Reviews with content warning for Biphobia - If This Gets Out

this book is Only for the Brave…

eat your heart out syco and modest this book (while not directly) tore you to shreds. this books demographic is fans of a certain boy band on a rather long 18 month hiatus. while i’m not sure it was their intention they did a great job exposing a lot of things that those boys went through in their time as a band that we found out about years down the line, a lot of it we still don’t know for certain. now obviously this book isn’t about a certain ship ObVIoUsLy but it does draw a lot of parallels to them. i thoroughly enjoyed this book but mostly because it reminded me of said ship and the way the fandom was at that bands peak. now if you’ll excuse me i’m gonna go sob to good years by one of the former members of said band.

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silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The thing about your dreams coming true is that, for a gold-spun moment, you catch a glimpse of what life could be like. Then when you lose it, and you crash back to reality, it’s from such a great height, all you can do is lie there, winded and bruised, while you come to terms with the idea that a happiness like that isn’t meant for you.

Representation: gay main character, bisexual main character, mixed-race main character, Asian main character, queer side characters

This book may be YA, but it gets DARK at certain moments, as is clear by the abundance of trigger warnings. Although, if none of these topics is too difficult for you to get through, I think the heart-warming moments are very worth the heart-breaking ones. There were paragraphs in this book that brought me close to tears and some that made me laugh out loud, some it is definitely an emotional rollercoaster.

This book alternates between two perspectives: Ruben Montez (written by Sophie Gonzales) and Zach Knight (written by Cale Dietrich) as the two boys struggle through their personal and shared problems. They make up half of the popular boy band called Saturday and, although their lives may appear perfect from the outside, that could not be further from the truth. Ruben feels suffocated by his abusive mother and his inability to come out publicly, while also struggling to hide his feelings for a fellow band member; Zach is discovering new things about himself that he refuses to acknowledge and is realising that he may never be allowed to pursue his true passion, which is song-writing. But when everything seems to start crashing down around them and their friendship becomes something more, will they be able to take back control over their own lives and decisions?

I really enjoyed the way the two authors had very different voices, which made the perspectives easier to distinguish, and I thought all four boys were really well-developed - they were loveable, complex and very flawed. There were some moments that made me cringe slightly, like the descriptions of their fans and how omniscient they seemed to be (they seemed more like some magical entity rather than actual human beings sometimes), but all in all "If This Gets Out" is just a really good time and I can definitely recommend it for a quick read!

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kayladaila's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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shaipanda's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved thisss - I’m so happy I preordered it tbh cause totally worth it
I didn’t get around to reading it for a few months after I got it in the mail but once I started it yesterday I literally binged it in like 2 days lol

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maregred's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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anniereads221's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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