This book is so amazing and romantic. I loved the story and I really liked the characters, especially Ruben and Zach. Very recommended, everyone is going to fall in love with this book!

An enjoyable LGBTQ+ romance. Pacing is pretty well done, and characters seem to be well fleshed out for this short read. Think many people will enjoy this book.

Unfortunately I am DNFing at 64%. I wanted to love this SO BAD but I am just bored to tears. I would maybe consider picking up the audiobook in the future but right now I'm not interested in investing my time to finish reading it with my eyeballs.

I find it nearly impossible to distinguish between the voices of the Zach and Ruben chapters. For a book about a world famous boy band touring in Europe, it's exceptionally boring. Angel is the only interesting character who ever does anything. The other three are boring as hell.

The bisexual rep is great thtough and I loved seeing Zach figure that out for himself.

I can see why a lot of people are loving it though and I would still recommend it to people looking for a more cerebral, queer romance.

<b>Thank you NetGallery and Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!</b>

Holy crap, I could not put this down! If This Gets Out is a queer boy band romance. This book gave me Big Time Rush and One Direction vibes, I am obsessed.

I love the two different POVs for the main characters. You can see exactly what each character was thinking and feeling internally in each situation. You were never left confused about what POV you were reading because each character's personality really shined throughout the book. Honestly if I went back through this book and covered the names for each chapter POV I would 100% know who was who.

I do not want to give any spoilers so this is all you guys get! This book will make you feel 100 different emotions.

I am preordering this right now because I need it on release day (December 7th ) to dive back in.

Everything about this book was impressive and immersed me deeply in the environment of celebrities battling with identity, their management team and family.

The two authors did a sensational job of providing two clear, distinguishable perspectives and unpacking their journey's and experiences. More than this, I felt the authors wrote two characters who, despite being imperfect, worked on a healthy relationship within unhealthy environments. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to explore the insights of two celebrities in the spotlight, exploring their sexuality and unpacking the trials and tribulations of identity.

I’m such a sucker for chaos bisexual representation, and this didn’t disappoint. The found family relationship between all four band mates was so strong. The ending felt a little abrupt, but the stakes and pacing of the book as a whole worked very well. Overall this is definitely a book I will recommend to young readers.

"If This Gets Out" is the story of two 18 year old boy band members navigating being queer, the music industry, and the public eye. The story highlights unglamorous aspects of the music industry and how those in the industry may be exploited. Before I began reading "If This Gets Out" I expected it to be more focused on the romance, but in actuality the story is much larger than that, but it is still driven by Ruben and Zach at its core. With moments of angst balanced out with joy, "If This Gets Out" explores navigating coming out and a new relationship while being a public figure.

Meet Ruben, Zach, Angel and Jon, four best friends and the four members of the boyband Saturday. Everything always seems perfect on stage, however behind the scenes cracks are forming in the band. This story is told from the perspectives of Ruben and Zach as they and the rest of the band try to navigate the pressures of fame, unreasonable demands from the band’s management teams, being forced to be someone they are not, a worldwind European tour and their budding new romance that they are forced to hide from the public eye.

I absolutely loved this book! A definite five star read for me. There was nothing not to love about this queer boy-band romance novel! I loved that it was told from two perspectives - if you know me, you know I just love multiple POVs. On that note, Gonzales and Dietrich did such a fantastic job writing together. Their chapters flowed together so seamlessly.

This book was more than just a queer romance novel. It really highlighted some of the horrible and hard-hitting realities of the music industry. I could honestly rave about this book for ages! Make sure you get your hands on a copy of this one when it comes out on December 7th.

A massive thank you to netgalley and St Martin Press for my ARC copy in exchange for an honest review

I read this in one sitting and it was such a good book. This book focused on a band and their story and challenges on tour. All four of the members were fleshed out and had an interesting storyline.

Reads like fanfic in the best way possible. Fun and enjoyable read. It gets heavy just enough to keep things interesting. I enjoyed the way that “If This Gets Out” looks into how people in bands are monitored and can be controlled. It provided a good reminder that social media/public perception is curated and not always close to the truth. The authors absolutely nailed Ruben and his mom's relationship. Not all janky parents need a redemption arc. It's okay to have deeply flawed parents and show Ruben starting to establish boundaries for his own wellbeing.
Zach's indecisiveness/inability to communicate because he wants everyone happy hit a little too close. Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend the read.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for providing me with an ARC.

