Author: Kimberly Jones, Gilly Segal
Genre: YA contemporary
Release Date: August 6th, 2019
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Physical ARC received from publisher which did not influence my opinion
My rating: 5 stars
Synopsis:
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.
My Review:
I read this book in one day. It was so good! When I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. The book goes back and forth between the viewpoints of the two characters. Which I think was a great way to do it. So you can see how each is feeling and reacting, and how each situation unfolds in their eyes. While as an adult I had a bit of a time reading Lena's chapters with her major use of slang and the type of language that teens may be using right now, I was able to google what I needed and figure it out. I feel like this is a much needed story for today for both sides of society represented in this to read. To see first off their totally different reactions to the police showing up. Campbell feeling that now things would be safe once they showed up, that she and Lena could go to them to be safe, to how Lena froze up at the sight of cops and wouldn't go near them. To see the looting taking place and realizing that not everyone agreed with it, but many may just look the other way. So much of the story was intense and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time wondering just what situation the two girls would find themselves in on the next block, or even the next house they reached. In the end the girls probably were able to forge a friendship even if the ending leave it ambiguous and maybe up to our imagination. A great read, one I immediately passed along to a student to read, although I will keep my copy on my own shelves, I will be sure to order several copies for my school library as well.
