https://lesbrary.com/it-goes-like-this-by-miel-moreland/

It Goes Like This is a story about friendship, second chances, and not giving up on the people who care about you. The story follows the former members of Moonlight Overthrow, a band of teenagers who split up a year and a half before the events of the novel. Celeste and Gina, two of the members, have built new solo careers for themselves in music and acting. Steph has disappeared from the public eye and cut off all communication with their former friends. And Eva is a college student, writing music and closely following the fandom of her former band on Tumblr on a secret account. When dire circumstances cause the band to come back together for a one-time charity concert, the former friends are forced to confront their past together and decide if they’re really better off without each other.

Each of the four members of Moonlight Overthrow are featured and are fully fledged, three-dimensional characters. However, Eva is the clear primary protagonist. The core of a story is a pair of questions, both centered around her. Will the band get back together, now that they’ve seen what their lives are like without each other? And will Eva and her ex, Celeste, rekindle the relationship that they were in for much of their time in the band? As the story goes on, it becomes clear that the answer to both questions depends on Eva, as she was the person most hurt by the end of both the band and her relationship.

Eva’s journey is deeply sympathetic. Through a series of flashbacks in the story, we see how deeply hurt she was by the band’s breaking up, the only person who wanted to stay together. How abandoned and lost she felt in the immediate aftermath. We also see her fear over seeing her best friends back together, and her ex-girlfriend, whom she still has strong feelings for, reaching back out. These people hurt her without warning before, and it’s hard for her to decide to trust them again, no matter how much she wants to.

Celeste’s story revolves around Eva. A successful solo performer now, Celeste still finds herself writing songs about her ex, even more than a year after their unceremonious breakup. Now, finally with the chance to make things right, she’s desperate to show Eva that she’s realized that breaking her heart is the biggest mistake of her life. Her coming to terms with the ways that she has hurt and continues to hurt Eva is a compelling part of the story.

Gina’s story is more introspective than the previous character’s. Her primary conflict of the novel revolves around how she, and the world at large, perceive her. Throughout the story, she refers to herself as the next Rihanna, or the next Beyonce, comparing herself to other successful Black performers. As the story goes on, she’s forced to confront the ways she’s comparing herself to others, and the ways that has caused her to push away those close to her.

Finally, Steph’s story is much smaller in many ways than the other characters. After Moonlight Overthrow broke up, Steph disappeared, returning to the band’s home of Duluth and cutting off contact. Their conflicts within the story primarily revolve around the fears around the effects of being a nonbinary person in what was most well known as a “girl band”, and around the effect that being in a band had on their family, who also feature prominently in the story.

Miel Moreland has a talent for writing sapphic romance, and this story is no exception. The “will they, won’t they” tension between Eva and Celeste is palpable throughout the story, especially with the commentary from their friends and flashbacks to their time together. Celeste grows to understand the ways in which their breakup hurt Eva, and takes actions to rebuild her trust. The regrowing friendship between them and questions about more make a compelling romantic core for the story.

Gina also has a sapphic romance of her own, though it is less relevant through the story. Her girl back home serves less as a romantic subplot and more of a chance for Gina to open up to her old friends and show her willingness to rekindle the friendship that has long since died out.

The real representational win though is Steph and their identity. Cleverly, though Steph’s identity isn’t revealed to the characters until the end of the first act and there are several flashbacks throughout the story, these parts of the book are written so that rather than either misgender the character or have a character use they/them pronouns they wouldn’t know to use, pronouns are avoided altogether. Not gendering Steph until the characters are aware of their gender identity makes the world feel more natural, without resorting to misgendering the character.

And Steph’s identity does form an undercurrent through the story. One of the primary reasons that they left the band was its identity as a “group of queer girls”. When their friends re-enter their life, Steph is unsure whether they have a place in this group, and their friend’s quick acceptance and willingness to defend them is a heartwarming piece of the story.

