5 stars

I had so much fun reading this book. The main couple had so much chemistry and I also loved all of the other characters. I also loved how it portrayed abuse in the music industry and I could tell that the authors put a lot of research into this book. Zach and Ruben's POVs were to read and I felt that it made the story better.

Overall, This book is great in romance and humor. I loved all of the characters and I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. 5/5.

I'll admit it- I came into this book cringing a bit about what I was sure was going to be literary One Direction Fanfiction. Despite both authors protesting that this has any connection to "Larry". I mean, come on. However, that all aside, this was a really sweet read. I've read one book previously from Sophie Gonzales and I liked it a lot. Her writing + Cale's continue to be really easy-going while still maintaining depth. Their commentary on the music industry and the struggles of being a young person within that is really nicely done without being preachy. They clearly love their characters, and it bleeds through every page. I felt immense joy and sadness at different points of the novel for the main characters, and I really just wanted them to be happy. They navigated two boys trying to just love each other while having insane pressures from the outside world with great care and dedication. Sometimes, maybe often, the book felt a bit cliché and predictable, but that was saved by the sheer heart the authors presented throughout. Many times, I feel that co-authorship must be very difficult and I don't quite understand it- However they pulled it off really well. What I REALLY REALLY liked was the respect I felt the authors had for their lovely leads. Many times, especially maybe in lgbt romances, the characters just absolutely get put through the ringer. While they definitely faced many hardships and trouble throughout the novel, I do feel they were able to retain their dignity which I admired. The book was long but didn't feel that was the the writing was crisp and sweet. Would definitely recommend :D

3.5 ⭐️

This book reminded me of my fan fiction reading days. It read super fast and was pretty fun. I also can’t help but see similarities with 1D lol. I think teen girls will love this one !

*******Thank You Netgalley for the ARC******

Okay, these boys need therapy and a hug. This was a boyband romance, so I kind of knew what to expect but not. Behind the scenes, what happens when a band gets off the stage, were as endearing as they were terrifying. I knew the music industry has a toxic environment, but for 18 yr olds, this was heartbreaking. They are popular overnight and they still are finding out who they are. Ruben's parents made me so angry. You'll see.
This book was long, which I think it didn't need to be. This could have worked out as a duology. The ending didn't feel complete because there was so much they were going through that wasn't mentioned. Those boys needed help and I would have loved to see that. Other than that, I did love them and their personalities. Angel, Zach, Jon, and Ruben shined on their own even if the POV was between Ruben/Zach. I would say an overall 3.5.

This book was a lot of things- full of action, heartfelt, romantic, a little scary at times and adorable. It was nice to see their story evolve, sad to see some of the struggles they had to put up with. The book surprised me in many ways- in a good way. Thank you to NetGalley and The Publisher for an ARC. .

Unfortunately, I don’t think this one is for me which is really disappointing because it was actually one of my most anticipated reads of the year and the authors are also some of my favourite authors! but I didn’t make it very far into this one before i DNF’d it. I thought it was because I wasn’t in the right mood and that’s okay, because sometimes I’m a big mood reader. but when I went to try and pick it back up and get back into it, I found that the writing was doing a lot of telling and very little showing which I think I found frustrating to read. I wanted more than just the characters describing everything that was happening. I wanted to be transported into this world and romance and unfortunately it just didn’t happen to me this time.

First, I want to insist that this is, of course, an extremely subjective review. I did not like this book, although I don't think it is inherently bad or a lost cause. I believe with more editing (which is possible to be happening still, given this is an arc) this book could be really good. The premise is amazing, and I was excited for it, since no book I've found on bands has been satisfactory, especially on delivering the musicians actually working. Additionally, it could be riding on the buzz for another Red White and Royal Blue trope, meaning a MM relationship hidden from the public, by two people that, if existed in real life, readers would go crazy for. That is also why I think that, even as is, fanfiction readers that like band members reimagined might love this.

However, that also leads to the problems I had with this work. From the start, I did not find it believable. Now, I understand that it is a work of fiction and none of these books are realistic, but there is a point to which stories can be crafted to make readers forget the details, or at least have a good justification for them. Usually one or two weirdly incoherent points I can look over, but those were recurrent and insisted upon in this book. For example: right after Ruben almost fell off a lifted stage even though every artist wears a safety belt to prevent that, It was stated that the band was really big, had a massive worldwide impact on media, etc, but had never even left the US. I can understand a band being big but only having one album, or even still being on their first tour. But even the newest and most unheard of musicians leave the country, if only for publicity. How is the world supposed to care about you if they don't know you?

