Boybands? Queer romance?
This was everything and nothing like I expected it to be. This book described the struggles of discovering who you are and your sexuality so well. Not only is the queer romance a plus but this book goes into depth on issues in the music industry and what goes on behind the scenes of music artists that we all love. There definitely are a lot of heavy topics in this book so I definitely recommend looking up trigger warnings if you need to. The beginning felt a little slow to me but it definitely picks up about a quarter way into it and I could not put it down! I would 100% recommend this book if you’re thinking about reading it when it comes out (:

This book is an absolute DREAM. If you've ever shipped members of a boy band, this book is for you. If you're a fan of love at all, read this.This is a heartwarming story about love and friendship in the context of the glamorous and not-so-glamorous parts of being part of an international pop sensation.

Having read and become a fan of Sophie Gonzalez' other work but not having read anything else by Cale Dietrich, I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy of this from NetGalley, and it went beyond my wildest expectations.

Both Ruben and Zach (along with their bandmates Angel and Jon) feel like real people, and the self-awareness and growth that they display throughout the novel is so important. This book is ultimately about boundaries and how knowing who you are helps you to know what you stand for, and the importance of having a support system in navigating all the complicated factors that inform our world.

I would 100% love to see this on screen, and would probably faint from excitement to hear Saturday's music IRL. Can you form a boy band based off of a novel? If so, I am super on board for it.

I read this cover-to-cover and was absolutely swept away. Read this book. It's worth it.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I often get really absorbed in YA Contemporary books and finished this one in two days! I was surprised at how much depth these characters have, not just Ruben and Zach, but also Angel and Jon, the other two members of the band. I liked learning about each character's struggles, different friendship and family dynamics that they all had to balance along with their career and passions. These four teens are put under a lot of pressure, from emotionally abusive parents to their label's strict rules and curation of their public image (including keeping Ruben and Zach in the closet), to being worried about Angel, who begins to abuse substances at greater rates because of this pressure.

I loved the bi rep in Zach's character, I found the self-denial and fear of being bi, the internalized biphobia, very relatable. There was a lot of messy feelings and actions, awkwardness, tension, pain, and angst that I love to see in books because life isn't perfect and can take very unexpected turns. The resolution of some of these issues is relieving, and Ruben and Zach's relationship is so cute and fluffy! Definitely a good read, especially for people who enjoy books like Only Mostly Devastated (also by Sophie Gonzalez), the Simonverse books, and Red, White, and Royal Blue.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am emotional about this book! In such a way that I legitimately can't stop thinking about it. I think anyone who has historically been a fan of pop music or boybands in general tends to wonder what goes on behind the scenes, and this fabulous YA fiction book is exactly that.

And I also know that reading the summary, you are going to see "secret relationship" and think that this book is all about two of the members hiding their relationship and their management being terrible about it. There's so much more to this book than that. If This Gets Out also deals with the struggles of the two other members of their band. And let me just tell you... the other two members of the band are LOVELY and supportive and hilarious and everything I wanted.

Please pick this up in December! You won't regret it!

3.5

I had this book on my wishlist since I first read the blurb. I'm not a huge YA fan nowadays, especially if it's contemporary rom-coms (I wish I could read about people 5-10 years younger than me, but alas, my age has caught up with me) but when I saw this on Netgalley I HAD to request it. I loved the premise of "If This Gets Out": a boy band, found family, a secret relationship and queer characters? Yes, please.

I really enjoyed most of it: the first half of the book, especially, was fantastic and I will be eternally grateful to the authors for getting me out of my reading slump.
Ruben, one of the two MCs, was terrific from the start. I loved how outspoken and confident and snarky he was. Zach too, was lovely, and seeing him struggle with his sexuality and his issues with confrontation really resonated with me. I think my favourite character must have been Jon though, the third member of "Saturday", the boy band this book is centred on. I loved him, a lot.

I did enjoy this book. However, it just had a lot of drama going on. I'm usually the biggest fan of drama, especially when it's angst-y and painful, but the pointless drama at the centre of this book was, at times, a bit too much. A big part of what annoyed me was Zach, I think. I felt for him and his struggles with anxiety, but there's also a difference between being scared, unsure and confused and acting out and being an a bit of d*** to your best friend and not listening to what he's saying.
On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the drama revolving around the actual band: the terrible management, Angel's storyline, the stress of touring and being in the spotlight. I'll definitely have to read more band-related books.

