While I appreciate the intent behind this book, nothing in the story really resonated with me. This is probably because I didn't particularly connect with Zach or Ruben or like their personalities very much. Overall I think this book tried to do too much at once.

If this gets out is a book that took me completely by surprise. I didn’t really have any expectations going into this, and I was completely blown away with how well it was written and how the themes of the book were addressed. Overall it was an incredibly heartfelt and moving book - I felt really emotional at times!! The romance was really sweet too and i loved the relationships between the band members, but importantly it worked in a way where it didn’t take anything away from the more serious messages of the book, dealing with the nature of the music industry. I think this is definitely a book I will be rereading in the future.

This book is beautiful for its ability to convey emotion and meaning to a boy band. I felt the nuances of the characters, the heartbreak when they felt isolated, the pure rage when they realized they were being caged in. If This Gets Out is an homage to queer stories and fans of boy bands.

It would seem a lot of people equate this book with fanfiction of One Direction. However, not being a One Direction fan myself, I can't say if this is accurate or not, only that it is a sweet story of four boys roped into fame at a young age and finding themselves again. The characters were all different, and the POV switch between Zach and Ruben lent itself well to the story, and made a strong case for the joint authorship.

For me the questioning of sexual identity dragged on for a bit too long, lingering in that gray area and plateauing the story. At the same time, I can value that questioning of sexual identity can drag on for a long time in anybody's life, so to have it played out in the story is not unrealistic. I found it created a lull in the plot and perhaps would have been stronger without it.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was glad I got this book in time to read it before release because it's EASILY one of my favorites this year. Reuben and Zach were so fun to read and the tension to adorableness ratio was spot on. Watching the two of them go from friends to more kept me turning the page every time I promised to stop, I just had to keep reading! The way the book dealt with heavier topics surrounding the harsh reality of the entertainment industry was also well done and important, especially in relation to LGBTQ+ artists and creatives. This book was overall just so fun to read and root for all the boys, and I don't doubt it'll become a comfort reread for me!

Rueben and Zach are two of the four members of one of the world's most famous boy band. But after a clandestine kiss between the two, Zach is questioning his sexuality, Reuben is questioning everything, and the band begins to fall apart as another member struggles with drug addiction.

Your expectations can play a large role in how you end up enjoying a book. And I went into this book with the wrong mindset. I was expecting a fun celebrity YA romance, but this is not a romance. This is YA fiction. The main characters get together extremely early on in the book, and the rest of the book is them figuring things out--with the band, their bandmates, their label, and--most centrally--coming out. It's quite a serious book, with numerous heavy topics including drug addiction and parental abuse (emotional). I think that if I had known that in advance, I would have been in a better position to really love this book. But instead I was a bit disappointed.

It's most similar to The Charm Offensive, an adult romance novel featuring the star of a thinly-veiled version of The Bachelor who is coming to terms with his sexuality and falling for his male producer. While this book certainly falls under the young adult category, and The Charm Offensive is adult romance, I think fans of The Charm Offensive will really enjoy this book.

Thanks to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for my eARC and finished copy!

4 stars - 7/10

Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked this up. I haven’t read anything else by either author and I’m sort of past the age where I listen to most boy-bands (I do make an exception for BTS, but this is not the time to wax poetic). I never really listened to One Direction, which is something this is being compared to and I don’t tend to “ship” real people, so I’m fine with the fact that I don’t have a One Direction angle going in. It would make it weird for me if I did. All that being said, I really enjoyed reading this.

Ruben and Zach were super cute together and it was really easy to root for their love. While it wasn’t exactly an easy start and they had some trouble communicating what they both wanted at times, they were cute and it was nice to see their relationship develop. The development was actually spaced nicely throughout the entire novel. They didn’t immediately go from zero to one-hundred, which was nice to see.

One of my favorite parts of this was actually the commentary about the pressure that people in the entertainment industry are put under by their management. I think it varies a little depending on which sector your in, but I imagine that the constraints on members of boy-bands and younger actors to be quite serious. Everything from what they eat, where they go, and who they see. Is it any wonder that they flame out? Or that they seek the sweet oblivion offered to them by alcohol or drugs? They’re constantly being watched and scrutinized by the public. If they’re not seen as whatever ideal version the public has cooked up they get into trouble, they lose fans, and maybe even lose their career.

