Scan barcode
A review by laelyn
If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales, Cale Dietrich
4.0
I admit, my main reason for requesting an arc of "If This Gets Out" was Gonzales as one of the authors. I recently read and adored her "Perfect on Paper", and another book of hers is already waiting on my shelf. The blurb itself wasn't even that interesting to me, mostly because I've never been a boyband kind of girl myself and because, quite frankly, I find the amount of 'real people shipping' and fetishization of gay men that seems to be happening a lot in these particular fandoms concerning and borderline problematic. But I was still interested how all of this would play out in the hands of two talented authors, so I gave it a go. I don't regret it.
"If This Gets Out" is utterly adorable with lots of yearning, a plethora of tropes I love and a cast of complex, loveable characters. Both protagonists, Ruben and Zach, are fleshed out, flawed and relatable characters with issues that go beyond just their romance, which I really enjoyed. They didn't exist just for the romance, they were interesting people on their own. I rooted for the both of them and they deserve all the happiness in the world tbh. The other two members of their boyband are JUST as loveable and fleshed out, too, and I felt for all of them. They wormed their way into my heart and I won't ever get rid of them, I just know it.
The romance is swoonworthy and with just enough drama to keep it interesting without going completely overboard with it. The story on a whole is really intriguing and I loved how this novel puts a spotlight on the darker sides of the entertainment business - on closeting, on abuse, on power imbalances, on drug addiction, on exhaustion and constant pressure to perform. I don't know much about the inner workings of the music industry but honestly, I could easily see it happening just like in this book. Looking at modern boybands and kpop bands, it's probably a given. And it's horrible to read about.
There are just minor things that dampened my overall enjoyment of the book, and honestly, they're super subjective. While the writing was really engaging and fun and spot on, Zach's chapters especially tend to make the characters use the filler word "like" a loooot in the dialogue scenes, to a point where it gets unrealistic and a little annoying. I'm not American but I honestly don't think someone like Zach would naturally talk like this, especially because he doesn't in Ruben's chapters.
I'm also not entirely on board with how Angel's drug addiction was handled by his best friends. It didn't make sense to me for them to not even try to I don't know, get his parents involved or anything. It's not what best friends would do, at least not from where I'm standing. I also generally would have preferred the novel to address the racism Angel faces, as well as Jon to some degree, a little more openly. It's mentioned, it's described, but never actually called out for what it is - the homophobia is always at the forefront as the One Big Issue, obviously because it's part of the romance, but for all the good it does to call out these problematic structures in the music industry: if you include characters of color that face obvious racism (especially Asian stereotypes in this case), it should be more than just a sidelined mention that later gets ignored in the final confrontation.
But these are honestly minor gripes, I still really enjoyed this fast-paced, quick read and devoured it in two days. It's definitely a must-read for boyband fans especially, but even if you don't belong to any such fandom this is a highly enjoyable, very cutesy experience.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the arc!
"If This Gets Out" is utterly adorable with lots of yearning, a plethora of tropes I love and a cast of complex, loveable characters. Both protagonists, Ruben and Zach, are fleshed out, flawed and relatable characters with issues that go beyond just their romance, which I really enjoyed. They didn't exist just for the romance, they were interesting people on their own. I rooted for the both of them and they deserve all the happiness in the world tbh. The other two members of their boyband are JUST as loveable and fleshed out, too, and I felt for all of them. They wormed their way into my heart and I won't ever get rid of them, I just know it.
The romance is swoonworthy and with just enough drama to keep it interesting without going completely overboard with it. The story on a whole is really intriguing and I loved how this novel puts a spotlight on the darker sides of the entertainment business - on closeting, on abuse, on power imbalances, on drug addiction, on exhaustion and constant pressure to perform. I don't know much about the inner workings of the music industry but honestly, I could easily see it happening just like in this book. Looking at modern boybands and kpop bands, it's probably a given. And it's horrible to read about.
There are just minor things that dampened my overall enjoyment of the book, and honestly, they're super subjective. While the writing was really engaging and fun and spot on, Zach's chapters especially tend to make the characters use the filler word "like" a loooot in the dialogue scenes, to a point where it gets unrealistic and a little annoying. I'm not American but I honestly don't think someone like Zach would naturally talk like this, especially because he doesn't in Ruben's chapters.
I'm also not entirely on board with how Angel's drug addiction was handled by his best friends. It didn't make sense to me for them to not even try to I don't know, get his parents involved or anything. It's not what best friends would do, at least not from where I'm standing. I also generally would have preferred the novel to address the racism Angel faces, as well as Jon to some degree, a little more openly. It's mentioned, it's described, but never actually called out for what it is - the homophobia is always at the forefront as the One Big Issue, obviously because it's part of the romance, but for all the good it does to call out these problematic structures in the music industry: if you include characters of color that face obvious racism (especially Asian stereotypes in this case), it should be more than just a sidelined mention that later gets ignored in the final confrontation.
But these are honestly minor gripes, I still really enjoyed this fast-paced, quick read and devoured it in two days. It's definitely a must-read for boyband fans especially, but even if you don't belong to any such fandom this is a highly enjoyable, very cutesy experience.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the arc!