I definitely recommend this book to whoever wants to read a quick, fluffy book about boys falling in love. If you don't mind drama, and typical eighteen-year-old issues (and maturity), this is the book for you.

It's not very often that a book entrances me so much that it pains me to put it down, but this book did just that. I was so swept up in this story that I read it every second I could. While I initially picked it up for the boyband dynamics and the queer romance, what I got was a truly multidimensional story about the good and bad of the music industry, and about all kinds of relationships, romantic, platonic, and familial.

This book really benefits from its dual POVs: Ruben, a gay Spanish-American teen who hasn't been allowed to come out by his band Saturday's management team, and Zach, who is questioning his sexuality while pursuing his love of music and writing songs he hopes the band will be allowed to record. Both characters have distinct voices in their alternating chapters, while still feeling cohesive. We, as readers, get a full understanding of where each character is coming from in their experiences within the band, and their feelings as they start to fall for each other.

While the romance is well-written and adorable, this book goes beyond that to explore the relationship dynamics between all four members of the band. Angel and Jon, the other two members of Saturday, are fully-developed characters, and the book depicts the individual relationships between all four members, as well as their group dynamics as a whole. Each member of Saturday also has a unique relationship with their families, and I really appreciated how this book acknowledged the complexities of 18-year olds being away from their parents and under the guidance of their management team through international touring. This book truly strikes a perfect balance of lovable characters and a well-developed plot that will make you want to keep reading, even if it keeps you up all night.

To put it simply, this book is fun, hopeful, romantic, brilliant, and an absolute joy to read. It handles several serious topics well, including drug and alcohol abuse, parental emotional abuse, and forced closeting in the entertainment industry. To me, this book is easily a standout young adult contemporary of the year, and I highly recommend it!

Going into If This Gets Out I was expecting a fun, light romance but what I didn’t expect was the complexity of the story that revolved around the lives of Ruben, Zach, Jon, and Angel.

This is a book about friendship. It's about love. It’s about control. It’s about pressure. It’s about mental health. It’s about growth. It’s about evolution. It’s about standing up for what you believe in. If this Gets Out is a book not only about 2 boys falling in love but it's also about the pressure that 4 boys are under in trying to live up to the standards of the people around them and the people that look up to them.

The heart of the book is about the evolving relationship between Ruben and Zach. Them discovering their feelings for each other was heartwarming and beautiful. Seeing Zach trying to figure out his sexuality and second-guessing himself felt VERY real. We also get to see the friendship between Ruben, Zach, Jon, and Angel. That friendship felt authentic and all the ups and downs they went through felt incredibly real. Each character had a distinct personality that shone through on the page.

On the other side of the book is the topic of control and pressure that they are all under. We get a clear sense of the control and the pressure that is put upon the band by management, the record company, and even some of their parents. There is this pressure for all 4 of the boys to be these polished, picture-perfect people who do everything right and nothing wrong. This causes cracks to start forming in the band. This pressure affects each member differently and we see a clear view of how each boy is handling this weight they are carrying.

Is this a spoiler? Who knows! I honestly felt like the evilest character in this book was Ruben's mom. The ups and downs he went through with her emotionally were gut-wrenching. Her telling him off for doing this thing wrong, or his skin looking bad, then “being there for him” when he needed her just made me mad. I’m glad by the end of the book he felt like he could literally and metaphorically hang up on her.
Jon's dad being the main instigator of the pressure they are all dealing with is terrible. Even in the end when he could ~slightly~ redeem himself, his true colors of only caring about his image show. The fact he doesn't care about what his son says is sad.

If this Gets Out is a character-driven story, but the plot is not too far behind. I was engaged throughout this entire book. I loved the pacing, the characters, and the dynamics between the characters. When each boy was dealing with something, I felt for them and I just wanted to hug them!! I just enjoyed this book as a whole.

Here is the 350 page long 1D fanfic you all wanted and clearly deserved.
Two members of a boyband falling in love, but having to keep it a secret.
This story is told from two POVs, Ruben and Zach, who’ve known each other since they were children. All four members of the band met at music camp and formed a real band with the help of Jon’s fathers music company.