Overall, I would recommend this for fans of YA romances, but with the realization that this isn’t really a Rom-com. It has a more serious tint to it than that. Fans of books about musical groups, the entertainment industry, and celebrities may also enjoy it. I’m looking forward to reading something else by these authors in the future and personally really hope that they do another collaboration sometime in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley, Wednesday Books, and the authors for providing me with an eARC of this novel, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

*3.25*

CW: closeting, excessive drinking, substance abuse, psychological abuse, car accident.

If This Gets Out is a novel I highly anticipated since it talks about the hardships of being under the spotlights since a very young age, especially in a context like that of a boy-band.
Since I was a big fan of one of the biggest boy-bands of the last few years, without naming it, you can guess it, I was so very curious to get to know more about this particular book.

The novel follows "Saturday" a boy-band formed by four teen boys, and two of them fall in love. You can guess this is not something their management company sees well. The book then follows the hardships of these two young men in order to find themselves and declare their love to the world.

In its complexity I quite enjoyed this book, but sadly it didn't blow me away. It was not bad, not at all, I appreciated a lot what it was trying to convey, but sometimes I felt like it was way too sloow - a feeling I had mostly for the first part of the novel. I kinda guessed the whole book from the beginning, not that there was something to guess, but I saw the major plot points coming from miles away, maybe because, like I said, this world isn't new to me, and just knowing the basis like I do, it was quite predictable. But it was fine.

I think on the other hand it did a great job in creating a relationship between the two main characters, and I honestly enjoyed how the authors dealt with the fan aspect of it all. It was very respectful towards the fan-base and it was quite refreshing to finally see a book where teenage people are not seen as "crazy" because they like music and they enjoy following a boy-band.
Maybe, if I was a bit younger and still in my prime of my boy-band days (who am I kidding? Maybe I still am ahah) I would have enjoyed a bit more, but as it is I think it could still be a book that could appeal to teens and young adults.

I still would like to read more by these two authors, and if it seems like something you might enjoy I would still recommend it!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

If This Gets Out caught my attention due both to its premise and the buzz it was getting, thanks to one of the authors, Sophie Gonzales’ presence on Twitter (which I also discussed somewhat in my reviews of her previous books earlier this year). And once I picked it up, I fell in love with it, and will not only be reading more from Gonzales, but plan to bump Cale Dietrich’s books up my TBR.

The fact that the two leads are members of a boy band spoke to my inner fangirl. I grew up in the Backstreet Boys/*NSYNC generation, but I also saw parallels to both the intense fandoms and sometimes toxic management teams behind groups like One Direction and BTS today. I particularly was drawn to the contradiction in the branding of the band Saturday, in that they’re fan base is generally liberal and pro-LGBTQ+, even shopping members together, but there’s pressure to maintain that cishet fantasy for the fans simultaneously, as well as wider marketing implications in terms of their worldwide appeal, especially in countries that persecute LGBTQ+ people.

And even outside of that, the pressure of fame is so well-rendered in general, so even if there isn’t a specific boy band or celebrity in mind, readers can make parallels to famous people they know.

I adore both Ruben and Zach. Each has their own personal journey, and the way they come to depend on each other in such an intimate way while navigating those respective arcs is beautiful. I appreciate that, while the story deals with such dark topics, like being closeted, among other things, there bond is so sweet and lovely.

And outside the romance, the platonic bonds among the band members felt so authentic, and I truly felt for them with all their hardships. I was a bit unsure at first when one of the non-POV band members was revealed to be dealing with mental health issues, but despite not having insight into his head, I felt it was well done and appreciated the way the others responded, and chafed at the way the contrast in the behavior of their management in response.

I adored this book, and it made my boy-band-loving heart happy. Whether you’re also a boy-band fan, or you just love queer romance, I think you’ll enjoy this book.

If This Gets Out is a very good read. It was difficult at times, watching these characters younger than me struggle through the pressures of fame and terrible treatment by the adults in their lives, but it was worth the pain to see them overcome the obstacles between them and happiness. I loved the way these characters were written and how emotionally mature they were, if that makes sense. Even during arguments between characters, it was easy to understand every side and why Ruben or Zach or Jon or Angel felt the way they did. All 4 members of the band clearly love each other and were good at being considerate of the others' feelings. I adored the way discussions of coming out between Ruben and Zach were treated, where it was emphasized to be a personal decision, specifically with Ruben making that choice for himself but refusing to make it for Zach.

