Incredibly tender, gentle, and touching m/m friends-to-lovers romance set in mid-century New York City. I really appreciated that WE COULD BE SO GOOD was low conflict even at its most fraught moments, which was exactly what my sensitive soul needed. At the same time, Cat Sebastian manages to milk deep emotion from the subtle moments of life: someone making his boyfriend's mother soup recipe; an unexpected character awkwardly acknowledging another's sexuality without judgement. By the end of the novel, I was left with a sense of hope of how the world could be—and the ways in which humans create their own hidden societies to reflect these hopes.

For these reasons and more Cat Sebastian has become an autoread for me when it comes to romance.

This book THIS BOOK, pulled me out of my 1 month reading slump and I will be forever grateful to Cat Sebastian for that.

This is a mid century MM romance between Nick a reporter and Andy the son of the owner of the paper. It’s a slow burn starting with a tentative friendship to a passionate, sweet romance. I loved how low angst it was and how there really wasn’t that much of a plot. Seriously I’m loving books that are more vibes and less plot. The book is filled with mornings drinking coffee, going to the grocery store and watching TV. And it’s just perfect in every way.

You can always count on Sebastian for social issues being discussed organically in her romances and this story is no different. Nick is writing a story about NYC police corruption and his own brother is a cop. I also love the criticism of Robert Moses. As usual I’m looking forward to seeing what Sebastian writes next!

Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second read by Cat Sebastian and it didn’t disappoint. A queer historical (?!) romance set in 1950’s New York told from alternating points of view by characters Nick and Andy that will pull you in with its gritty, humorous and sometimes heartbreaking look at the lives of a gay reporter and bisexual newspaper publisher.

I loved it. I thought it was sweet and warm and just so very, very lovely. Cat Sebastian did a great job of not only writing a romance, but writing a story about family and expectations as well.

I had previously read (and loved) both Kit Webb and Marian Hayes, and with this, it's official - I will read whatever Cat Sebastian writes. I think my only complaint here is that I inhaled this in less than a day and now it's over.

But, starting at the beginning. Nick Russo is a journalist on the Chronicle's city desk who maintains a gruff facade and keeps people at arm's length. After all, it's the 1950s, and if anyone were to learn that Nick's gay, he'd lose everything. Enter Andy Fleming, the son of the Chronicle's owner, who is basically a gentle duckling struggling to take care of himself in a world that has never quite taken care of him enough. Nick and Andy quickly become best friends, then roommates, then...

Sebastian has built a rich and well-researched version of 1950s NYC as a backdrop against which the characters' relationships shine--Nick and Andy, of course, but also a cast of compelling and loveable side characters (Emily!!). There's also a cat who is not very good at being a cat, who is sure to delight fans of Rob's penchant for wayward pets.

The blend of friends-to-lovers and idiots-to-lovers certainly lends itself to a bit of miscommunication, but instead of the frustrating "just talk already!" type of miscommunication, it's the kind where you understand why the characters' individual fears and doubts hold them back and you just want to hug them both and make them soup. (Because yes, homemade soup is indeed a cure all, as Nick would have you know.)

Readers should go in aware that it is the 1950s and homophobia - with the all the risks of violence and societal/familial rejection it entails - is a very real fear driving characters' choices throughout. However, it's not a story about bringing that violence and isolation to a head; it's about found family, queer joy, and the ways we can look out for each other in a world that can be rough to go alone.


Content warnings: homophobia, threats from police, bullying and mild physical injury (off page), parental death (past/referenced)

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cat Sebastian is an auto-read for me. This time out, it’s a romance set in a newsroom in 1950s New York.

Nick is a reporter who often works on dangerous stories, such as police corruption in a time when his being queer could easily be used to destroy his career and his entire life. The newspaper owner’s son, Andy, shows up and is a bit flighty, but Nick figures the boss is just getting Andy familiar with the company before he takes over. That’s mostly true, but Andy truly does want to learn, but he’d much rather work in the newsroom than be the boss.

This one reminds me a bit of some of the romantic comedy films of the 1950s, though it treats their situation seriously. The characters are just shy of being the hard-boiled journalist and the ditzy blonde, but that evokes the era and it’s not overdone. I do like that the POV switches sometimes so you see what both are thinking, so you know whether or not they’re on the same page or just being idiots.

There’s a dose of real history in the plot, but that’s not the focus. It’s about Nick and Andy, their co-workers, friends, and family members who forge their own community despite the cultural norms of the time. Granted, a lot of this is due to wealth, but this isn’t glossed over, it’s just a fact.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I came across this book randomly and I was not expecting it to be THAT good but omg!! I am so glad that I decided to read this book after all. Thank you NetGalley for providing me this ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I liked this book, particularly the relationship between the two main protagonists. Their personalities were both well-established and their romance not cloyingly sweet or unrealistic. However, the plot is kind of bland. There is little danger or conflict aside from the interpersonal kind. That’s not a bad thing, particularly in a romance novel, but some key aspects to the narrative (e.g., an investigation into police mishandling evidence) are not really explored and would have helped flesh out the time-period and newspaper environment.

