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.

#netgalley #arcs #arcteammember
#prideordie #clmontblanc #thriller #yathriller #murdermystery #yamurdermystery #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

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.

This was a great read for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the friendship between our MC, Eleanora, and the other members of the LGBTQ club Eleanora had started so no other queer student would have to feel alone, to give them a safe place to be themselves and accepted for who they were, in essence. Unfortunately, when a student (Eleanor's biggest tormenter at school) is attacked in the hallway outside their meeting room, and they are found over the body, they "find themselves in the hot seat." When they are blamed for the attack and get no help from the school or the police, they decide they are going to have to solve the mystery themselves, or they can throw their futures away.

As I mentioned, I loved the friendships among the main group of characters. I thought the characters were well-written and we got a real sense of who they were. They were all relatable for different reasons, which is a tough feat to accomplish. I thought the mystery was enjoyable and the pace was spot on.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it.

5/5 stars

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and CL Montblanc for the opportunity to read and review Pride or Die.

I was not the right audience for this book. I think it was well written and interesting, but not for me.

This book would be excellent for a teen reader who loves a good mystery with a great ensemble of diverse queer characters. Big kudos to the author for the intersectional identities of the characters and the fun dialog and banter. I think this is a writer to watch. I look forward to hearing more from them!

These teens take Be Gay Do Crime and instead decide to Be Gay Solve Crime and I was so here for it! This book was so optimistic and exactly what queer teenage me needed. And honestly what adult queer me needs too. The world is rough but watching these teens push back against the system brought me a lot of hope. The queer found family made my heart melt and the mystery had me hooked. I'm very excited to see what this author writes next.

I really really wanted to like this book, but there unfortunately I had a very difficult time getting attached to the main character which made it hard to enjoy the book, though I did finish it. It's not that the writing was bad, but rather that there were multiple plot points I didn't really vibe with, which made it hard to keep going with the story.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The three things that annoyed me were:
1. Eleanora winds up crushing on/getting together with Kenley, the attempted murder victim
2. When the killer is revealed to be Noah's twin, his reaction to just get the homecoming party going again as opposed to being upset/going after Talia or to call his parents felt unrealistic.
3. Talia just basically getting a slap on the wrist for attempted murder? I'm pretty certain that in a case like that, it's up to the District Attorney as to whether or not charges are getting brought on the suspect, not the parents of the victim.

Unfortunately, all of this led to me having a rather mediocre experience with this book.

I wanted to like this story; the idea was good. The execution was not. It's described throughout the book that there is a "murderer" but no one died. The big reveal also left much to be desired.

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC of this book to read and review.

Themes/Tropes: Dark Comedy, amateur detective, found family
Rep: Lesbian, Non-binary, Queer, Mental Health

This book was a great time. I am always a sucker for a good HS amateur detective story and this one did not disappoint. When the LGBTQ+ club at school gets framed for trying to murder the head cheerleader, this band of friends goes on an adventure to find out who really did it. Honestly, I was surprised lol. I did not figure out who did it until it was revealed at the end.

The first paragraph of this book had me giggling and throughout the story it made me happy that students have a place to be themsleves in so many schools. The principal was so questionable and needed some lessons on how to be a leader. I loved the counselor and that support she showed the students, and the janitor.

The relationships in the friend group were well done, and honestly they sounded like a great group of friends that anyone would be lucky to have. Overall really enjoyed the story and can't wait to see what this author does next.

2.5 stars

I was so excited to read this book! I loved the premise, and a queer YA mystery, along with the cover is amazing. I think this would work well for a younger YA reader, but it didn’t really hit for me. The dialogue didn’t feel authentic, and it has one of my least fav tropes for the romance situation. It also has a number of pop culture references that already feel dated at publishing date. The overall message of inclusion is well done. There is no death so this works well for a more low stakes YA mystery.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy to form opinions from.