This book definitely took me by a surprise. I was expecting more of a fluffier read, but really this hit hard in many areas. I enjoyed the boy band dynamics and the relationship between Reuben and Zach - you couldn't help but fight for them and the rest of the band to make it through all their struggles. While I definitely enjoyed this, some of the drama was a bit annoying and I felt like the story overall dragged a bit.

In regards to the audiobook, I definitely enjoyed the narrator and found it pleasant to listen to!

Rating: 3.5 stars

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales - 5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook. I am leaving unbiased this review independently.

As someone who doesn't normally enjoy contemporary or romance, I adored this book. This story combines a young man coming to terms with his sexuality with a couple coming together with supportive friends and loved ones to fight against silencing oppressive forces. It handles both of these elements with the finese required, producing powerful, nuanced characters that feel extremely human.

Ruben is a gay boyband member who is pressured to stay in the closet by his management team so he can maintain his teen heartthrob persona to fans. He has had his share of experimenting straight boys and gay boys who want an "in" in the music industry more than a relationship break his heart. Tired of being used and tired of being closeted, Ruben is near the end of his rope.

Zach is a straight boy just out of a long term relationship with a girl and still reeling. Then, after a night of partying and underage drinking, he kisses bandmate Ruben. But he's definitely straight. He likes girls. He's had a crush on a guy before, but they always fizzle out. Why can't he push down his confusing feelings for this boy? Oh. OH. He's always pushed down his feelings for boys, pushed the boys away. Is he bi? He's bisexual. And he's in love with his bandmate Ruben.

And thus begins the romance that drives the rest of the novel. Their relationship, as well as the relationship of all 4 band members, faces many trials and stress points over the course of the novel. The plot points are compelling and kept me enthralled until the very end.

I definitely recomend this book to anyone who likes contemporary, romance, queer romance, or anyone who shipped 1 Direction members with each other throughout the 2010s.

-Audiobook Notes-
As I'm reviewing the audiobook specifically, I'd like to take a moment to compliment Ramón de Ocampo. I loved his work on Red, White, and Royal Blue and he definitely doesn't disapoint here either. Ramón does a wonderful job conveying the many nuanced emotions teens, especially queer teens, go through and all 4 of our main characters sound extremely real and human throughout the book.

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich tells the story of Zach and Ruben, two members of the boy band Saturday as they navigate friendships, relationships, and exploring their own sexualities under the pressure of fame and scrutiny. At first I was unsure whether I would like this book when I received it as an ARC audio book since I am not the biggest fan of romance novels. However, I was quickly drawn in by the characters of Zach and Ruben whose struggles felt so tangible to me.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much the book discussed issues within the entertainment industry, specifically the exploitation of teenagers and young adults. The novel discussed the controlling nature of management agencies, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as mental health and the stigmas associated with it.

Additionally, I appreciated the complexity of the supporting characters and the well-developed relationships between the four members of the band. Although the novel focuses on Ruben and Zach, I found the other two members of the band, John and Angel, to be engaging characters with fleshed out personalities and motivations. Likewise, the relationships between the band members and their parents were also explored, with the parents portrayed as people who genuinely want the best for their children.

My main critique of this novel would be that the plot was somewhat predictable. Although there were a couple minor surprises, it was pretty obvious where the story was going. Despite this I still found this book enjoyable, and I would recommend it as a casual read to people of all ages, especially if you are a fan of any boy bands!

I honestly feel like I'm not as unbiased/the target audience for this because midway through listening I realized that I have probably moved on from the YA genre and to expect a YA title to change that is not fair. The story itself was probably fine, however the narrarator was a little annoying when it came to a few of the band member voices, but overall it was just a fine book.

What an infectious read, this book was the perfect merge of fan fiction meets YA bubblegum read. The characters were all well defined out, each of the band members was really fighting for some sort of agency over themselves that they couldn't get. The book dealt with the queer shame really well and there was even a part i really enjoyed that talked about safe sex, something I find is missing far too often in books. Trigger warning on some drug use scares, but all in all this book gave exactly what I was hoping for, and more. Hope it becomes a series because I want to see what happens next!

