[Review] I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal

Cover image from the goodreads website.

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Release Date: 6 August, 2019

Publisher: Recorded Books/Sourcebooks Fire

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Friendship/Racism

ASIN: B07XD5MS8B

Edition: Audiobook (also available in Kindle and Hardback)

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review Written: 18 November, 2019
Warnings: Racism, Violence, Rioting

Summary:  
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.

See more by Kimberly Jones at her Website. See more by Gilly Segal at her website.

[Review] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Series: Stand-Alone

Release Date: 28 February, 2017

Publisher: HarperCollins

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Emotions & Feelings/Social & Family Issues /Prejudice & Racism/Violence

ISBN: 9780062498533

Edition: Audiobook

Rating: ★★★★★

Review Written: 16 June, 2018

Summary: Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty. Soon to be a major motion picture from Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

See more by Angie Thomas at her Website.

Trigger Warnings: Police Brutality, Murder, Graphic Violence