I LOVED this book. First off, the queer boy band premise is a trope I never knew I needed but now can't believe I lived without. The book is about Saturday, an immensely popular boy band. Zach and Ruben, two of the members of the group, find their relationship evolving over the course of the book and the best friends quickly develop a romantic relationship. The boys become fed up with their management as they come to realize how little control they truly have over their own lives. Let me tell you, going into this I was not prepared to be as emotionally destroyed as I was. 10/10 would recommend If This Gets Out to my fellow hurt/comfort lovers. I could not put this book down. The book highlights how abusive the music industry can be, especially towards young adults who have yet to fully discover themselves especially when it involves finding their place in the LGBTQ+ community. It was heartbreaking to read about the boys being mistreated and abused by the same people who were supposed to have their backs. Ruben's relationship was both heartbreaking to read about yet so authentic. Parents are supposed to provide their children with unconditional love and support and this book portrayed an important message in that those we love can still be the ones that hurt us the most. I related to Zach and his inability to stand up for himself at times and assert his identity. Additionally, Angel's struggles with addiction and acting out in retaliation were portrayed perfectly as a sensitive topic that needs to be spoken about more. Lastly, this book displays an incredibly necessary message about identity. Who you are is not for anyone else to decide but you. Whether you personally relate to the characters and the story or not, this title is definitely a must-read.

How would you feel if you learned that two members of your favorite boy band were actually a couple? Those who manage the band Saturday are afraid of what that could do to their fan base—and sales. Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are half of the band, and when they become a couple, Chorus Management does everything in their power to keep them in the closet. The others in the band have their own issues: Angel Phan chafes at the supervision and eludes it whenever possible, and Jon Braxton has extra pressure as the son of the band’s manager.

It took me a little while to get into this book. I think it was because I have a college-age daughter who has strongly impressed upon me the notion that boys are idiots. Not to say that these four fell into that category, but I think I missed having a female protagonist. I did, however, really enjoy the boys’ mothers. Well, mostly. I enjoyed that they didn’t just fall into the stage mom stereotype, and I really appreciated how they handled things when the chips were down. In any event, after the first few chapters, the story picked up and I couldn’t put it down. But then I didn’t want it to end! By the end I really cared about the boys and I REALLY want to know what happened next.

A mild content warning—the book does take a bit of a foray into R rated territory. It is not extremely graphic, but it realistically portrays a couple of young adults in the early stages of a sexual relationship.

4.5 stars for a bit of a slow start, but rounded up for a very strong finish!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an Uncorrected Digital Galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, If This Gets Out just didn't do it for me. I love YA romance, but I feel like there was entirely too much information being thrown at me that had nothing to do with Ruben and Zach's predicament. It takes two paragraphs to explain something that should take two sentences max. It took forever for Ruben and Zach to be honest with each other, and then as soon as they develop a relationship beyond friendship/bandmate, a lot of details are glossed over.

While I wasn't impressed with this novel, I could see a younger audience enjoying it. It wasn't bad - it just wasn't my cup of tea.

This book is for everyone who loves boybands and fanfiction about them. This book was sweet at times and heartbreaking at others. You should be picking this book when it hits the shelves in december!

This book!!!!

If This Gets Out is a delightful story about a Boy Band (Saturday) and the pressures of being famous and hiding your true self. As the band embarks on their international tour, Ruben and Zach's close friendship evolves into a romance and they struggle with hiding their true selves as their management continues to give reasons why they aren't able to come out to the public. As they start to realize that they might never have the freedom they truly desire, they wonder how they can possibly move forward together.

This book was absolutely a delight! The relationship between Ruben and Zach felt very real and sweet. The way that they took control of the narrative surrounding their coming out was honestly powerful.

Although coming out narratives are done a lot in books, I think this was a really powerful version of that narrative that felt unique.

Rating: 3.5, dramatic, cute, and a lil angsty: If you want to read about a boy-band romance and the trials and tribulations of the music industry, here ya go.

I really enjoyed the music industry aspect of If This Gets Out. I felt the restrictions that Ruben and Zach (and Jon and Angel) had to tiptoe throughout. It was ridiculously unfair, and I’m sure that’s reality (it felt a bit like Taylor Swift v. Big Machine Records).

The pacing was what I struggled with the most. I think if this book was a bit shorter, I would have enjoyed it way more. But it wasn’t a quick read for me (even though some parts had me flying through); it seemed to drag on before something finally came up to speed it along.

Overall, it was a fun read. I’ll be real: I’ve read my fair share of boyband fanfiction back in my day, and this is exactly what I would have loved to read… back then. (I won’t say it reminded me of any band in particular, but…) It was a little too cheesy for me now, but I still enjoyed it! If you are wanting to read about a boy-band romance, this is exactly the book for you.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Review also posted on Goodreads.

I really liked this book! The boyband romance is something I never would have thought I'd see in a YA book that I totally enjoyed. I thought the romance was a bit rushed in hte beginning, and some of the drama seemed really out there, but otherwise I really enjoyed it. Too bad Saturday isn't real: I think I'd really love some of their music!

Thank to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

If This Gets Out follows a boyband at the height of their career. Ruben, Zach, Jon, and Angel make up Saturday, an uber famous American boyband as they embark on their international tour. A tour which brings Ruben and Zach closer than ever.