If This Gets Out is a timely book in the current social climate, echoing the Free Britney movement and Taylor Swift's new musical freedom. The book is an excellent view into the less-glamorous world of young celebrities -- the immense pressure from management, parents, fans, and the artists themselves. Despite its focus on the superstar main characters, the book deals carefully with many sensitive themes that will be familiar to the majority of today's YA audience, including alcohol and substance abuse, setting boundaries with parents, dealing with social media, navigating changing friendships, and, of course, varied sexuality. It includes a lot of systematic homophobia but ends on a hopeful note despite its very realistic depiction of the difficulties LGBT+ people face. There is also a lot of internal work on the part of one of the characters in realizing that he is not, as he had presumed throughout his life, straight, which rings true, at least to this one person who has experienced it as well. And it's refreshing for that experience to be paired with a character who is proudly sure of his sexuality, providing a lovely balance. We see the characters come out in different ways throughout the book, including to friends, parents, and coworkers. The central relationship of the book is rich and filled with joys and frustrations.

It is worth noting that there is an underlying theme of disordered eating and exercising that is not explicitly addressed in the narrative, so this might not be the best choice for readers suffering from anorexia or orthorexia. The other themes noted earlier in the review are explored thoroughly and carefully.

If This Gets Out will have you thinking critically about the pop music that runs through our lives, from TikTok to the grocery store, and the lives of the people behind each and every song.

I have been dying to read If This Gets Out since Sophie Gonzales told my book club about the premise of the book earlier this year. Let me tell you, this book does not disappoint! I absolutely loved the book from start to finish.

Boy band Saturday is getting ready to kick off the European leg of their tour and the foursome is getting antsy. Everything about the band is curated by their management team. Each member has a different personality and what they do and say is strictly enforced; every member plays a distinct role in keeping the public's attention and adoration for the group thriving. With the group forming at a summer camp, the band, now all almost 18, are starting to have growing pains as they realize their true identities don't necessarily match up with what their team wants for them. When romantic sparks fly between two of the band-mates, the pair has to decide how far are they willing to be pushed without sacrificing all that they love and stand for, especially when everything starts to fall apart.

This was such a fun read! I loved getting the behind the scenes look at boy bands, especially as an 80s baby, who was raised on boy bands. The interactions between the band members were so fun and I loved how they supported each other through anything, even the tough stuff. If This Gets Out makes me question so many of the outward personas of celebrities and artists, many who are probably stifled having to live part of their life as a lie. The theme of found family was hopeful and the book gave me definite The Charm Offensive vibes. I was obsessed reading to find out what would happen next with the band and completely devoured this book in less than a day.

I absolutely adored Ruben's character and how he stood with his convictions. He knows who he is and what he wants out of life, so he never really lets his guard down completely around management. I hated that he was forced into hiding his sexuality, especially after he finally got everything he had hoped for. Loved the theater geek aspect of his personality and how understanding he was with Zach.

Zach's journey was so beautiful and a story that needs to be told. He was thoughtful and incredibly creative, striving to write the next great song for Saturday. While the other members grew up privileged, Zach takes nothing for granted, working tirelessly to provide for his mom. His path to figuring out his sexuality was honest, emotional and so well-written.

I LOVED Zach and Ruben together as a couple. This friends to lovers m/m romance was so sweet and tender, especially highlighting a first love. Both characters gave each other space to figure out what they wanted, but they also supported each other, forgiving the other when they may have inadvertently done something wrong. I highly recommend this book!

From page 1, all I could imagine while reading If This Gets Out was that the characters have to be based on Harry & Louis from One Direction. I mean, loosely based, of course, because neither one of them ever came out IRL.

Ruben & Zach are only 2 of the 4 members of Saturday, but they have all been friends since the summer camp days when they met. At that time, they didn’t know that their friend John’s dad was a record exec. Fast forward to now, they are one of the biggest boy bands on the planet.

All of the money and success can never make them happy though. All the stress of becoming a star and growing up in the limelight doesn’t make being queer any easier. Especially when you have to keep it a secret.

This is the story of what happens when your record label pushes you to keep quiet about your personal life and what happens when the personal life can’t stay hidden any longer.

I adored both Ruben & Zach. The entire band (and label) has known that Ruben is gay forever, but this is more of a story about Zach’s bisexual awakening. The internal war he fought with himself and figuring out who he is really made the story believable.

Thanks to Wednesday Books & NetGalley for the eARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for this audiobook edition of If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich.

First off, the narrator was wonderful. He voiced both characters and while could have used a touch more audible differentiation, I enjoyed him very much.

Ruben and Zack are young adult heart throbs in the newest beloved boyband Saturday. And even though Ruben is out to his closest friends and family, he isn't allowed to come out to the world yet.

Zack is straight, totally straight, totally only into girls. But as his friendship with Ruben deepens, so do the glimmers of romantic feelings for him. And what does this mean?

