If This Gets Out follows the secret relationship of Ruben and Zach, one half of the boyband Saturday.

When I started this book, I was immediately drawn in my the unique qualities of each of the characters and how they each helped progress the story along. Watching the fragile dynamic between Chorus, their management company, and Saturday really engaged me and made me beg for more. I read the majority of this ARC in one sitting and I loved every second of it. There was never a dull moment and the romance between Zach and Ruben (or as their fans dubbed them, “Zuben”) was sweet and complicated and beautiful. I recommend this book to any young queer people who’ve struggled with coming to terms with their sexuality, or have been forced to hide who they are. Anyone can find comfort in each of the boys, queer or not. Something I found interesting was how each of the characters has a unique personality in which anyone could relate to, similar to how the Chorus management team built up their stage personalities to appeal to anyone and everyone. Normally, I prefer my romance to be slow burn, but the plot and pacing was executed so perfectly that I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. Overall, an amazing read and I will be recommending this to anyone and everyone.

The main tropes for this book include secret relationships and the boyband trope. Trigger warning for drug abuse and homophobia.

Fans of Date Me Bryson Keller will love this boy band book about figuring out who you are, and who you aren't. We will definitely purchase this for our high school library. It will be a lovely compliment to our LGBTQ collection.

This is a two-part disclaimer:

Pt. 1
I did not like this book, but that doesn’t mean you (whoever you are) won’t like it either. I believe there are many out there who will swoon over these characters. I, unfortunately, was not one of them.

Pt. 2
I need to preface this review by mentioning that I think boy bands are a plague. There, I said it. Good for you if you like them. Good for you if you stan K-Pop. It’s not for me. For that, I blame my age and my sheer ignorance of that genre of music. Fin.

Okay, all that aside… the review:

At the beginning, it was was hard to remember who was who, and each of the main characters’ physical descriptions. We’re thrown a few more side characters, too, and I’m like… “it’s only been five pages, and I already have to know seven or eight different people? Dang.” Also, what the heck is up with this clear and unmistakeable diversity checklist of a boy band? We have a: Hispanic member, white, black, and Asian member. I’m all for inclusivity, but this just feels tacked on and forced. The PoC characters feel almost sidelined supporting players to Zach’s, the white boy, story (even though Ruben has a POV).

It’s clear from the beginning how this was going to end, which kind of takes some of the fun out it. I need a slower burn—I CRAVE it, and I didn’t get it here. Basically, if you remove the homophobia & angst, there’s really no plot. It’s actually pretty hollow. The initial moment the two main characters get together is not handled well, from a believability standpoint, either. The emotions/actions are so misread, it’s annoying. I rolled my eyes at, ”He’s only kissing me to boost his self-esteem.” Like, what a cop-out response to generate dozens of more pages of unnecessary angst. It didn’t make sense, character-wise. Unnecessary angst could’ve easily been remedied if the characters actually talked to one another. I don’t understand how it is so hard to be open and honest? The whole “miscommunication” trope was overplayed. I didn’t like how addiction was handled, either.

The writing is… not the best. I don’t know what more to say. I’ve only read one other work by Mr. Dietrich, and I can say it’s a lot of telling rather than showing, which is a shame.

I really wanted to fall in love with this book. I thought I could. I gave it a shot, and it shot me right back.

Usually I find it harder to connect to mlm books than wlw but despite the entire book being about a boy band, this was surprisingly relatable. The emotions were raw and real and the everyday miscommunication that happens in new love happens everywhere. I was angry at these two. I cried over these two. I wished for a sapphic but equivalent relationship to these two. Definitely highly recommended

The synopsis of this book leads you to believe that this will be a cute romance book following two members of a boyband, but it is so much more. In this book we follow both Ruben and Zach, two members of the biggest boy group Saturday. They are at the height of their fame and about to embark on the European leg of their world tour. Dealing with the pressures and restrictions that their management company has put them under, the boys are become more restless and reckless. Their carefully crafted personas are coming undone, and they start to risk their public image. But could that all be worth it if they find love and themselves along the way.