This book was more than a cute romance though.
It showed how hard the life of music artists really is, how they have to hide so much of themselves that they sometimes lose who they really are. The most shocking for me was how abusive and toxic all the adults in this book were. Not only their managers, but also the parents. The people who are supposed to protect you.
I hated all the adults in this. Every single one of them. Not only were they all super selfish, but none of them took any of the band members seriously. Not even their own children. They just used them and wrung every single bit of life out of them.
None of the band members was able to be themselves, they were cast als roles, like in a play. Constantly being criticised and controlled and pressured at such a young age is so hurtful and messes up your whole being. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to keep such a huge part of yourself a secret, constantly having to hide, feeling so powerless. Also coming out to the whole world. Wow.
This definitely wasn’t the cute comfort read I was expecting.

While I liked the story, for me the pacing felt a little off sometimes. The romance felt a little too rushed for me in the beginning, then it all went downhill, then suddenly it was all fine again.
I liked both Ruben and Zack, especially their character development, but in the end Angel and Jon were my highlight. They seemed more consistent, complex and real to me character wise.
It’s a co-written book and sometimes I just felt it.

Very important topics that were raised weren’t discussed enough in the end for my taste. There are a lot of problematic things happening in 99% of this book, so the end just felt a little too abrupt for me. For example the constant body shaming and forced dieting these young boys experienced. It was mentioned, but not addressed anymore in the end.
The ending itself was very hopeful and powerful though (if maybe not suuuper realistic) and I really loved it!

All in all this book did a good job to show and discuss real life issues young (queer) people experience in the show business. It was a good and quick YA read with fun characters and a good story.
What I loved most about this was the bi rep though. It felt so real and I loved how Zach slowly explored this part of and learned about himself. I could relate to him so much.


TW: mental abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, addiction, parental abuse, body shaming, eating disorder

4,5 ✨
ARC provided by NetGalley.

Since I read I Was Born For This and Daisy Jones and The Six, I found myself really enjoying books about music and bands and this was exactly the same for this one!
We follow the boy band Saturday, with Ruben, Zach, Angel and Jon, along their tour in Europe! The book is written by Sophie and Cale and then we have the pov of both Zac and Ruben. Through their eyes, we got to see the pressure of being in a band and their team, the pressure of hiding themselves and hiding personal stuffs and the fear of the consequences if they take control.
It's a beautiful story about friendship and coming out.
With the covid situation, reading about a band touring in europe was such a serotonin boost.
just one negative lil thing was the lack of female character in the center of the story but overall I LOVED THIS BOOK!
this book is out december 7th 2021!!
tw drugs

If This Gets Out was a gripping, whirlwind, rollercoaster of a book that I absolutely flew threw. It tells the story of Saturday, a boy band consisting of Zach, Ruben, Angel, and Jon. It’s about Ruben and Zach falling in love, but it’s also about so much more.

ITGO exposes the abusive control management companies have in the music industry. Zach, Ruben, Angel, and Jon are forced to put on a facade and become people they’re not. Saturday’s management do everything they can to keep these boys under their power, including not letting Ruben and Zach come out for fear it will “hurt the band”.

This book also dives into other serious, but necessary conversations like substance abuse, mental health, losing and finding yourself, and setting boundaries. These topics were treated with all the care and nuance they deserve. I don’t see these topics in books as much as I would like, so having them in ITGO only made it that much better of a book and that much stronger of a story.

This book is fictional, but so much of it felt real. A lot of the time I felt like I was sitting right next to the characters and feeling their anger and frustration first hand. At times, it almost felt like if I put the book down and looked on social media, Saturday would be trending.

I loved all four of the boys in the band so much. They’re all so unique and special, and deserve to have their freedom. I really loved the dual pov, too. Going from Ruben’s head to Zach’s gave me a greater understanding of their characters, the rest of the band, and the story as a whole. Sophie and Cale are both such incredible writers that half the time I forgot this book was cowritten.

