I was really hoping to enjoy this book however, I did not. I have adored all of Sophie Gonzales' past books however, there was just something about this one that I could not enjoy. I spent the day reading it, on and off but it just felt like it dragged on and on. I could not find myself enjoying it most of the time. Maybe the book just wasn't for more. There were some parts that were enjoyable but as a whole, it felt like a struggle to get through. I am very grateful that I was able to read the ARC in advance however, despite my own feelings towards this story, I do truly enjoy Sophie Gonzales' writing.

If This Gets Out is YA contemporary at its finest, with superbly crafted characters and a highly entertaining storyline that isn’t afraid to delve deep.

I am a huge fan of Sophie Gonzales’ work and after reading this, I really need to pick up some of Cale Dietrich’s books. Their two styles of writing meshed together so well and made the book incredibly easy to read. It just flowed impeccably, with the drama and tension keeping the pace moving along nicely. The entire atmosphere felt cohesive and enjoyable.

I absolutely adored the character work here. These are likeable but complex characters, with their own issues to work through. What connects them all is their friendship and shared love for music. Their band is messy and dysfunctional at times, but ultimately they are united in wanting to express their creativity freely. They’re all such distinctive, well-rounded characters that it was a joy to follow them along.

I loved the exploration of celebrity culture and the complex relationships celebrities have with their fans. On one hand, it can be filled with joy, love and admiration for the people who support you, understand you and make you what you are. However, they dig deep into the downsides of the constant scrutiny and censorship from management. Their tour is a gruelling task to slog through, but the music, their fanbase and each other are worth it in the end. I liked how it discussed the ongoing impact of this lifestyle and associated trauma, particularly in terms of sexuality and turning to substance abuse in order to cope.

If This Gets Out is a whirlwind exploration of friendship, fame and finding yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the e-ARC.

If This Gets Out is about two members of the boy band Saturday who fall in love. Do I need to say more?
I really enjoyed it. The four band members are genuine friends. I loved their interactions and the tensions made a lot of sense. I love the mentions to fandom. I really liked that they are on a European tour. Their stop in Amsterdam and their introduction to stroopwafels was precious. Zach and Ruben are really well written characters. They also balance each other quite well in the relationship.

I'd definitely recommend If This Gets Out if you have ever had a boy band phase (or still have one). The book shows the hard work and the pressure management can give the members of the band. Overall, it is such an enjoyable read that I am sure you have fun reading it.

As a One Direction fan, I was delighted to hear of a new book coming out that focused on boy bands, and was specifically intrigued by the concept of a queer relationship within one. I of course jumped at the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. Without providing spoilers, not only did the authors of If This Gets Out expertly handle topics such as coming out, but also addiction and toxic relationships as well. The members of the fictional band Saturday felt like actual fleshed out characters as well, and not as stand-ins for real-life boy band members.

I really enjoyed this friends & coworkers to lovers book. And I really appreciated the fact that it wasn't just a happy story - they had a lot to overcome and they still won't have the support they need, but they're working through it.

AHHHH so good! I really hope this one hits the lists because it deserves to! Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich just never disappoint. From the chemistry to the humour to the heart-wrenching bits, this was just a wonderful read all in all. :)

This book was incredibly enjoyable and with great characters. Loved the concept and the execution was great. Definitely recommending to friends.

The romance between Zach and Ruben was okay, I think I would have liked them as a couple more if their relationship was a slow burn instead of dating within the first 30% of the book. The romance also did not seem like the main focus as the two boys are constantly being kept apart by their management team.

I loved Angel and Jon, the other band members, but I feel like their characters could have been explored so much more. I loved when all four them would banter and we're having fun together, but unfortunately it didn't happen as much as I would've liked it to because the book mostly revolves around how awful they are treated by everyone around them and how little control they have over their lives.

I think this is one of those situations where it's me and not the book, I just thought It was going to be a fluffy read but I ended up being very upset and angry for most of the book and it took me a long time to get past the 50% mark.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for this review copy.

I loved how clear the voices were, and even though both POV's were in first person it was so clear whose side we were reading. A lovely story with strong MC's and an adorable romance. Would definitely read a collab by these authors again!

4.75/5 stars

Wow. This book. This book!!! I'm absolutely obsessed with it. Cale and Sophie did an incredible job crafting their characters - obviously Ruben and Zach are well-rounded, believable, REAL characters, but Angel and Jon stand out in their own way as well, and the side characters also manage to be fleshed out and set apart from each other throughout the book. It's honestly incredible, with such a large cast of characters, how well-defined they each are.