So I’m gonna start with a bit of a disclaimer which is simply a reminder that this is my personal opinion and this book didn’t work for me but that it’s really just a personal tastes kind of thing not necessarily that I think that is a bad book. If I’m trying to look at it in an unbiased way (as much as anyone can) I’d say it’s a fairly decent if mediocre book. There’s some good stuff. The characters are interesting. The writing isn’t the best I’ve read but it’s far from the worst. Having read books from both authors separately I actually think their styles really meshed well in this and I liked the writing in this far more than in The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich. I just don’t think there’s anything special or fantastic about this book. I didn't really ship the main couple, I didn't love any of the characters, and there wasn't anything surprising about the plot - which is okay! Not every book has to be completely unpredictable, I just didn't personally find anything about this book particularly memorable.

In short, I’m not sure what this book was trying to accomplish. It wasn’t a cute fun rom-com or a swoon worthy romance. It was a book about a boyband that focused a lot on how controlling their management team is and how hard it is to be a boyband and how everything has to be a performance and all the pressure they're under constantly to be perfect. And that could've been really interesting but the narrative always danced around the more serious topics while at the same time, never letting you forget how awful everything was. The narrative made it clear that the management team was awful, it showed you time and time again how these characters aren’t allowed to be their selves (Ruben can't come out because it wouldn't be good for their image, Jon is the sexy one and must always act like it even though it makes him uncomfortable and so on) and showed you how they were cracking under the pressure but it never really dove into the subjects, it was just always something happening in the background.

And yet, at the same time, the way the management team controlled their lives was so heavy and heavy handed that it made it hard for me to enjoy this book. It was oddly depressing and draining to read because it was just one thing after another. There wasn't (as far as I remember/read) even one nice scene between Ruben and Zach that wasn't overshadowed by the cloud hanging over their heads that was management. I really wanted to love Ruben and Zach but it felt like the love story was bogged down under the weight of everything else. Just when I would start to ship them, something else would come along to make things even harder for them and these scenes really overshadowed the romance in my opinion.

There also wasn’t enough build up for the relationship for me. We didn’t get to see much beyond cliched conversations and their obvious attraction for each other. We didn't get to see a deeper connection or why they really liked each other. I was never convinced they were falling in love. They were said to be best friends but this was sort of just sprinkled in and there wasn't much build up to any of it. While all the characters were interesting and well-rounded they were still oddly lacking depth at the same time. This wasn't helped by the fact that the book contradicts itself a lot and doesn’t always do the best job of showing what a character is feeling. We’ll be told/shown they feel one way and then the next scene they’re saying they feel the opposite which was a little annoying.

What it comes done to for me is the way this book was written. I found it a little tedious to get through and hard to get invested in and I think it was because of what the authors chose to focus on. It was everything I wanted in theory - a queer boyband story where two members are secretly dating - but in execution it fell flat. I think this was trying to be a romance that also tackles serious issues but it missed the mark for me, leaning too much into the angst and drama of how micro managed the band was and how awful their management team was to them while the romance never managed to elevate it and make me feel hopeful about things.

Again though. This is just how it came off to me. I know a lot of people are already enjoying this. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad book but nothing about it worked for me.

Confession I DNF'd this at 69%. Normally, I never DNF a book I'm that far in but I just couldn't go through the angst that was coming up. It was too depressing and I was dreading picking it up and, honestly, it was making me anxious. I did flip through the remainder of the book but you know, take my review with a grain of salt knowing I didn't read the entire thing.

Review posted on goodreads on 6/19/21

Ugh, so good! This book gets all the stars! 🤩🤩🤩
I loved the characters, I loved the premise, it was just perfect!

Love story - Check!
Overcoming obstacles – Check!
Standing up for yourself – Check!
Boys Bands – Check!

If you like all three, then you need to check out If This Gets Out by @sgonzalesauthor and @caledietrich this coming December 2021! I know it’s early for a review…but I just loved this book. And it’s #pridemonth

What you’ll get is a sweet romance between two members of a popular boy band, pressure from band management to keep it a secret, a thoughtful exploration on behind the scenes complexities of a popular band, and a group of young men that want nothing more than to be themselves.

I may be in my 40s, but I'm now a Saturday fangirl! Just without the squealing 😊

Ruben, Zach, Jon and Angel are vivid and distinct characters and members of Saturday. The authors do a fantastic job showing the wonderful friendships and how they have each other’s backs. I wanted to be a part of the Mom Squad to support these boys!

I fought a lot of emotions with the depiction of the dark side of popularity in the music industry. It makes me pause to think of how often management teams stop seeing the young musicians as humans and only see profit. As a parent, I found it scary and infuriating. As a business woman, I was disgusted by the ethical violations for a dollar. It makes me think back to the boybands I loved as a teen. NKOTB, anyone?! I wonder if they went through the characterizations and identity suppression.

5 Stars – Don’t miss out!

Pub Date – 12/7/2021

Thank you to @netgalley @wednesdaybooks for the eARC in exchange for my review.