Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - If This Gets Out

Two band members fall for each other and go through the struggle of keeping it secret, finding themselves and learning how to express themselves despite their abusive and restrictive management and despite everything else going on in their lives.

This brought back memories of my kpop days. Such an odd and nostalgic feeling. I liked the characters and the way they developed and grew.
This was a nice read that felt a lot like a palette cleanser. The audiobook was okay to listen to. I wish they had two different male narrators for the two POVs.

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torikate7's review against another edition

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emotional tense 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

4.0

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bumblemee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-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

4.5

As someone who once fell into the rabbit hole of a certain boy band ship (maybe not as hard as others, but the rabbit hole was definitely real), I think I was kind of destined to like this book - and to no one's surprise, I do.
I have so much history with this kind of setting that it catched me immediately - I can imagine that this book is a little harder to get into if you can't latch onto the "magic" of boy bands. Though this book is less about this "magic" than it is about the repressive side of the entertainment industry. Reading this made me feel so much for these boys trapped in what others decide for them to be (not sure if this is a correct English sentence rn, sorry), because it felt so realistic. Of course I can't tell how realistic it actually is, but to me it seemed like the management/artist dynamic could look a lot like this. Especially for people who start out into this industry at a very young age and don't know who they are yet or how to look out for themselves. (It reminded me of a podcast by two German ex "boy band" guys who told the story of their band, how awfully they were treated and what that did to them.)
I liked the four main guys a lot, their friendship is very heartwarming. All of them grow a lot as people over the course of this book, which was great to witness. Zach was the one I loved the most, his problems to seperate his wish for everyone to be happy from what he actually wants and his love for pop punk were very relatable to me. (I wish we saw a little bit more of his pop punk side.)

The only thing that bothered me a little was that because of the amount of things that need to be told for this story to be complete, some situations are resolved very fast. Other thand that, I was very happy with this book. Nothing lifechangingly amazing, but I think it healed something in me a little.
I can't tell how it feels to read this book when you are someone who hasn't been fan of a boy band before or was never a little too obsessed with this "management vs. what's best for their artists" debate that arises from the boy band side of things, but also in relation to other celebrities. If you were though, this book is the right pick for you.

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katrina_5's review against another edition

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challenging funny tense 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

4.5

I truly enjoyed this book, I loved reading how Zacks character came to terms with his sexuality and how he developed throughout the book.
The bands friendship worked really well together, relationships within this book were really well thought out and written.

However, the reason I deducted a .5 was due to the lack of concern over Angel, I feel his addiction was overlooked and made his relationships between everyone in the band seem worthless. No one ensured his safety until he was far to gone. Furthermore, his recovery was glazed over - I would've loved more detail over how that impact him and the band mates especially since most situations he was joking about the love interests.
Another fault was within a Zacks dynamic with his mother, she is comforting and open yet when he comes out she compares him to his father who had little relevance within the story. It felt like a poor choice - yes not every one has a nice coming out story, but this felt like they felt the need to make another plot for drama within a book which has a dramatic theme from the beginning.

Overall, I feel this book was well written and thought out. I truly enjoyed the romance, I'd recommend to anyone interested.

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laracroft2001's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad tense medium-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

4.0

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zeynepbinbasioglu's review against another edition

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inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

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