Meagen If This Gets Out by Sophia Gonzales and Cale Dietrich is an upcoming queer, YA, romance that you definitely don’t want to miss out on.
For me it was equal parts boy band fandom and introspective reveals. I couldn’t get enough of Zach and Ruben, our two main characters and their love story.
As two members of a boy band that has reached insane levels of stardom world wide our two main characters Ruben and Zach, along with their bandmates and best friends, Angel and Jon are navigating life, love, queerness, mental health, addiction, and SO MUCH MORE while also being in the spotlight full time.
If This Gets Out covers so many topics, emotions, and situations…once you start reading you won’t want to stop so plan accordingly for this read which is hitting shelves in December 2021.
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Anyone who has ever been obsessed with a boyband will devour this book. It has a lot of reviews from ARC readers like me (Thanks NetGalley #IfThisGetsOut #NetGalley) saying it has a lot of 1 Direction vibes but for me I think it applies to any boyband or big pop group.
I grew up with the boy bands of the 90’s and I just could not stop thinking about how much fun this book had to have been to research and write. There’s a lot of behind the scenes, down and dirty, life in the spotlight isn’t that glamorous, kind of moments that make it a really relatable read even though it’s a bout something most of us will never have to deal with which is great.
What is this book about?
The overall plot line of the book follows two main characters, Ruben and Zach, who alternate points of view each chapter, as they navigate life in a boyband which is hugely popular and currently on tour. This is a first person POV with alternating narrators.
Ruben is gay but being closeted by his management team while also dealing with some pretty serious feelings for his bandmate and best friend Zach. When Zach realizes that he has feelings for Ruben their management team works pretty hard to keep them both closeted.
As if that isn’t enough heart wrenching, tear jerking, fan girling thrills for a book we also have Angel and Jon, the other two band members who are dealing with their own struggles and demons. Angel is fighting through some pretty big issues with being in the spotlight, his drug and alcohol use along with years of neglect at the hands of their management team leads to some pretty crazy twists that I didn’t see coming as well!
Jon is struggling with his place in the band and in his own family. His father controls the band and it puts him in a pretty stressful and difficult position with his friends and his family all while putting pressure on his own moral code. He’s the quiet background hero and friend we all hope we’d be if necessary.
What did you love about this book?
I LOVED these characters. 10/10 would bleed for any of these sweet baby angels. Can’t lie, I also really geeked out over the behind the scenes, boyband phenoms, life on the road, partying it up, people screaming your name vibes that go along with all of this.
I am a product of the 90’s…who among us has not dreamed about being a popstar!?!
Finally, I really enjoyed (and thought it was very well written) the representation in this book. It’s maddening I’m sure to try and provide relatable characters to a wide audience.
This book has queer representation in a bunch of different forms, we’ve got one character who is Catholic and trying to balance his religion with super stardom and forced sex appeal, we have minority reps and positive mental health depictions along side addiction / rehab reps.
Long story a bit shorter: a lot of these characters are working through serious shit while still being funny, relatable, and cute. I highly recommend this read.
What did you not love about this book?
It had the nerve to end. Can you believe it?!
No in all seriousness I didn’t have any complaints. When I give a book 5/5 stars it’s usually because I couldn’t find something that irked me enough to point it out.
Will you read more in this series?
As far as I can tell this one is a standalone. I will say SPOILER ALERT that the ending is definitely left open far enough that there could be more or we could get more from other band members, side characters we’ve met, etc.
Everything gets wrapped up well and I would not call anything that happens here a cliffhanger so no worries there if you hate that sort of thing. I just got the impression that if we wanted to check back in with these characters “later” or if the story wanted to continue it definitely could.
I would be here for that in a hot second. 10/10 would happily go back to these characters and read more!
Social Media Reviews of If This Gets Out:
I usually don’t do my Instagram reviews (@MeagenReads) before I put my official review posts together over here…but I couldn’t help myself. So here’s what went live over there…you should give me a follow if you are on IG. The Bookstagram community is the absolute best.
I love doing reviews on IG because I get to talk to so many more people. If you love reading reviews on blogs make sure you let me know. I can definitely start sharing more of my book reviews over here…I’ve been mostly just sharing new and popular stuff on the blog and keeping everything else on TikTok and Instagram!
Where can I buy If This Gets Out for myself?
You can preorder If This Gets Out from wherever you buy books. I’ll provide some links to Amazon for the Hardcover and Kindle version that will be available here in the United States.
Kindle Version of If This Gets Out
Hardcover Version of If This Gets Out
You can also check out the other books that Sophia Gonzales and Cale Dietrich have written and order those! I ADORED Only Mostly Devastated by Sophia Gonzales
Kindle Unlimited Membership Plans
What else have these authors written?
You can see their full author profiles from Goodreads below. I’ll link them so you can check out their catalogue of reads. I’ve added a few more to my TBR lists because OF COURSE I HAVE.
At this rate I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I’ll be dead and gone long before I finish my lists…I feel like Rory Gilmore when she’s visiting Harvard. She looks at the pamphlet and realizes that she can never read even a small portion of all the books in the library collection…brain melting over mental math doings…etc. etc.
Sophia Gonzales Goodreads Profile
Cale Dietrich Goodreads Profile
Looking for more reviews to check out?
Check out these other book reviews and bookish posts. I think you’ll love them! Make sure to let me know in the comments what kinds of books you like to read and what you’d like to see more of.
I’d love to hear about your favorite books, I’m always adding to my TBR (to be read) pile so leave those suggestions below!
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