i am always, always, always hesitant when it comes to ya contemporaries, but it goes like this is exactly the queer feel-good story it’s marketed as. it follows the rise, fall, and unexpected reunion of moonlight overthrow more than a year after the band’s sudden dissolution.

eva, celeste, gina, and steph were best friends before they became moonlight overthrow, but their friendship—and eva and celeste’s relationship—ended with the band. told from all four perspectives, the story jumps back and forth in time but centers around the charity show that brings them all back to their midwestern hometown and forces them to confront the issues that tore them apart personally and professionally.

my only real complaint is the way moonlight overthrow’s online fandom was portrayed. i really wish shipping and writing fanfiction about a group of minors (they’re in MIDDLE SCHOOL when they start the band) had been addressed more critically.

while overall a little too saccharine and idealistic for my tastes (this is the music industry!! i need some proper angst, dammit), it goes like this is ultimately exactly what it’s supposed to be: a really lovely, relatable story about the inevitability of growing up and the choice to grow apart—and maybe to come back together.

I wasn't sure about this book at first, because it juggles four POVs and jumps around in the timeline over a 4 year period. However. Once I got immersed in it I freaking LOVED it.

Each of the four former members of teen pop sensation Moonlight Overthrow juggles their ambitions and needs with the rekindling of their friendship as they prepare for a benefit concert for their hometown. Each is well-rounded and fleshed out, and each is sympathetic while also having flaws.

It's Eva and Celeste's love story, but it's also Eva and Celeste and Gina and Steph's love story, and it's the love story of the fans for Moonlight Overthrow, and Moonlight Overthrow for its fans, and just this explosion of queer love and music love that warmed my heart. I loved every minute of reading it and I hated to see it end.

Can you be a fan of a fictional band? Because, uh, I think I'm a fan of Moonlight Overthrow, and I'm so sad that I can't be a part of that fandom because it... doesn't actually exist?

Until the moon crashes into the sea, indeed.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel and Friends for providing an e-arc for review.

This had a great premise, but I failed to get into this one. None of the characters were remotely engaging and I found the structure with the time jumps more jarring than anything else.

definitely my favorite book i’ve read in 2021 so far. it was just THAT GOOD

It follows a group of 4 people who used to be in this really famous “girl” band (obviously they’re not all girls but the media didn’t know that at the time), and have since broken up and are doing their separate things. the don’t even talk anymore.

Until there’s a deadly storm on their hometown and they decide to get the band together just this once, but the thing is, they haven’t seen each other in over a year and it’s kinda awkward.

So, they have to find a way to get through it as you can imagine.

I loved all the representation in this book; non-binary, lesbian, bi, pan and poc characters were a huge part of this story.

I absolutely adored this book and will not be able to stop talking about it for the next 6 months.

I truly cannot say enough wonderful, amazing things about this sweet book. It's incredibly queer, incredibly friendship driven, and just plain incredible. I will be purchasing a physical copy of this book because I want to hold it in my hands and re-read it forever! Everyone should be reading this book!

I was provided an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It has been years since Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph's queer band Moonlight Overthrow became an international sensation. After the band's break up in November 2019, the members all went their separate ways. Eva is going to college. Celeste is on tour for her second solo album. Gina is an actress. And Steph has been living with their family. When a disastrous storm hits their hometown, the band decides to get back together for one last charity show. Celeste and Eva navigate their feelings for each other while Steph and Gina try to decide if they want to get the band back together.
I loved every single page of this book. It had amazing representation: lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, Black, non-binary, and Jewish. I usually hate when authors write social media posts into their books, but the posts in this book were written very well and gave a great outsider's perspective. It also had some of my favorite tropes that were executed beautifully: sharing a bed, found family, childhood friends to lovers... I loved it all!
I was so invested in Celeste and Eva's relationship. Every flashback broke my heart because they were so cute and I just wanted them to be happy together again. There were a few times where I got excited because I thought they would finally get back together, but it was definitely worth it to wait until the end.
All in all, this is one of my new favorite books of all time. I can't wait to get a physical copy when this book is released!