Every relationship in this book was so well done, good ones and bad. The interactions between the band members, them and their favorite helpers, them and their management team, and them and their parents all felt authentic and believable. Ruben and Zach were obviously the focus and I really felt for them, especially Ruben as I found him a little more personally relatable. Seeing them come together and work for a happy and healthy relationship was a lot of fun.

Overall, I fully recommend this book! It is very much a romantic drama, which readers should be prepared for, but it makes for a great and well rounded story and is worth a read or two.

This was so good! I was a huge boy band fan back in the day so this felt like the perfect read! It featured such a cute queer relationship! It also turned out also to be a really good analysis of the music industry and its downfall. I loved it!

Gonzales and Dietrich present a wild romcom for any fan of pop music. It poses a potentially provocative question to the boyband lovers out there: what if two members of the same band fell in like (maybe even love)? Ask no more, we see the great social experiment unfold here. Ruben and Zach are members of a fictitious group called Saturday that comes right off the Lou Pearlman/Transcontinental conveyor belt/model. Each member of the group is perfectly coifed and styled to fit a different "type," and this is where some of the inside ball proves quite entertaining for fans of the music genre. You don't need to be a boyband fanatic or knowledgeable about their history, but there are just enough nods that their attention to detail can be appreciated. There are just enough hurdles built naturally in the plot that there are real-stakes felt as the two main characters navigate their burgeoning relationship. Readers familiar with the two authors will immediately identify who is writing for Ruben and who tackles Zach, and that is a mixed blessing. They are each paired with a character/lens that suits their strengths, yet it does sometimes feel like whiplash when we switch between the characters in their alternating chapters. The ending really stood out because it had such a strong balance of answering questions to be satisfying, but left enough open questions to let your imagination run wild over where the story could keep going.

Loved! This! Book! Honestly I think you can't go wrong with Sophie Gonzales and I maintain that is true and evidenced by this book. I think both authors showed their talent at character growth and just general plot here. I think this book is great and that a lot of people should read it because they'd love it too.

- If you're looking for a high angst story filled with love and compassion, put IF THIS GETS OUT on your list.
- Not only is this book essentially the boy band fanfic of your dreams, it's also a story about found family learning to support each other through hard times and in the face of unsupportive (and even abusive) blood family. It's a great exploration of how hard it can be to live the life you want to live without alienating anyone.
- Plus, it's also got excellent forced proximity and only one bed tropes. The cover kind of looks YA, but I'd put this in NA due to the fade to black love scenes.

This book was quite long in my opinion and it didn't hold my interest well. This is the story of a boy band and what happens when two of its members fall for one another. The band management forces the band members to conform to certain styles although they aren't necessarily the way they actually are, and therefore force Ruben and Zach to stay closeted. I am sorry I did not enjoy this one more than I did.

This book is about two members of a boy band who fall in love. Although they are quickly upfront about their relationship with their management team, it doesn't seem like the team will ever think it's the right time for them to come out and reveal the truth about themselves and their relationship. In fact, the team wants to manage everything about their lives and their images and not only theirs but those of their two bandmates as well. This book is a cautionary tale about the price of fame as well as an inspirational book on so many levels. It's about finding your true self and not being afraid to show it. It's about taking charge of your own life and not letting anybody else control you. Plus, the relationship between the two main protagonist's Ruben and Zach is just so sweet and adorable that you just can't help rooting for them. The book is full of great side characters as well including the other two bandmates, various members of the band's management team, and the boys' mothers. All in all, it's just a really engaging read.

I have read book from both these authors before and really loved them, but I wasn't sure how the collaboration would turn out. Lucky for me (and everyone!), the authors have created a truly special story. I adored Zach and Ruben, and the way that their tender romance blossomed even within the crushingly toxic boyband music industry was lovely. I can tell that both authors did their research.