All in all, It Goes Like This is an excellent read. The story flows well and stays engaging, with multiple POVs and a few flashbacks helping to keep up the pace and stop things from feeling too slow. The story has some good thematic depth as well, though we can’t get into specifics there without spoiling the story. Rest assured, this is a story that stuck with me after I finished reading it, and even inspired a reread to see these characters I enjoyed so much again. You won’t regret your time with Moonlight Overthrow.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I had a hard time getting through this book and actually ended up DNF about 60% through. I thought the characters were really sweet and relatable, I thought it was a fun story premise but it just started to feel a bit repetitive as we went along. I wanted so bad to love this book but, at the time of reading it, it just didn’t hit with me.

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

My Review:

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review and a place on this blog tour thanks to TBR and Beyond Tours – thanks!

I have to start this review by acknowledging this book’s beautiful cover, it is just so great and I think it really encompasses the characters to a tee. The friendship they once shared and come to share again, its all there. Not to mention just having this group on the cover is refreshing, I feel like its a subtle nod to cover shoots and whatnot, which certainly fits the vibe of this book.

This book is a lot to follow at times, especially with the choice to have multiple POVs of all of the characters and there be flashbacks mixed in with it. That would be by biggest critique of the book, I feel like it could have been written differently to accommodate the kind of story that is being told. It is written in a third person present tense, which honestly took me a good third of the book to get used to. So even though at the beginning of the chapter it tells us who the narrator is, it all felt like the same narrator and tone throughout – which made all the changing in time and character harder to follow.

Aside from that, this is definitely a coming of age story, one that I think most readers will find a character with who they can relate with as the story goes on. We get small glimpses of their younger selves, and to see how much development they have gone through and continue to throughout the story. They all come to stand on their own, to embrace what they want, and I think that was a very nuanced show of the impact of fame at such a young age.

Steph was definitely my favourite character. I loved their dedication and love for their family and for Moonlight Overthrow, it really came through so brightly. Their conversations with Gina were always so heartwarming and I was just rooting for them the entire story.

Overall, this was a very fun read. I feel like a lot of people are going to really love this one and I can’t wait to see everyone’s reactions to it.

It Goes Like This released May 18th

The queerer the better but this book was queer AND top tier. The character were so amazing and Miel Moreland has very admirable writing! I loved talking about this book with others who received advanced copies!

I, unfortunately, DNF'ed this one and have not come back to it like I hoped I would. I just couldn't get into it and wasn't enjoying the plot or the characters.

Music is a huge part of my life and I love books that incorporate music into the plot somehow, so I already knew going into this book that I was going to enjoy it, and I was right. I really liked learning about each character's backstory through the multiple POVs, and learning about the history they all had as friends, romantic partners, and bandmates. Overall, I thought it was an incredible story and if you're also a fellow music nerd, i think you'll find one of your new favorite books.

"It Goes Like This" is an excellent YA book. It reminded me a lot of Julie and the Phantoms but without the ghosts (and also, if JATP was already a world-famous queer pop band instead of “on the edge of great”, but still 😂) which is why I was so eager to read it, and it definitely didn’t disappoint!

My only complaint would be that it was a tad more bittersweet than I would have liked, but I still think this made for a truly enjoyable, melodic novel. 4.5 stars!

Talk about the high school dream: living out your rockstar fantasy with your BFFs. Moreland created really relatable and lush characters in this book. I enjoyed reading it and seeing how everything was going to come together.

This is an endearing, heartfelt story about four queer teens who were once part of a famous band that had broken up, with two of the members also going through a personal breakup. When a storm ravages their hometown, they come back together for a reunion benefit concert and must navigate old hurts, new loyalties, and the messiness of repairing and weaving new relationships. The story is a love letter to pop music, fandoms, and queer friendships and relationships.

This ones a dnf for now! I know once I really get into it I’ll probably love it but I think I’m so stuck on another band novel that I can’t quite fall in love with it.

Dear IT GOES LIKE THIS,

I love you. I love the story of a wildly famous queer teen band who fall apart, then come back together for one big benefit concert in the wake of tragedy, and heal their friendships along the way. I love your realness, the pain and intensity you convey while still giving readers fandom and pop music, and two young women in love. 

