Pride or Die by CL Montblanc

Title: Pride or Die

Author: CL Montblanc

Pages: 336

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Expected publication date: April 15, 2025

*ARC provieded by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

The LGBTQ+ club at Hillview High is in danger after a cheerleader is assaulted during a pep rally, and they're the only ones that were close enough to her to blame.

The school and the police seem happy to let the club members go down for the crime. Nobody is trying very hard to find out who is really behind the assault, so with nobody to help them clear their names, they have to take matters into their own hands if they want a shot at saving their club and their futures.

Thoughts

I don't have too much to say about this one. It's a quick and funny teenage sleuthing story and I enjoyed it. The relationships between all the club members was sweet and really gave the story some heart. I did predict who the culprit was pretty early on in the story, but predicting the assailant didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story at all. All in all a good debut, and I'll be looking forward to more from this author.

Mini Review: Down Comes The Night by Allison Saft

Tite: Down Comes the Night

Author: Allison Saft

Publication Date: March 2, 2021

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Pages: 400

Goodreads Synopsis

He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.

Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.

With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.

Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night is a snow-drenched romantic fantasy that keeps you racing through the pages long into the night.

Love makes monsters of us all.

Quick Thoughts

This book let me down a little bit. When I originally read the synopsis, it had me so excited to reach for it in my TBR pile, but unfortunately, it was a miss for me.

I think what let me down the most is that from the synopsis and general marketing of the book, I expected the book to be more of a gothic story than it actually turned out to be. Yes, there is a castle and a little bit of a gothic vibe there, it wasn't nearly as strong of a vibe as I expected it to be, especially from a book that is seemingly being categorized as a gothic novel. Overall, I feel like it lacked atmosphere.

The other reason why this book wasn't a hit for me was because of the writing style. There were large descriptive passages of essentially just info-dumping. During these passages I felt like I was being removed from the story rather than being further immersed in the book world and history.

Overall, my experience with this book was rather lukewarm, but this book does have a ton of positive reviews on Goodreads so if you are interested in reading this one, I wouldn't let my review deter you too much. It was just not my cup of tea.

Waiting on Wednesday (6): The Dead and The Dark by Courtney Gould

 

Expected publication date: August 3rd, 2021
Publisher: Wednesday Books

Goodreads Synopsis

The Dark has been waiting for far too long, and it won't stay hidden any longer.

Something is wrong in Snakebite, Oregon. Teenagers are disappearing, some turning up dead, the weather isn’t normal, and all fingers seem to point to TV’s most popular ghost hunters who have just returned to town. Logan Ortiz-Woodley, daughter of TV's ParaSpectors, has never been to Snakebite before, but the moment she and her dads arrive, she starts to get the feeling that there's more secrets buried here than they originally let on.

Ashley Barton’s boyfriend was the first teen to go missing, and she’s felt his presence ever since. But now that the Ortiz-Woodleys are in town, his ghost is following her and the only person Ashley can trust is the mysterious Logan. When Ashley and Logan team up to figure out who—or what—is haunting Snakebite, their investigation reveals truths about the town, their families, and themselves that neither of them are ready for. As the danger intensifies, they realize that their growing feelings for each other could be a light in the darkness.

Courtney Gould’s thrilling debut The Dead and the Dark is about the things that lurk in dark corners, the parts of you that can’t remain hidden, and about finding home in places—and people—you didn’t expect.

Why I Can't Wait

Everything about this synopsis is just calling out to me, begging me to read the story. I love books that deal with mysterious disappearances, throw in some ghosts too and I'm absolutely hooked, so this seems like it will be the perfect book for my tastes.