Another pet peeve I had while reading was the over explanation of things. Authors often use gestures, for example, to convey emotions, but a lot of times in "If This Gets Out" they were over-explained, or contradictory. An instance of that happening was "Jon cups a hand over his forehead in disbelief". This is not objectively bad, but when it happens over and over again it can make the reading experience tiring, repetitive and overly long. Another big problem I found in the writing, although it could be a stylistic choice or the authors' habit, was the constant over-exposition of everything. It is a lot easier in visual media to do the "show don't tell" thing. Nevertheless, writers need to trust the reader to read in between the lines, absorb the implied meaning or hidden facts they want to have in there. It felt like in every single page a character explained either the same thing that had already been established or something I would easily grasp by context, or by reading the dialogue. This was the biggest distraction I had while reading and it often removed me from the story, which i hate. Getting lost in a book is the best part of the experience.

Nonetheless, I should add a praise here, because the characters' public personas were not only acknowledged, but well defined, and stated to be purposeful. In real life, fans often speculate about the hidden talents their favorite band members hide to fulfill a role sometimes imposed on them, and feel closer to the artist by seeing them for more than a constructed narrative. And all that can also be seen as true in real life, as singer-songwriters such as Harry Styles leave a boy band, and go on to make high quality, critically acclaimed music.

Lastly, I reinforce that the story has the potential to be amazing and the talent of Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich shows in little but striking lines such as "To be clear, we aren't giving a show: we are the show. And the show doesn't take two minutes to compose itself after almost breaking its neck.". This bit was right at the beginning of the book and had me so hyped up for the rest, that I can't help but be sad that I ultimately didn't like the story.

If This Gets Out is about 4 members of a boy band, 2 of which fall in love, but it's also about all 4 struggling to be themselves while constantly being under control.
I absolutely loved this book! It was one of my favorites of the year so far, and I don't see it being dethroned anytime soon. I was up reading it all night until 7am, just because of how difficult it was to put down, and how much I enjoyed reading it.

When I started reading, I thought it would be mainly about the romance, so I'll comment on that first. Zach and Ruben are so incredibly cute together! From the moment you start hearing from their perspectives and how they react to each others' presence, there's such a bond between the two, and a beautiful and accurate depiction of having a crush. I had flashbacks to high school and crushes and how every small thing meant so much when it came from that certain someone. All of that is done so well in the book. And that's just the beginning, Throughout the book, I truly felt the bond between the two, and everything from their growing love, to the chemistry between them, from their arguments to how they support each other was so beautiful.

Romance is not what this book is all about, in fact, I'd say that other plot lines are more important and poignant. Since the band is so big across the world, the 4 members live their lives under the thumb of the record company. As the book goes on, the pressures increase and they're under constant scrutiny. These kids have to deal with so much, from toxic parents, to substance abuse, being forced to stay in the closet, and other emotionally manipulative and abusive behavior from people who are supposed to be looking after them. I loved how the psychological pressure was handled. Even if you don't relate to being a mega world star, their struggles and how they react to it feel incredibly relatable, and more importantly very genuine. It's impossible to not feel for these 4, and not to find something from yourself or from your life in them.

The four characters are also written so well. Even only based on what is being said, you can guess who's speaking, because they truly feel like completely distinct characters that are well fleshed out. I know I would love to have these 4 as friends and getting to read about their world, and feeling like I was there was just delightful.

Aside from the plot though, I also found this very beautifully written. This might be one of the books that I highlighted the most. There were so many instances of lyrical prose, I was in awe most of the time.

Overall, as you can probably tell from my gushing review, I adored this book, and I don't even have a single nitpick. This will stay with me for a while. The only thing that makes me sad is that it won't be out for another 6 months, so the rest of my friends won't get the experience this book until December.

Two young men who are in the same boy band fall for each other and the world doesn't suspect a thing - or do they?
I don't know if I've mentioned this but I work in the music industry. Sometimes when I read a book that uses that background as a setting, if they don't do it correctly, I get really mad because I know what it's really like and it really takes me out of the story. I am so happy to say that it didn't happen here. I can totally see how all fo this happened and why it would happen and so the flow of natural events really progressed to me as easily as if they spoke to someone who was in our world.

I love Reuben and Zach. Reuben is more comfortable in his sexuality, more than Zach who is still trying to figure things out. And Zach has a much better family life than Reuben, who is constantly being beaten down and verbally abused form his mother, all in the name of love of course. This leads two very different main characters who were able to find their strength and support in each other.

I really enjoyed the supporting characters too. Angel especially and his hard time dealing with fame and substance abuse was heartbreaking. And the parents and how they interacted with the guys added a lot of tension, heightening the urgency of Reuben's unhappiness and Zach's indecisiveness. I loved both of these characters and their journey.

This is so. Good. Guys. And I hope you will give it a chance. It has everything - music, best friends, romance, dancing, world tours, screaming fans and above all, love. Not just romantic love but family love with people who have got your back no matter what.

