I genuinely don’t think I’d change a single thing about this book. I loved Nick and Andy both separate and together and their chemistry was apparent from the very first encounter. The side character were interesting and added to the plot nicely. The romance was perfect and the time period/historical context only heightened it. My favorite Cat Sebastian novel yet!

Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'd heard about Cat Sebastian's books, but this was my first time reading her work, and honestly, it will NOT be the last. This book pulled me out of a reading slump. It made my cry. It just might end up being my favorite book of the year. WOWEE, what a book.

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian follows Andy, a newspaper mogul's son, and Nick, a reporter at the paper Andy's father runs. They are such sweet, real characters, and I loved them individually and together. I loved the journey each character went on, and how they came to grow together. Ooooh, I just loved this so much. I can't WAIT to read more of Sebastian's work.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon & Harper Voyager for the ARC of this!

I am obsessed with Cat Sebastian’s books, and this one was no exception. I absolutely loved the characters and their interactions. The two had great chemistry and I thought the misunderstandings were so well done. The POVs were easy to follow and keep separate, which I sometimes struggle with. I almost want to read it immediately over again. It felt like a warm hug of a read.

Cat Sebastian is so good!!! I'm not sure if it was just me, but this book felt especially tender. The found/chosen family themes hit hard for me in We Could Be So Good, I think because of the time period the book is set in.

It's 1958. Nick is a rough-around-the-edges, Brooklyn-raised, Italian-American journalist who holds everyone at arm's length (he's sure that being gay means he will be alone forever in all the ways that matter, so why bother?). Andy is the son of a newspaper publisher and hotshot journalist (who died while in the field, which everyone tells Andy is the way she would have wanted to go). Andy is a mess - as lost in his own life as he is trying to navigate the subway after a life of taking cabs. From the moment they meet, Nick saving Andy from his own clumsiness, there's a connection between them. They quickly become inseparable, and Nick does his best to wall off any feelings that he has. But when Andy stays with Nick after some personal upheaval, Andy starts to realize that his feelings about Nick might be deeper than he was willing to admit.

I sometimes struggle with slow-burn romances because it doesn't actually feel like there's any burning *happening* - I feel like I'm just waiting and waiting for there to be a spark. But the slow burn of this book was perfect because the simmering heat was always there. The level of intimacy between Nick and Andy increases steadily so that by the time romance or a sexual relationship explicitly enters the scenario they're already so deeply tied together.
I think the alternating perspectives were used incredibly well to achieve this. Rather than switching from chapter to chapter, we spend an extended period of time with Nick before switching to Andy and so on. You really get to live in each of their heads and see their feelings develop.

We don't get to know the extended cast of characters super well, but there's enough that I could see why all of these people would be in each other's lives, and imagine how they might exist together in the future. I wish I could go to one of Nick & Andy's dinner parties!

Overall, adored this book and will probably re-read it in the future!

I received this book at @apollycon with the welcome bag. I was so excited because I really wanted to read this one. I love queer books of any and all stories. This story is about two men who are colleagues at a newspaper in the 1950s. Being gay was not socially acceptable and the threat of being arrested was constantly present. Loved the love these two found from friendship to a broken engagement to living together. One was gay and the other was curious but really only gay for him. Loved the way they made it work after it felt impossible. Need more historical mm and LGBTQ books.

Thank you sourcebooks for the #gifted copy.

Cat Sebastian has done it again. This tender strangers to friends to lovers is beautifully written. It’s hard to read at times, but overall a wonderful book.

Nick Russo didn’t want to do it, but he couldn’t help but fall hard for Andy Fleming. Andy is the son of a publishing tycoon who own the Chronicle. Andy is from a totally different world of wealth and privilege, and what’s more, he’s engaged to Emily, Nick’s friend. So he’s straight and totally off limits. But Andy is like an adorable puppy that won’t go away and needs constant rescuing so he doesn’t wander out into traffic.Someone has to look out for him in the dangerous world of news reporting.
They strike up an unlikely friendship that Nick is determined will not turn into anything more. Besides, he can have his feelings and no one else ever has to know about them. But when Emily breaks it off and Andy shows up heartbroken at Nick’s doorstep, he can’t help but let Andy in.
But what if Andy’s looks and casual closeness mean something more? Can either of them risk what it might mean if this wasn’t just a friendship?