If, for some reason, this book wasn’t already on your radar, it definitely should be! ITGO is full of drama, love, music, characters you can’t help but root for, a villian you hate with a passion, and a story full of underlying hope and belief that things can and will get better.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this one early! I can’t wait to read it all over again when it comes out in December and relive this wild story :)

4.5/5 ⭐: For fans of boy bands. For fans of YA. For fans of LGBTQ+ couple thriving. This book hooked me in. Set around a boy band named "Saturday", this novel follows them on their journey to self discovery, especially band-mates Ruben and Zach who find themselves on the verge between friendship or something more. And if they do, will their fans support it and most important will their management allow it?

Despite being a bit of lengthy read, I devoured this book and all the amazing content that it gives. I was expecting a fluffy and cheesy rom-com. But despite the amazing romance and fluff that was delivered, I was shocked (and delighted) by the amount of angst shown about the gritty yet harsh realities of the music industry and the idolization of celebrities. I thought that book delivered on the balance between being character driven and plot driven, as we really go insight into our characters while still progressing the story.

Speaking of, I loved the friendship in this book. The banter between the boys was funny and realistic. The conversations felt effortless and smooth. My only wish for the book was to delve more into Angel and Jon as they were both such interesting characters who had a lot going on beyond the band that I would have loved to get their insight. I often find myself irritated, however, at the parents in this novel. They were all kind of horrible, even Zach's mom who was supposed to be the 'relatable' one found ways to compare her son to the father that left them, really rubbed me the wrong way. But I don't fault the book for having flawed characters as it was interesting to see, I just wish that the "redeeming" moments made for the unlikable characters were actually more redeeming.

Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that he’s feeling smothered by management’s pressure to stay in the closet.

On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben start to truly realize that they will never have the support of their management. How can they hold tight to each other when the whole world seems to want to come between them?

Though I’ve read romance books on band/group members falling in love, somehow If This Gets Out just seemed something fresh. An escapism read. Perhaps, it’s because it's a boy band, where the ones I had read are more centered around adults. Rock bands. Bands members who break up and are looking for new members. And, although, I did grow up with boybands there was always this line with shipping in real-life people that I never crossed nor cared to cross. Though just because we don’t partake, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in those spaces. But that’s a topic and conversation that I will not get into for this review.

If This Gets Out is written from the dual points of view of two of the band members of the boy band Saturday. Ruben Montez and Zach Knight, our two narrators, have just finished the American leg of their tour and will soon go overseas with the two other band members, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton. In between, stacked scheduled, frenzied fans, controlling management, and little to no freedom, the only things the boys really had to themselves is each other.

I’m unsure of where I want to go with this review because I’m so unsure of how I feel about the book. I get what it was trying to do, and I have to admit I enjoyed the latter part of the book almost that I want to rate it higher but I’m just not sure how I feel about it all. Perhaps, it’s because I wanted one thing and got another, but that should be on me and where and how I wanted the story to play out. The acknowledgment further clarified the points and angle the authors wanted with this story and I get it and agree with it.

It’s a story that talks and doesn’t shy away from the gritty reality of fame. Though it doesn’t say explicitly and I wished this was confronted head-on in the novel, also the power abuse that adults have on young kids that get in the business so young. How easily they are mentally abused and control to do what the adults want in the industry. You read about it in the novel with how the members are forced into some dubious personas, doing things they don’t want nor feel comfortable with, with having to fit into stereotypical narrative predisposed by their management.

It was like a train waiting to happen when you see how fast and easily Angel spirals out of control. With the accessibility of drugs and alcohol, with the fact that no parents are present, that as long as he’s putting on a show, management doesn’t care. The way they have no freedom. In their work, songs, in their lives, over their bodies. No control whatsoever. All in the name of fame. A step out of line and they were told they would get their manager, who they were all afraid of, even if he was one of the members' father. The lack of space from stalker fans and the media. There’s a lot that I appreciated and respected being explored.

Yet, at times, I was a bit confused. Sometimes. Often, I felt I couldn’t really tell how, why, and how much Ruben and Zach liked each other. It felt like we were told they liked each other, but then I got whiplash from each of the POVs because they kept changing their mind. I get it, especially for such a blooming relationship, with a guy coming to terms with his sexuality, but it was in such a way that felt more like the sake of angst rather than a natural progression. Like, one of the last arguments, though I understood, and even like the dialogue, it felt really out of nowhere. Same with the friendship within the group. Things were told out of order so I couldn’t really tell at the beginning how they became a band, if they were friends if they even liked each other all that much within the band. Until I was told they did. Or the fact that the guys would throw a party in their hotel room and people were recording them and somehow it didn’t leak to the press? Imagine if a boy band would have that type of fodder they wouldn’t get intense backlash from the media and their fans. A lot of it I couldn’t imagine them getting away with—all the partying and drinking. I didn’t get how famous they were to NOT get leaked and the press having a field day with that.