I did not expect to like this book as much as i did. I figured it would be a nice read that i would think about for 5 minutes and then go on with my day. But i thoroughly enjoyed this. The characters felt relatable and really fleshed out. The story managed to feel new and exciting while still sticking with tropes I’m familiar with. The multiple perspectives were seamlessly integrated. This was just an amazing read and I’m so excited for the general public to read it!

I absolutely loved this book! It didn’t go the way I expected it to, but that’s okay because this book turned out better than I expected. It did cut off a little more abruptly than I like for books to end, but it definitely worked for this book. I need a sequel ASAP!

I had a fantastic time reading this! From the premise alone I was quite confident this would be the sort of book I would love, and I couldn't have been more right! This was adorable, and heart wrenching, and also just utterly fascinating watching the relationships develop in spite of everything working against them!

I loved the commentary on agency throughout this book, as well as the discussions around what is a safe situation for coming out, and how there is often an internal debate for LGBTQ+ people about the worth of coming out in non-ideal situations. Obviously, this should not be a decision LGBTQ+ people have to make, they should be able to be fully themselves in all situations and not have to debate whether the possible backlash makes it not worth coming out, but to me at least, it felt like a very realistic take which I truly appreciated.

The characters in this were utterly adorable, and I truly loved all of the main characters, even those who were intentionally written as slightly unlikeable, as they were so easy to understand and I just spent the whole book empathising with them and wanting the best for them.

I raced through this book, and couldn't put it down once I had started, adn would highly recommend to anyone looking for a fun romance, with some hard hitting topics, and an interesting investigation of what it means to be in the spotlight, and what this can look like behind the scenes.

This is a nice book to get lost in for a few hours. I liked our two narrators/main characters, Ruben and Zach. They were sympathetic and well-rounded, both dealing with their own shit as well as the communal shit the band is made to endure. They were very sweet together and I really liked their fellow bandmates, Angel and Jon.

This is definitely not a low-angst novel. It deals with some heavy themes, like homophobia, external pressures, drug use, forced closeting, and parental (emotional) abuse. There were moments of fluff and sunshine, so it's not an all-tense ride, but I did find some of the story threads lacked a satisfying conclusion by the end. Jon and the relationship with his father, Ruben and his relationship with his mother, and not to mention that the aforementioned drug use subplot was highly glossed over.

I really enjoyed the relationships between the four bandmates, but most of the adults in this novel were terrible. At first I thought it was just the adult women who were terrible, but it was all the adults barring Jon's mother, but by then it was too late to redeem the adults in this novel. Plus they were all one-dimensional and so grossly unsupportive that it was almost not realistic. And don't get me started on Zach's mother taking his coming out and making it all about herself.

The pacing I thought was good; the story never lagged anywhere. It does need some quality editing, though, but since this is an ARC, I'm giving the editorial team the benefit of the doubt on this one. (Though I will admit that the word "just" appears probably twice every other page. It got so excessive, I started skipping it.)

This makes it seem like I didn't like the book...I did! It kept me engrossed for several hours and I finished it in two sittings. Plus these authors have a way of making me feel everything the characters are feeling, especially their anger and frustration and I swear I almost threw my Kindle across the room more than once. Was it a perfect book? No. But if you're looking for a well-paced read with a great dynamic between the characters and a cute love story, you'll surely find that here.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Super cute read with likable characters and a well paced plot. Definitely recommend picking this one up.

Based on the synopsis, I expected If this Gets Out to be a boyband rom-com involving a secret relationship between members. What I never anticipated was for it to deliver such hard-hitting themes involving exploitation in the music industry. This was such a powerful story, and I have nothing but praise for it.

I'm too old to know enough about One Direction or BTS to tell if the MCs of this novel are based on real people. The popular boy band of my 1970s childhood was The Bay City Rollers, and I can't imagine shipping any of their members - or even knowing what "shipping" meant! Fortunately, If This Gets Out is a strong book that doesn't require any knowledge about the bands that are currently trending on Twitter. The romance between Ruben and Zach is swoon-worthy, but the relationships between all four members of Saturday, and the effects of the highly protected and curated life in a manufactured boy band, are arguably even more compelling.

Ruben, Zach, Jon, and Angel went from being in a summer camp music group together to being superstars with millions of screaming fans. Every minute of their public life is strictly controlled for optimum impact on popularity and sales. Each boy has a designated persona targeted to a certain type of girl. Ruben has agreed to keep his homosexuality a secret from the public to preserve the band's fantasy image, but one day he hopes he can truly be himself. Meanwhile he is struggling to hide his crush on Zach, his straight BFF.

When Saturday embarks on a European tour, the pressures and restrictions increase and the boys start showing signs of stress. Angel's occasional recreational drug use intensifies, and Jon, whose father is their manager, desperately tries to keep him from going overboard. Meanwhile Zach and Ruben's drunken kiss and its confusing aftermath threatens the boys' friendship and the band's cohesion. Even if Zach and Ruben can get past the fear and miscommunication, the fact remains that if their romance is revealed, the band's popularity will likely plummet - and hundreds of people who depend on them, from hairstylists to roadies, will lose their jobs.