Cat Sebastian consistently writes clever, humorous and relatively low-angst gay romance, and "We Could Be So Good" is no exception.

This book broke me into a million pieces and put me back together again. A priority purchase for most libraries with romance readers

Cat Sebastian is an auto-buy author for me. We Could Be So Good continues this trend. Nick Russo is a city reporter who has been making strides professionally. He is caged in personally by his past and relationships with his family. Andy Fleming is the slightly (okay, perhaps more than slightly) spacey heir to The Chronicle who stands to takeover a paper he isn’t sure he wants. These two quickly become friends after Nick helps Andy escape from a minor file cabinet mishap. Andy good-naturedly stumbles through lots in life, but I loved watching him begin to fight for what he wants in life from personally to professionally. Nick uses his size and a gruff exterior to keep people at an arms length, but he shows how he cares through actions - cooking, keeping track of Andy’s keys, feeding a stray cat. We absolutely recommend this one!

I am a big fan of author Cat Sebastian, and her new book is an original and thoroughly engaging story of two men working in 1950's New York City journalism. They are good friends, but Nick has secret feelings for Andy that he knows are not reciprocated. Except maybe he comes to realize he might be wrong about that. This romance is a slow burn with plenty of mixed signals, but the journey is so worth taking. Highly recommended.

This book had a really slow start and to be honest there wasn’t anything that jumped out at me that made me want to invest more in the story. Nevertheless I got through the first half and I started to feel a little more connected to the characters.

In the end I wanted more story. I feel like a lot transpired and we didn’t get to see the romantic portion of the relationship really grow. The end felt incomplete and as the reader I wanted to explore their relationship in society since the time period was crucial to the story.

It was cute and easy to read but just wasn’t the story for me.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I could not put this book down! Nick and Andy’s story was so touching and genuine. I thought both protagonists felt so unique and real, and their story was so refreshing. The historical context was also very well-established! You can tell the author did their research. Overall, I couldn’t recommend this book enough. Nick and Andy will be occupying my mind and heart for the foreseeable future.

We Could Be So Good
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


This book… I almost have no words. I am madly in love with this book. 💙

I don’t read a lot of historical romance these days, and I don’t read a lot of MM romance either (not due to lack of interest/support but in an over-abundance of caution to avoid authors who fetishize LGBTQ+ lives and experiences). I am so glad I requested this ARC, though, and that I got approved bc, I would have missed out on this.

The book is a dual POV- switching between Nick and Andy as they try to navigate their relationship in a time when being openly gay was illegal. They both have a lot of growing to do on their own as well, and it all comes together in a well-written, sometimes funny, sometimes thought-provoking way.


What I loved about this one:
✔️ Friends-to-lovers
✔️ Found family
✔️ Grumpy/sunshine
✔️ HEA/HFN that didn’t gloss over the reality of the time period
✔️ Nick & Andy were a team: it’s not that the book was drama/angst-free, but the drama didn’t come from them hurting one another

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon/Harper Voyager, and Cat Sebastian for a chance to read this funny, moving, and all-around lovely story.

Read dates: 04/03/2023- 04/05/2023
Goodreads review: posted 04/05/2023
Instagram review: posted 04/06/2023

We Could Be So Good is a delightful queer romance between journalists in 1950s New York. Cat Sebastian creates a poignant mood, with charming characters who ultimately just want the chance to wake up with their person each day.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nick worked his way up to his job as a newsroom reporter. When newspaper heir Andy shows up to learn what actually happens at the paper, Nick thinks he’s good looking, but wasting everyone’s time. Andy quickly endears himself to Nick, and Nick ends up taking the sometimes bumbling Andy under his wing. The two become the best of friends. But Nick worries what Andy would do if he finds out that Nick is gay and is attracted to him. For Andy’s part, he’s learning to accept his attraction to women and men. But in an era when gay men’s sexuality regularly gets them arrested, how can they address their feelings?

I loved this book so much! Andy and Nick are wonderfully complex and likable characters. Their circumstances feel legitimately perilous at times. But Andy’s optimism, and Nick’s drive and loyalty shine through. Nick understandably holds himself at a distance from friends, family, coworkers, and community. But when he lets himself get close to Andy, he eventually feels less isolated from everyone else too.

I surprised myself and really enjoyed the late 1950s setting. While it’s not all that long ago, it’s definitely a historical romance. The premise is original, and Cat Sebastian clearly did her homework and makes Andy and Nick’s New York feel authentic.

I adored We Could Be So Good. Andy and Nick are strong, smart and sweet characters, and their story is touching and satisfying. Cat Sebastian’s 1950s felt real enough that I was almost worried about them getting their own HEA. But never fear, Andy and Nick get the ending they richly deserve.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I generally describe Cat Sebastian's work as, "stories about queer, chronically ill or neurodivergent people finding and deserving love and happiness." That central thesis certainly holds true with this new work, and I have to say, it's one of my favorite things she's published thus far. Which is a high bar.

The sense of place and time really stays with you - reading it drops you into 1950s Brooklyn with no effort, an indication that the author did a great deal of research

It's a story that's gentle and kind, without being saccharine or unrealistic. Beautifully written and guaranteed to give you a book hangover.