I love Steph, and how they navigate being nonbinary in a so-called “girl group,” how they stand up for themselves by stepping out of the spotlight and putting their own health first. I love type-A Gina freeing herself from her own expectations, from being “the Black one,” and letting herself just exist. I love the tumblr posts, the angsty lyric writing, and oh my gosh I LOVE how much Eva loves Celeste and how much you made me ache and hope for them.

I am ride-or-die for you, for Moonlight Overthrow, the band that doesn’t exist, surreally living in a year that didn’t exist, and Celeste somehow selling out arenas in an alternate 2020 where music kept on playing. 

You are fun and smart and you stole my heart (and now you’ve got me writing lyrics!). Thank you for taking me somewhere new, somewhere special. I love you. 💜🎶

It Goes Like This is a book which explores friendships, love, loss, goals and life. Eva, Celeste, Gina and Steph are very close friends when they form Moonlight Overthrow. As teens, they have every thing that a teenager dreams of: name, fame, music and queer teenagers obsessing after them. But that’s the thing about teen bands: they don’t stay teens forever. As they feel the need to figure out their goals and focus on their personal lives, they make a decision to leave the band.

Just as they leave the band, Eva also has to deal with her breakup with Celeste which knocks her down with a feather. She is left with grief being the last person to know about the band breaking up as well as Celeste leaving her. While she deals with that trauma, their hometown is struck by a storm that brings on a lot of loss, and they are asked to perform again, one last time, for raising funds for the storm and with some hesitations but with a final nod, they all agree.

Meeting a best friend after no contact for a long time, especially when you left on risky terms, is very dreadful, and Moonlight Overthrow is no exception. Despite the rumours of a reunion, their mind is set on performing for Duluth and then going back their own ways. Yet, when they finally start getting close again, it almost feels impossible. Will there really be a reunion?

Moreland’s writing style is exemplary, with all the quotes and the lyrics and the song names she came up with, and I found it amusing how the chapters made you dwell on a particular time for a moment and took you to the flashback the very next moment.

In Miel Moreland’s It Goes Like This, you’ll find all these things that will make it interesting for you:

Multiple POVs
Sapphic Story
Reconciling Friendships
Tumblr Fanpages!
The world of Grammys and Music!
Now, let’s get to the points that I didn’t quite like. Celeste, Gina, Eva and Steph are said to be best friends before the band even formed, and although we get a lot of insights on how their life was before the band, I felt that their friendship was totally hollow. There was not a spark that you see with best friends, and I understand that they had all separated and that made it difficult for them, it still didn’t make me feel the emotions I was meant to. It simply seemed like they didn’t care for each other the entire time they were not together even though the book repeated that they did miss each other.

Secondly, Eva and Celeste’s relationship before the band was disbanded was a very sweet part of the Sapphic Romance, but as the book brought me closer to when the band was about to separate, it suddenly became very toxic. Celeste avoids telling Eva that they were separating just because she knew Eva would throw a tantrum about it, and that somehow didn’t settle right with me, and she broke up with Eva right after they told her about the band and she was already very exhausted, and that was really unjust towards Eva.

The character I loved the most in the entire book was Steph, whom I now adore with all my heart. They took the right decision to support their family when necessary, took care of their siblings and also helped their hometown when the time came to do so. In the end, they still took a very good decision which made me love their character all the way more. They wore a suit and felt happy as who they were because they did it for the first time to a concert as Moonlight Overthrow being labeled a “girl” band didn’t allow them to. If there’s a a character I’d do anything to protect, it’ll definitely be Steph.

It Goes Like This is a young adult contemporary novel about four ex-bandmates. After experiencing an extremely messy breakup of their band, Moonlight Overthrow, Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph find themselves suddenly reuniting in order to put together a one time reunion benefit concert.

The premise of this book caught my attention immediately. Not only is it interesting, but it’s also a very fresh take for a YA contemporary. In most contemporary novels, the best friends start off together and a conflict breaks them apart in the middle of the novel. In It Goes Like This, the initial conflict has already happened before the primary timeline begins, and you learn more and more about it through a series of flashbacks.

