Pride High, Book 6: Purple

Our take

Junior year is ending for a whole cast of returning couples. This sixth entry assumes you already know who's dating whom, who's fighting, and who's still grieving from earlier books. One boy confronts his past while his boyfriend tries to keep him from spiraling. Another juggles two relationships at once, and a long-distance couple gets tested by a cross-country move. The mature rating carries through consistently with the rest of the series, not a tonal shift for this entry specifically. It's a soapy, emotionally heavy conclusion to the school year, built for readers already invested in this particular friend group.

Content notes: this entry carries over heavy material from earlier books, including drug use, alcohol misuse, referenced and past suicide, referenced rape, bullying, and homophobia. It also touches on the loss of a parent, so go in aware if these are triggering. The tone stays soapy and dramatic rather than grim throughout, prom functioning as the emotional centerpiece the whole book builds toward. This is ensemble YA romance, following gay, lesbian, and bisexual couples across a shared friend group rather than one central pair.

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