Release: December 7 2021
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Netgalley
Find it at Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N
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“If This Gets Out is an absolute showstopper. Equal parts edgy and adorable, this bright, joyful book has everything I look for in a queer YA romance.” —Phil Stamper, bestselling author of The Gravity of Us
Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday. It is one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form. Their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame. And Ruben confides in Zach that he’s feeling smothered by management’s pressure to stay in the closet.
On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben start to truly realize that they will never have the support of their management. How can they hold tight to each other when the whole world seems to want to come between them?
About the Author:
Sophie ‘sGonzales’s birth and growth were in Whyalla, South Australia, where the Outback Meets the Sea. She now lives in Melbourne, where there’s no outback insight, but slightly better shopping opportunities. Sophie loves punk music, frilly pink skirts, and juxtapositions.
Sophie has been writing since the age of five when her mother decided to help her type out one of the stories she had come up with in the bathtub. They ran into artistic differences when five-year-old Sophie insisted that everybody die in the end, while her mother wanted the characters to go out for a milkshake.
Since then, Sophie has been completing her novels without a transcriptionist.
If This Gets Out Review:
I had mixed feelings about this book. While I enjoyed reading it, I was a bit disappointed. I loved “Only Mostly Devastated” by the author when I read it last year and had high expectations for “If This Gets Out.”
Don’t get me wrong. The story is still very entertaining. I loved reading the back-end drama of the band, the antics of Angel, and the romance between Ruben and Zach. The author has a fantastic talent for writing YA romance, and I loved the chemistry between the two. She knows how to connect the readers to the characters, and I felt like I could relate to them. Frankly, I loved Zach more than Ruben as I thought he had many layers to him. I also enjoyed Zach’s relationship with his mother and the challenges they face for her to accept him.
The author sets up the pace nicely, where we see the difficulties public figures face when they are in a closeted relationship. Ruben and Zach are striking personalities that spark the pages, and I loved their scenes together. Some of the memorable moments were when they go sightseeing in Amsterdam or when Angel hangs on to his life.
However, as I mentioned earlier, I didn’t feel this was as good as “Only Mostly Devastated,” only because the story strays quite a bit. At times, I thought the plot did not progress anywhere, and we were reading random situations the band encounters. Moreover, some scenes felt repetitious, like when the band answers interview questions.
Apart from that, “If This Gets Out” was still entertaining to read. It is a cute young adult contemporary novel with charming characters that will entertain you.
