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A review by lovelykd
I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones, Gilly Segal
2.0
This story was tough to digest because it lacked believability in so many areas.
While I understand how easily a race-infused confrontation can escalate into riotous violence, the very origin of the chaos was not only avoidable but controllable. Everything seemed--and I say "seemed" because the events it set off felt outside the range of plausible given its idiocy--to hinge on a tense exchange between two teenage boys.
Said exchange happens in view of both Lena and Campbell--which is how they come together--with, apparently, no reasonable adults, or even school security, present.
By the time the school resource officers do arrive, there's a riot...then sirens ...then a gunshot ...then all hell breaks loose?
Everywhere.
In what universe does this happen without additional context?
Even if I could get beyond all of that nonsense, I could not get beyond the idiocy of Lena or the cluelessness of Campbell.
Lena continually tossed common sense and safety to the side in favor of hooking up with a boy. It didn't appear to matter that said boy was fine ditching, dismissing, and dissing her at every turn. She continued to have faith he would come through ...and I just ...no. I couldn't handle such willful stupidity in a girl who obviously had more than a little common sense.
Then there's Campbell.
Lena's desire to chase behind a boyfriend who, seemingly, didn't care about her, or her safety, for the better part of the story, was annoying; time and again she opted to call him instead of using any one of the options she had available to get out of a dangerous situation.
Then there was Campbell.
I know she's supposed to come across unversed in the ways of Black/white relations--and that's fine--but you'd have thought the girl never stepped out her front door, turned on a television, or read a news headline. She was always confused, or scared, or timid.
The one time she shows any backbone was during a situation where her safety was definitely at-risk and sitting the heck down/shutting the heck up would've not only been prudent but wise.
And yet ...whew.
It's not a stretch to say Lena and Campbell would've avoided this situation altogether had either been smart enough to dial a responsible adult or reliable emergency contact.
It had potential but the whole situation was too far-fetched to take seriously.
Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Sourcebooks Fire for the Advanced eGalley of this work. Opinion is my own and was not influenced by its receipt.
While I understand how easily a race-infused confrontation can escalate into riotous violence, the very origin of the chaos was not only avoidable but controllable. Everything seemed--and I say "seemed" because the events it set off felt outside the range of plausible given its idiocy--to hinge on a tense exchange between two teenage boys.
Said exchange happens in view of both Lena and Campbell--which is how they come together--with, apparently, no reasonable adults, or even school security, present.
By the time the school resource officers do arrive, there's a riot...then sirens ...then a gunshot ...then all hell breaks loose?
Everywhere.
In what universe does this happen without additional context?
Even if I could get beyond all of that nonsense, I could not get beyond the idiocy of Lena or the cluelessness of Campbell.
Lena continually tossed common sense and safety to the side in favor of hooking up with a boy. It didn't appear to matter that said boy was fine ditching, dismissing, and dissing her at every turn. She continued to have faith he would come through ...and I just ...no. I couldn't handle such willful stupidity in a girl who obviously had more than a little common sense.
Then there's Campbell.
Lena's desire to chase behind a boyfriend who, seemingly, didn't care about her, or her safety, for the better part of the story, was annoying; time and again she opted to call him instead of using any one of the options she had available to get out of a dangerous situation.
Then there was Campbell.
I know she's supposed to come across unversed in the ways of Black/white relations--and that's fine--but you'd have thought the girl never stepped out her front door, turned on a television, or read a news headline. She was always confused, or scared, or timid.
The one time she shows any backbone was during a situation where her safety was definitely at-risk and sitting the heck down/shutting the heck up would've not only been prudent but wise.
And yet ...whew.
It's not a stretch to say Lena and Campbell would've avoided this situation altogether had either been smart enough to dial a responsible adult or reliable emergency contact.
It had potential but the whole situation was too far-fetched to take seriously.
Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Sourcebooks Fire for the Advanced eGalley of this work. Opinion is my own and was not influenced by its receipt.