📚 I feel like my entire review of this book is just QUEER SCREAMING!!! Sapphic second chances, teen angst, and whole range of identities - lesbian, bi, Black, nonbinary, Jewish - and that's just the main cast.
📚 IT GOES LIKE THIS also totally nails the vibe and language of Tumblr fandom, which is so hard to do without sounding cringey.
📚 If you love found families and/or the idea that friendships can be as meaningful in your life as romantic relationships, get your hands on this book.
📚 I appreciated that while there is some discussion of various -phobias and -isms the band members encountered through their rise to fame, their immediate family and friends were completely loving and supportive of everything and everyone at all times.

‘Til the moon crashes into the sea, I will scream about how much I loved this book. I loved everything about it, couldn’t put it down, never wanted it to end. I loved getting all 4 band members’ points of view, both in present time and past. I loved the love they had for each other, despite their differences. I loved the incorporation of being in a fandom and what that looks like. This book was wonderful in every way and I highly recommend to all.

This heartfelt, second chance queer pop band story and its characters have completely captured my heart! I wish there was a playlist for this book, I’m such a fan of a band that doesn’t even exist... It Goes Like This is a wholesome, tender and emotional story about love and friendship, heartbreak and life changing crises, music and creativity, and big dreams versus the small things in life that truly matters.

The story follows the four former members of a queer girl band - Eva, Celeste, Gina and Steph – one and a half year after ‘Moonlight Overthrow’ was disbanded. But it was not just the band that ended, also the secret relationship between Eva and Celeste was ruined by the messy breakup. All four of them went their separate ways – Celeste as a Grammy-awarded solo artis, Gina as a superstar actress, Eva as a songwriter and college student and Steph returning to her hometown to become their true nonbinary self away from the spotlights and the boundaries set by being in a ‘girl’ band – and haven’t spoken since their last band performance. But when a huge storm hits their old hometown, they decide to reunite the band for a charity concert for the victims and awkwardly meet up again.

The story is told from the four members alternating POVs and in two parallel tracks, jumping between present and past to reveal how the band was formed, how Eva and Celeste fell in love and how everything eventually fell apart. I really loved this way of slowly revealing the backstory, the developments of the different relationships and the problems and misunderstandings leading to the break-up. I especially appreciated how the story showed Steph’s transition in such a nuanced and authentic way.

Miel Moreland’s writing style was incredible and with a wonderful flow and pacing. It pulled me in from the very first moment, making me root for the characters and intrigued me to find out why the band broke up and the backstory of each character. I really enjoyed the way Miel Moreland used Twitter and Tumblr posts to show the intersection between real life and fandom and how things get misinterpreted and can spin out of control in the blink of an eye.

The story was so inclusive and empowering with its amazing queer diversity. Eva and Celeste were lesbians, Gina bi and Steph was pan and non-binary, and they were all open and proud about who they were. They were all such three dimensional and authentic characters and there was so much chemistry between them as a band. I rooted so for all four of them, and hoped with all my heart that they would get back to being friends again and for Eva and Celeste to be even more than that…

All in all, this was a wonderful, inclusive, heartfelt and addictive story about finding your path in life and about second chances, friendship that survives anything and found families. I absolutely adored the amazing array of queer characters who all felt authentic and real, the unique story and the music references (is it possible to be in fandom for a fictional band that doesn’t exist?) and know that I will remember this book ‘til the moon crashes into the sea’. I recommend this queer masterpiece with all my heart!

Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours and NetGalley for the ARC and blog tour invitation for this fabulous book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph used to be best friends, and bandmates. They formed Moonlight Overthrow (MO) when they were kids in middle school and rose to unprecedented stardom. A few golden years of writing, singing, and touring together and suddenly everything falls apart. Two years ago, MO broke up and Eva still isn’t recovered. She’s writing songs, sure, and Celeste is pursuing a solo career while Gina acts, and Steph is off living her life, taking care of her family. But they’re not even talking, much less singing together.

