Pride or Die by CL Montblanc is not great. There is a lot of things thrown into this attempted murder mystery but they don't all work to the point it feels unfocused and messy. The main cast are all distinct and fun and the romance is cute, it's everything else that feels lost at sea. The trauma of the MC never really clicked for me, it felt tacked on, like it's supposed to be their reason for doing what they do but their actions feel reasonable regardless. It also includes homophobia both institutionalized and interpersonal and honestly it does not come across the way it should, it's more annoyance than my life fucking sucks. Also the ending is just a bit too everything's good now, we solved homophobia which leaves a bad taste. 4:10