So when I read the synopsis, I thought this would be a cute romcom book and a good summer read, but I got a lot more. This book deals a lot with the pressures of being in the industry and the exploration a lot of people have to deal with while under their management companies. I felt so bad for these boys and all the stuff they had to deal with. They were told what personality they had to have, clothes to wear, when and where they could come out. There is also familial pressures in here, and some characters having to deal with not only the criticism of the public, but the criticism from their own families. There is also an exploration on how all this pressure can lead to substance and drug abuse, which I thought was intersting. All this to say, this book is more than just a typical romance. I do wish some of these topics wrapped up a little better in the end, as they seemed magically fixed.

The characters in this book were also so great. I loved Ruben and how unafraid he was to be himself, even with the people around him telling him he can't. Zach went through such an important character arc in this book, starting as a people pleaser, and moving into who he truly was. Jon and Angel, though the secondary characters, also were fully developed and fleshed out, which I love to see. The romance was a little quick moving, but I thought it was really cute and I still really enjoyed it.

Overall this is a cute book, with a cute romance and discussions on hard hitting topics.

If you've ever shipped members of a boyband or spent hours reading fan fiction about boybands this book will be right up your alley. If This Gets Out follows two members of a band called Saturday as they navigate international stardom and a secret relationship.

I definitely think that this book had its moments. I was intrigued by the discussion of exploitation in the music industry and of course was excited for the romance too. With that being said I think that this lacked a lot of depth. There were the beginnings of discussions on drug abuse, disordered eating, and more all of which were consequences of the power that Saturday's management company had over them. Instead of looking deeper at these the story instead was repetitive in nature surrounding entirely on teen angst and a relationship that I found lacked chemistry.

Ruben and Zach were the narrators of the story and despite being best friends and eventually falling for each other I didn't really get it. Zach was indecisive to the point that I was actually angry with him. He was a people pleaser to the extreme and while this did become a central conflict I didn't finish the book thinking that he had changed at all. Ruben was a fine character, I don't have much to say about him on that front I think that his family drama was a unique plot point and I felt a lot of sympathy for him and all that he had gone through. The other members of Saturday were at times more intriguing than the narrators but I understand why Zach and Ruben were chosen for the main characters.

In terms of the writing it really did bring me back to high school and reading fan fiction late into the night. I think that this will be a big appeal to readers. Again, it was a fun concept and I think that anyone who has ever shipped members of a boyband might be interested in this. I think that if the plot had interested me more I would have flown through it but I ended up reading it a lot slower than I expected to. From the synopsis and the way that the book began I definitely expected this to be more dramatic than it actually was. Moments of conflict or drama would start to pop up, or there would be an event that seemed to foreshadow something bigger but then all of it just fizzled out. Then the ending arrived and it all wrapped up conveniently with a nice tight bow. It didn't bother me but it didn't impress me either. I really can't come up with any other way to describe this other than it was fine.

Were you ever obsessed with a band, singer, or other celebrity? Did you read fanfiction, follow them on social media, and perhaps even ship them with other celebrities? I think a lot of us have at some point. If that sounds like you, If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich is the perfect read for you! It follows the story of Ruben and Zach, two members of an American boyband called Saturday. As they develop feelings for one another, they realize that their managers may not allow them to reveal their relationship to the public — ever. Along with their fellow bandmates, Angel and Jon, they have to decide whether they want to continue hiding themselves or finally show the world who they really are.

If This Gets Out was a delightful read! It was both funny and heartbreaking. The band members all felt like such real people, and their struggles were poignant. They changed and grew throughout the story. Their character arcs were satisfying and inspiring. I was rooting for them the whole time!

While this is a wonderful queer romance, the book also focuses heavily on the struggles of being a celebrity, especially one who is young and not straight. It’s easy for us to think that celebrities live a charmed life — they’re rich, successful, and famous. What more could they want? This book shows that behind their glittering exteriors, celebrities are ordinary people who have been broken down, dehumanized, and taken advantage of. If This Gets Out exposes that and shows how much it affects people. It’s a reminder that the people we put on pedestals who seem to have it all are ultimately just people like us who want to live their lives authentically.

If This Gets Out releases on December 7, 2021, so please go preorder it now or buy it when it comes out!

While I've seen some comparisons to certain boy band OTP fanfic, this book delivered way more than I was expecting. A friendship story, a coming out story, an addiction story, a body image story, and much more, If This Gets Out touches on all the pressure points of Young Adult literature without being heavy handed or trite.
The main characters, Ruben and Zach, are a part of a boy band with international superstardom status. The plot explores what it's like to be that famous, and to be forced into presenting yourself as someone you're not. Supporting characters John and Angel have their own struggles within and outside the band, and the four men struggle to express themselves in an industry that wants them to be cardboard cutout heartthrobs.
I found the book to be well-paced, and the characters to be flawed in just the right way.
Recommend for anyone who has ever fought to be who they are.