When a huge storm destroys much of their hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, the group comes together again to headline a benefit concert. They have to put aside what tore them apart and see if they can even be together, and maybe sing their hearts out to raise money for a city devastated by natural disaster. The story is told from alternating points of view, mostly Eva and Celeste, with chapters from Gina and Steph as the story progresses. There are also Twitter and Tumblr threads, and posts from fans of MO. Eva actually runs her own fairly popular Tumblr, in which she posts positive things about MO and the former bandmembers, including, oddly, herself. It’s how she copes with losing the band and her friends, and keeps things positive.

The characters! Oh, the characters. I love them all and identify with all of them in different ways. I didn’t mind the jumping chapters, how they switched between the different characters and times, because I just wanted to soak up their presence in any way I could. They are so confident in their own ways. They are all capable of being themselves and running their own lives. But they are oh so much more when they’re together. They are better for having each other. I love Eva and her dedication to her schooling, as well as her desire to continue to write songs. I love Celeste and her love of music, how she continues to write and sing her own songs, jumping directly into a solo career hardly without pause. I love Gina, who wants to act and who, in the short span of two years, is already successful. I love Steph for their dedication to their family and their recovery after living the stressful life of a musician during the most formative years of their life so far.

The queer diversity is amazing. Both Eva and Celeste are lesbians, Gina is bi, and Steph is pan, as well as non-binary. All of those terms are used directly, by the characters themselves. They are not alluded to, or otherwise vaguely mentioned. That was part of their contract, too: that they be allowed to be out and proud. Steph still felt stifled, particularly because MO was branded as a girl band, girl power, and all that. They didn’t feel comfortable with being labeled as something they weren’t.

There is a perfect balance of fandom and real life, intrigue via Twitter and Tumblr posts and the talk behind the scenes. I love the Tumblr posts and how they speculate on just what’s happening with MO, how they gush over its members, and how respectful the selected posts are about Steph being nonbinary, as well as how informative these little posts are, particularly in the tags. Always read the tags! It all felt very realistic and believable as a story that can, and maybe has, happened in real life.

The love between friends and between Eva and Celeste is so perfect and true to life. It’s in the little touches and cuddle piles, in the late nights and long tours. The way they can all talk to each other even though they basically all broke up two years ago, not just Eva and Celeste. Steph’s struggle with stardom was also a great twist on the usual story. They didn’t think they didn’t deserve the acclaim, no, and they didn’t let fame go to their head. They just knew it would end. That it was temporary. That it was enough to get her family food and shelter, but nothing more. I don’t think they really fell into the love of music like the others did. They remained grounded, perhaps too much so. They were in the moment, living it, but it wasn’t the same as embracing the moment. It didn’t feel real.

The mystery lasted, for the most part, until about a quarter of the way through the book. I was wondering for the first bit what happened to MO? What happened between Eva and Celeste? What happened to Steph? I swore Steph was dead or something with the mystery surrounding them. Thankfully, that was not the case and Steph turned out to be the most relatable of the entire OT4. They’ve got a family who has real world problems that can’t just be solved by throwing money at them.

The rise to stardom and the success overall was a tad bit unbelievable. The band could have kept going had it not been for the majority of the members wanting to go their separate ways. They could have enjoyed further success and, even when they broke up, they reaped the rewards. Always leave your fans wanting more. The band broke up at the peak of their popularity and they could probably ride out that popularity for the rest of their lives, whether they reform the band or not. But those success stories happen in real life, too. Just because it’s unbelievable doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Luck and talent go a long way.

I would kill to hear Moonlight Overthrow in person. To hear just one of their songs, particularly Girl Says Yes, would be a dream. And that is what it will remain because, sadly, this band is not real. Though I can think of many songs that fit in the same vein, they can’t match what isn’t real. This book hits just right in so many ways. The characters are sheer perfection. Their story is one I respect and admire. They know who they are and aren’t afraid to be that, especially when they’re together. Reading this brought real tears to my eyes, real emotion to my heart. I can’t believe it’s a debut novel. It’s so cohesive and flows so well, hooking me in right away with its compelling characters and the mystery of what happened to Moonlight Overthrow. I will definitely be watching and following Miel Moreland for more of her work in the future!