I absolutely loved this story. I couldn’t put it down. Nick is such a damaged but wonderful person and Andy is adorable and sweet and surprisingly sarcastic and funny! He’s fully accepting of Nick’s sexuality, and I really enjoyed watching Andy’s train of thoughts as he explored his own feelings as he allowed himself to wonder what it would be like if he were queer.
There is some on page homophobia, violence, and remember it’s the late 50s, but there is a real feeling of queer community looking out for each other and creating their own families in the spaces they carve out. It didn’t feel bleak and depressing. Nick struggled, and it was handled well.
Their snarky banter back and forth was fantastic, Cat Sebastian has a gift for that kind of thing. I really liked seeing them both grow as individuals and as a couple. Highly recommend this one if you like determined reporters chasing the truth and falling in love with their adorkable friends.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I was ridiculously excited about We Could Be So Good, because I’ve enjoyed Cat Sebastian’s pivot to more “modern” historicals lately. And while this book is set against the backdrop of the intensely homophobic 1950s, and there are “Certain Readers” who will say a time period like this “doesn’t hold potential for romance,” Cat Sebastian proves these naysayers wrong. She not only explores the more progressive/transgressive side to the 50s as far as queer culture, but also grounds it by imaging how these influences would impact her characters.
Nick and Andy are both wonderful characters, and a perfect execution of “opposites attract” an “grumpy/sunshine.” The two of them complement each other beautifully, and I love how they take care of each other. There are simple, little things, like making each other soup (!) that warmed my heart.
The pace is a bit slow at times, but I think Cat Sebastian masters the balance of a more “vibes-based” central romance against a sometimes turbulent time period. I am more than willing to sacrifice a “bit” of plot and pacing for the sake of a book that doesn’t revel in traumatizing queer characters, especially if you can make the impact of institutional homophobia clear without it, which Sebastian absolutely does.
This is an enjoyable read, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy queer romance and/or a historical romance set with a different time period beyond the standard Regency/Victorian.

Cat Sebastian’s recent Regency historicals were a bit hit and miss for me, but I’ve really enjoyed the twentieth century historical romances she’s written lately, and now, this new standalone, We Could Be So Good, which is, well, just So. Very. Good. It’s set in New York in 1959, and charts the development of the romance between a hard-working reporter and the son of the owner of the newspaper he works for; the cross-class element is mostly in the background (although far from ignored) and centre stage is given to these two guys working out who they are, who they want to be and how to make that happen. The writing is absolutely beautiful; lyrical and insightful with lots of gentle humour and a wonderful eye for historical detail, and the story is extraordinary in its ordinariness - heartbreaking, uplifting and utterly delightful.

Born into a rough Brooklyn neighborhood, Nick Russo has worked hard to carve out a path for himself and has become a reporter at the Chronicle, one of the biggest newspapers in the city. He enjoys his job and is very good at it; he’s sharp, smart and has a good way with words. He’s also gay, and fully expects to live alone for the rest of his life, because that’s the way it has to be. The world isn’t a friendly place to be for queer people - being found out still carries the threat of a prison sentence – and his sexual experiences have been fast, furtive and fraught with a constant fear of discovery. Nick has spent years hiding in plain sight, making sure that when people look at him, they see a guy in a suit who looks just like every other guy in a suit rather than an actual person.

The book opens with a prologue that is one of the best introductions to characters and situation I’ve ever read. Nick, looking for something in the “morgue” (where years of clippings are stored in a mass of filing cabinets) finds another man there, who has somehow managed to get his tie shut in one of the drawers of one of the cabinets and can’t get it open again. It’s Andy Fleming, the somewhat clueless son of the Chronicle’s publisher, and Nick knows he should resent him – he can’t type, he’s doing a job Nick wanted and has probably never had to work a day in his life – but somehow, he just can’t. Somehow, instead, he’s utterly smitten, and ends up taking Andy under his wing, inviting him out for drinks with the other reporters, letting him tag along when he goes out on stories, making sure he doesn’t lose his keys, and generally looking out for him. They’re your classic grumpy/sunshine pairing - grouchy, lonely Nick and scatterbrained, good-natured Andy – and over the course of the next few months, they become good and almost inseparable friends, so much so that other reporters start seeing them as a single unit - NickandAndy or RussoandFleming. That friendship endures, even after Andy starts dating Emily Warburton, a friend of Nick’s, no matter that watching Andy fall for her is one of the most painful experiences of his life.

