(3.5)

What a breath of fresh air! Pride follows Zuri Benitez who lives in Bushwick. Suddenly, Zuri gets new neighbors who happen to have a lot of money. Zuri hates them right off the bat, and you follow her story with the neighbors she hates, her college journey, her family, and class struggles.

I wanted to rate Pride higher, but this is what held me back: I found Zuri to be unnecessarily rude at some points, which made me not like her as a protagonist as much. However, I did think she was a strong girl with a lot of personality. Her romance with Darius was a little bit rushed for me, but I like how it was tense. I think if the book was around 75-100 pages longer, that enemies to lovers romance would’ve been god tier. However, if you get past these flaws, the book is really great.

I loved how this book centered around black characters. I have been looking for a book to diversify my extremely white bookshelf, and I am so glad Pride has introduced me to black stories. During this book, as a white girl who lives a financially privileged life, I was able to reflect on my own life and put myself in Zuri’s shoes. It was a much needed reality check for me. I also really enjoyed the college aspect of this book. I really liked seeing Zuri explore her near future. Zuri also has a knack for poetry, which was so fun because her poems were filled with deep meanings and seamless prose.

Overall, this book had a few flaws, but I really appreciated the diversity of this story.