This book is co-authored by Sophie Gonzales, whose breakthrough novel Only Mostly Devastated was a pleasant surprise, and Cale Dietrich, a new-to-me author. Their voices are distinct but their writing styles mesh well, so it reads like Zach and Ruben are definitely different characters living in the same story. There is a little too much predictable lack of communication after the boys first get together, but once things move past that point, the plot becomes much more satisfying as their relationship growth takes place against Angel's increasingly erratic behavior, complex family dynamics, and their manager's deviousness in claiming to accept the boys' relationship while actively sabotaging it. I was less worried about the survival of "Zuben" than the band's, and the resolution to both issues was satisfying in the best possible way.

These authors should consider co-authoring another book, as this one hit all of the right notes.

ARC received from Net Galley in exchange for objective review.

Super cute read. The leading boys are likeable with good chemistry and character development. I can one-hundred percent believe that a relationship between the two would be frowned against in real life, due to marketing and branding and less about homophobia.

Loved loved loved this book! If This Gets Out is a great YA novel, with amazing characters that I couldn’t get enough of. Not only is it an important version of a coming out story, it’s shown through the lens of the entertainment industry, where being queer shouldn’t be a big deal, but...

Ruben and Zach are members of the boy band Saturday, with their close friends from summer camp, Angel and Jon. The four quickly climbed the charts for the last few years, and outwardly are doing well. But, when they hit the European leg of their latest tour, some issues move to the forefront. Ruben is gay, and wants the band’s management to allow him to come out publicly. Recently, Zach has started seeing Ruben in a new light, and is coming to terms with the fact that he’s bisexual and attracted to one of his best friends. Throw in Angel’s burgeoning drug problem and Jon’s attempts to shape Saturday’s narrative against his manager father’s wishes, and things are ripe for explosive emotions and actions.

If This Gets Out does an amazing job of touching on many different facets of being LGBTQ. The authors examine Zach wondering “am I queer?” to Ruben being a confident gay man trapped in the closet with just the right amount of angst. Because of the band’s position in the entertainment industry, the guys’ worries about just how much their sexually and their relationship will affect their careers feels like a legitimate hurdle to overcome.

The book also explores the influence of the record company and how packaged and controlled boy band images are. Once Angel’s drug problem is more noticeable, the band feels powerless because the attitude around them is “if the performance is fine, then everything else is too.” The stakes feel high and the threats real, as sadly it’s still a big deal when an entertainer comes out as queer.

Another bonus in this book are
the fully realized side characters. I would love a book about Jon or Angel. Both of them are strong enough characters to sustain their own stories about their unique journeys. The authors made all the characters authentic and likable, which is much harder than it sounds, especially when they are placed in difficult circumstances.

Read If This Gets Out as soon as you can! I adored Ruben and Zach and the entire Saturday world.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book, it really brought me back to my teenage years of being a fan of boy bands and held an almost nostalgic feeling for me. I liked the characters, I felt like they behaved accurately for young boys who found fame and success at a young age. The relationship growth was believable and the resolution to the conflict was satisfying.

This book was fantastic! It was the perfect queer rom-com complete with well rounded characters, a driven plot, and so much more! This book would be perfect for fans of Red, White and Royal Blue (it's similar in more ways than just "queer rom com", but it also was amazing in its own way). The way this book unflinchingly dealt with consent and sex positivity, alcohol and drug abuse, and setting important boundaries with family members was incredible.

The large conflict in this book was mainly the toxicity the music industry and celebrity industry can have. While this frustrated me to no end, I knew it was simply because I was so involved in Rueben and Zach's story and I was pissed off right alongside them. The research and depiction of this toxicity was so thorough and well done, and it brings so much light to issues that celebrities, particularly queer celebrities, can face.

This is such an inspiring story and I think it is one that all queer readers should experience.

There was a big discussion of sexuality towards the beginning of the book. It was very in depth and, coming from another queer person, it was so interesting to see how the character went from ignoring his feelings for years to accepting himself and further exploring his sexuality.

Cale and Sophie did such a great job of putting me into the characters shoes, and though the characters were in the spotlight, this book felt so different than other rom-coms with celebrities. I think that's because each character had their own unique internal and external struggle, and we got to see the characters come together to help each other overcome their struggles.

Though I only finished it a few hours ago, I can already tell I am going to get a severe book hangover, but in the best kind of way! I got so caught up in the world and the characters' struggles, I am so grateful I was able to read this early on! As long as you are comfortable with the topics I mentioned earlier, I recommend this book to everyone. It did such a great job of getting into the mindset of celebrities, and how they are forced to handle publicity. I loved this book!!