true false top 25% +=500 center top 50% top 33% true 1 1 none 0.5 0 none center top 50% top 33% true 1 1 none 0.5 0 none center top 50% top 33% true 1 3 none 0.5 0 none center top 50% top 33% true 1 3 none 0.5 0 none

Book Author(s): Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight

This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings. 

Lena is Black and has lived in her neighborhood of Atlanta forever. She knows people; she knows where to shop to pull together stylish looks without spending much. She’s confident and has plans for the future. Campbell is white and has just moved to town, attending the same school as Lena. She’s missing her old school and friends up North and is mostly keeping to herself. They likely would never get to know each other. 

But they spend one harrowing night together when they both attend their high school’s football game. Campbell is working the concession stand, and Lena is just getting a snack, when a fight breaks out. Tensions are high between the two schools and fans, and race plays a primary role. Then the fight at the game devolves into riots and looting that radiates outward from the school. 

These two young women from very different backgrounds find themselves having to figure out together how to get away from the danger that spreads like wildfire (and sometimes literally is fire) everywhere they go. They’re terrified; they’re confused; they’re alone even while surrounded by people. 

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight drops readers into the chaos of a race riot and shares the thoughts and points of view of a few Blacks and whites in that scary setting. It’s instructive and insightful. As a YA novel, it doesn’t go deep into race relations or history or sociology. It does place two girls in a situation that still is happening too often, the ingredients of which are still too plentiful and percolating, and allow them to speak their truths and observations that flow naturally from their experiences. I’m glad I got the opportunity to get this look into where they’re coming from.

Rated: Moderate. There are three instances of strong language, right in one sentence. There are some other uses of moderate language here and there throughout, but the authors really don’t put a lot in at all, considering what they could have to be “authentic” to what is happening. There’s no sexual content. Violence is also fairly minimally detailed, considering all that’s going on. There is looting and references to fighting happening, but there are only a couple of instances of somewhat more detailed injuries that stem from the overall rioting. I appreciate that the authors likely kept the details fairly muted for the audience. 

* I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Click here to purchase your copy of I’m Not Dying with You Tonight on Amazon. 

Scroll to Top
Scroll to Top