Ruben and Zack have found a very fragile love between them, but their situation is precarious. The world discovering their relationship, let alone their sexual orientation could be the end of the band, and their livelihood.

If you enjoyed Red, White and Royal Blue, pick this one up immediately. It's sweet, it tender, it has all the makings of a young love that it just bursting with tenderness and humor. I enjoyed it immensely.

Fans of boybands (especially One Direction) and "Red, White, and Royal Blue" will love "If This Gets Out". I originally heard about this book on TikTok and was excited by the premise, so when I got to listen to the audiobook in advance I was excited!

"If This Gets Out" is about a boyband, Saturday, that is composed of four best friends. As they go on their world tour, Ruben and Zach start growing closer and things eventually become romantic. But their management won't let them go public.

I really enjoyed the sweet love story between Ruben and Zach. All four boys in the band Saturday were fleshed out really well and were so unique!. I really enjoyed the audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job giving each character a voice. I loved that the four boys were really best friends (what we all hope our favorite boybands are really like). It's a sweet YA that covers some heavy themes but is a lot of fun and really heartwarming!

Boyband members in love and fighting management? Yes, please! The writing style was so easy to follow and super fun with all the elements and the city details when the guys were on tour, and the story was just so interesting and the book was essentially unputdownable. Finished it in an afternoon! I regret nothing.

I love the dual POV; seeing what went through both Zach and Ruben's minds was important to understand what they wanted to say but weren't brave enough to do. It saved me from being angry at them not talking because communication is a must! I still got angry at Zach but I understood completely why he did what he did but I was still angry. It was inevitable. I'm weak in the face of angst! I love communication! Drama is my nemesis.

The book had the right amount of sweet and drama moments. Even if we followed only two POVs, the other two boyband members were very present. Their stories were equally important and they had their times to shine and to have as many problems as being a worldwide superstar can bring. Some parts were harder to read than others, but nothing dragging nor forced. It all flowed easily and I found myself smiling more times than not.

I still can't believe I got to read this book so soon and I'm so very grateful. My reviews may not be the best, but don't doubt I won't promote and talk about this book to everyone and everyone's bffs!

If This Gets Out was such a great read for me. I was expecting a cute, easy YA but it had such deeper and darker storylines than I expected (drug abuse, emotional abuse, dark side of the music industry and more). That being said there were so many things I loved about this book, the friends to lovers trope, strong and unconditional friendships, and of course LGBTQ+ rep. The whole band had the best found family vibe that I adored and I loved all of the interaction between them. The parents in this were really refreshing to a lot of YA/NA that I read, they felt so genuine.

I absolutely loved Ruben and Zachs relationship so much and was just rooting for them so hard while I was reading this. I also felt like I was getting an insider look into the life of a popular boyband which was interesting and actually really sad at some points and it made me curious if that's how famous people in general are treated, and if that's how they feel on a daily basis. In the end this book had a great mix of character development and plot to keep me hooked and I'm so glad I decided to pick this one up.

Just have to add that the Audiobook was really great and so well paced, I definitely recommend it.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book, all opinions are honest and my own.

I'm wildly outside of the target audience for this story, both in terms of age and interests (that is, I was never a boy-band fangirl). Even so, the story was entertaining, if a little long and repetitive.

As one can probably guess from the summary, many heavy issues are covered, including sexuality in relation to social norms and religion (Catholicism, in this case), as well as drug and alcohol abuse. The demands of the management company, lack of privacy, and Zach's personal journey of coming to terms with his sexuality are covered in-depth.

I'd recommend this book for boy-band fans and readers of YA and/or LGBTQIA representation (gay and bi in this book).

Thank you, NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Wednesday Books, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. Publication is expected December 7.

If This Gets Out is a fascinating look into the music industry through the eyes of two members of a boyband on their first major world tour. The boys will face challenges at every turn as they try to test out their independence upon turning eighteen, and as they try to be their authentic selves while being told to represent their management company's ideas of who each boy is supposed to be to the world audience. Not to mention the joy, angst, terror, and fun of falling in secret love!

At first I thought this was going to be a bit of a fan girl fantasy with two boy band members falling for each other.

Instead it was a story about fighting to be yourself even when the odds are not in your favor.

The romance blooms pretty naturally and the indecision Zack faces is relatable.

Narration was also enjoyable.

