I really loved this dual perspective novel about two members of a boy band coming to terms with their sexuality and fighting to be out in the world, despite the micro aggressive tendencies of their management company, which has hampered their creative and self expression since day one.

Red, White & Royal Blue but make it the music industry and no world politics!

CW/TW: substance abuse, parental gaslighting, forcing lgbtq characters into the closet, manipulation by people in positions of power

Omgoodness this was just great! I love books that are centered around music and this one just added to that love. I adored all of the characters and, above all, their friendship! While they struggled a lot through the toxic situations they were in, their love for each other never wavered and showed a truly supportive found family friendship dynamic! It was quite the emotional rollercoaster through the twists and turn of the power struggle with their record label, the personal struggles with their families, all the while trying to stay true to who you are and rediscovering new aspects of yourself.

And in case you prefer sweet to sexy, this one has the sexual tension of new love but with fade to black moments (rather than the sexiness like in RWRB).

The only thing I wish was different was the kind of open ending we received. It would’ve been easily resolved with a “x-months in the future” type epilogue. We can see/hope to know where the authors are insinuating the story goes but I personally would’ve preferred to see it happen.

You won’t want to miss this one if you love boy bands, found family, and amazing friendships! I’ll definitely be recommending this one to everyone!

This book was so much fun!
I basically read it in one sitting.

When I heard about this book, by 2 authors who's debuts I loved I just knew I had to read it. I had a feeling it was going to be a great book and it truly was.

I enjoyed all of it, the characters especially were so good, if they were to make books about the other 2 band members I would grab them with no hesitation!

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.

This book was definitely different to what I was expecting. I went into it thinking it would be a light, easy read with a m/m boyband romance, but there was a lot more to this book than just that. Controlling and critical parents, minors as entertainers, substance abuse, the process of coming out, the whole boy band storyline, M/M relationships, and all the other small sub plots. I do think that maybe the book tried to cover too much, but maybe that’s just because it’s a case of bad timing on my behalf.

This book is incredible and it's definetly one of the best books of 2021.

The story is very compelling and the characters are very fleshed-out.

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 knew with Sophia Gonzales and Cale Dietrich this book would be great. The book centers on an uber-popular boy band. Zach and Ruben, two of the band members, grow close throughout a tour, eventually falling for each other. While their romance is sweet, the potential fallout is so moving. The book directly addresses homophobia in the music industry which is such an important conversation. I can't wait to get a copy of this for my high school classroom.

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. .

This is a review of an as-yet published book, and, as such, this review will contain spoilers. Thanks to NetGalley & Wednesday Books for the eARC!

As a tried and true millennial who grew up in the heyday of boy bands (*NSYNC, BSB, 98*, LFO, bbMack, O-Town, etc), to say that a book with the plot of 'two members of a boy band fall in love' made me immediately smash the request button would be an understatement.

And good lord, am I glad that I did. Spoilers ahead - you've been warned! Let's start off with the brutal depiction of the music industry. It's an open secret that many artists are leashed and muzzled, and that the power that they should have to guide their own careers is neutered: by labels, by well-meaning 'family,' by the press. (See: Taylor Swift, Ke$ha, Dixie Chicks, Britney Spears, *NSYNC) And it's interesting to see the (loose - likely purposefully) parallels to real world disputes being discussed. (See: eating disorders, being forced to stay closeted, drug abuse)

I think what I enjoyed the most, though, was that the characters all felt so real - with the exception of Jon. (I'll get to him later.) But even though I felt as if Jon wasn't fully developed, he still felt fleshed out, just like the other main characters. I enjoyed the story, and I thought the romance itself was cute, if predictable. One day, we'll get past the "oh my god I might be [insert queer sexuality here] and now we have an awkward but ultimately could have been resolved with proper communication before giddy happiness" books, but I recognize we're not at that point yet.

Now, the reason this didn't get a full five stars is threefold: first, the aforementioned "oh my god" trope. As a 30 something, I'm kind of tired of that trope? I understand why it exists and why it's still important — because it is important to see people still struggling with their identity and coming to grips with it to reinforce that that internal struggle is not an outlier — and it's less about the first part of the trope and more about the second part. Purposeful miscommunication is so frustrating to me. Zach literally could have just told Ruben "hey, I liked kissing you and now I'm trying to work out what that means, so can we back off for a bit while I deal with that?" rather than..... telling him "I need space."

The second reason is Jon. Now, I liked Jon as a theoretical character. I understand that he was the "responsible" one, and the sort of moral compass for the group, but literally, all he does is fret about Angel (which, to his credit, seems to be a full time job) and be wildly uncomfortable about being assigned the "sexy" role. He's not given much more depth outside of that, which I feel is a shame considering his relationship with Chorus is the most complicated, given that his dad is their manager. I really wish there could have been more substance to him than we got.

