This was a fun murder mystery, with excellent queer characters. A recipe for a book that I would love. I liked this one, but didn’t truly love it. A few of the characters fell flat for me, but overall I had a fun time with this one.

In Pride or Die, the members of a high school LGBTQ+ club find themselves framed for attempted murder and have to figure out who's out to get them. It is definitely geared toward a younger audience. It was a quick read and held my interest throughout. A really good cast of characters and strong writing. I enjoyed it.

Eleanora is a high school senior in small town Texas and the head of the LGBTQ+ club. When a cheerleader is attacked in the hallway outside of the club's meeting room, suspicion falls on the club's members. Eleanora and her friends then begin their own investigation to solve the attack and not be arrest for something they didn't do.

It was hard to get into this book but then the who-done-it aspect of the plot carried me through to the end. I wasn't crazy about Eleanora's quirky voice and the portraits of her friends. It seems to be common in queer YA to ensure that all secondary characters represent some aspect of the queer community. So here, there was a pansexual cis male, a trans Jewish male, a non-binary Latinx, and a cis female lesbian.

My other issue with the book was the way in which Eleanora solved the mystery at the very end. It felt like it came out of the blue.

This isn't a bad book for teens. It has a lot of good qualities, but it also has flaws.

I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.

THOUGHTS

I wanted to like this book, to have fun reading it, and I just didn't. And that makes me sad. I don't know. I had to suspend more disbelief than I was able to, and I just couldn't get invested enough in the characters to root for them. I didn't ever know the plan, and so I couldn't really have fun just following along. I was lost, uninterested, and exasperated by this read.


PROS
Easy Scapegoat: Though this book was more of a miss for me than I would have preferred, I did like the commentary it provides about scapegoats. Minorities make easy scapegoats, and the sole queer club in this small Texas town is an easy fall-guy when things go wrong. While I wish the follow-up with the police and the larger systemic forces at play had been more impactful, I did like where we started (even if, you know, I don't like the fact that this happens). If a school's looking to brush something under the rug, well, the queer club can easily vanish without anybody batting an eye (and maybe even with a few people celebrating in the process).

In the Closet: CL Montblanc manages to make a wonderful cast of queer characters in this book, all my reservations aside, and most of all, I loved Kenley, the would-be victim of this thriller. She's a small town Texas cheerleader, and she's one of her school's golden girls. And she's also queer. She's living in the closet, but she's wanting to, thinking about, hoping she can come out. She's existing right on the fringes of the LGBTQ+ club, so when they get in hot water (at her expense, no less), she's happy to help clear their name. And I love that.

Queer Adults: A lot of books, a lot of media in general, center young queer characters and neglect to include queer adults. Some of this is because, well, there's a whole generation of missing queer adults, due to the AIDS epidemic. But this book does feature a full-grown queer woman in the form of the school's guidance counsellor, and I loved that inclusion. I loved that inclusion because of its novelty and also because, well, she's a queer woman (with a wife, I should add) living her life in a hyper-conservative area. Which is even rarer in media representation. And this is important representation. It's important, I think, to remember that not all LGBTQ+ people living in the South, in conservative and anti-LGBTQ+ areas, are children. Not all adults move out to safer, bluer, more liberal areas as adults, for a myriad of reasons. And these adults are important, too, especially for the LGBTQ+ kids who are trapped, by age and circumstance, in the areas where they're not welcome. It's important to have older people who are safe, who can give kids like those in this queer club hope that they can have a future, even a future in small town Texas. regardless of the social pressures they're facing now (and will continue to face into the future).


CONS
Not Right, Not Real: As much as I loved some of the elements building up this book, I just couldn't suspend my disbelief when it came to, you know, the actual plot. There's just no world in which the police are this uninvolved (especially when they're not implied to be corrupt). There's no world where these minors are being questioned without their parents. There's no world. Even if this were presented in a meta way, an ultimate social commentary, I'd have problems with just the pure incompetence and lack of protocol. But it's not presented as some sort of commentary. Which is, well... Eh.

