Name: It Goes Like This
ISBN: 9781250767486

Miel Moreland

In Miel Moreland's heartfelt young adult debut, It Goes Like This, four queer teens realize that sometimes you have to risk hitting repeat on heartbreak. Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph used to think their friendship was unbreakable. After all, they've been though a lot together, including the astronomical rise of Moonlight Overthrow, the world-famous queer pop band they formed in middle school, never expecting to headline anything bigger than the county fair. But after a sudden falling out leads to the dissolution of the teens' band, their friendship, and Eva and Celeste's starry-eyed romance, nothing is the same. Gina and Celeste step further into the spotlight, Steph disappears completely, and Eva, heartbroken, takes refuge as a songwriter and secret online fangirl...of her own band. That is, until a storm devastates their hometown, bringing the four ex-best-friends back together. As they prepare for one last show, they'll discover whether growing up always means growing apart.

It Goes Like This

Lorelei Petcu

this book is something that can be so personal actually

i feel like this is more a 3.5 but the representation was absolutely phenomenal and i have to make that more clear. 
so why not a 5, bie? well, *gestures vaguely* i have an issue with love interests in general.

but this was a good book, truly! it's about self discovery, coming to terms with who you are (and changing your mind because you're young and that's okay!), love, family and friendship, music, and how wonderful it is to be queer. 

i definitely recommend this to everyone who had a fifth harmony phase. i didn't, but trust me.

--- 

primary cws: misgendering, underage drinking 
secondary cws (minor references): biphobia, homophobia, substance addiction, eating disorders/body image

In Miel Moreland's heartfelt young adult debut, It Goes Like This, four queer teens realize that sometimes you have to risk hitting repeat on heartbreak. Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph used to think their friendship was unbreakable. After all, they've been though a lot together, including the astronomical rise of Moonlight Overthrow, the world-famous queer pop band they formed in middle school, never expecting to headline anything bigger than the county fair. But after a sudden falling out leads to the dissolution of the teens' band, their friendship, and Eva and Celeste's starry-eyed romance, nothing is the same. Gina and Celeste step further into the spotlight, Steph disappears completely, and Eva, heartbroken, takes refuge as a songwriter and secret online fangirl...of her own band. That is, until a storm devastates their hometown, bringing the four ex-best-friends back together. As they prepare for one last show, they'll discover whether growing up always means growing apart. "It Goes Like This was everything my music nerd heart needed AND wanted. Lyrical and heart-wrenching...beautiful representation, sweetest longing and the pop-star romance of my dreams; Swifties will swoon happily with this story tattooed on their hearts." —Erin Hahn, author of You'd Be Mine and More Than Maybe

Leah Butler

It Goes Like This is a wonderfully queer, beautiful, wholesome story about love, friendship, fame and second chances. It follows Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph after their world-famous queer pop band, Moonlight Overthrow, has broken up. After a terrible storm brings devastation to their hometown, the band reunites to perform a charity concert. But a lot has changed since they last saw each other.

I fell completely in love with these characters. They are all so unique and different but such close friends that come together beautifully. I really enjoyed the different points of view in this book and I loved getting to know each character individually.

The relationship between Celeste and Eva was so cute! I loved reading about them and learning their history through flashbacks along the way, and finding out why their relationship didn’t really work in the past. The author did an amazing job writing this!

I absolutely loved the LGBTQ+ representation in this book! It is an amazing read and I would definitely recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley & Feiwel & Friends for providing me with an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review!

I knew early on that there was a chance this review would read more like a love letter. Starting this book, I was so excited to be able to review it before I was even halfway through. I love writing reviews, there’s just something really fun about finishing a book and being able to put down all your thoughts and feelings, and then post it to share it with anyone else who has read or is thinking about reading it. But, It Goes Like This was a different kind of excitement, I found myself swept up in the story and even tweeting that I was beyond excited to be able to write this very review. So here I am, I hope we can enjoy my journey of unpacking how I feel about this book together!

It’s not often I get to read a book where a character actually calls themself a lesbian, many books choose to elude to it or use other terms, but as a lesbian there aren’t many feelings greater than being able to read that word. It happens even less for nonbinary characters, I can count the times I’ve seen it on one hand. This book gave me both, it gave me specific labels, it gave me natural representation and it didn’t give me a coming out story based narrative. When I say I’m in awe of this book for this, I really mean it. There’s a special emotion that true representation brings up in a person, and seeing these characters brought to life is a direct lead to that for me. 

It Goes Like This follows the four former members of a queer band, with multiple povs, you get real insight to what the bandm breakup and aftermath was like for all of them without the unreliable narration that could come from a sole pov. In their chapters, you get to learn about these characters and grow to love these characters as themselves, separate from the band that kept them together and then threw them apart. For me, multiple pov books can sometimes be hard to follow and especially when you include time jumps to show how things came to happen, but It Goes Like This was the easiest book of this format to follow. Everything you’re shown is for a reason, and everything makes so much sense as you read it and learn about their history. 

This book documented a love story, but it didn’t just document romantic love. It was the platonic bonds they also had, the true sense of biological family AND found family that made me feel warm and whole but also that made me fall apart. I could write essays and essays about how important I think platonic love is and how much I love found family, but for right now let me just say that it’s one of the many reasons this book is a five star read. 

Miel Moreland wrote a universe that pulled me as a reader in, a universe I never wanted to leave after seeing these characters and their lives. I’m a huge music fan, terrified of the industry that I love. Reading this, with a big focus on the industry itself and what it did for the characters, I was excited for them, but at times scared for them. That’s another thing that tells me that it’s a really good book and I wasn’t just caught up with my newfound love for the characters I just met. The fear I felt at times, the hope I held for things going exactly how they deserved them to. The characters excelled, the plot was fun but the writing and world building despite it being contemporary, that really sold it for me. 

It Goes Like This is almost the perfect book. It helped me feel seen, it let me cry from sadness as well as happiness while also giving me all the solutions I could hope for. This really is one of the best debuts I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

caro(lee)na

definitely my favorite book i’ve read in 2021 so far. it was just THAT GOOD

It follows a group of 4 people who used to be in this really famous “girl” band (obviously they’re not all girls but the media didn’t know that at the time), and have since broken up and are doing their separate things. the don’t even talk anymore. 

Until there’s a deadly storm on their hometown and they decide to get the band together just this once, but the thing is, they haven’t seen each other in over a year and it’s kinda awkward. 

So, they have to find a way to get through it as you can imagine. 

I loved all the representation in this book; non-binary, lesbian, bi, pan and poc characters were a huge part of this story. 

I absolutely adored this book and will not be able to stop talking about it for the next 6 months.

It Goes Like This

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