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A review by toofondofbooks_
If This Gets Out by Cale Dietrich, Sophie Gonzales
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Negativity ahead so if this was like, your fave of the year, do not @ me.
This was one of my most anticipated if not THE most anticipated read of this year and honestly, I wanted more. It was enjoyable enough to get me through to the end, but I just had so many issues with it that made it really hard for me to want to pick this up.
Positives first: The romance was very sweet. I have no complaints about Zach and Ruben's relationship. They made me smile and laugh, and swoon a lot of the time. These two nerds were made for each other. The scenes where they're sort of awkward around each other consistently made me giggle out loud. In the first 30 or so pages, there is already pining, which is for sure something that I was immediately signed up for. Additionally, the bromance between the band members and how much the boys valued their fans was very sweet and touched my heart in all the right places.
And then here is where I'm going to be a little cranky.
There were some things about this book that just made me...cringe? The use of Twitter words felt forced and very "hello fellow kids." The writing itself wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either in my opinion. There were some adjustments to the overall plot that I would make, and I think I would make this shorter overall if it were me. I think that the book became confused about what it wanted to be after the first half was over - the tone shifted and it became something darker that I wasn't really ready for. The most glaring issue for me is the women in this book. Pretty much none of the women who appear in this book are portrayed in a positive light, and for a book with very few female characters, that is a problem for me. The female characters that were present and prevalent were either abusive, totally clueless, or just randoms that showed up for 2 pages and left. After having these thoughts myself and talking to a friend about it, this alone made the book go down half a star for me. I wanted so much more from this and I was let down. *shrug*
This was one of my most anticipated if not THE most anticipated read of this year and honestly, I wanted more. It was enjoyable enough to get me through to the end, but I just had so many issues with it that made it really hard for me to want to pick this up.
Positives first: The romance was very sweet. I have no complaints about Zach and Ruben's relationship. They made me smile and laugh, and swoon a lot of the time. These two nerds were made for each other. The scenes where they're sort of awkward around each other consistently made me giggle out loud. In the first 30 or so pages, there is already pining, which is for sure something that I was immediately signed up for. Additionally, the bromance between the band members and how much the boys valued their fans was very sweet and touched my heart in all the right places.
And then here is where I'm going to be a little cranky.
There were some things about this book that just made me...cringe? The use of Twitter words felt forced and very "hello fellow kids." The writing itself wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either in my opinion. There were some adjustments to the overall plot that I would make, and I think I would make this shorter overall if it were me. I think that the book became confused about what it wanted to be after the first half was over - the tone shifted and it became something darker that I wasn't really ready for. The most glaring issue for me is the women in this book. Pretty much none of the women who appear in this book are portrayed in a positive light, and for a book with very few female characters, that is a problem for me. The female characters that were present and prevalent were either abusive, totally clueless, or just randoms that showed up for 2 pages and left. After having these thoughts myself and talking to a friend about it, this alone made the book go down half a star for me. I wanted so much more from this and I was let down. *shrug*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Suicide attempt