Title: I’m Not Dying with You Tonight
Author: Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal
Publication: August 6, 2019
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: YA Fiction
Pages: 272
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Lena and Campbell aren’t friends.
Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she’s going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.
When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.
They aren’t friends. They hardly understand the other’s point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they’re going to survive the night.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal, but what I got was so much more than I had hoped.
I didn’t love this book because it was fun and enjoyable. I love this book because it is a perfect description of the world we live in now. Lena and Campbell could not be more different, but Jones and Segal showed people from two different sides of the tracks, or so they thought, and how you can think you know someone’s situation so much, yet really know nothing about them. It’s easy to make assumptions about people and that is exactly what Lena and Campbell do in this instance. We got a glimpse of how Black Lives Matter has brought racial issues to light and how in some places the police don’t always feel like the helpful heroes they are suppose to be.
While I probably compare more with Campbell, I really loved Lena’s personality. She was so in your face and confident, but we saw glimpses of her being scared or unsure as well. I also love the story of Black and how you expect people to let you down sometimes and then they just come through and surprise you.
There were so many great lessons in this book, and not only the obvious one about not judging people by the covers. We learned how something that seems so innocent can come off as racially charged in the world we live in today. I love how these two different personalities came together and, in my opinion, could be friends in the end. Such a fantastic story to bridge the divide we are facing in our own world.
Jones and Segal did a fantastic job writing this book and showing the reality of both sides and how different we may see things based on where we grow up and the environment we are surrounded by. I think in our current world, everyone should be required to read a book like this to gain perspective. Hats off to the authors for taking on a hard hitting, taboo subject that most shy away from and turning it into a riveting story of growth, survival, and coming of age.
STAR RATING: 4/5
Pick up your copy of I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookstore. Also make sure to add it to your To Reads list on Goodreads and leave feedback for the author when you are finished.