I really loved the love story here, the things the book has to say about the music industry and the way we treat young stars/the things we expect of them/just...the life they live in some cases. And I was furious at so many points because the boys - my boys! - were going through such hard things. I felt like I really knew them and cared about them.

The book made me giggle and smile and also rage against the system and if that's not a sign of a great book I don't know what is!

3.5 stars? It didn’t blow me away, but I enjoyed it and it made me cry multiple times. Recommended for fans of I Was Born for This.

Disliked:

-It alternates POV between Ruben and Zach, and occasionally I lost track of which POV we were in, which to me implies that the character voices aren’t quite distinct enough.
-I wish there was more development of the romance in its early stages, “showing the math” of why these two characters fall for each other. To be fair, it’s very common for me to feel that way about romance novels. I think it’s because I’ve grown accustomed to fanfiction romance, which inherently comes with a lot of character backstory in a way that standalone original fiction can’t. (I do think the romance is better developed in later stages, though.)
-This isn’t inherently bad, but: the premise of this book is obviously inspired by Larry Stylinson tinhats, but I feel like the book doesn’t quite deliver on what a Larry Stylinson fan would want in a book. Not in the sense that it’s not Larry Stylinson enough (I don’t actually know that much about Larry Stylinson), but in the sense that the fun of RPF (and often shipping in general) lies in playing detective, finding clues and interpreting them, collecting data points and telling a story with them. I get that this book is from the band members’ POV and not the fans’, but the band members do often see what the fans are thinking (e.g. on Twitter), so clue-finding from a fan perspective could have been laced in. Again, I don’t see this as an objective flaw — it’s more just that, at least for me, the book evokes an itch that it then chooses not to scratch.

Liked:

-The Twitter/fandom discourse feels very real. Like, if the events of the book happened in real life, the tweets in the book are exactly the things that people on Twitter would say.
-I deeply related to Ruben’s relationship with his mom, and appreciated the portrayal of a parent in that in-between space where you know they love you and would never physically harm you, but also interacting with them often makes you sad and tired.
-The fight scenes (both romantic and platonic) are excellent. Not physical fights, but arguments. I love argument scenes because they’re so full of character work, they’re deeply about who each character is and the pain points in their relationship, and these scenes deliver. They both provide new insight into each character’s personality and fit right in with everything we already knew about the characters.
-The [concert coming out scene (hide spoiler)] is beautiful and made me cry.
-the Mom Squad!
-The nuanced depiction of homophobia, and how it's not always hate crimes or slurs or Bible-thumping; it can come from people who are ostensibly supportive and who maintain plausible deniability.
-I rarely see a white author write an Asian-American character with a personality other than "quiet/studious," so I was happy to see an Asian-American character who's a loud, extroverted party animal! (Obviously, quiet and studious Asian-Americans exist - hi, I'm one of them! - but sometimes it feels like that's the only personality we ever get to have in fiction.)


Rep: POV characters are a gay guy and an initially questioning / eventually bisexual guy. Other major characters include a biracial Black guy and an Asian-American (probably Vietnamese) guy, both straight.

Content notes: Covert homophobia (no slurs, nothing physically violent or overtly hostile), coerced closeting, substance abuse, mental illness, car accident, a scene of coming out to a parent that doesn’t go as well as expected

Netgalley ARC.

I'm so happy I got an ARC of this because this book was amazing... and I wish it was longer. I need more Zach and Ruben in my life.
I love the fact that this book had two POV's, especially since a lot of the drama was easier to understand from both sides because we got to be inside both their minds when things happened.
I highly recommend this book if you're in the need of a good, cute, drama-filled LGBT book.
4.5 stars!

Good book with fun characters! Easy read and good for diversity. I enjoyed the interplay between the characters and that the story was not necessarily about the romance, but there was an underlying story behind that as well. I felt that the characters were unique and relatable to a YA audience.

This is such a fun, romantic, and gut-wrenching book! The romance is one to root for, and the alternating narratives work beautifully. I love the whole cast of characters, and watching them take on the challenges of a constricting music industry is infuriating but, ultimately, uplifting.

First of all, thank you to Wednesday Books for an eARC of If This Gets Out in exchange for an honest review!

What happens when two members of a boy band-one who is gay but not publicly out because of the boy band's image, and who who suddenly realizes he may have always been bi-fall head over heels for each other?