I am.very very pleased that this book exists, and I can't wait to put it into the hands of all the teens that visit my store :)

If This Gets Out is a really powerful story that touches on a lot of serious issues. Its not a rom com but the romance is still a lovely part of it. I also loved the friendship aspects and the other band members, as well. Not only does this book have the expected romance, but it also touched on mental health struggles in a great way. I loved reading it and am excited for everyone else to have it in their hands!

DRC provided by Wednesday Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Representation: gay white half-Spanish protagonist, bisexual white protagonist, Asian secondary character, Black secondary character, Black tertiary character, Asian tertiary characters.

Content Warning: overworking, drugs, alcohol, racism, homophobia, anxiety, harassment, toxic and abusive parenting, internalised biphobia, intrusive thoughts, suicide attempt, addiction, violence.

If This Gets Out by Cale Dietrich and Sophie Gonzales is a captivating contemporary novel about friendship, love, family and the toxicity of the entertainment industry.

Ruben, Zach, Angel and Jon are four guys, each one with their own passions and desires, but on stage they are Saturday, an award-winning boy band who is going to tour Europe for the first time. Europe will not be the only new experience for some of them.

I liked previous works by both Dietrich and Gonzales, so I was excited about reading this novel, although the myriad of extremely positive reviews kind of made me anxious about it because I am always afraid to read very hyped books, but I am happy to report I actually liked most of it. I did not love it, but I still very much liked it.

I did not love it because I sort of hated Zach’s personality (and that open-but-not-really ending). Luckily, by the end, he changed a tad, but having to read through some of his point-of-view sometimes became tiring. Also, I would have loved to read from Angel’s and Jon’s points-of-view because that would have added even more nuance to the story, but I am still very happy with how the novel incorporated the intestine machinations of the entertainment industry; its racism and its queerphobia; the suffocating atmosphere entertainers are subjected to for their fans and how their stage persona is manufactured at the expense of their essence; the abusive parenting; and obviously the romance!

While I was not exactly a fan of Zach, I still loved the swirling relationship between him and Ruben. I really liked seeing Zach realise his bisexuality, the way he picked apart his memories and noticed something more in each one. It really was one of my favourite parts of the book.

If This Gets Out is a splendid contemporary novel, which made even more excited for both authors’ next projects: The Pledge by Dietrich, an achillean horror Young Adult novel about confraternity brothers and a serial killer targeting them; and The One That Got Away by Gonzales, a sapphic contemporary Young Adult novel with John Tucker Must Die vibes.

Unfortunately a bit conflicted on IF THIS GETS OUT. I had sort of inadvertently saved this ARC for when I was in a funk, reading-wise and personally, and it was a good fit for this, as a cute, easy read. Gonzales and Dietrich did an excellent job working in the complications of fame, media, fandom, and identity, and balancing the central romance with the friendship of all four boys. It was great to see Angel and Jon's stories fleshed out as well, with each member of the band handling and responding to their situation differently, and for Ruben and Zach to have issues unrelated to coming out. The authors depicted the band's team's manipulation in subtle ways that mirror the boys realizing how they're being treated, instead of going all-out villain from the start.

However, I found Ruben and Zach's relationship underdeveloped and quick, though I appreciate the way the authors handled their disagreements and attitudes. I've previously read and loved two of Sophie Gonzales' books and found this book missing the charming, character-drive, distinct dialogue of her other work -- the dialogue here felt largely flat and interchangeable. While I wanted the best for these boys from a story standpoint, I wasn't as invested from a character and relationship view.

Reuben and Zach are best friends, and tow of the members of the hit boy band, Saturday. When the friendhsip between the two of them starts to blossom into something else altogether, the management is unhappy to say the least. Each member has a role to play, and none of those are that of a queer teen. When each young man starts growing unfulfilled with the part they've been forced to play for years, tensions mount, and something has to give.

This book is just a gem! It's a wonderful exploration of sexual identity, of being free to express who we are, and of transitioning from teenager to adult. What really makes the journey interesting in this book is that all of it is done under a microscope for these 4 teens because they are members of an insanely popular boy band that is currently on an international tour.

I loved everything about this book. The love story between Zach and Reuben was beautiful, and touching. I especially loved that the two authors each took different characters to voice. It added so much to the authenticity of each young man as a seperate entity. The look into all the different decisions and choices that are stripped away from people in the lime light was also especially interesting, and thought provoking.

Thank you so much to St Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for providing me with an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.