What an incredible book! I really enjoyed watching the friendship grow between Lena and Campbell. Campbell clearly doesn't understand how different life is for people of colour and it was good to see Lena calling her out on it. This book is up there with the likes of The Hate U Give. The events in this story seemed realistic and reminded me of similar events that happened in real life a few years ago. I got caught up in the story and didn't want to put the book down. I highly recommend!

This book just didn't feel as important and believable as it should have. Many YA books such as T.H.U.G., deliver more emotional and impactful stories on the racial divide. This is still worth the read, but if I was asked for my top 10 YA books about the subject this wouldn't make the cut.

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight is a suspenseful page-turner that tackles the subject of race relations through the eyes of two teen girls, one Black and one white, who seem to have nothing in common. Forced together by circumstance, the two forge a shaky alliance built a shared desperation to survive the violence of a riot sparked by a confrontation at a football game and a local protest against racism. Both Lena and Campbell are forced to understand the other person's situation. Campbell in particular has to reckon with the racism that her white privilege has shielded her from all her life. The book doesn't pull its punches with being real about police brutality against Black people. Overall, I enjoyed the read, but I felt like it could have gone deeper into the issues it addressed. Black Lives Matter was only brought up in passing, and a lot of the conversations about racism were still in the realm of individual prejudice and implicit bias rather than systemic oppression. I think the book would have been more impactful if it had delved into the systemic and historical roots of racism more.

This book follows two high school students, Lena and Campbell, over the course of a few hours. Lena and Campbell aren’t friends and hardly know each other. But one night at a football game a fight breaks out and soon the city is in chaos, forcing these two to rely on one another if they intend to survive the night.

Fast paced and told in alternating perspective, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight shines a light on racial tension that is currently happening today.

I received a reviewer copy of I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones from the publisher Sourcebooks Fire through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lena and Campbell. One white, the other black. Could any two girls be any different? Or are they? They meet under difficult circumstances. Both are working the concession stand at the local high school football game on a Friday night when a riot starts. Not knowing what to do, the girls team together to hopefully get out safely. Can they trust each other? They must learn to work together to overcome the fear and prejudices that they have to come out of this alive.
This book really didn’t do it for me, but I can see where there would be an audience for this type of story.
Thanks to netgalley for an advanced copy of this book for an honest opinion.

When Campbell has to move in with her father and change schools in the middle of high school, she's not happy, but she's trying to stay unnoticed and invisible in her new Atlanta school. After getting roped into helping out at the concession stand during a football game, she gets caught up in a race riot. With no phone and no way to get home, or even be sure in which direction home is, Campbell ends up hiking out with Lena, a black girl she barely knows.

The two of them traverse dangerous streets to escape the chaos and violence, They really don't know one another but they quickly realize there is no one else upon whom to rely and work together to get out of situation, learning some things about themselves and human nature along the way..

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight is a snappy, action packed novel that explores the lives of two girls, Lena and Campbell, who are thrown together during a riot. I liked the plot—it moved quickly, and the tension between the girls as well as surrounding them drove key elements of the story.

In the novel, Campbell and Lena have to work together to survive riots that happen in their city, which is difficult in the face of violence, looting, and mistrust. I enjoyed how the pacing suited the story: readers are thrown into moments with the lead characters, and watch on the edges of our seats as they make decisions about how to get home when different routes keep closing to them. However, this constant motion did leave a lot of room for underdevelopment in other areas.

While the plot was fully fleshed out, the characters are less so. Various moments during the novel could have been extended more to give insight into Campbell and Lena’s backgrounds and personalities, besides the few key traits chosen to be repeated. Lena: loves her boyfriend, protective cousin, likes fashion. Campbell: former runner, new to town, lives with her dad. Other than that? Not much to say. They had distinct voices because of the writing style, but I wish readers could get a deeper feel for their characters.

Another problem I had is that the setting seemed vague. The story is very much set in the moment, which is great for readers to understand the action, but I would have liked to dive into town history and dynamics as well. There seemed to be tension between different parts of the town. Exploring the region from the perspective of Campbell, who just moved in, as well as Lena, who had lived there longer would have been an interesting contrast.

Overall, an important book touching on racial conflicts, police brutality, and the story of two girls overcoming fear and prejudices to work together in a disaster, but has a few key flaws that diminished my reading experience. 3/5 stars.

Mostly I just gotta clear this one off my Netgalley shelf and it does seem like it’ll be a quick and easy read. I’m not super far into it, but it’s about a shooting that breaks out at a high school football game and the rest of the events that ensued thereafter. I really wanted to appreciate this as the YA novel it was, but it totally didn’t work for me. There was just way too much going on – a school shooting, a homeless person that pursues these two girls, AND a city-wide riot? There were too many storylines for the authors to do any justice to any of them. Also, while there are shots being fired, one of the girls was much more concerned with why her boyfriend wasn’t answering her phone calls. Is her cheating on her?! None of it made sense…neither girl was demonstrating the emotions I would expect from people who are fearful for their lives. I can’t even dismiss these issues as part of the YA genre – it just wasn’t very well written.

I read this entire book within two hours! This <b>rarely</b> happens for me.

I’ll preface this by saying reading Lena’s chapters were a little hard for me to read, but only in a “I’m a mayo white girl trying to read a not white dialogue.”

We see a bond between Lena and Campbell. They stick it out together from the beginning, and while Lena is more interested in meeting up with Black . . . she still doesn’t leave Campbell behind.