Big, Bad Boogeyman: On top of the police just not being, well, police, Principal Ballard was an over-the-top, big-bad boogeyman in a way that didn't help the plot. In fact, I think it hurt the plot. By making this bad guy such a hyperbolic figure, so pointedly out to get these kids and ruin their club, it felt like it undermined the otherwise important conversation this book was having toward systemic homophobia and scapegoating of vulnerable minorities. There's something much more insidious about casual homophobia, about more subtle powers working against these kids, than just having a figure take on that Big Bad persona. It just didn't work for me. Hyperbole undermines the message, making an evil villain of someone that could otherwise have felt so real. Making a boogeyman to fight against instead of fighting something much more concrete is the direction this book took, and I didn't like that.

What's Going On?: These other elements made this book hard to read. What made it hard for me to invest in the story was just, you know, not knowing what was happening at any given time. Was there a plan? It felt like it, but I was never let in on the plan. I just got to watch characters Do Stuff until things happened, and that's not really very fun. Especially in an investigation, readers should get to be a part of the plan, encouraged to deduce and to scheme. But this book doesn't present a plan so much as a series of things that happen, and that's just not very fun to read. Reader participation necessary, but here unfortunately not required.


Rating

⭐⭐⭐
3/10
Those who enjoyed Faith Gardner's If You Can Hear This will like this crew of misfits forced to investigate a crime they didn't commit. Fans of Adam Sass's Your Lonely Nights Are Over will love following a thriller that centers the local LGBTQ+ club.

Pride or Die had a killer premise (queer kids + murder mystery + dark comedy = yes pls), but the execution just didn’t do it for me. The humor felt a little forced at times, and while I wanted to love the chaotic queer friend group, the characters never fully came alive for me beyond their archetypes. There were some clever lines and fun moments, and I appreciated the commentary on identity and small-town tension, but overall it felt like it was trying to juggle too much without fully landing the emotional or suspenseful beats. I didn’t hate it—but it wasn’t the queer Veronica Mars moment I hoped for either.

I rated this book a 3.5

I didn’t enjoy the “murder mystery”aspect of this book because it felt pretty unnatural in the high school setting and just super unrealistic.

I also didn’t enjoy the characters in the story and I felt like our main character, Elenora, was just super boring. All of the characters felt boring.

The thing that kept me interested in the story was the love interest. Although I’m not big on the enemies to lovers trope, I feel like the love interest carried the story and made me want to see what happens between the two. Yeah, I did think it was a little cliche on how the “enemy” is a mean girl but really isn’t a mean girl, she’s just struggling with her own identity. I can take it for what it was and I did enjoy that aspect of the story and I enjoyed seeing the transformation.

I also enjoyed the overall story of inclusion when it comes to spaces for the LGBQ+ community and the common struggles they face in day to day life. This, I believe, carried the story as well because me as the reader did want the LGBQ+ Club to succeed in the end and be awarded the same privileges as everyone else.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for the advanced digital copy 📖

Let me just say, it is such a pleasure to read about high school students who are out, proud, and learning to embrace their identities. This was not at all my experience in school and even though it results in high drama and chaos for these kids, it still is a sign to me that there's been a change since I was a teen.

A little laugh out loud, a bit of coming of age, and a lot of AH we're gonna die crazy, Pride of Die is a dark comedy that I could not put down. In a matter of two hours I had devour CL Montblanc's debut novel about a group of LGTBQ+ teens, or rather BLT teens, and the absolute horrors they face in their conservative school after it girl Kenley is injured in a murder plot. Not their murder plot, that is, but someone is out to frame them for it. Eleanora Fink and her friends are going to find out who did it, even if it means attending parties, B&Es, and some serious sleuthing, because she is not going to stop the LGBTQ+ Club from helping future students after they graduate.