‘Til the moon crashes into the sea.

One thing I'm sure after finishing this book is the fact that I enjoy it the most when a novel has music element in it.

And since this one revolves on the story of then-bandmates Celeste, Eva, Gina, and Steph from multi-awarded band Moonlight Overthrow, I enjoyed it and I'm glad that I picked it up fron the galleys Fierce Reads sent me. Thank you again to Fierce Reads publication team for sending me this in exchange for honest review.

It Goes Like This follows four main characters one and a half year later after Moonlight Overthrow, aka OT4, disbanded. Given the fame their band got, OT4 remains to be trending and rumor has it that they're gunning for a reunion anytime soon.

But the reality is that the band had a messy breakup. Secret girlfriends Celeste and Eva haven't talk since their band breakup and the other two - Gina, now a hit actress, and Steph, currently lying low with their family, decided to follow their own paths away from music spotlight.

But when a huge storm hit Steph's hometown Duluth, the reunion rumor slowly became a reality as they decided to frontline the charity concert for the typhoon victims. Will this be the way to reconnect with their friends, too, or it will be a one-time thing for charity's sake?

The way I want to pitch it is imagine your favorite band or group disbanding and finally announcing a reunion. Imagine the buzz and excitement.

Now try to see it as a genderqueer band group with members who are lesbian, non-binary, and gay with two of them being exes with a bad breakup. Imagine the tension when they finally reunite.

I love friends reunion story where characters make up with their former friends or family. It's hopeful and gives readers like me a time to reflect on our broken relationships.

This novel also provided a reality check with the yoing adult's struggle between career and lovelife and how personal decisions when it come to both aspects need to be beneficial to you and the people you love.

Also, the romance element between Celeste and Eva is too much to handle. I mean they are basically friends-to-lovers-to-exes-to-something and the yearning during the reunion rehearsal had me swooning all over the place.

I love, love, love this novel aside from the way the chapters go back and forth. It doesn't connect with me as a reader who can't do digital books in one sitting.

Anyway, read the synopsis and if it fits your bill, then I'm sure you'll like/love this book as well.

RATING: 3.5stars

I love everything about this book from the quirky friendships to the sapphic romances to the compulsively readable writing. This story is truly a gem!

IT GOES LIKE THIS is a fun, thoughtful read made even more delightful by the fervent fandom for the queer band Moonlight Overthrow. My students are going to love this story and I suspect many of them will name this as the first book where they finally see themselves on the page. The writing is high quality and never becomes cutesy or overly simplistic. A few of the four characters feel a bit underdeveloped, such as Celeste who doesn't get much attention outside of her feelings for Eva and her superstar career. On the other hand, Steph is one of the reasons I can't wait to get this novel to my students. The story shows Steph's social transition with so much nuance as they navigate changing their pronouns in a public way and standing strong in their nonbinary identity. We need more books like IT GOES LIKE THIS with is range of LGBTQIAP+ characters and unapologetically queer relationships.

Excuse me while I go scream about how much I loved! this! book!

This book was my everything! The story follows four former best friends who were all from the same small town in the midwest and formed a queer pop band, Moonlight Overthrow, which became an almost inexplicable hit. After the band broke up, the friends all lost touch and are brought back together when a storm hits their hometown and they're invited to do one, final benefit concert together.

Something about popstar stories has always been a guilty-pleasure favorite of mine (probably due to my Hannah Montana obsession as a child). In addition to that, this book checked all the right boxes for me--strong friendships, protagonists you can root for, music, and romance. Not to mention the occasional Taylor Swift reference and two exes faced with the "there's only one bed" trope. And they're queer!

I could not put this book down once I picked it up--I was obsessed immediately. I was fully immersed into the band drama and seeing each member's journey (as you get to read from all four characters' POVs) and I loved seeing each character figure out who they were and what they wanted. I truly adored all of them. I'm not the kind of reader who rereads a book immediately after finishing it, but this book made me want to do that. This is definitely a new favorite of mine, and I already know it's going to be a new comfort-read.

