I'm Not Dying With You Tonight

Lena is living the dream, the popular girl in school, dating a hip guy, and on the road to make it big!  Opposite Lena, is Campbell who is just trying to stay under the radar.  Due to unfortunate circumstances, Campbell has been uprooted from her senior year, sent to a new town to live with her father, and hopes to just survive the new school.

The two characters cross at a Friday night football game when a fight breaks out. The one fight turns into a night of chaos throughout the racially divided town and two strangers become friends in order to make it out alive.

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight, is written by two authors from of different race.  Each chapter alternates between the characters.  The authors did a fabulous job of illustrating themes of race, culture, and how all are human.

Stop by the library and check this one out!

Heroine

Following a car accident, softball star, Mickey Catalan is recovering from surgery and attending physical therapy.  All the while she is staving off the pain with a prescription from her doctor.  Mickey has to find a way to bounce back from this accident, softball season is on the horizon and she needs her starting spot as catcher.  When the pain pills run out she finds other ways to get her feel good fix, as she falls into a trap of lying to herself, and becoming an addict. 

McGinnis rips to the underlying truth of how easy it is for this character to slide down the slippery slope of pain medication leading to addiction.  Mickey finds solace in a new group of friends as she lies to herself denying her addiction. Will she bounce back?

Top 10 TAYSHAS book, well worth the read.  I listened to half of this book on audio and read the second half in print.  The audio version was well done and I would recommend either.  A must read! 

Sadie

Growing up on her own and raising her little sister, Sadie has had a challenging life.  She has a new mission when her sister, Maddie is murdered; to find the killer.  Sadie is set on bringing justice and goes on the quest to find the person responsible.  But in doing so, Sadie goes missing.  An investigative radio host, West McCray sets out to solve her case, piecing the clues along the way, hoping to find Sadie before it is too late.

The author has uniquely written this novel between the two main voices of Sadie and West McCray.  The chapters contributed from McCray's point of view are given in radio transcript format.  I liked the break in novel format, it added a creative element.

If you like CSI, murder mystery genres, you certainly want to add this one to your TBR.  This title is also on the TAYSHAS 2020 recommended reading list.

Dear Evan Hansen, The Novel

Evan Hansen has been encouraged by his counselor to write letters to himself as part of his emotional therapy.  However, when a letter he writes ends up in the hands a classmate, Conner, life changes.  Evan is mistakenly drawn into an unfolding family drama, which he sees as a chance of a lifetime.  This is his chance to belong.  But at what cost? 

The novel poses some interesting questions about lying, gossip and the slippery slope of deceit.  Currently, Evan Hansen is a musical on Broadway.  If you have seen it and read the book, how do the two compare?