This was a surprisingly tough read. While the premise of this book is like something straight out of a fanfiction (and no, it doesn't closely resemble any real-life bands that I know of; the characters are totally original) it's less about the shipping and more about the intense pressure the main characters are under, with having to hide their relationship being just one aspect of this. It was done really well, to the extent that I could physically feel the stress the main characters were going through, but this unfortunately had a negative impact on my reading experience. I wish we'd had some more lighthearted moments to break up the heaviness, to let Ruben and Zach's relationship breathe and give us more of a chance to see how and why they fell for each other. The characters were compelling, each of the four band members were pretty unique, but again I wish we could have seen more development from them instead of spending so much time focused on how restricted they were.

The strongest part for me was definitely the ending, I found myself eagerly racing through the last 15% or so because I was desperate to see where things went, which definitely helped uplift my mood after feeling burnt out halfway through. Overall, this was a good read, just not quite the trope-y fluffiness I was expecting when I first picked it up

If This Gets Out is the story of a teenage boy band, told in alternating chapters by two of the four boys. Ruben has been out to his friends and family for years, but the pressure to be attractive to female fans - and to please the band’s demanding management company - has kept him from publicly being open about his sexuality. He’s also had a crush on bandmate Zach for years, but since Zach’s straight, he’s kept that hidden, too. When Zach and Ruben kiss, Zach realizes he likes it - and maybe he isn’t straight after all. Maybe things will work between them, but their management is committed to making sure no one else knows they’re in a relationship. Meanwhile, the entire band is feeling suffocated by the way they’re locked in their hotel on tour and not allowed to make decisions about their hair, clothing, music, or anything else.

This book had a slow start; it dragged a bit during the first 50 pages or so. After that, though, the story picked up and I found myself getting really into it. The romance between Ruben and Zach was very sweet. The difficulties they faced were set up naturally by the story rather than being forced for the sake of drama. The relationship was very believable.

More so than the romance itself, I was pulled in by the depiction of these four teenagers who had been swept into the music industry without much ability to decide what they wanted for themselves. The boys all love music and being in a band together, but their creative freedom has been completely stifled. They’re also forced to listen to everything the management company decides; even their public personalities are dictated to them, and they’re threatened with punishment if they stray from that. Concerned that they’ll lose the band entirely, they listen to their manager - who also happens to be the father of one of the band members, making everything more complicated. Considering how many teens are in the music industry, this book helps point out how poorly some of them are being treated and the reasons why they may lash out or turn to drugs to help them feel more in control of their lives. While this isn’t the case for every young person in music, this sort of treatment definitely exists and is largely ignored by the public. This book did a great job of making me care about the characters and their relationships while also considering the heavier topics brought up in the story.

I liked this story about a boy band where 2 members fall in love and have to hide it. It was kind of sad, not just for them, but for all the ways the each of the bandmates were treated by management. Things got pretty bad there, it was toxic. But the band all cared about each other, so it's good they had some sort of support.

As far as the love story goes, Ruben has always known he likes boys, but had to keep quiet. Zach is just figuring things out and also has some personal growth going on besides that. They're really genuine and caring toward each other, and the love scenes are fade to black, which is actually more fitting in this story. In the end, it was a good sweet story and if anything ever happened for the other members, I'd want to read about it.

**Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review**
If you have ever shipped two members of a band, particularly members of the same gender, this is a MUST READ! This book was seriously EVERYTHING and my best friend is SO jealous that I got an advanced copy of this book (After reading it, I told her not to worry, I would be buying her a copy—it was THAT GOOD)!!! This book has all the sexy tropes you crave in a YA romance—best friends to lovers, forbidden love, LGBTQ+ rep., and so much more. I still can’t stop ridint the high from this book.
It also covers some heavy topics as well. Since the story is about an all male successful boy band, there’s a plethora of band/label power dynamics, emotional abuse, drug abuse, and a peek into the darker side of the music industry.
But outweighing all of that is the close friendships. Between the bandmates and between our two main MCs, Ruben and Zach. Their closeness was so endearing and though sometimes there were miscommunications and they struggled to put their true heart’s emotions into words, they worked it out because they were friends first and foremost.
This was one of my most highly anticipated books on my list this year and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I hope everyone reads it and falls in love with it as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the ARC.

If you have ever read and loved any sort of band fan fiction, you must pick up this book.

I loved the way the authors touched upon how negatively the lime light can really impact someone’s life. I loved that it wasn’t just all about the glamorous life of a celebrity, but rather focused on the harsh reality of having to keep up appearances and please PR people.

I loved the characters of the band. I wish there was more information on Jon because I feel like the other characters were so big that he got lost in the background of the story.