If This Gets Out follows Zach and Ruben, two members of Saturday. Their images are controlled by Chorus, and despite Ruben openly being out for many years, they basically control him and what he does. And one fateful night, Zach finally gives into those feelings he's been supressing for years.

If This Gets Out reminded me a bit of Red White and Royal Blue. Though it's friends to lovers, they spend most of the book sneaking around. It's also actually quite spicy (I'd say even spicier than RWRB) so I'm a bit surprised this is YA rather than NA.

Overall, even though I don't like boy bands, this was so sweet, and a really great read! Can easily see this being turned into a TV show!

A quintessential part of the queer experience is “coming out.” There are so many questions that have to be asked and answered - When? How? How will people react? Is it safe to come out? How will coming out affect my life?

18-year-old Ruben knows he’s gay, but he has an added element that most people don’t have to worry about - he’s in Saturday, an insanely popular boyband about to embark on the European leg of their world tour. Being a part of a wildly successful band means there are more pieces at play - a fanbase of mostly teen girls, scrutiny under the public eye, and a management team that controls basically everything he and his bandmates do. He wants to come out, but management always says it’s not the right time.

Zach, Ruben’s bandmate, wants to be known as a songwriter but management continuously turns down his ideas. Also, he thought he was straight. Ruben too, thinks he’s straight, but? What if he’s not? When Zach begins to question his sexuality, tensions rise between the bandmates that risk the wrath of management along with scorn from fans.

While these two work out whatever is going on between them, their other two bandmates, Jon and Angel, are not without their own problems. Jon struggles with having his dad as the manager of the group and with his management-decided role in the band being the opposite of who he is. Angel, also unhappy with his “role” and desperate to gain some kind of control back in his life, struggles with drugs and alcohol.

Together, they deal with overbearing management, the price of fame, and discovering who they are and what version of themselves they want the world to see - the one chosen for them or who they really are?

Things I liked:
- The plot was really interesting and held my attention the entire time
- I loved how supportive the bandmates were of each other. They fought sometimes, but in the end, they cared deeply about each other's wellbeing and were willing to do anything for their bandmates.
- Zach and Ruben are really sweet together!!

Things I didn’t like:
- The pacing was sometimes a little rushed
- The end was fine, but there was something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Things to know before you read:
- This is a friends to lovers story
- While there are mentions of sex, it is all fade-to-black
- There is drug and alcohol use

Now, to address the elephant in the room: the supposed parallels between this book and a certain British boy band that dominated from the early-mid 2010s. Here’s the thing - if you were a casual fan, or if you don’t know anything about them at all, you’re not gonna notice the similarities. However, if you were a hardcore directioner… it’s hard not to think about the parallels. There were definitely a few moments where I thought to myself, “Hmmm, is this…?” However, whether you know anything about the band or not, the story is still enjoyable.

Overall, If This Gets Out was a fun, quick read and a unique take on a romance. I really enjoyed it!

An amazing book.

The boys of Saturday are on their first European tour and oh boy is it a memorable one.

Zach, Ruben, Jon, and Angel deserve all the happiness in the world. Ruben has to deal with his terrible management team and Zach has to deal with learning about himself, and Jon and Angel, well they've got problems too.

I loved the characters. I basically adopted four teenagers by the end of the book.

I absolutely loved reading "If This Gets Out". This is a love story that could rival some of the best. The characters present themselves to you and you immediately fall in love. While there are trials in tribulations in all relationships, "If This Gets Out" presents this trials in a different form. I would recommend this to an LGBTQIA+ student or a student that is an ally but I would not be able to adapt this into curriculum. You will not regret reading this book!

A book you will not be able to put down--from first word to last, this book is a whirlwind of romance, friendship, and the painful process of learning how to set boundaries. There was just enough angst to keep me guessing as to the plot's next move, but not so much that the main romance became unbelievable. Well-paced and fully developed, even side characters felt palpable and relevant to the main story. A book I will be reading again and again!

I had hugely high hopes for this one. As a massive boyband fan in the 90s, this looked like I could relive some of my youth!
It was a long one, though and contained a lot of waffle and irrelevant scenes that made my eyes gloss over. I am not a big fan of long reads, and when I started this on my kindle, it said 10 hours left to read! I thought this was going to be a cute YA read but I knew my concentration would struggle for the entirety.
It was a fun read, but a slow one and I was a little diappointed to feel uninterested at times.
The characters were good, and I rooted for the lovebirds, but it took a while to get to know them and too long for any real plot development.