I truly enjoyed this novel, sure it's a bit young at times, but it is written perfectly for the age group it is intended. It's a bit more new adult in age than young adult, especially with references to alcohol and hooking up, but it's done so in a great fashion. These kids aren't the "popular" students as school, though they've got the in, but they must infiltrate to solve the crime. We've got a cruddy principal, sketchy security, and of course all your usual faces in high school. It read like a movie and I was just as engaged as I would've been watching.

When the LGBTQ+ Club is framed for attempted murder, it's up to them to be gay, solve crimes before one of them is next. Making mystery fun again, I enjoyed reading this for the extreme camp, chaotic but supremely loveable crew, and chronically online vibes. For fans of One of Us is Lying, Bottoms, and Scooby Doo.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Book Tagline: When the members of an LGBTQ+ club find themselves accidentally framed for attempted murder, it's up to them to clear their names before it's too late.

I love a good mystery. I love teen protagonists trying to find whodunit. I am always pleased to see great messages about inclusion and diversity.

But this one missed the mark for me in a few ways. The mystery, while interesting, took too long to be revealed and when the motive appeared, I felt disappointed. I also thought the romance element between one of the members of the club and the "victim" was not all that appealing. Even when I was a teen myself, I disliked the whole " I am being mean to you because I hate myself and won't admit to my desire for you." Not romantic, in the least.

Beautiful cover, though!







#PrideorDie #NetGalley
Expected Publication 15/04/25
Goodreads Review 18/03/25

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book with an open mind that it could be a fun and quick YA murder mystery. Unfortunately, the story was done well through most of the book, but the ending was just utterly ridiculous and was a complete waste of time.

We follow a group of teens in the LGBTQ+ club at their school who are seen as social pariahs and blamed for everything. The main character finds herself in a bind as she finds her once former best friend and now popular girl at school knocked unconscious in the hallway bleeding and immediately the club is found to be be the primary suspects by their school principal who is a biggot and disbands the club.

Of course this sounds like every other social commentary book of the day, and it is with many unnecessary comments regarding people who are not apart of the community and including racial comments that were unnecessary to the story whatsoever. As someone apart of the community, this is getting overplayed, and I don't really think the social rhetoric needs to be shoved down kids' throats, especially when reading a book to escape reality and entertainment.

All of this takes me out of the book completely where there could have been a great story, but unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book as it is quite underwhelming.

I wanted to like this one I really did. This book was a way too much on the younger side. The drama was so unnecessary. I felt like the author was trying too hard to make this book relatable and it just didn’t work.

This had far too much teen angst to be enjoyable as an adult. I did appreciate the fight in the main character to ensure that future queer teens in his school would be accepted and have a safe placeto meet and find support.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc I went into this book not knowing what it was about. I really enjoyed this book I laughed out loud and some of the plot twist!!!! I will recommend this book to future readers

As a member of the queer community, I thought this was a very empowering read with a fun, almost murder. The four main characters are the first to arrive on a scene where a cheerleader was attacked. They work to find out who did it before their club gets banned. I liked all of the characters and the plot was well thought out. The twists at the end surprised me, but I kept wanting more from this book while I was reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

Pride or Die is a fun and funny book that tackles serious subjects. I liked it well enough, but a lot of the elements of the story felt either a bit shallow or pretty unrealistic. I enjoyed most of the characters and thought some of the side characters in the LGBTQ+ club were great. The book/plot had vibes reminiscent of Scooby-Doo, and I did get a genuine chuckle at the end with the "Be gay, solve crimes" motto. This is a great book for teen readers looking for solid LGBTQ+ rep who also like their mysteries to be on the tame side.

With a title like Pride or Die, I was expecting more thriller and less campy, which definitely impacted my enjoyment. I kept waiting for the stakes to raise, but it was just more chaos. This is like queer Scooby-Doo minus the dog, which is a pretty fun descriptor but not what I thought this would be.

You have to suspend your disbelief for this one because there are just so many moments where it just doesn't make sense otherwise. Inattentive parents, incompetent staff, a wild reveal. They refer to the attacker as a "killer" more than once but no one died. It was just too many hmm moments for me.

