Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of the book for review purposes. All opinions are my own and this did not influence my thoughts on the book.

I can't even with this book. I've just finished it as of writing this review and I'm in love.
This book was probably my most anticipated release for this year and I was so happy to get an advanced copy of the book to review.
As you may know, this book follows the boyband Saturday as two of its members begin to develop feelings for each other amidst a world tour. Zach and Ruben must deal with the developing feelings they have for each other while navigating the life of international pop stars.
This book was not only an adorable romance between the two boys but also a really interesting look at the life of a famous person and what that means. It explored what it is like to be closeted by your record label or overworked by those same people, how you can be pushed to the limit, and what the consequences for stepping outside of what they want can be.
I loved the characters within the book. They felt really fleshed out and real. They all acted like grown adults and teenagers at the same time. Sometimes I find that teenagers can be frustrating to read about, the decisions they make or thoughts they have become frustrating, but I didn't feel that way about this book which was a relief. In fact, I enjoyed how mature certain characters seemed at times.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It took me a little bit to get into it, but that may just be because I'm not used to reading e-books. I flew through the second half of the novel and finished it in one sitting because I was so engrossed in the story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to try it out. As I said, it was one of my most anticipated of the year and it did not let me down.

This was SO cute! It was the perfect amount of sweet queer romance, coming out storyline, and commentary on how celebrities are treated by their managers/management companies. It was heart-wrenchingly wonderful and kept me invested in all of the characters, even the ones not included in the romance.

This gave a lot of One Direction vibes-- fans of 1D will definitely want to get their hands on this!

I’m still screaming about this book?? I finished it in about a day in a half because I just could not put it down!! I resonated with this book on so many levels and all the characters just felt so real to me. It was fantastic reading a queer book from two points of view, one who is out and one who is just discovering what his sexuality is.

18-year-olds Zach Knight and Ruben Montez are members in a boy band named Saturday along with bandmates Angel Phan and Jon Braxton. They are a group of best friends on stage and in real life and are currently on tour for their newest album. But things start to get a bit tense when the band members feel as though their company is starting to control every aspect of their life, especially for Ruben who is being kept from coming out as gay. What’s better is that Ruben is totally in love with his bandmate and best friend, Zach. We get to see the journey that the band goes through on tour and how they all deal with the high pressure and stakes of being a picture-perfect boyband.

Along with the band drama, we get to follow Zach’s journey to discover and come to accept his sexuality. He starts off as believing he’s straight, then we see him slowly start to come with terms with the crushes that he’s felt throughout his life on boys that he’s pushed down in the past. As a queer reader, I totally loved seeing this struggle as I feel is all too common for other queer readers out there (and scarily accurate).

The two points-of-view are of Zach and Ruben, and I loved that!! I felt that at points where we wanted to know what was in Zach’s head, we got Ruben’s POV, and vice versa. I think it was a fantastic way to tell a story so that we could see how one character dealt with understanding how the other felt. We also got to see just how different the two boys’ personalities are and how deeply they care for one another (and the other band members, ofc). The romance between Zach and Ruben is just so sweet too. I really loved reading how Ruben’s “crush on his straight friend” turned into a full-fledged relationship. The two POVs really made this so exciting and impossible to put down. Also, can we talk about all the amazing rep in this book?? Gay, bi, Asian, and black. Amazing!!

**There are some heavy topics in this book like drug abuse/addiction, toxic households, and blatant homophobia, so be wary if those are triggers!

This book was complex, had so many twists that were unexpected, and was hilarious. I really found it entertaining how different the characters were in real life to how they were perceived by fans. I will forever be screaming about this book just as much as the Saturday fans are screaming for the band. So so good. 5/5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an early copy.

Sigh.

This was AMAZING!!!!

I got into it fully expecting to read a cute, queer, boyband rom com, which I was perfectly fine with. But I got so much more!!!

I recently read "The Boyband Murder Mystery" and spent quite a big amount of time cringing because it was very cliché and superficial, though it had the potential to be a lot more.

If This Gets Out IS a lot more.

There is, obviously, queer romance, and it’s super duper cute.
But there are also amazingly well constructed characters with awesome personalities. They all have their own traits, and at no point in reading did I feel like they were there just because they needed to be for it to be a boyband.
There’s Angel, who’s perhaps the most touching of all, struggling with a lot of things and pretending he’s not (boy, I want to give him a hug)
There’s Jon, who’s perhaps the one we know less about, but is still incredible – and I hope we’ll get to see more of him someday.
And then there are Ruben and Zach, who both have their flaws, but ultimately, are both really brave and stand for what they believe in, no matter what can happen.