There were some points that were brought up at the beginning and then dropped completely, like the one characters growing obsession with working out and dieting.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this read and thought there was a lot of great commentary around fame. I thought the love story was brought in with perfect pacing and I like that the characters grew from their relationship rather than remaining static in their journey!

Ruben, Zach, Angel and Jon are the four members of the pop band Saturday. Known throughout the world, they work day in day out to appear just as the record company wants them to, despite this not matching their personalities or being anything like who they truly are. Ruben, especially, has been told over and over to stand back, not show off and to stay in the closet "until the time is right." lol
Anyway, things get even more complicated when Zach kisses Ruben kind of out of the blue, and neither he nor Zach knows how to deal with it.

Where to start........ These 4 boys are my children and I will protect them at all costs. I am not kidding, do not cross them. Or there will be hell to pay.
I honestly fell in love with these boys, the were layered and flawed and just so compelling in every way.
The story itself also drew me in from the start and I could not stop reading. It both felt like a warm hug but also was truly maddening, infuriating. What my boys have been put through, I cannot begin to describe. I really just felt every single feeling ever and I loved it all so so so much. This is without a doubt a book I will be reading over and over again. After all, I do love a fictional band, and over all, a queer fictional band and Sophie Gonzales has yet to let me down. I've now read 3 of her books and loved them all.

I received an arc of this book through NetGalley.
I really wanted to like this book, but everything about it fell flat. The characters are barely developed, the plot is confusing at best, and the resolution is non-existant. Both authors did that thing where the characters aren't described for at least fifty pages, which always makes me irrationally angry. The two MC, Reuben and Zack, seem to fall for each other completely out of convenience. There is no chemistry at all. Jon and Angel had more chemistry than them, which is incredibly funny in context. I hope the version that comes out in December is better than this.

If This Gets Out was a fun lighthearted book that dealt with some dark issues like addiction, psychological abuse and homophobia without losing its humorous spark. I think my only problem was this book was how the quality of it fluctuated a lot. I think it's almost impossible to avoid this when you have two authors working together but I felt the difference in quality more with this one. It's overall an entertaining and cute book, I'm just not sure I will remember it in a few months.

If This Gets Out was so lovely. I’ve read books by both Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich before, so I had high hopes for this book going into it. I loved the alternating point of view between Ruben and Zach and think that, especially for books featuring teenagers, this is a fantastic way to feel like you are getting the whole story and to have a better understanding of each of the characters (I think its hard enough having to understand your own emotions as a teenager, let alone figuring out how to communicate them to someone else). There was a messiness to the telling of their story that felt very true to young love, which was amplified through the boy band setting and the stressors that come with this. While this definitely fits into its YA romance genre (bordering on new adult — the main characters are ~17/18), it also includes commentary on media, PR, fandom, and what being under a constant spotlight does to the psyche.

or boy band fans. Or haters. For fans secretly hoping for a love story between two bandmates. Or just fans of queer love stories.

I loved Only Mostly Devastated. I didn’t know what to think of The Friend Scheme. Perfect on Paper was nice. And If This Gets Out? It’s so good! On the surface, the story feels like a light and fluffy read, following a boy band on their tour through Europe, where two band members fall in love with each other. It could be just an in-between. A sweet rom-com. A beach read. A cheesy YA. But it’s not. There’s so much going on between the lines, and If This Gets Out tackles so many important topics.

I never liked boy bands. The smooth, too perfect faces. The polished, clean music. The hysterical fans. Archetypes like the bad boy, the boy next door etc. Having to be mass-appealing. The entourage. Until one of the band members suddenly falls off their pedestal. Hard ...

And that’s just what this story is about. Everything in the lives of Ruben, Zack, Jon and Angel is arranged. How they should look, what music they should sing, which moves they should make, what they should say. And coming out to the outside world is not an option.

So, even though he’s out, Ruben is hiding that he’s gay. And when Zack starts doubting his sexuality, he’s got no one to talk to. And when the two of them end up together, nobody outside their bubble can know.

This story is not only about two queer boys in a boy band. It’s also about the band itself, the pressure from their management and record company, even from some parents. Living in hotel rooms day after day, not having free time—like ever, being told what to wear—not their choice, being monitored—continuously, the tabloids making things up—or not. Pressure, pressure and more pressure. And let’s face it, they’re still just eighteen-year-olds.

Cale Dietrich and Sophie Gonzales did a wonderful job showing us the world of boy bands and in general the exploit in the music industry. Is it weird that cracks start to form in nearly all boy bands, including Saturday? Eating disorders, feeling suffocated, drug and alcohol abuse, anger issues, extreme fatigue. It’s almost inevitable that one of them falls off their pedestal in the end, right?

Like I said above, I loved the book and I really, really hope Cale Dietrich and Sophie Gonzales will collaborate in a second book. Because I think they bring out the best in each other!