What is it with me and reading heavy books back-to-back? It's like my life isn't hard enough or something.

My sleep disorder has been switching from excessive sleep to nonexistent sleep like a girl changes clothes these days, and I initially started reading because I wasn't feeling any of my other current reads and just needed something to ease me into sleep. LOL THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN.

This is now my second Sophie Gonzalez book to have finished at 3am. Except this one was more like 4am because it was longer than Only Mostly Devastated.

Her writing is just so addictive! And she writes characters as if they're the friends you make plans with on weekends. I read a whole book with 90% male characters and gave it 5 stars. Only Sophie can do something that. The amount of ANGST contained in one book should be illegal, but in her own words, "Angst is like garlic" and apparently, they were fully aware that you can never have too much.

Why is this book so heavy if it's about a boy band that is obviously inspired by One Direction with two of the members falling in love? Because their management is abusive and refuses to allow anyone to have a public identity outside of the carefully curated ones since their initial formation. We follow Zach, a sweet and sensitive kid that thinks he is straight. Ruben is the other lead, openly gay to his label and family since age 13, but mysterious and seemingly available to all their screaming female fans, thanks to their PR. The other two members are Angel, who is Asian and struggling with drug abuse to escape the racism he experiences from his toxic work environment, and Jon, a half-Black boy whose father is the band's manager and who wants the opposite of everything his dad wants for him.

So basically, your average YA. Not.

I'm so mad at myself for not checking the release date for this one because it's not out for another five months! And I need to talk to someone about it! This isn't fair! If this ever gets out (lol get it) I will be the one with the Zuben sweatshirt screaming on Twitter, thank you.

The devastation of these young adults (all of them are 18 or older) facing the worst the industry could throw at them and being forced to hide their truest selves or risk never working their dream job again. The stomach-flipping suspense of secret and forbidden relationships. The lack of air I breathed as the book continued to somehow get more and more intense?? Like how did these two think of so much conflict and then knowingly write it all??

Can't believe I almost forgot to mention that this is hella sex positive!! I'd honestly say this borders on new adult with some of the heavy themes and semi-graphic to graphic sex scenes. We stan mature YA in this house!!

This book hurt. But it also was amazing. You should read it.

TW: forced outing, drug abuse, toxic parent, toxic work environment/abusive management, internalized homophobia

'what if you've figured out that you might like guys, but you've been scared to do anything about it, because then it would become real?' 🌈

q o t d: favorite boy-band?

⭐⭐⭐⭐

imagine your favorite boy-band, and then imagine two of the members falling for each other. but the band's management team keeps their relationship hidden from your eyes, because you are supposed to look at them as 'dream boys' and apparently them coming out as queer will make them less desirable in your eyes. fucked up, no?

this is what If This Gets Out by @calerdietrich and @sgonzalesauthor is about. though this book was a consequence of one of my random sprees on @netgalley im SO HAPPY I read it before its publication date (7th December) because now I get to recommend this YA banger to yall, with pride!!

my favorite part about this book was how through Zach and Ruben's relationship, the authors depicted that though queer ships may face problems which heterosexual ships may be exempted from; in the end, the things which keep all ships going are the same – active communication about what you want from a ship, and respect and patience towards your partner. because after all, love is love.

Zach's monologues about him being bi and the way him and Ruben struggled with their decision to come out were so beautifully written. I adored the band's picturesque concerts and their costumes too.

also, the dark side of the entertainment industry portrayed in the book really messed up with my head. my heart really went out to the band members. but their romance and friendship had it well-balanced so it was a delight anyway. plus, I was elated to read how the ending not only went just like i wanted it to, but even better than that!

beautiful this was! 🥺♥️🌈

The premise of this book sucked me in SO quick. Though this book deals with two popstars in the limelight, I think the pressure to be someone or something for others in your life is real for a lot of people, including my students. I was engaged the whole time and my stress levels definitely spiked at various points throughout the drama, but I was rooting for them and hurting for them the whole time. These characters are realistic (even if their job may not necessarily be relatable to the grand populace) and likable--you want them to succeed. The pacing was perfect and I loved the resolution. A really great read!