Surrounding them is an exploration of how toxic and damaging the entertainment industry is.
The authors truly went deep on that, and I feel like that’s really important.
They talk about how young artists can easily be manipulated into signing things they don’t really understand. About the pressure of always being perfect on stage and with fans, despite the exhaustion, missing your family and being generally stressed out. And obviously, there’s the whole Angel and Ruben/Zach situations, which I don’t want to talk about too much (because spoilers!), but they’re both heartbreaking and (I feel) very true in how they’re taken care of.

I just simply loved this book, and I’m so grateful that topic like that can be talked about without it turning into some mushy cliché.

Thank you for that amazing novel!!

I adored this book. I want to obtain every piece of Saturday merch I can and stream their songs all night. I went into this book expecting a cute and quick read and I got so much more. I got a book that had every trope I love while tackling serious and relatable subject matter. I loved all of our characters. I scarily related to Zach's Bi panic and Ruben's relationship with his mother. I loved their relationship and the overall story. I can't find a single flaw in this book. It is going to be one of my favorites.

“Everyone wants the world to see them as they are. The truth isn’t the problem. The problem is that the world doesn’t always make the truth safe for us to share.”
This book is a boyband YA LGBTQ contemporary romance novel. It follows Zach and Ruben as they realize that maybe they have feelings beyond just a friendship. Not only did I fall for the main characters I really fell for Angel too. He made me laugh so much and was probably my favorite character. This book made me cry which I wasn’t expecting. But this book has some great messages about staying true to yourself and how sometimes your biggest supporters are not the people you are related to. I think this would be a great book for high schoolers to read and have discussions about the way the media is portrayed and the stress that is created around trying to maintain an image. This would definitely be a great conversation starter.
My favorite part about this book was the light they are shining on the way the entertainment industry treats artists. Overall I would rate it 4.5 stars.

Me being super critical there were several typos in this arc. For example- I’ve when it should be I. Back when it should be black. And us dress up when it should be dress us up. Along with a spot where I think a word was missing towards the end. If possible I think it should be gone over one more time and edited before it’s published.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very likable and retable. I connected with the main characters easily. The writing style was nice and the plot was cute. There were funny moments and I knew from the first chapter I would like this book. Overall I really liked this book.

ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Review
This book was so much better emotionally and mentally than I was expecting. I swear it brought me back to my youth when my life revolved around the Backstreet Boys. Maybe it’s my love of boy bands but I found the book super easy to dig into and lose myself in the story. The only complaint I have is that there is no epilogue. This only makes me want more, I mean I won’t say no to a sequel that’s for sure. The author did a phenomenal job setting the stage and really shining a light on some of the darker aspects of the entertainment industry. The stress and pressure to live up to this certain branded image can’t be easy especially when it goes against who you actually are as a person. The book does touch on quite a few touchy subjects but the author handles everything very cleanly and keeps the story more focused on the characters growth. It was sad and frustrating to see how manipulated the group was at times. It’s a lot of pressure to put on any 18 old year old let alone four young men who are still learning who they are. The romance took a bit of time to heat up and then even for the two to go passed first base. However even when the two finally take things further everything is left more up to the imagination which really worked for this book, no naughty parts were necessary. At times the angst and tension was high and I wasn’t expecting that. I just wanted them to be free and true to themselves and I’m so happy with how things worked out for them all, it makes my boy band loving heart super happy. Great coming out, coming of age, just a great YA read!

I really enjoyed this book a lot. I thought it was a fun and fast read. I really liked the friendship of the 4 characters.

This was absolutely delightful! The premise is so fun, and the story delivers. Gonzales and Dietrich keep the pace quick and the pages turning. This book is practically demanding an on-screen adaptation, and I hope it gets one.

The authors have built layered characters with complicated relationships, home lives, and senses of self. The book tackles topics ranging from homophobia to emotional abuse to substance abuse. And the characters themselves are both infuriating and lovable. I found myself really wanting to see them succeed. Angel is particularly delightful, but such a troublemaker.

I did occasionally have some difficulty telling the narrators apart, but for the most part they were distinct enough. Also, the timeline felt weird. There's a lot of "six weeks later" or "after they landed in [x city]" for most of the book, despite not needing a time jump for the story to work. At other points, tons of things happen over what I assumed was at least a few days, only for it to be a few hours. Not a huge issue, but it made the timeline feel strange to me.

TL;DR: A wonderfully fun YA contemporary about queer romance and boybands. I mean, it is what it purports to be, and it's fun as hell.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Netgalley.

This was a solid, if predictable, story of two members of a boy band who fall in love and have to deal with the pressures placed on them by their fame, their management, and their own insecurities and fears.