There were a few issues, but all of that isn’t my final take away from the entire book. It was the title line in the book that made me see things differently, too.

Lena is selfish as hell, being obsessed with meeting up with Black during rioting and protesting instead of getting herself home!

Then there’s Campbell, this white girl who is thrust into something she knows nothing about. I can say the same about Lena to some extent. This was my main issue. The girls fought but neither were willing to truly understand from each other’s point of view.

The ending also fell a little short. It just felt like nothing was truly resolved. Were they friends now, or would they go back to ignoring each other?

Overall, this is an amazingly quick read that will have you rooting for these girls. In the time of hate, it’s nice to see two girls of completely different backgrounds working together and sticking it out for one another.

I'M NOT DYING WITH YOU TONIGHT by Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones blew me away. Told in alternate POVs was the perfect way to tell this story. It was uncomfortable at times, intense and it needed to be!

I expected this book to be extremely hard hitting, so I was surprised at the very beginning when I was under the illusion that it might not be as rough as I was thinking. Let’s just say I was in the right state of mind expecting hard hitting, chaotic, story of survival. The fact that the whole book only took place in a span of hours was a great idea, since it could be very detailed. At some points I felt like it dragged just a bit, but I was fine with it.

I disliked Lena’s character from the very beginning, I found her obnoxious and frustrating, luckily she completely redeemed herself in my eyes. Campbell on the other hand annoyed my with how naive she was, which was a complete contrast to Lena. While both were not the best characters in my eyes they definitely changed perspectives throughout the night, and seemed to grow a lot.

Overall I thought this would be like a few other books I’ve read within the past few years, which will remain unnamed. I didn’t think this held up to those, but it was still a hard hitting read, with so much character devleopment. If you are on the fence with this one, I would for sure say give it a go.

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight was a decent book about two girls that aren't friends, but spend the night of a riot together.

I think I tend to prefer character driven books rather than plot driven, so this probably wasn't the best choice for me. The story jumps from one outrageous situation to the next. We don't learn much about Lena or Campbell and certainly next to nothing about Black, Marcus, or any of the other characters.

As far as the actual story, it seems so farfetched and over the top. I get it. The book is supposed to focus on just this one night. However, I really feels like it turns what could have been a great book to a mediocre one. We hear about some of the tension from before the riot, but we're not shown any of it. Even though we're told that the town is upset about police brutality and the racist governor (?), it just feels like this violence comes from nowhere. This story needs that build up, the restlessness of the people. Otherwise, it just kind of falls flat with no real connection to these characters that I'm supposed to care about.

While I appreciate the discussion that this book comes with, as far as a book? It just misses the mark for me.

I really enjoyed this book, as the writing was stellar. I think this was due to the fact that this book was written by a white woman and a black woman. The characters were realistic and their thoughts and speech were exactly what they would be like in real life. The hesitation of Lena and Campbell to stick together and get through this hellish night was a struggle many of us would have if we were in their situation. And Lena’s denial about Black’s not coming to her rescue is how most young girls in love behave. This is truly a book that I see becoming a classic that is read in schools.

So I picked this up because it was the big read pick for the month. And I was excited to read it, only to be a little let down. I personally feel as though there was a lot of potential that could have been tapped into.


We follow Lena and Campbell help each other survive perhaps one of the craziest nights of their lives. There was a tension being built up throughout the book that never really gets solved. I needed more character development, and I definitely wanted more from Lena’s and Campbell’s relationship and I felt like the story was a bit rushed. I wanted to love this one, but it didn’t happen for me.

I was really excited about this book, as I am always looking for more novels that I can recommend to my students who love The Hate U Give and are looking for titles that similarly deal with issues of race, privilege, and current events. That said, I was a little disappointed by this one. I felt like the violence that existed within the black community as depicted in the book was a little heavy-handed, and it bordered on seeming like a "both sides" kind of look at violence within poor communities of color, in which racism is partly to blame, but the culture itself is also to blame (this felt especially true re: the description of the looting that took place, but also in terms of the violence at the football game earlier in the book). I might still recommend it to my students, but I don't think I'll adopt it for classroom use.

I love this book for older middle school and high school. There was barely any cursing and although there is violence, it's not graphic.

I liked the premise of this book - 2 teenage girls giving their perspective on a racial incident turned riot in their town. I think it will be compared to The Hate U Give and Dear Martin but it really doesn't compare to those books. I think both of those books definitely gave more character building while this one only scratched the surface on the main characters and their motivations. I think it's a good vehicle to get younger folks talking about race and issues and violence and stereotypes but it's not one I would reach for before others that do a similar thing. I think the caliber of writing is also not as high as THUG or Dear Martin. I work for a network of urban high schools and I think some of our students would really relate to this book and classrooms would have a lot to unpack. Our communities are not Black/White but more Black/Latino but I think they would still really relate to some of the issues brought up in this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for a digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for letting me read an advanced copy of the book (sorry for the late review).
I found this a great read that had me flipping the pages to find out what happened next. (Didn't put it down -- finished it in one sitting)

Thanks to the publishers for an advanced copy. I listened to this novel through Libby. It was a great read/listen. The events were often traumatic to read, but lighter moments and banter helped to carry along the engaging plot. A current, fast-moving, and powerful read.

“ All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Mediocre writing and some serious plot holes. I mostly read children's fiction but will make an exception for exciting YA. This did not feel worthy of the praise it's received.