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A review by bisexualwentworth
If This Gets Out by Cale Dietrich, Sophie Gonzales
emotional
funny
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
I was really pleasantly surprised by this book. I'm morally opposed to real person fanfiction shipping real people on principle, so I was wary of the whole concept of If This Gets Out, but it was executed really well.
Ruben and Zach are two members of a popular boy band who fall in love and have to keep their relationship secret, and that relationship definitely forms the emotional core of this book. But the plot also gives time to the other two members of the band, Angel and Jon, and explores some difficult subject matter pretty gracefully.
I really appreciated the bisexual representation, which Sophie Gonzales always does excellently. I enjoy forbidden romance, and I thought that aspect of the book was also executed well. The familial relationships were difficult to read—one of the characters has an abusive parent, and there's another truly awful parent character in the book as well—but they were difficult in a way that felt realistic and was acknowledged by the characters.
The audiobook narrator put me off a little bit at first because he sounded quite a bit older than the characters, but I got used to the narration pretty quickly.
If you like secret relationships and fictional celebrities and queer young adults, you'll probably enjoy this book!
I just want to reiterate that it very much reads like a One Direction fanfic at times, and the knowledge that the book was at least partially inspired by that sort of thing did make me pretty uncomfortable.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
Ruben and Zach are two members of a popular boy band who fall in love and have to keep their relationship secret, and that relationship definitely forms the emotional core of this book. But the plot also gives time to the other two members of the band, Angel and Jon, and explores some difficult subject matter pretty gracefully.
I really appreciated the bisexual representation, which Sophie Gonzales always does excellently. I enjoy forbidden romance, and I thought that aspect of the book was also executed well. The familial relationships were difficult to read—one of the characters has an abusive parent, and there's another truly awful parent character in the book as well—but they were difficult in a way that felt realistic and was acknowledged by the characters.
The audiobook narrator put me off a little bit at first because he sounded quite a bit older than the characters, but I got used to the narration pretty quickly.
If you like secret relationships and fictional celebrities and queer young adults, you'll probably enjoy this book!
I just want to reiterate that it very much reads like a One Direction fanfic at times, and the knowledge that the book was at least partially inspired by that sort of thing did make me pretty uncomfortable.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Car accident
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Homophobia
Minor: Racism