I will almost always enjoy queer stories, and I did like the friend group. The romance was light and a little shallow, but I liked the concept.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

CW for homophobia and mentioned racism/Islamophobia.

Pride Or Die , by CL Montblanc
.5-1/5⭐️

TRIGGER WARNINGS-
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Violence, drinking, attempted murder, bullying, homophobia

This book just wasn’t for me. I think it’s more for a younger audience like middle/high school. With that being said I had a few issues that made it difficult to push though to finish.
-Unbelievable that at 17 they don’t know that they shouldn’t be questioned as minors alone. But later on she says shouldn’t they have a lawyer present when they are questioned again. Not one of them said let me call my adult???? Even though Tyler is wanting to get into law school…
-How the principal gets away with calling them “blt” and then gets mad at “sloppy joe” but none of the kids stand up for themselves or tells their parent’s. The email was proof that the principal calls them “slurs/names”.
-That the school/cops jump right past them as suspects and to them as being the ones who did it with next to no evidence and everyone, even the parent’s just roll with it…
-Adults weren’t notified about the assault and the kids were just sent home without a parent knowing they were leaving school grounds.
-Adults weren’t notified cops showed up and took them in for questioning.
-Throughout the whole book it goes on about a murderer/killer on the loose but she wasn’t killed and is not dead. “That everyone has to watch out for a violent person”, when it was just one isolated incident…
-Very overly descriptive and overly done. Felt like a child trying to write a creative writing assignment and use all the big, new fancy words that they just learned.
-Let the principal interfere with the investigation/do his own, like talk to the kids without an adult, interject into an active case and talk to suspects????
-Academic probation?!?! Again where’s the parents…are they not to be informed of anything…
-Teachers not standing up for the kids…it’s like she’s just throwing characters in that really don’t serve a purpose, just might be needed for some reason later on…
-Seemed to make a bigger deal than the situation that was actually presented in the books, over doing it?
-Kenley’s Injuries were so sever but no one heard or saw anything?
-Arrested as a minor but no parents contacted…
-The guidance counsellor is OK giving out information about her coworkers to a student trying to solve a crime instead of reporting everything to the parents and the police. And then fleas when there’s danger instead of staying and getting help.
-Her mom jokes about her solving the case yet. Not even the parents take it seriously. Not going to the school or police to confront them about the treatment of their children.
-All of this was not done right, no basis for the book…No research was done at all in prep for this book.
-I don’t understand how Eleanors’s point about how Sal could’ve done it based off of Kenley’s statement equated to her being racist. I don’t get how it has anything to do with him being a Muslim and why that was even brought up? Felt like they were trying to tackle to many diff subject matters and narratives and out them in places where they didn’t quite fit.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for giving me an E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Pride or Die is a YA thriller/mystery where a LGBTQ+ club in a high school gets framed for a crime then sets out to clear their own name.

It’s a fun, fast paced thriller that acknowledges the difficulties that students have truly being themselves. The club suffers a lot of bullying and even hate from the administration and cops due to their respective sexualities / gender identities. This is a prominent plot point that impacts both the investigation and the characters personal lives.

Mental health issues are well written and the author is clearly interested in intersectionality within the LGBTQ+ community and the impacts that has on its members.

I loved that all of the characters have secrets and there were plenty of twists. I also appreciated that sometimes the characters made really questionable decisions, they are high schoolers after all, so it felt more realistic.

I enjoyed this campy teen mystery! It wasn't what I expected (I had expected it to be a lot darker), but the LGBTQIA+ representation was spot on, and the main cast of characters was lovable and fun. The most of the adult characters were a bit cartoonish, but I think that's the vibe the author was going for.

I'd recommend this to anyone who is in the mood for a low-stakes mystery with a whole lot of silliness -- think Scooby Doo, but super queer!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review this ARC!

With a title like ‘Pride or Die,’ I was expecting something slightly more hard-hitting. At no time during the story did there feel like any real danger happening. I did enjoy the storytelling and characters. Also, without going into any spoilers, the ending felt very Kumbaya. I was hoping for more suspense and mystery.