4 stars for this queer romance that gave me all the One Direction vibes!

Ruben and Zach are both in an insanely popular boy band called Saturday. Everything they do, say and wear is decided for all the band members by their management company. Ruben has known he's gay for years but management always says it's never the right time for him to come out to their fans. Zach has been questioning his sexuality and when sparks fly between the pair things get tense. Saturday is about to begin their European tour and it's a crazy tour. Zach and Ruben disclose their relationship to the rest of the band and their management company but are told they need to keep it a secret. They spend the book figuring out who they are and how they want to present the band to the world.

I really enjoyed this! If you were ever a fan of any boy band then this will resonate with you for sure. After reading this I've decided I'd never want to be famous but reading about a super famous boy band was a lot of fun. Zach and Ruben have a sweet relationship that I liked and felt them being teens was realistically portrayed. The side line characters consisting of the rest of the band, management team and their family members added to the plot really well. There were several sub plots in addition to the main plot line of Zach and Ruben's relationship that fit into the story well. I enjoyed this overall and felt it was lighthearted while still tackling heavy themes like sexuality and drug abuse.

If you've enjoyed other LGBTQ romances then you need to pick this one up!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Didn't really get into this book. The dual povs didn't have enough to set them apart in my mind and it really just dragged too much

"If This Gets Out explores how one can start to lose their sense of self when they're forced into a role they never chose, and the many ways a person can be trapped by those who abuse their power over them."

The premise had me immediately. When I found it on netgalley I was so happy. Ruben and Zach are 2 members of a boy band. Ruben is gay but he is not out because obviously the record label does not want him out. Zach is straight but after they kiss he starts to reexamine his life. Is he bi? He is confused and Ruben is confused. Meanwhile another member of the band has a drug problem. There is so much going on. Of course the record label controls every aspect of their life. This book probably does a really good job of what it is like to be in a boy band. Everyone controlling every part of your life.

"The problem is that the world doesn't always make the truth safe for us to share."

This was a cute, fun contemporary that I flew through easily and had a lot of fun reading!

Zach and Ruben are both amazing characters who're struggling with different things. I loved how well their personalities shone through and how different their POVs were and how I could easily distinguish among them!

I also enjoyed how the authors talked about the dark side of the music industry and addressed how queer artists are forced to hide their identity. I also liked seeing how the Record Company forced certain images onto the guy and how they were being told to follow certain diets/workout routines since the music industry can be really toxic although I do wish this could've been explored more.

I liked seeing how Zach was questioning his identity and seeing everything that happened in the past through a new lens and just trying to figure out who he was and not hurt Ruben in the process.

I also really liked the writing style and how easy the book was to read. It was fast paces and sucked you in right at the beginning and I ended up finishing it all in one night.

Sophie Gonzales crushes it again! And her new co-author also nailed it. Her books are always the perfect amount of YA for me, a grown adult lol. I loved the fandom of it all, the love story, it was so cute. Who doesn’t fantasize about celebrity dating culture? I have been won over on Gonzales since her Only Mostly Devastated days and I can’t wait to read more by her.

Life in the spotlight is hard enough, but to be in the spotlight at the peak of adolescence and just figuring out who you truly are, is on another level. Reuben and Zach are two members of the boy band Saturday who lead us through a story of love, friendship and discovery. An enigmatic story that is great for those who loved 'What if it's us' or 'The Music of What Happens.'

I absolutely loved this story. It was very well thought out and the character growth and development was great. Given the fact that the two main characters, even though they are in a boy band and have to give the outward appearance of being mature beyond their years, are still just young boys, the authors did an amazing job of portraying this with their self discovery and their trial, and missed communications. Also the portrayal of the life of a kid in a boy band was so real feeling. There were a few parts they read a little slow and seemed not necessary, but for the most part the book was a smooth read. I really enjoyed it.

**received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review**

“The thing about your dreams coming true is that, for a gold-spun moment, you catch a glimpse of what life could be like for you.”

Oh where to do I start? Whenever I talk about this book, it just feels like I’m sucked into multiverses. I want to talk about how good it is, how sad it made me feel, how fun it was to be part of a fictional fandom and believing they were real, how I was rooting for every member of the band — ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich is one of my most anticipated queer releases for 2021, so when they made it available to everyone for a short span of time on NetGalley, you know that I have to strike and get my early copy! IT WAS AMAZING!

I have always imagined there’s a queer romance in my favorite boyband, and always thought of what it would feel if they let that secret out. It was a fun journey seeing Zuben conquer the odds! I loved how each character’s personality complemented each other. It made me root for all of them, regardless of what life threw at them. It made me believe that for one distinct moment, Saturday, the band, was real and I’m singing along with the crowd. That’s how precious that book is. It gives you a reality that would play around in your mind and you’d keep in your heart forever.