I also loved how the story was told in a fractured timeline. The story jumps from present day, dealing with the band's breakup, to various years in the past during different parts of the band's career. It was a great choice for this story!

I love music and I love reading about people creating music, even if it's fictional (again, my inner Disney Channel nerd is really jumping out here). I also loved the incorporation of the Tumblr posts and Eva moonlighting (pardon the pun) as a Moonlight Overthrow fan online to keep up with her friends after the band's breakup.

This book just made me really happy. I can't recommend this book enough! Though I have an e-arc, I fully plan to buy a physical copy once the book is released. I'm completely obsessed. I can't believe this book is a debut, and I fully plan to read Miel Moreland's future books!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

This is one of my most anticipated 2021 releases and I'm so thrilled to have gotten an advance copy. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I have a thing for popstar YA and this one had all the fandom feels I was hoping for. I know Moonlight Overthrow isn't a real band but they could be (and I would totally be in the fandom). I loved the way all four POVs intersected and the beautiful complexity of the friendships that fell apart and came back together. <3 <3 <3

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49109704-it-goes-like-this

4.25 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Feiwel & Friends for the arc of this book!

A year and a half after their queer pop band ended on bad terms, four ex friends are brought back together by a storm in their hometown and a benefit concert. Eva, Celeste, Steph, and Gina are all at different stages in their lives, but they now all have one thing in common: they desperately miss each other. Will they be able to resolve their past issues and reform their friendship and their band?

This book was so wholesome and cute! I loved the idea behind the queer pop band and this adorable friend group.

There is a ton of chemistry between the four friends and especially between Eva and Celeste. I loved watching their second chance romance and how they resolved the issued in their past.

This book was pretty slow paced and there was a lot of thinking and feeling and not a ton of action, but it was cute and fun and an easy read!

Pub date: May 18, 2021
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny , and Racism

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

THIS IS A DEBUT?? I- I don’t know if I have words. I’m trying to figure out how to form them. This was incredible and I can’t get over it. I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately and while contemporary is my preferred genre, it usually takes me a little longer to read. Not with this. I could not put it down. Eva, Celeste, Gina and Steph were so intriguing, as was their dynamic, that I just couldn’t put it down.

The premise of this is so cool and so different. The idea of an all queer band is exciting and I want all of them. Especially Moonlight Overthrow. These songs sound so good and I want them. All of them. I want Celeste’s solo songs too. What a crew. I think one of my favorite arcs out of the whole crew was Steph. What a non-binary legend. I love them so much. I love that they were able to become who they wanted to be and fall in love with themselves. It made my heart swell.

Eva and Celeste? Childhood sweethearts, to enemies to [redacted]. Obsessed. I love them. But I also love the way Miel crafted their stories to be separate from their past relationship. I love that they grew into themselves. Then found one another.

Gina. My girl Gina. I absolutely LOVE her. I loved how she became herself, without acting, without music. Just Gina. It was so fun to watch her realize what she wanted and needed. She was strong, yet vulnerable and had such a great balance between the two. Her friendship with Steph was so fun, yet deep. I loved it.

What a book. Honestly, I’ve read a good bit of queer/sapphic books, but this honestly might be my sapphic book of the year. I am wholly in love.

Disclaimer: I got this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Four queer teens Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph have been through everything together. They've gone through a lot and even formed their own band called Moonlight Overthrow. But, things change after they have a major fallout. They don't get together again until there's a storm that destroys their hometown. The only good thing that comes out of it is that it brings them back together. I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of second chances, but I love how this book focused a lot on friendships.

I knew early on that there was a chance this review would read more like a love letter. Starting this book, I was so excited to be able to review it before I was even halfway through. I love writing reviews, there’s just something really fun about finishing a book and being able to put down all your thoughts and feelings, and then post it to share it with anyone else who has read or is thinking about reading it. But, It Goes Like This was a different kind of excitement, I found myself swept up in the story and even tweeting that I was beyond excited to be able to write this very review. So here I am, I hope we can enjoy my journey of unpacking how I feel about this book together!