And the third reason is the very careless manner in which the authors addressed restrictive eating. Jon, Ruben, and Angel don't have this problem, but it is hinted at in the way Zach's internal dialogue plays out that there is something disordered about the way Zach is approaching food. Considering image is a huge theme of the book, and the fact that it's stated that they're transitioning from teenage heartthrobs to something sellable to adults, I felt this would have been a great opportunity to address that. It's not normal to calculate what sort of exercise you'd need to do (and when the best time to do it to hide it from your parents) from eating a half-slice of cake.

What's doubly frustrating is that it's not mentioned again after about halfway through the book. There's one throwaway line in the middle about Zach wondering about calorie content and then voila. Nothing after that.

That said, this was a greatly enjoyable book and you should absolutely read it when it comes out!

I’m not revisiting my love of boybands with this book – I was never a fan. But after reading a string of heavy fantasy books, this contemporary story was exactly what I needed. I’ve read the fabulous Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzalez, but wasn’t familiar with Cale Dietrich. Don’t go into this expecting a sugar-coated love story – it deals with some substantial topics.

Fans screaming your name everywhere you go, crying hysterically as they try to get to you, bodyguards surrounding you to prevent you from being trampled, the glamour, fame, and spotlight. Fans see artists on stage, follow them on social media, and read everything about them they can get their hands on. Some of the more obsessive fans think they know the real person behind the public persona. This story shows how little of the boys’ true selves are ever revealed. They’re assigned a character type to portray, dressed for every public occasion, instructed how to wear their hair, and told what to say in interviews. They’re branded and owned by the record company they make money for. It’s not the dream they’d imagined when signing their contracts at such a young age.

Although the record company and management team know Ruben is gay, he’s not permitted to make that public knowledge. He’s had a crush on best friend and band member Zach for a while, but knows nothing will come of it since Zach is straight. Or so he thought. When Zach begins to have confusing feelings about Ruben and memories about other boys resurface, he realizes he’s bisexual. After they begin a romantic relationship, Zach and Ruben want to be honest with everyone in their lives about who they are, including their fans. For their management team, it’s not an ideal situation, and the boys are given one excuse after another about why they should wait before coming out. Disagreements with their manager are made even more tense and awkward since he’s the father of Jon, one of the band members.

One of my favorite aspects of this novel is the unconditional support all four boys give each other. Sure, they have their squabbles and differences, but when the chips are down, they have each other’s backs no matter what. Their personalities are very distinct, and chapters are told in the alternating POVs of Ruben and Zach. Angel injects humor and snark into several scenes and had me laughing out loud. Drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, exhaustion, and the constant pressure of being monitored almost 24/7 are also dealt with. The authors did their research on the exploitation of artists in the entertainment industry.

This novel deals with some important and incredibly personal topics and handles them well. I enjoyed it from beginning to end, and it’s one I’d recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a cute romance with some important and in-depth discussions on closeting in the entertainment industry, all set against the tumultuous lives of an extremely famous boyband. It has the cute romcom feels as Zach and Ruben realise they like each other, and then merges into a more serious contemporary as Angel deals with drug addiction, Ruben internally wrestles with his toxic parents, and Zach has to deal with his internalised biphobia. I did find the plot a little repetitive, but if you love fandom culture and boybands and 1D shipping fanfic, this is probably just your thing!

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich isn’t my usual fare, but I’ve previously enjoyed Gonzales’ work, and so I picked this up on a whim on NetGalley and thought I’d give it a shot. And to be entirely honest, I still don’t quite know what to think about this one. This is the story of Saturday, a boyband, where two members end up falling in love with each other, to the dismay of their controlling management. Zach and Ruben, as well as Angel and Jon ended up growing on me throughout the course of their story and I really cared about them and their fates by the end of it. It was really frustrating to see how the boys were treated by their management when all they want to do is live their reality and share their love with the world. Staying in the closet when you’re ready to come out isn’t something that anyone should have to deal with, and I’m happy with how the story resolves. However, I did feel like it dragged on and was longer than needed - but the pacing issues I had with the story may be more down to the reader I am than the book itself as I rarely read contemporary. It’s definitely a fun book to spend a couple of hours with!

If This Gets Out is fun and swoony, while also tackling some intense issues with grace and nuance. The four members of the fictional band, Saturday, feel distinct and real, and their friendship makes the book sing. Fans of Red, White & Royal Blue are sure to love If This Gets Out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an enjoyable book! While Zack and Ruben stole my heart (of course), Angel and Jon were suburb characters as well and I loved the strong friendship among all four band members. This is the perfect story for young people who are struggling with being their authentic selves and need a reminder that there is plenty of good to be found once you stop being willing to hide who you are for the comfort of others.

