes a statement--just a quieter, more subtle one. It does not offer answers, because I don't honestly think it COULD...but from two very different points of view, it goes a long way to making you stop and think about what's going on. For a few very slim hours, there was a lot of tension in this read.

The best thing about this book was the way the racial tension was described, the realism is brought off the page. I think this book is a great way to learn that people can have different points of view based on someone's experiences. Those experiences can shape our reality but you can still be ignorant to their real personality.

There were a few issues with the book. I didn't see a real plot and of course there were some questionable decision the characters made. I also didn't like that they automatically had the black character have a slang to differentiate the voices. While I did grow up in a low income area and went to a diverse school and saw this type of speech there were plenty of other black teens that didn't speak this way. I felt it spoke to stereotypes and cliche's.

The whole story and situation just seemed a little far-fetched for my liking.

What can I say about this book other than I really enjoyed it? I live in California and was alive during the LA Riots (I was too young to remember much). I do remember my mom not wanting to go anywhere near LA during the time. I loved how Kimberly Jones put together this novel for young adults readers to learn about an important time in our history. I thought that the story was really well put together.

This book tackles topics that have always been important but hard to talk about, for some. I think that Segal and Jones did a great job of addressing these issues and creating characters that many readers could relate to.

This story is a wild ride which flips through the perspectives of two girls that are brought together in a crisis situation. Two schools with prior drama surrounding racial issues have a fight break out at a football game. The fight quickly escalated and gun shots are fired. The two girls in this story would likely have not connected outside of this event. M

The story follows these girls as they band together through a night of fights, protests and looting. I really enjoyed this story. It was very timely with everything going on the world.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This was such a good book. And even though I got to it late, still (sadly) so relevant thanks to current events.

An absolutely stunning book! I adored our two leads and how their stories played off each other.

I cried a lot for Campbell and raged for Lena.

This covers race, riots, and shitty boyfriends in an easily digestible and understandable way for teens.

Lots to discuss with your kids and bookclub.

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight switches back and forth between two narrators; their accounts are covered in alternating chapters, and the entire story takes place over the course of one night.This book feels relevant and I imagine it could lead to beneficial conversations in a classroom setting.