The story is told by the two main characters in alternating chapters. Each character has a distinct voice- as they are written by two authors- and the story unfolds naturally. The other two members of the boy band are well drawn and have some good character arcs. I would have actually liked a chapter or two from the perspective of the other characters.

All in all this was a quick, good read.

Really sweet book! Love that it explored complexities of all the characters in the band, as well as their family dynamics.

I really enjoyed this book, it brought me back to when I used to follow Kpop bands on US tours and go to all the shows. Kpop fans and One Direction fans are going to love reading this. I loved the characters and the love story between Ruben and Zach. They were both very likable characters who I enjoyed not just from the angle of watching their love story unfold, but also their interactions with their families.

My personal favorite character though was Angel and I very much enjoyed his storyline. I felt his struggle with substance abuse was a very important thing to highlight. This book shines a light on the many struggles of those in the entertainment industry and the issues they sometimes have with their management teams and labels.

My absolute favorite part about this book though was the ending. I was very glad to see that it didn't get a fairytale easy happy ending. Them getting sued by their company was very realistic to what would probably happen and getting this one last struggle for all the boys and their families to face together was great to see.

Overall I'm very excited to see this book come out in December and I will be recommending it to people!

🆀🆄🅴🅴🆁 🅱🅾🆈 🅱🅰🅽🅳 🆁🅾🅼-🅲🅾🅼.

I didn't know how much I needed one before but it was amazing. 5/ 5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you @netgalley, the publisher, and the authors for allowing *ME* the privilege of reading this.
Stories of people of all genders questioning their sexuality are SO important and need to be told.
I would recommend this for anyone who read Red, White, and Royal Blue and is looking for the next LGBTQ hit. Anyone who has ever been a fan of boy bands. Really I recommend this for EVERYONE. I LOVED IT. It made me excited to keep reading. I pre-ordered my copy already- it comes out December 7th, 2021!

I enjoyed this book and it's a good YA fade-to-black serial-numbers-filed off introduction to the amazing world of boyband slash; I'm just sorry it would be unprofessional to be like "Psst! If you liked this, kid, wait until I tell you about fanfiction..." to patrons picking it up, because I would otherwise be extremely tempted to do that.

**NetGallet ARC**
Best book ever
Best flawed and beautiful main characters ever
Best interesting and endearing and silly side characters ever
Best and worst parents ever
Best topics
Best messages
Best last few chapters
Best ending
Simply best writing teamwork on this gem.

I was smiling, I was crying, I was laughing, I was ANGRY and screaming (but in a 'how dare they hurt my babies' way). I just love this book so fucking much and the whole Universe would adore it if THEY JUST READ IT. So read it. Thank you.

Now that I've read all of Sophie's books I just don't know how to wait for the next one........... 😭

I have so much love for this book. From the premise to the execution and the characters, I loved so much about it. But then, as a fan of both boybands and queer YA rom-coms, how could this have been anything but great to me? Zach and Ruben's story will forever be one of my favorites and I'm definitely going to read this book again many many times.

A full review will be published closer to release!

I have so many feelings about this book and I want so badly to write a review that will do it justice.

This story, at its core, is a love story. We are introduced to four friends at the height of their career and follow along as the friendship between Ruben and Zach develops into something more. Unfortunately for them, they also happen to be the hottest boy bad on the scene and readers are given a behind the scenes look at what that means.

If This Gets Out was more than a fun read, and the story told was everything I enjoy in a book. The angst that Ruben and Zach felt was almost tangible, sending me back to the days of young love and how it feels like it’s the only thing that matters. The authors did a fantastic job of crafting a story that felt seamless in the writing style.

As consumers of music and film, we forget that underneath all the slick media packaging, lies real human beings with real personalities and real feelings. This book did a good job at describing some of the turmoil that these artists feel and how being true to oneself may not be the easy thing to do.

The book ends on a hopeful note and I would love to be able to see how the rest of the story plays out.

I didn't want to put this book down. I was totally pulled into the characters stories. The interaction between the characters - the band, the handlers, the parents, and the fans, made this a really interesting read. The pressure to be everything to everyone was really portrayed in an emotionally responsive way. I also appreciated the way everyone's sexuality was handled. It was interesting how all the members of the band struggled with the way they were portrayed to their fans. I didn't want to finish the book because I was worried about the ending but it was in perfect step with the rest of the book.
BTW - I can't believe these two authors wrote their character when the authors were apart from each other. It's weaved together so well!

This book will be loved by older middle grades students. They will love the story line based on 4 members of a boy band, the inside look at the complex industry and most of all the love story. It was engaging and highlight some aspects of the music industry that kids likely don't think about when they see their favorite band playing. I thought that it glossed over some opportunities but overall it is a good book and one that I think will engage students.