A lot of it I could get behind if it was told in a different way, and more of showing rather than telling me. Sometimes Ruben and Zach could be cute, but there was so much going on that I just knew it would last only for a scene before I got whiplash.

Again, I liked a lot of it individually. But I knew it wouldn’t get the importance it should have. Something I hate in the media is that things aren’t handled with the gravity they should be. That there’s little to no consequences, that things aren’t touched on until the last part in a story and just get a passing note. For example, Ruben and his mom. The insidious abuse suffered at her hands. And although something does happen at the end, I don’t know, I wish more was done. On a lot of fronts.

Is this a light-hearted, easy read? Hmmmm, no. Definitely not a rom-com, nor a light read especially because of some of the subject issues. I think the story just lightly touched on such important issues—fame, controlling management, identity, substance abuse, recovery, mental abuse, parent abuse. Whilst a burgeoning romance is happening with two of the members. The little solace they have they find it with each other.

This is the boy band rom-com you didn't know you needed.

It's funny and sweet and explores coming-of-age (and coming out) on the world's stage. While that might sound light and adorable (it was), it also looks at the darker side of being famous (see: mental health issues, substance abuse, navigating friendships and loneliness even when you're never alone).

The perfect combination of joy and heartache, I adored this story and its characters. Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich wrote it so seamlessly that it's impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. Now... movie? 😃

This was such a fun read! I really loved that the chapters were alternating viewpoints; it was a nice touch where you could feel each author's writing style, but their characterizations were spot on enough for it to be a nice, cohesive book. Also, loved that this was a slow burn romance. I will take a nice slow burn over instalove any day.

I also really liked this behind the scenes look at the entertainment industry. Knowing that this was based off of interviews and actual experiences really is eye-opening for what a lot of artists go through for their fans.

If This Gets Out tells the story of Saturday, an international record-breaking boy band that's on a world tour. The book is told from the perspective of two of the four members of the band: Ruben and Zach.. To the surprise of both of them, they fall in love. We follow their story as they navigate the world while being picked part by the press, their family, and social media. It's an interesting premise and it often feels like Ruben and Zach are living in a dystopia, completely unable to live as their true selves. I enjoyed reading this and it's a nice progressive book to add to the YA stratosphere.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It was a struggle to not ignore work and keep on reading!
This book focuses on the band Friday - a teenage pop group reminiscent of One Direction. Even though we only get the POV of two of the boys, all of them were very fleshed out characters and I loved each of them! It all felt very realistic and my heart constantly broke for the boys throughout. My only criticism is that I wanted more! The ending resolution wasn't quite a complete resolution in my eyes but maybe that just leaves room for a sequel or a little novella afterwards? I can only hope!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I was sent an advanced reader copy last week and I could not put it down. The characters were so relatable, the angst not at all contrived, the love wholesome (if at times a bit spicy), and the obstacles very real. The story is told through alternating chapters in each of the two protagonists POVs. It really helped with the momentum and kept me turning pages. Three very clear acts to this story, so the beats felt a bit predictable, but the story itself kept me on edge and guessing. Releasing this December, I highly recommend you put this on your TBR! You will not regret the time you spend with these folks. Five very enthusiastic stars.

If This Gets Out asks the question: "What if two members of a boy band fell in love?" Overall, this was a fun read that the target audience will surely enjoy. It was sweet and sexy without being inappropriate for the age range. I appreciated that we got to see Zach struggle with his identity and see his process for accepting himself and coming out.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book so much. Everything about it was amazing, from the writing to the characters, the romance, and the whole band dynamic. Even the side characters were so well developed.

Okay this book was exactly what the One Direction fan in me needed. I read it all in one sitting because I was just so engrossed in the story. I absolutely love the characters and was rooting for them the whole time. I would recommend this to basically anyone who loves One Direction, romance, YA, or basically anyone who wants to be happy.