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My Review:Title: I'm Not Dying with You Tonight
Author: Kimberly Jones, Gilly Segal
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: August 6, 2019
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 272
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge
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My rating:
Blurb: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.
3.5 stars — This book was not quite what I was expecting…which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it did leave me feeling a bit unsatisfied in some areas. I actually started off listening to the audiobook I got from the library, but I wasn’t a fan of either narrator, so I switched to the ebook I already owned.
I think the beginning starts off a bit slow…and I had a hard time connecting with either of our MCs. I feel like we brushed the surface of Campbell, but never got enough to really know her. In the end she was almost just there to showcase well-meaning white people. And boy howdy did she nail that on the head sometimes. I will be surprised if a white person reads it and doesn’t see thoughts they’ve thought in the past. It was nice to get a more well-rounded view, by seeing things from both perspectives. I appreciated that we like Campbell, and we know she’s not a bad person, but even she makes missteps — because in general that sums up so many of us. It helps to see her reflecting on those initial thoughts after having Lena confront them. I thought that was well done.
I also had a hard time connecting with Lena…and it wasn’t all because she was a black character. The things that are important to her (fashion, looking good, wanting to be seen, etc) just aren’t things that have really interested me. I could NOT understand her relationship with Black, and was more on the side of every other character that questioned her. I feel like we got some resolution to that, and I was happy and surprised with the way some things played out (it was more three dimensional than I was expecting), but I still don’t feel like I quite understand why Lena was so attached to Black and the scene that came with him.
I will say that if this hadn’t been a short book, I’m not sure I would have pressed forward…which would be a shame because it really picked up as the story went along, and I finally started to feel things for these girls. I loved that the development of their friendship was slow, and had its ups and downs, and was almost reluctant at times. It felt very realistic. I appreciated that Campbell wasn’t the only one running on misconceptions and assumptions — Lena had some of her own.
All in all I’m glad I read the story, but I think I was hoping for more. And honestly? I have mixed feelings on the abrupt ending. I can kinda see how it works for the kind of story told, but I’m an epilogue lover…I don’t want to imagine for myself how things would have gone, I want to know. 😛
Oh, that’s a bummer. I’m glad it was short so you didn’t have to DNF. Although, the ending did sound lacking.