As weeks turn into months, Andy proves himself to be a more than capable reporter and is now carrying his weight when they go out on a story. But Nick has always known their professional association is temporary because Andy’s dad wants Andy to start taking over the running of the paper, even though Andy is dreading the thought of being responsible for so many people and something so important. He’s well aware of his shortcomings – he’s absent-minded and lacks confidence – the impossibility of living up to his dad’s expectations and his mother’s ability to sniff out a story (she’s a Pulitzer winner), and worries about being entrusted with his father’s legacy. But… it is what it is. And when he realises that his father’s eagnerness to hand over the reins to him is the result of ill-health rather than a whim, Andy becomes determined to step up to the plate, even though he doesn’t think he’ll ever be ready.

It’s March 1959 when, after Emily calls off their wedding, Andy ends up moving in with Nick for a night or two… and never leaves. Nick can’t quite understand why a guy who could afford to live somewhere much nicer wants to stick around, but he can’t deny that he’s pleased to have Andy there. They can be friends and roommates and Nick won’t let his inconveinent feelings get in the way and screw things up between them. He’s become so accustomed to feeling as though he can never have the sort of life he really wants that he doesn’t recognise the signals Andy is sending his way and Andy, who is slowly working out that while he does like women, he likes men – specifically Nick – as well, isn’t sure how to go about making his interest known.

Thankfully, the author doesn’t leave them in this limbo of world-class pining and awkwardness for too long, and soon, Nick and Andy are falling into an easy and completely adorable domesticity neither thought they could ever have. Nick, who is kind of still waiting for the other shoe to drop, is surprised at the ease with which Andy has not only accepted that he’s queer, but seems able to accept this quiet life they’re building as their due, and they just naturally fall into the blank spaces in each other’s lives as if they were made to be there. The care and support they show each other is simply lovely – making soup when one of them is sick, cuddling on the sofa to watch TV, bringing home flowers kind-of-accidentally-but-not… it’s one of those stories where not much actually happens, but it doesn’t matter because the focus is solidly on the developing relationship between the two leads, their thoughts, their emotions, their dreams and their fears – and their unfolding domestic bliss is the highlight of the story.

Nick and Andy’s romance is at the heart of the book, but there’s also an emphasis on family – found and biological – who show Nick and Andy that they’re loved, no matter what. Nick comes from a big, traditionally-minded Italian family (who continually ask when he’s going to bring a girl home) and struggles with wanting them to know who he really is, and not wanting to risk being cast out, while Andy still feels the loss of his mother and has a distanced relationship with his father; their slow move towards a greater understanding of each other is another of my favourite parts of the book.

The 1950s setting is superbly depicted and I liked the nod to queer fiction (notably The Charioteer) and could almost feel Nick’s pleasure at finally discovering a novel featuring queer characters that didn’t end miserably! While being gay in the 1950s was still illegal, there obviously were people around who managed to make their relationships work, and the author strikes a good balance between showing the sadness and anger of those forced to hide who they were and who they loved and the joy and happiness of two people finding each other and working out how to make a life together.

There’s a sub-plot built around a story about corruption in the NYPD that Nick is working on and which he pursues despite knowing he could become a target of those plainclothes cops who entrap and arrest queer men. I admit that I’d expected this storyline to have been a bit more prominent, but in the end, keeping the focus firmly on Nick and Andy and having them realising that they would have to make certain compromises in order to be together made the most sense.