What an utterly fab YA book!

Thoroughly enjoyed this one, it has some of my favourite elements, LGBTQ, YA, angst, drama, and turmoil, but is set within the backdrop of life in a boyband.

I have to say I immediately began making comparisons between 1D with Harry and Louis, but in a way (for me at least) it made it all the more enjoyable, taken with a pinch of salt and a lot of good humour.

The MCs are all loveable, I really did like Angel, even though he is the most troubled. Jon I felt had quite a background role, I would’ve liked to see a bit more of him, but of course, Ruben and Zach are the main duo. I found myself feeling like a piggy in the middle, I could understand both of their points of view and was rooting for them throughout (sometimes you just wanted to bang their heads together!).

Alongside the cutesy romance storyline, there are a lot of issues around drugs, toxic parenting, homophobia, coming to terms with identity and sexuality, the question of coming out if/when, and being controlled. Seeing these issues being addressed was brilliant, I am sure readers will find themselves relating and empathising with many of them. I particularly liked (although like is perhaps not the correct term) the toxic parent relationship, I’ve not seen this before in YA lit. With it being something I have experienced it was nice to see it acknowledged, and the effects it can have on a young person growing up and moving into adulthood shown.

I can easily see this being a smash with the target audience as well as us ‘older’ readers who enjoy YA books. Definitely one to be added to our school library!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the Publisher St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books for the e-arc to review.

Yes yes yes yes YES.

Do you like boy bands? Adorable characters? Fluffy romance? A surprising amount of angst that makes you happy and sad and angry and heartbroken all at once? Then have I got the book for YOU.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book. I just saw “boy band” and “queer romance” and slammed the NetGalley request button. And let me tell you, I fell in love with these characters on the first page.

Ruben, Zach, Angel, and Jon were the PERFECT crew. I loved every single one of them in different ways, and I loved their individual personalities and strengths and struggles. Despite being so different, it was so amazing to see how they all came together to really make an incredible cast that I would die for.

I’ve never read a book like this. It tackled difficult issues white still managing to stay light and fun. I laughed with these boys, cried with them, screamed into the void with them. More than once, I found my heart pounding, and I absolutely cried multiple times. It was a feel-good angsty adorable story that I’m going to be thinking about for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow!

First, this story follows eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight, band members on a grueling tour through Europe. As best friends, the two boys have come to rely and lean on one another under the pressure that has come with maintaining the perfect image…and hiding who they truly are. But when their friendship evolves into something more, Ruben and Zach must find a way to hold onto each other when they are being forced to stay in the closet. But when one of their bandmates begins to lose himself to drugs because he’s sick of not being able to be himself, it becomes hard for the rest of the band to continue to play along, too.

This book was SO good! I loved the characters from the very beginning. Ruben and Zach were the perfect leads, and their dynamic with their parents added a great layer to who they were. There was SO much making out! And it was extremely sex-positive. I happy-cried four separate times, and often found myself smiling. The only complaint I had was that I didn't want it to end!

Highly recommend!

I was sold on this book based on the premise alone, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more. The dual POVs and each main character’s inner monologue was done so well, and I felt seen when I read Zach’s thought process while coming to terms with his sexuality. This is a must-read for sure!

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday books for an advanced copy of this to review! It’s one of those books I saw talked about on Instagram and knew that it would be right up my alley. I’m happy to say I wasn’t wrong!

For everyone who loves reading fanfiction, this reads a bit like that. Which is totally not a bad thing! You can tell the story is in-part, based on real life, which makes some of its messages even more important. Yes, the story is about Ruben and Zach’s relationship, but it’s also about fame and image and what that can do to people. Saturday’s management team is so obsessed with their image that the four boys feel smothered most of the time, and they’re not able to fully be themselves.

Told in alternating perspectives between Zach and Ruben, each voice is distinct and easy to read. The two clearly have chemistry from the get-go, and I loved how their relationship developed throughout the book. They’re both able to grow as characters, which in-turn, helps their relationship grow. Angel and Jon both have their own character arcs and aren’t just flat side characters. Their group dynamic was fun to read, especially with how well they knew each other and how they were willing to support each other.

At times, some of the plot points felt a little dragged out and the pacing wasn’t quite there. But, as someone who definitely reads for character, I didn’t find that I minded. The strong character development makes up for some of the lags in plot.

All in all, if you’re looking for a hard-hitting YA gay romance, look no further! This one should definitely go on your list.