Reuben, Zach, Angel, and Jon are members of one of the world's most popular boy bands. On the outside people think they have a perfect life but on the inside, their lives are extremely controlled and have been since they got together as a group in summer camp. Each boy has their own struggles and the cracks in the band are forming and that's before they head to Europe for part of their international tour. As things continue to go downhill, Reuben and Zach start to spend more and more time together. What starts as best friendship quickly develops into romance. As happy as they are together there seem to be roadblocks every step of the way. This book started off slowly for me but I quickly found myself not being able to put it down.

I loved this story for so many reasons.
The boy band Saturday is under so much stress - their management company rules their lives to the extreme. And the boys just want to be themselves. Especially Rueben - who has been forced to remain in the closet with the fear of disappointing their fans if he announces his sexuality. But he can't help his bandmate and best friend, Zach, keeps catching his eye. And then Zach makes the first move.
As their relationship develops, Rueben and Zach deal with Angel - his need for attention, to be himself, drug use and just out of control. Poor Jon just wants to hold everyone together and keep them all safe.
This story just puts so much out there. To start it's an excellent example of what happens when you keep parts of yourself secret, whether from shame or fear of being honest. Two young men struggling with their public image - great example of why it's vital to be honest, not to mention an inspiring coming out story.
So much honesty regarding safe sex for two male partners. Great job not glossing over the reality of safe sex, including the use of Prep. This was just amazing.
I did the audiobook - I did enjoy the narrator though at times I had a hard time tracking who was narrating or speaking.
Overall amazing read.

DNF at 60%

I was super excited to read this one after loving Perfect on Paper, but alas, this one just isn’t for me.

What I enjoyed: the main characters Ruben and Zach. Zach questioning his sexuality and finding a label that fits him (bi, on page!).

Zach’s inner monologues when it comes to queerness are so important. I also really enjoyed the conversation between Zach and Ruben about Zach realizing he’s queer.

What I didn’t like:
- super slow pacing. This is very much a character driven novel with lots of inner monologues since it’s told from both Ruben’s and Zach’s POV, but nothing really happens. Everything related to the band and their tours is sort of nebulous in the background since everything revolves around Ruben and Zach starting a relationship together.
- the details related to the music industry. I’m not a person who is into music, so going into all of the details and behind the scenes was just not for me

There’s nothing bad about this book, I’m just not invested any more, and I genuinely don’t care what happens to the characters at this point. .

Well I just blew through this book! It was compulsively listenable, even with an audio narrator who probably wasn't the best man for the job (he had a very definite middle-aged man quality about him). I requested this on Netgalley (and added it to my TBR months back) because the premise of a secret romance within a boy band appealed to me greatly. Like many teenaged girls, I went through my boy band phase, although today's boy band stans put me to shame, despite that I did see the Backstreet Boys on tour during the height of their fame and screamed my little heart out, so . (If I stanned anything as a teenager it was The X-Files.)

Nowadays, I have lots of conflicting thoughts about the phenomenon of boy bands, particularly packaged ones like the boys in Saturday (the band in the book), but I find the subject of them incredibly interesting to talk and think about. There's so much intersection between art, capitalism and commodification, exploitation, gender norms, mental health, drug abuse, toxic fandom, and the nature of the studio system. What specifically appealed to me about the premise of this book is that it seemed to have all of those things in mind, and the book very much delivered on all of it. On top of that, the characters were great, the romance believable, and we got our HEA, with some nuanced discussion of what it's like to come out and to deal with unhealthy family dynamics (among other themes), with a dollop of angst as a cherry on top.

Basically, this book was a success. If the premise appeals to you, you probably won't be disappointed. It was exactly what I needed as a palate cleanser between lots of incredibly serious reads that I uncharacteristically find myself reading right now.

This! Was! So! Good!!!!!!! Thanks to MacMillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this masterful audio book, narrated beautifully and with style by Ramon de Ocampo. I couldn't listen to this book fast enough. I can't tell you how many extra laps I made my dog walk around the block while saying 'just one more chapter.'

I've been involved in fandom and fanfiction since early high school, and I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to watch common fanfiction tropes and plots come to life in printed books. While I've never been involved in a band's fandom before, it's easy to spot some of the plot similarities to common fandom tropes, and that's a GOOD thing. Even though this book echos fandom, it stands on its own entirely and doesn't bear any resemblance to any real life band drama that I know of.

All the characters were unique, relatable, and very easy to like. I hope the authors continue and write a sequel to this book, but I can't stress enough what a fun read this was, perfect for breaking out of a slump.

My only bone to pick is the rating- for my fellow YA/YS librarians, this is not one for the younger teens, as there are some fairly graphic sex scenes. This reads more new adult than YA to me, but will be fine for the 16 and up crowd.