We Could Be So Good is an absolute treat of a read, and possibly my favourite book by this author. Pick it up and be prepared to fall for Nick and Andy as they fall for each other – I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Note: The publisher’s blurb for this book has to be one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Comparing books to other books is a common marketing device, but making comparisons that make NO SENSE WHATSOEVER is only going to piss off your audience. The first blurb released described We Should Be So Good as “Colleen Hoover meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this mid-century romdram” “Colleen Hoover“ has since been replaced with “Casey McQuiston”, but it still makes no sense – McQuiston and Sebastian both write queer romances, but any similarity ends there.  As for the Evelyn Hugo reference... no idea.  And don’t get me started on “rom-dram”.

Sometimes loving a book as much as I love "We Could Be So Good" feels like an emotional disorder. Like it’s a burden to carry this much joy around in my brain and not know what to do with it. Cat Sebastian does everything right with this story, from not making things unrealistically tidy to tidying things up for her characters in a way that defies the attitudes of the time and delivers their future together in perfect pitch.

Nick Russo and Andy Fleming are absolutely mush-brained for each other, only Andy doesn’t know it right away. Andy’s engaged to be married to a lovely woman, who’s still lovely even though she breaks off their engagement to be with another man. Andy is a little bit sad about the loss of the future he had mapped out in his head—wife, kids, etc.—but Nick is right there for him because Nick is /always/ right there for Andy, every day and in every way. Their friendship is peak goals, really, their affection for each other gooey and oozing off the page like some kind of chocolate lava fountain of sweet devotion. Seriously, they connect in all the right ways and for all the right reasons, so kudos to the author for knowing and loving these characters so earnestly. I couldn’t have adored them more.

Set against a New York City backdrop in the late 1950s, the newspaper business takes center stage. If video killed the radio star, it didn’t do print news any favors either. The Chronicle is seeing a decline in its readership in the early days of television anchormen delivering the day’s headlines into people’s living rooms, and Andy being expected to take over at the helm of the family empire, such as it is, is leaving him somewhat paralyzed with fear of failing catastrophically. Cat Sebastian took such beautiful care with the tone and the setting of this story that it played like a background character as Nick, Andy, and the people they would eventually invite into their lives as friends and confidantes stroll through its pages.

"We Could Be So Good" is a story about wanting to live out loud when society demands you be silent. It’s a story about wanting to find your light when society demands you remain in the shadows. Nick grapples so hard with who he is that he’s determined to be alone forever even as Andy burrows under Nick’s doubts and fears and cuddles up against his need and longing to be Andy’s someone special. Andy has some fragile places too, which Nick shores up simply by being Nick. He shows his affection with food, and it’s a language that’s unmistakable.

This book is as heart-melting and soul-stirring as it could possibly be. A happy ending for two men, one of whom was certain he would never have one.

The way Cat Sebastian does queer historical romance is unparalleled. No matter the decade, no matter the setting, the vibes will always be on point, and she'll have me screaming into my pillow out of love/excitement/frustration/feels I just can't contain inside. Basically, I have loved everything I've read from her and so when I say We Could Be So Good is quite possibly my favourite thing she's ever written, you'll have a sense of how much I loved it!

WCBSG is set in NYC in the 1950s where Nick and Andy are reporters working at a newspaper. Andy's the boss's son and based on that alone, Nick is determined to hate him. That lasts all of 10 mins until he notices Andy's freckles and Nick begrudgingly decides that okay, maybe Andy isn't the worst person in the world, and they instead become fast friends. My fave trope is idiots-to-lovers and lucky for me, both Nick and Andy are oblivious idiots when it comes to each other, in the BEST way. The way that makes you want to crawl into the book and shove their faces together and go "now kiss" at them, self-worth and abandonment issues be damned! They're the best kind of grumpy/sunshine, strangers-to-friends-to-lovers, and I'm already so excited to reread the book because I miss them as if they were my actual friends.

As queer men in the 1950s, Nick and Andy's identities and relationship are direct dangers to themselves if anyone were to find out, and period typical homophobia, as well as internalized homophobia play big roles in the book. This, contrasted with the overwhelming love the guys have for each other, and the oppression of queer people and culture, feels achingly sad and infuriating. It doesn't make the book itself sad though as there's often a wonderful sense of hope and love woven throughout their struggles. However, it does show how Nick and Andy, as well as other queer people at the time, had to fight for and seek alternative solutions to find and keep the love they so deserve.

