HCG acquires queer YA boyband romance from Gonzales and Dietrich

Hachette Children’s Group has acquired If This Gets Out, a queer YA romance from new author duo Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich, which will explore the pressures of international fame, smothering management and first love in a world-famous boyband. 

The synopsis reads: "Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boyband Saturday. Along with their bandmates, they are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks start to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben is feeling smothered by management's pressure to stay in the closet. As Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other, 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 realise 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?"

Tig Wallace, senior commissioning editor signed the deal for UK and Commonwealth rights with Witt Phillips at Wednesday Books, Macmillan US. If This Gets Out will publish in export markets and e-book on 7th December 2021 and in paperback in the UK on 6th January 2022 via the Hodder Children's Books imprint.

Wallace said: "Sophie and Cale have created a compelling and addictive story, but it’s the heartfelt, honest, complicated romance at its heart that makes If This Gets Out a total winner. I’m thrilled to add a new strand to our Sophie Gonzales publishing, and to welcome the hugely talented Cale Dietrich to the HCG list for his UK debut."

Gonzales, author of Only Mostly Devastated (Hodder Children's, 2020), commented: "I could not be happier to be once again working with Tig and the team at Hachette Children’s Group to bring our novel to the UK and Commonwealth. Writing a book with one of my very first friends in the publishing industry has been a dream come true, and I can’t tell you how excited I am for everyone to meet Zach and Ruben. Their story is incredibly special to us, and we hope readers will fall in love with their love story, as we did while writing them."

Dietrich, author of The Love Interest (St Martin's Press, 2017), added: "I’m completely overjoyed that If This Gets Out is going to be published by Hachette Children’s Group. Collaborating with Sophie has been one of the most fun, rewarding and thrilling experiences of my career, and I’m so incredibly proud of the book we’ve written. Ruben and Zach have been special to us for a long time now, and it’s so exciting to think readers in the UK and Commonwealth will get to meet them."