A review by elskabee
If This Gets Out, by Sophie Gonzales, Cale Dietrich
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? It's complicated
3.0
Did I love this? No. But it was fine for what it was. I kind of wished it was more about the romance as I felt like there was a lot of stuff in there and so the romance felt like it was only around 10-15% of the whole book. What little there was I did enjoy though. Also I thought the character development was well done and the conflicts that occurred later in the book were realistic and resolved in a satisfying way. I suppose I appreciated the critique of the music industry, but as someone who was already knowledgable about that stuff, it ultimately felt very surface level.
Most of my problems came from a combination of "this isn't for me" and the more contrived conflicts/angst of the first act of the book. The not for me was the whole tour stuff and going from city to city, it just felt a bit boring and I nearly DNF'd until I skimmed ahead and saw that there would finally be some juicy drama and it was definitely better from there.
This isn't a book I'll remember very fondly, most of the time I felt like I was laughing at it rather than with it. I think I could recommend it mostly to people who like YA contemporary and/or are interested in a boy band book, but maybe not people looking for a romance above all else.
Most of my problems came from a combination of "this isn't for me" and the more contrived conflicts/angst of the first act of the book. The not for me was the whole tour stuff and going from city to city, it just felt a bit boring and I nearly DNF'd until I skimmed ahead and saw that there would finally be some juicy drama and it was definitely better from there.
This isn't a book I'll remember very fondly, most of the time I felt like I was laughing at it rather than with it. I think I could recommend it mostly to people who like YA contemporary and/or are interested in a boy band book, but maybe not people looking for a romance above all else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Drug abuse, Car accident, and Addiction
Minor: Suicide
A character experiences a manic episode related to drug use. During this episode:
One of the main characters has many interactions with their abusive/manipulative parent. In particular the parent is very critical and belittling. If you think this might be at all triggering for you I would not recommend reading this book.