My favorite thing about It Goes Like This was that for a book with an all-queer cast, there was not a lot of time spent on LGBT discrimination. As a pansexual who often uses reading as an escape, I’m always a bit nervous about how in depth these conversations are going to go. There are some brief conversations/reflections about it (the most being the exploration of Steph’s non-binary identity), but the main and secondary characters of the book are extremely supportive and protective of each other, even despite their rocky relationships.

This brings me to why I rated the book 3 stars. While I was extremely grateful for the unconditional underlying camaraderie between these four characters, I had a hard time liking any of them individually. Miscommunication/Lack of communication is one of my least favorite tropes, and this book relies on it very heavily. The more they continued to randomly lash out at each other, the more frustrated I found myself getting. There was clearly a lot of unresolved issues between them, but I had hoped that their past mistakes would have taught them what not to do this time around.

Another thing that I discovered as I read this was that I think it would have been easier for me to read if it were written in first-person instead. Each chapter focuses on a different character, but all of them are written in third-person and more than once I found myself confused as to what was happening. For a book thats main emphasis is on relationships, I think it could benefit a lot from first-person narration. Please note, however, that the version I read was an ARC, so the final publication will probably resolve these issues.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend It Goes Like This if you’re looking for a queer contemporary that explores the importance of self-image, friendship, and family.

It Goes Like This was a wonderful story about fandoms, love, second chances and above all, friendship. It was an instant favorite and was incredibly well written.

The book follows a queer pop band who've been broken up for a while but have to reunite for a charity concert in town. But coming back together isn't going to be as easy as it should be. There's tension between Eva and Celeste, who used to date but had a bad break up and Steph has come out as non binary.

It is so easy to fall in love with every single one of these characters. They're each wonderful and passionate and do amazing things together. Of course, after everything, you can't just fall back into routine with people so things are awkward at the beginning of the book due to the band breaking up two years ago but I loved watching them try to overcome everything that's happened in the past.

I loved the fact that the book was written in all the four main characters' POV. It helped me understand what they were truly like and understand why each of them made the decisions they did. It helps you really understand them and root for each of them as well.

There's nothing about this book I didn't truly love and I'd recommend it to everyone!!

It Goes Like This follows a group of young queer folk who had once been in a globetrotting, world-famous band, Moonlight Overthrow, through their formative teen years. A year and a half after the band's breakup, Celeste, Eva, Gina, and Steph reunite for one final reunion concert in their hometown of Duluth, Minnesota.

Miel Moreland effortlessly switches between each of the four main characters' perspectives, while also traveling between the present and the days and months surrounding the band's original separation. I am a Minnesota girl, born and raised, so I have a soft spot for novels that use it as a setting. I also love love loved seeing so much queer rep: all of the four main characters identify with the lgbtq+ community. Yes, please, sapphic and non-binary rep! I wasn't sure if I wanted the main romance to happen, but by the end I was convinced.

It Goes Like This is a great contemporary YA read for summer. It's about learning how to make space for your friends while holding onto yourself, and finding love in all the old places. Perfect for fans of second-chance romance. Best read while listening to a kick-ass summer playlist (made up of all your fave queer indie bands, of course).

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

although this novel was hard to read in the beginning, more because exposition and the set up of the plot is always my least favorite portion of novels, i found ‘it goes like this’ to be one of my favorite novels this year. so far, at least.

i thought the concept was surprisingly fresh and unique, even if books about musicians seem like something straight out of a poorly written fanfiction, moreland actually executed it amazingly well.

all while providing positive + relatable representation, a diverse cast, and all the components that make for a fun and quick read

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

I love the feminist undertones in this book as well as the friendship and character development between all the friends.

"It Goes Like This" is full of friendship, love, and music with a diverse collection of queer characters.

As I said before, I thought it was a very unique story with this whole band and charity concert stories, and following each characters through their journeys ‘today’ and in ‘the past’ with some flashbacks. I really got attached to the characters, and really felt like I was in the book living the story. It was beautifully written.

This is definitely a book I can recommend you if you are looking for a very different romance and very unique story.