Like all of Cat Sebastian's books, We Could Be So Good has a nice sense of "eat the rich" and a focus on class differences and inequalities, and this one also has a great ACAB storyline. The writing is funny, sharp, and wonderful to read, and the characters are complex and nuanced.

In conclusion: I would die for Nick and Andy. Read this is you like historical romance, idiots-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, found family, soup, and/or Stucky.

Cat Sebastian has a way of drawing me into period romances in a way no other author has been able to do. This reads like the typical Cat book, angsty and heartwarming at the same time. Andy and Nick’s progression from reluctant friends, to roommates, to romance was a natural progression that didn’t feel forced and made for a swoon worthily coupling. The main conflict being the era of 1950s gay stigma could have been a detriment to the progression of their story, but it served as a way of bringing the two together more intensely. I very much enjoyed all of the side characters, and all of the cute romance before we even get ti the two fully admitting their feelings for one another

OMG, this book was absolute perfection.
Soft historic romance where both main characters are pinning for each other and do anything in their power to make the other person happy (it's the little details!). I am not someone that usually re-reads but I am seriously considering re=reading this book in the near future. I loved the setting (1950s New York vibe), both main characters and how their relationship slowly develops and all their mutual pinning.
Highly recommend!

I’ve been in a state of pure undiluted bliss since receiving an advance copy of Cat Sebastian’s upcoming 1950’s queer MM romance We Could Be So Good. More on this in a bit but gosh sometimes the universe delivers you a book at THE exact perfect time in which you require it. And friends this was that book.

I’d like to thank DJ over at Avon/HarperCollins for the advance copy (thank you thank you thank you), thoughts below are my own enjoy!

This romance is many things. It’s a gorgeous journey of love between two best friends. It’s funny. It’s sweet. It’s a little heartbreaking. It’s courage wrapped up in a comforting bowl minestrone soup. It was (and is) a deeply special and moving romance that I’m not sure I’ll ever stop thinking about.

Like all of Cat’s romances there is something so moving about how her leads interact (they actually really remind me of all the joyous things I love about KD Casey’s writing too). There is a deep and overwhelming earnestness to them. There is slow moving yearning that had me in a significant chokehold for most of this book. And of course there is just a FUCKING EASE in which Cat’s mains experience each other. And there is SO much fucking love that I might start-yes its happening-crying again.

Nick and Andy. Andy and Nick. Jesus fuck I loved these two. I loved them from the moment Nick started describing the human disaster (his human disaster) that is Andy Fleming. And loved that we got large parts where it was dedicated to one or the others POV rather than ping ponging each chapter. And the yes the central romance was seriously slow-burny and freaking delicious but it was a lot more.

The underlying tension and legitimate fear of being persecuted, harmed or even killed for who you are and who you so badly want to love is something that walks beside these two from start to end. which makes their intentional choices to choose each other–to love in other in spite of all that–so important.

And my word, the building of that found family and how important it is to have that in your life, especially when so many others wish to harm you simply because you are. The dinner party at Nicks place with the knee-cap threatening (affectionate) and the jazz music swaying and the joy. It’s been fully seared right into my bones. Forever.

And I think it should be part of everyone’s reading not just because it’s June and companies are going to start rainbow-washing the shit out of things. But because it’s a beautiful romance set in 1950’s New York between two queer men that fucking hate the Yankees, and I think that’s just neat.

Pick it up for:

• Feeding you is my love language
• If I loved you less I could talk about it more
• they were roommates!
• I want all my firsts to be with you
• I love you, so here is the world’s stupidest cat
• would you like to stay for dinner (would you like to stay forever)


Please go grab this on pre-order now, call your libraries to order it in and/or add it to your TBR now, it’s almost here (releasing June 6th 2023) and it’s everything.

And to my queer pals, please take good care of yourself during pride, be safe, be joyful and do things that fill your queer heart with everything it needs ok? Love you.