It’s not often I get to read a book where a character actually calls themself a lesbian, many books choose to elude to it or use other terms, but as a lesbian there aren’t many feelings greater than being able to read that word. It happens even less for nonbinary characters, I can count the times I’ve seen it on one hand. This book gave me both, it gave me specific labels, it gave me natural representation and it didn’t give me a coming out story based narrative. When I say I’m in awe of this book for this, I really mean it. There’s a special emotion that true representation brings up in a person, and seeing these characters brought to life is a direct lead to that for me.

It Goes Like This follows the four former members of a queer band, with multiple povs, you get real insight to what the bandm breakup and aftermath was like for all of them without the unreliable narration that could come from a sole pov. In their chapters, you get to learn about these characters and grow to love these characters as themselves, separate from the band that kept them together and then threw them apart. For me, multiple pov books can sometimes be hard to follow and especially when you include time jumps to show how things came to happen, but It Goes Like This was the easiest book of this format to follow. Everything you’re shown is for a reason, and everything makes so much sense as you read it and learn about their history.

This book documented a love story, but it didn’t just document romantic love. It was the platonic bonds they also had, the true sense of biological family AND found family that made me feel warm and whole but also that made me fall apart. I could write essays and essays about how important I think platonic love is and how much I love found family, but for right now let me just say that it’s one of the many reasons this book is a five star read.

Miel Moreland wrote a universe that pulled me as a reader in, a universe I never wanted to leave after seeing these characters and their lives. I’m a huge music fan, terrified of the industry that I love. Reading this, with a big focus on the industry itself and what it did for the characters, I was excited for them, but at times scared for them. That’s another thing that tells me that it’s a really good book and I wasn’t just caught up with my newfound love for the characters I just met. The fear I felt at times, the hope I held for things going exactly how they deserved them to. The characters excelled, the plot was fun but the writing and world building despite it being contemporary, that really sold it for me.

It Goes Like This is almost the perfect book. It helped me feel seen, it let me cry from sadness as well as happiness while also giving me all the solutions I could hope for. This really is one of the best debuts I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

I’m a middle aged cis hetero woman with zero knowledge of anything music-related so, for me, It Goes Like This was an opportunity to delve into the fascinating, glamorous and bizarre world of the music industry, escorted by a group of characters I instantly liked.

Moonlight Overthrow was a girl band a few years ago, massively successful and, to the outside world, a perfect band of girls who all loved each other. And they did…mostly. Except one really wanted to pursue an acting career (Gina), another a solo career (Celeste) who is also afraid of committing truly to the intense, very genuine love affair she was having with Eva, who really loves the band and wished to stay together forever. Finally, there is Steph, who never liked being known as a girl band in the first place, but got sucked up into the wave of success and expectations of others, eventually feeling suffocated at the idea of being a girl when they were really gender queer. Also, they didn’t like being on tour all the time as their family needed them at home more.

So, the band that was “perfect” on the outside, was actually filled with all sorts of internal pressures that eventually split it apart. The split was particularly devastating to Eva, a songwriter deeply in love with Celeste, who breaks up with her in a way that is so abrupt it takes her a year or more to get over it…if she’s getting over it at all.

Eva, Celeste, Gina and Steph may never have come back together for any reason, but a terrible storm in the hometown of Duluth brings them together for a single, extraordinary benefit concert. Preparations for this concert provides much of the structure of the novel, which is largely driven by internal tensions between band members.

One of the reasons I like the book so much is the strength of the writing and the sophisticated manner with which the author communicates complicated feelings. Yes, the book is, in part, about what it is like to be famous and queer and subject to speculation and obnoxious comments by anyone with access to the internet. However, most of the pressure is internal, coming from characters who are reckoning with growing up, growing apart, and then growing together again.

It’s too soon to know if this book will the big hit it deserves to be, but what I do know is that the author has a rare and engaging energy that reaches through the pages at every turn.