This book had its high points and low points. I enjoyed the premise, and the storytelling was fantastic. There were moments that I felt the writing was so strong, and other moments when it was lacking, but overall, it was a fun and entertaining read. The group of teenagers were all likeable and easy to follow. The love triangles and 'murder mystery investigation' were fun aspects that added to the depth of the story as well. All in all, I'll definitely be reading this one again!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Pride or Die centers around the LGBTQIA+ club that is being investigated for attempted murder. During a school pep assembly, the head cheerleader is attacked, and unfortunately the club members are in the line of questioning as the members are in close proximity when it went down.

The group decides to take it upon themselves to investigate as they are being framed.

This book is quirky and fun! I really enjoyed it!

This was meh for me. I found it highly obvious who the perp was, and I lot of the discussion in this felt really hamfisted and a bit over the top.

I find it weird how uninvolved the adults in this book were with everything going on.

It felt very campy, which I guess can appeal to a certain reader but it didn't work for me.

I did enjoy the friend group in this and how they stuck together.

Not a fan of a certain relationship that develops at the end for reasons that I can't mention because it would spoil the book.

I can see this being a hit for the teen audience.

A small town Texas high school's Queer Pride club bands together to help solve the murder of one of their antagonists in this new debut YA murder mystery. I loved the queer pride focus in the story, the anxiety rep and the way the teens are fighting to keep a safe space for their fellow LGBTQIA classmates. Recommended for fans of Veronica Mars and with the way the book ends there just might be another mystery to solve for the "Be Queer, solve crime" club!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Pride or Die's premise—queer teens banding together to clear their names after being blamed for a high-profile incident—sets the stage for a timely, feel-good mystery. The friendships are sweet, the romance is light, and the representation throughout is both intentional and appreciated.

That said, the plot felt a bit Scooby-Doo at times—there’s a lot of sneaking around, wild accusations, and over-the-top authority figures that make it hard to take the stakes seriously. While the pacing kept things moving, the mystery itself was pretty predictable.

It’s a solid read for a younger YA audience, especially those looking for inclusive stories with humor and heart. For me, it was enjoyable enough, though it leans more toward the “Y” in YA. Still, it offers very relevant and meaningful LGBTQ+ themes that readers hopefully connect with and appreciate.

Thank you Netgalley, CL Montblanc, and St. Martin’s Press for letting me read the ARC of this book. I loved the diverse representation in this. The humor was delightful and it had me laughing in public. I knew the “who done it” very early on. I believe that this book was trying to be similar to AGGGTM, and it just missed the mark for me. I had a lot of legal questions throughout this book:
-Why was the principal allowed to question the students before the police? Was this due to him being “close friends” with the detective?
-Why weren’t they formally taken to the station as witnesses?
-Why weren’t the parents notified of not only the CRIME but also BEING QUESTIONED BY THE POILCE? Like isn’t that illegal to do for minors?
-How was it even legal for the principal to give them the academic probation?

Overall I wish there was more research on detective work and investigation procedures. The ending was kind corny but it wrapped it up nicely. It was overall an easy read, just needed ironing out.

This was a good book. Light for a murder mystery considering it's more af and assault but that's to be expected for a ya/kids book. Lots of secrets and mystery and sneaking around. It needed a dog and it would give me a gueer Scooby Doo vibe. Loved all the inclusion, the different backgrounds, working together, misunderstanding getting hashed out and becoming friends. And a good ending where everything is put back together like it should be.

This book focuses on an LGBTQ+ club framed for attacking a straight student. They band together to determine the real culprit, uncovering the monsters among them along the way.

This was a really refreshing read, and was even more fun when paired with the audio! The characters are all so quirky in their own way, and it kept me from mixing them up since there were so many. It gave off Nancy Drew/Harriet the Spy vibes and I really enjoyed it. Teenagers are the absolute freaking worst, and this book was truthful in that aspect as well.

I would definitely recommend this for any teen reader, in addition to adults who want a new experience.

I was hooked when we met Eleanor in the History room with her club members and best friends.
I loved the dynamic between the friend group. The banter between them had me laughing out loud, and I love how they had each other's backs.

I enjoyed the mystery and didn't know who was behind it all until it was revealed. I had a great time with how they went about solving the mystery and those they recruited to help.

I really enjoyed my time reading this and will definitely read whatever this author comes out with next.

Yall know I love a queer YA mystery and this was no exception! It had me laughing from the first page but also had so much emotion and talked about really important issues! I think the mystery unfurled really well and it was actually one that kept me guessing all the way up until the reveal! I loved the friendships and how much of a family the lgbt club was! I did think it was weird that after they were found at the crime scene looking guilty, they were just able to go home without even a call to their parents at the very least? Idk that just seemed odd lol

Pride or Die follows a group of LGBTQ+ teens in a bigoted small town in Texas that are the prime suspects in an attempted murder of another student. Overall I did like this one. It’s a fun read and the storyline is interesting though slightly ridiculous. I loved the club dynamic and the queer friendships. I think each of the club members were really well developed and even the side characters were super interesting. I felt the whole story was a bit dragged on and then the ending was super rushed. I’m honestly not sure how they all of a sudden knew how to solve the crime, it seemed too easy. I loved the message behind the story- unfortunately it’s one that a lot of teens have to deal with in certain parts of the country and I love when books have deep themes like this one. I did like the little splash of romance in there, it made this even more layered which was great.