Cat Sebastian's new book, We Could Be So Good, is a delightful historical fiction about two mid-twenties guys finding love and acceptance in 1950's New York. The characters are warm and likeable from the start - although I pictured them being far closer to mid-thirties than their reported 25 years.. but this is most likely because I was seeing them as a little closer to my own age. I highly recommend this cozy warm read!

WE COULD BE SO GOOD- Cat Sebastian
Avon and Harper Voyage
ISBN: 978-0-06-327276-7
June 6, 2023
Historical Romance

New York City- 1958 and 1959

Nick Russo hates Andy Fleming. He can’t stand how Andy blushes at the slightest things and chews his fingernails but what he really can’t stand is how he is going to inherit The Chronicle, the newspaper where Nick works. This hate Nick has for Andy lasts for a few weeks before they become friends; best friends actually.

Nick has a secret. He is queer and he is deathly afraid that he would be found out. He keeps his distance from his family because of it and deflects questions about why he does not have a girlfriend. When Andy gets engaged, Nick is happy for him and can only hope that he still has a place in his life after he is married. When his engagement falls through, Andy winds up staying with Nick.

Set in the late 1950’s, WE COULD BE SO GOOD is set before the Stonewall riots when queer people were in hiding and scared that they would be arrested and vilified in court and in public opinion. Nick does not so much as come out as anger instead of fear starts to drives him.

I was born after the 1950’s, but I think the details in WE COULD BE SO GOOD is spot on from the language to the descriptions of the subway station in New York at the time. Andy is endearing and when he figures out that he is queer too, it is inevitable that he and Nick get together.

What is so great about WE COULD BE SO GOOD is the story is about two good people who fall in love with each other and you, the reader, fall in love with them too. The writing is stellar, the characters are divine, and the setting is wonderful. This is an incredible book and I can’t recommend it enough. Run out and get a copy of WE COULD BE SO GOOD today.


Avis Yarbrough

In 1950s New York, young reporter Nick has turned jaded by trying to fit into a world hostile to gay men. Then he's charmed by Andy, the affable newspaper owner's son. Andy is in over his head, trying to learn the business before his father retires due to ill health. For all their differences, Nick and Andy fit perfectly together. But will threats of blackmail tear them apart?

As much gay fiction as gay romance, this book balances Nick's existential struggles with Andy's wide-eyed good humor. They take care of each other, and make each other better. The book is smart, emotional, poignant, uplifting, and socially relevant. A brilliant novel by one of my favorite authors.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I am officially in love with Cat’s writing, now that I’m on book three of hers that I have read. Did I know that I needed to read a book about two people who have some very specific trauma but still manage to sort of be silly gooses, set at a 1950s newspaper? Actually, I think that summary explains everything that I love about Cat’s writing, which is lovely and the romance is so, so deliciously good. She manages to give us complicated people who haven’t had the easiest go of life, but also allows them to be silly and trivial and joyful, too. The deeper I got into the book, the more I was smiling, and that, for me, is always a sign that the book is really good.

So, if you love a good love story, one that allows people to have the HEA even when it isn’t easy, I would highly recommend this book.

When I saw this book mentioning Newsies, I couldn’t have clicked “request” any faster. I had to “seize the day.”

We Could Be So Good is based in the 1950’s in NYC and stars Nick (the star reporter!) and the newspaper owner’s son, Andy. It was a bit of a slow start, but I was hooked from the beginning. I am slightly ashamed of myself for being so ignorant of the history; I vaguely knew of the Stonewall Riots but it didn’t really click for me how bad it really was for the gay community. Needless to say, Nick is not out or openly gay.

And Andy is just his best friend…until he gets dumped and stays with Nick. And then he starts to examine his feelings more.

I loved watching them fall in love, or more specifically, recognize themselves as already in love. Nick and Andy were like two halves of a whole; both just wanting the best for the other. We Could Be So Good was sweet and loving and adorable and another great read by Cat Sebastian.

Thank you to Avon Books for the review copy.

This gave me so many fuzzy feelings! I was worried it would be too depressing since this takes place in a pre-stonewall NYC. Since it's the 1950s there is a real danger that the character will be arrested.

However, Nick and Andy found so much happiness together in their little bubble, and found acceptance in unexpected places. They had great chemistry and adorable banter.