This book is a romance but I wouldn't call it a romcom. Ruben and Zach have to deal with a LOT before the end, so it's a heavier read than your average YA romance novel. It's an excellent read and I would highly recommend it to readers who are looking for new LGBTQ+ books.

I absolutely loved this story and know my students will as well. I loved how it was from the perspective of the boy bands and didn’t show only just the glamour side. The fact that it touched on difficult topics and how it isn’t always perfect made the story even better. I love how it incorporates the LBGTQ+ community and know many students can resonate with this. I give this book 5/5 stars. I can’t wait to get this in the hands of some of my readers! Thank you netgalley and publisher for the advanced read.

enjoyable. i recommend it for folks. i dont remember too much from it because i read it a while ago but i remember enjoying it.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

I’m sorry but I had to DNF @20%. I was really excited to read this, but I just couldn’t get into it.

The premise of this book was super interesting; two boys in a boy band falling in love. It sounds like Larry fanfic to me, but since I never read any, I can’t say if it’s like that. But I just didn’t like the story.

I’m disappointed to say the least, I was super excited to read this. The plot just felt boring to me. I liked the characters, but it wasn’t enough for me to keep reading.

In saying that, I do think this is a quick summer read. It’s perfect for a beach day.

***Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review***

I really enjoyed this book. It reminds me of a really good fanfiction (and I mean it as a compliment! I have read some really good fanfic ;-) As someone who enjoys slow burn romances I was happy that there was an actual buildup to the relationship, rather than an instantaneous one. I would 1000% love to see a movie of this book, it was really fun.

3.5 stars

If This Gets Out centers on the relationship between two members of the internationally famous boy band, Saturday, clearly an homage to the stardom and fan shipping of One Direction. Told from the alternating perspective of Ruben and Zach, the book follows the band on tour through Europe. Though ostensibly a romance, the story is most powerful as a cautionary tale about the ways that identities are foraged and managed for those living in the public eye. All four members of the band are forced to play particular roles by controlling producers and parents, from the kinds of clothing they are allowed to wear to when/if Ruben and Zach are allowed to come out about their sexualities and relationship in public.

While Ruben and Zach do struggle, it seems as if the other two members of the band, Jon and Angel, are perhaps more affected by mental health issues and resulting substance abuse. The two are also both BIPOCs (Jon is mixed race and Angel is Asian), and I found myself wanting more about their perspectives as a reader. It seems to me that race would play an enormous role in the band's image, but this was not something that was ever explored in depth. Even Angel's substance abuse and trip to rehab were treated pretty superficially.

I think that readers will really enjoy the development of Ruben and Zach's relationship as well as the rapport and banter between all four of the band members. I was definitely rooting for all of the characters throughout!

This book kept me up all night reading (literally - the sun was coming up again!).
Often, I'm left unimpressed by books told from 2 POVs written by 2 authors. But Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich did it so well! I could pleasantly tell the difference between the two characters and their personality as well as their unique thought patterns. At the same time, the story flow was impeccable: I was guided so perfectly that I didn't know how to stop.

This is the first book I've read that was written by Cale Dietrich (and I will definitely read more written by him), but the third book that I've read by Sophie Gonzales. She somehow manages to make a simple love story have depth by portraying underlying mental processes. There are so many sweet but superficial love stories out there, so "If This Gets Out" really stands out for me - it is sweet, but has depth!

I loved the setting, I loved the protagonists and the other band members. I loved how the book left me pining. I loved how the plot felt very natural, despite being about a famous boy band. That is to say: there was only minimal forced drama (this I appreciate very much!), the drama that was came from relatable emotional states/problems of the characters.

I'm looking forward to reading more books by this duo!!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review!
I love Sophie Gonzales. Her books are creative and easy to read— this is no exception. The characters were great and well thought out and the romance was so good. This felt reminiscent of something I would have searched for years ago, during a band phase, and I’m so glad this exists now. I think Gonzales writes the things younger me always wanted to read. This book is definitely one of those things. Her books— especially this one— have specific, niche tropes that honestly anybody could enjoy. They haven’t been overdone and she always puts a fresh twist on them. This book has got that twist and a storyline that feels unique!

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.