I read a lot of murder (or in this case, attempted murder) mysteries and am always on the lookout for really good ones where the whodunit stumps me. This one, unfortunately, is not one of those. I appreciated the author's treatment of heavy topics like the queer kids club, bullying, reputations and gossip, I especially liked the main character's motive to keep her club going as a safeguard for future teens. I read a lot of YA novels because I find them often fun and engaging but this one felt like returning to high school in all its horror.

A funny read but wished the characters had been a bit more fleshed out. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I love YA and I love stories set in Texas and I love a chaotic friend group. So how could I not love all of these things with a little murdery, mystery twist!? I enjoyed the pacing and the queer cast of characters, as well as the dose of humor that was much appreciated. Eleanora is strong and quirky, and most of all relatable. I highly recommend this one! t's hard to believe this is a debut, and I predict big things ahead for CL Montblanc.

CL Montblanc should be very proud of this remarkable YA mystery that had me guessing until the end.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

The energy in this novel is absolutely fabulous. Eleanor and her upbeat crew chase down leads with breaks for brainstorming sessions and pancakes at a local diner, determined to discover who hurt Kenley before they have a chance to strike again. The banter is nonstop, and the tentative connection between Kenley and Eleanora is super sweet.

The principal’s character might be a little flat, as he mainly exists to remind Eleanora and her friends what’s at stake if they fail to identify the real culprit before the end of the homecoming dance. There are a few moments when we see things about him that humanize him a little bit. They show there’s more to him than his commitment to shut down the LGBT Club, which he continually refers to as the BLT club.

Reading this one was a lot of fun. If you like upbeat mysteries with a lot of goofy banter, you’ll want to put this one at the top of your reading list.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the gifted copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this one. I was really excited to read it when it was described as “Scooby Doo meets the Heathers vibes”, and it didn’t leave me disappointed.

I liked the mystery. Someone had attacked Kenley, and the LGBTQ+ Club is trying to solve the mystery and clear their names. I did find that this one started a bit slow, but once it got going it didn’t stop. The ending was fun and intense, and I liked the resolution to the mystery. I had fun trying to put together the clues, and I ended up being right in my hunch of who was behind the attack.

There were a few secrets revealed during this one, and I liked how it helped to make the characters more realistic. The narrator, Eleanora, was good and I liked her sense of humour. I also really liked the our main characters were well developed and actually played a role in solving the mystery. Even the secondary characters felt well developed, and I really liked how almost all of the characters had qualities about them that made them human and realistic. The characters who weren’t very nice also had parts to them that were recognizable as not being terrible. I liked that Eleanora also recognized the shades of grey.

An attack on a student, an LGBTQ+ club must band together to solve who done it or be the ones blamed for it.

I love a good YA thriller and I was ready to dig into this one. I loved that it involved an LGBTQ+ group and a band of friends but it was pretty early when I realized this one might not be my cup of tea. The main character and even the friends all felt like caricatures of high school students. No real social media, barely texting and messaging each other - it felt really unrealistic and silly. And the adults were over-the -top awful. Everyone felt very black and white - good or bad - and each adult felt bumbling. Even the ultimate reveal felt like a bit of a letdown. I wish I'd liked this one but I just never seemed to connect with it.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I was doing SOOO good at not requesting too many ARCs and getting overwhelmed and reading them at the very last minute..and here we are. Here's CL Montblanc's "Pride or Die."
["It’s kind of hard to graduate high school when you’re the prime suspect in an attempted murder.

Seventeen-year-old Eleanora Finkel just wants to finish her senior year and get the hell out of Texas. But when her club meeting inconveniently coincides with an attack on the school’s head cheerleader, she and her friends find themselves in the hot seat.

In order to clear their names and ensure the survival of their club for future queer teens, they’ll have to track down the real culprit themselves. But Eleanora is far from a professional detective; she’s riddled with anxiety, annoyingly attracted to the case’s cute victim, and her trusty crochet hook feels insufficient for fighting off a murderer. Can this ragtag group of unlikely sleuths find their way out of an entire freaking murder mystery before one of them is next?"]

This book got off to a fast start. Victim in chapter one fast. And each of the following chapters left on a (minor) cliffhanger, leaving you wanting more and more. Not to mention the likable as hell characters and their fight for space in a world who wants them shut away. There are so many stakes and so many iconic moments.

Trigger Warnings: homophobia, transphobia, bullying, violence, creepy white men, and more.

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I’m so enjoying my self-imposed task of reading all the YA books I bring into the library.

This one was a super-fun, murder-ish mystery with a touch of romance, a vast and varied cast of characters, and lots of LGBTQ+ rep.

It gave Save Ferris vibes, if Rooney was even more hateful and felonious.

Can’t wait to get this one out to our patrons.