If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich
CW: Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Enabling, Neglect, Homophobia, Manipulation, Controlling Legal Contracts, Racism, Infantilization, Forced Closeting, Abusive Parents, Capitalism, Sex Descriptions, Serious Injury, Claustrophobia, Gaslighting, Microaggressions, Emotional Abuse
5/5
I may not be obsessed with any real boy bands, but I am obsessed with a fictional one! Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich co-wrote an amazing story, backstory, and band of boys. At its heart, If This Gets Out is a love story, but it's much more than that. This story is about every member of the band, boy bands in general, and the dark side of the music industry. It was a well researched piece that benefited from careful arrangement. I am admittedly a sucker for the musicians-on-tour romance trope, but I find that Gonzales and Dietrich set the bar higher.
On tour for their third album, Ruben, Zach, Angel, and Jon head to Europe for the first time. Although they've all been friends for years, Ruben has started to have forbidden feelings for Zach. He knows Zach is straight, and he knows he's not allowed to come out, so he keeps it to himself. Being further from home, all four are starting to feel the limitations of their contracts more so than in the United States. Angel feels locked into his "image" and is finding any escape he can. Jon recognizes he's the only one looking out for his band mates. When Zach realizes he is bisexual, both he and Ruben start to feel the worst parts of being forced to stay in the closet.
This book deals with very serious subjects. While it balances them with hope, love, and humor, it never romanticizes working for the music industry nor does it shy away from portraying these subjects realistically. Among other topics, If This Gets Out deals with overbearing and manipulative contracts, drug addiction, and homophobia as it looks today. The plot arcs that these appear in do get resolved, but they also have loose threads. Gonzales and Dietrich did this intentionally. The loose threads are there because the real-world musicians that inspired the book have lingering issues after their pivotal resolutions. Being a popular musician can be rewarding, but it can also ruin one's life. People that start their music careers as kids are even more vulnerable.
In addition to being well researched, this book was well written. It's always interesting to see how a pair of authors will approach writing a book together. Gonzales and Dietrich each wrote their character's P.O.V. chapters (Ruben and Zach, respectively) and then went back to edit the dialogue of those characters that the other had written*. It was seamless throughout, as though just one author had written the book. Between the two of them, they were able to keep a good pace throughout the book, write realistic dialogue, and craft a mesmerizing love story.
There is much more I could say about If This Gets Out, but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. Perhaps we'll eventually get a movie adaption, as then I would have a lot more people to discuss it with. In the meantime, if you're looking for a queer boy band love story with meaningful plot-lines and racial diversity, please check out Gonzales and Dietrich's book! It will be worth it!
*If you wish to learn more about how this book was written, check out this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTk57Tr2yg4
Bonus: A song I feel either Zach or Ruben could have sang to the other by the end of the book - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu0doTunSKc
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