To top it all off, it also talks about mental health. It shows how people handle the pressures of fame, what they do to cope up and how they get past all the challenges society and their management gives them. You’d be cheering them on, shed tears with them and celebrate with them once they break through.

Okay, I’ll stop blabbering because there’s a 99% chance that I will spoil it if I don’t. Read this book if:

- You have always imagined your favorite boyband has a secret queer romance going on
- You want to stan for fictional boyband members while singing their songs at the top of your lungs
- You want to see how fame relates to mental health
- YOU JUST WANT TO FALL IN LOVE

PRE-ORDER “IF THIS GETS OUT” NOW! On sale on December 7th!

Thank you Sophie, Cale, and Wednesday Books for the early copy! I love you with all my Saturday heart!

This book deals with some very important topics which I was happy to see included but I felt it was a bit too long and boring in some areas and the writing fell somewhat flat for me.

I enjoyed the premise of the story; having to keep a relationship a secret and the whole boyband aspect. I always love to read about rich and famous lifestyles so I did enjoy that. I think the authors did a good job of tackling homophobia and control in the music industry and I felt that was very important to talk about. I also appreciated that they touched on AIDS and safe sex, as that is another important topic that is sometimes overlooked in books.

I didn't however love the writing. I often forgot which POV I was reading because they both sounded very similar. I found myself having to really force myself to read it because the relationships and characters overall were a bit boring and I didn't feel invested. Sadly I think the way the story was told was just not my favourite. I also thought the ending was okay but nothing spectacular.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-galley.

It's been a few days ever since I finished this book and I still don't want to write this review, because I *hate* giving one star reviews to books that are not out yet. But alas, here we are.

First of all, I wanna say that Sophie Gonzales was (and still is) one of my favourite authors; I have read two of her solo books and loved them both. This is why I have requested an ARC of If This Gets Out, even though I didn't like the book by Cale Dietrich I had previously read. I was hoping that their collab would make me change my mind, but obviously -- and sadly -- it did not happen.

Now, back in the day I read and absolutely loved I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman, and last year around this time I read and enjoyed Daisy Jones & The Six by TJR. So, I felt confident in saying I generally enjoyed band related books. Flash forward to 2021, when I read The Boyband Murder Mystery by Ava Eldred and this book, both of which I have rated 1 star. Maybe I don't like boyband books, except a few, after all. I don't know, I am not even particularly enjoying Given by Natsuki Kizu, which is a band related manga. So, you see, maybe the problem is me.

I had two major issues with this book. Or maybe three or four. But let's proceed with order.

1) The writing style; I usually love Sophie Gonzales writing, because I very much relate to her kind of humour, and while you could find some of her usual snark in this book, it felt flat overall. I think the authors tried not to show such a huge of a gap between the two POVs, but the result was that I couldn't empathise with the characters. Moreover, the dialogue in this book was so unrealistic and cringe I had to stop multiple times because I wanted to scream into the void until my lungs were numb. Anyways...

2) The pacing and disposition (?) of the plot points; I won't go into details to avoid spoiler, but... Have you ever written a fanfiction without plotting it before, just going with the flow? Because I have, and the way the key points of this book were placed felt very much like the authors just had a general idea, like 'Let's write a boyband book' and then proceeded writing things at random. The pathos, if you could call it that, was not there and the pacing was all over the place. Also it was *so* predictable I could have told you on page one what was going to happen. Also the book is so unnecessarily long, it could have worked with 200 pages less.

3) The characters; I didn't hate them all. I hated Zach with my whole heart, but I think it was more a problem of how his internal monologue and whatnot was written, because he was otherwise a pretty sterotypical, and I felt mostly indifferent towards the other band members and the staff and crew. They all fit into a stereotype and had like one or two characteristic max. The four band members were boring; one of the main point of the book is how management makes artists fit into categories to please the public, but the way they were portrayed on and off stage, in my opinion, defeated the whole purpose of the book, because they were easily categorisable even off stage. Take what they look like to the public, reverse that, and you have their personality: do they look sexy on stage? They are the opposite off stage. Do they only have easy notes on stage? They are actually the best and most trained singer of them all. As I said, boring.

4) The ending. Once again, without giving anything away and keeping in mind I had predicted the exact things that happened from the "plot twist" around the 70% mark until the very end... Really? Are you really giving us such a weak and boring ending? Wow.

So, I guess you can tell I hated this book. If you are interested in If This Gets Out I wouldn't stop you, because I didn't find anything problematic or offensive and it at least featured a diverse cast of characters, but if you are unsure whether to read this or not, just don't. I think some people will really like it, but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for this chance.