When June 6th rolls around, I'm going to be pushing this book on everyone I know. I'm going to be insufferable. Apologies and prepare yourself if you know me in real life.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for an ARC of We Could Be So Good via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. You've got a winner on your hands!

Circa 2017, I was in a book club with some friends that centered on queer stories and a friend put The Lawrence Browne Affair in my hands. I still remember that tremendous moment vividly when I held in my possession a printed book about gay men. Someone out there was telling stories about people like me, and someone else thought they were important enough to print them. It wasn’t so long ago that queer novels were difficult to find. Of course, as depicted in We Could Be So Good, writers such as Mary Renault have been writing these stories for a long time, but one had to go looking. There was nothing so obvious to depict two men together on a book cover, leaving nothing to the imagination. My grandmother is a romance fan and I grew up watching her read romance paperbacks with a straight couple on the cover in such a state of intimate, lustful embrace. The title was always something about desire or passion or hunger. It was blatant, never ashamed, and never hiding. In just a few short years, the amount of queer stories has exploded. I recently pondered that there’s now enough LGBTQ+ novels that I don’t ever have to read about straight people again if I don’t want to. But for me, it started with Lawrence Browne, with Cat Sebastian, with the opportunity to hold something in my hands that others have had for a long time, easily taken for granted. It’s my turn now.

We Could Be So Good is a novel about many things, but especially about telling stories and finding space in the world to belong. Nick Russo is a reporter at the Chronicle, one of the city’s largest newspapers. After the son of the Chronicle’s owner gets dumped on his plate, Nick takes it upon himself to show Andy Fleming the ropes. Andy is helpless, a hopeless case who needs looking after, and it isn’t long before the two men are both working and living alongside each other. But Nick has a secret that would land him in jail in the 1950s and could possibly lose him Andy, someone he’s become increasingly fond of despite his best interest.

We Could Be So Good thrives in the character of Nick, someone who’s long accepted he has to be alone and endure a mostly empty life of small, fleeting moments with strangers. His relationships with his family, with his neighbors and with Andy show that while rugged, scary and hard on the outside, he’s all soft and gooey on the inside. And thus there’s nothing more satisfying than watching him find his community, make friends, and come home to someone who’s waiting for him. Andy and Nick are magnetic; their friendship is easy, amusing, filling. Settling into the story was the epitome of curling up with a blanket in a cozy spot for something that will make you feel just as cozy on the inside. Cat Sebastian is a master at crafting a slow-burn love story, something that satisfies the need we all have to be accepted and understood and loved. But it’s a mixed bag, of something simple and familiar, and something wise that serves as a reminder. We’ve come a long way since the 1950s, but people still walk the streets every day being themselves like it’s a badge of honor, and a shield against hatred and bigotry. We should never have to be ashamed again; there will always be a new revolt, a new opportunity to remind everyone that we’re here. We’re not going anywhere. Like history, our stories are now forever lined in ink.

We Could Be So Good is an enchanting friends-to-lovers so sweet you’ll need to call your dentist. It's also an essential & timely reminder that before Pride was a parade, it was a riot.

Andy & Nick are helpless, hopeless romantics (respectively). Upon meeting, Nick is a grumpy, isolated reporter who attained his position by way of honed talent & a touch of luck. He is working on pieces to expose police corruption, even as he’s absolutely terrified of being prosecuted as a gay man, perhaps even by his own cop brother. Andy is the absent-minded heir to a prominent, left-leaning newspaper, dreading the day he'll be responsible for anyone else. To some degree, this is understandable, given Andy’s clumsy enough to be an occupational hazard & can't seem to keep track of his keys (or anything else, for that matter).

Their dynamic is perfectly encapsulated by this, “Andy bumps into things and funnels coffee down his throat and Nick looks on and pretends not to be utterly, dementedly fond.” Their love story begins with pining so intense it could worsen a heart condition. After a bi-awakening and some adorably awkward mumbled professions, they fall into a peaceful domesticity they're both a little afraid of but desperate to protect. This domestic bliss is, truly, the crowning jewel of this love story. Never has an author made the mundane realities of cohabitation so utterly captivating. But that’s the whole damn point though, isn’t it?

Against the backdrop of treacherous historical realities, the queer fantasy is a little boring: safety & belonging. The queer fantasy is being utterly normal in a crappy New York apartment alongside your scatterbrained, cinnamon-roll boyfriend and the insolent, idiotic stray cat you can't help but leave the window open for. The queer fantasy is an idle hope that our love stories & happily-ever-afters will no longer be plagued by tragedy & caveats. Most would say these apparently small asks are far from fantasies. Yet seeing them explored on page can feel as fantastical to queer folks as any highbrow fantasy epic.

While We Could Be so Good deviates some from Sebastian's previous work, it retains all the familiar charm & wit. For one thing, the door is no longer wide open, so to speak, but is still cracked. This choice suits the tone more than a fervent erotic scene would. It certainly doesn’t feel like anything is missing; their tension is still unbearable and the pay-off is phenomenal. Another shift in Sebastian’s approach is the generous sprinkling of direct references to historical realities, including specific books, figures, and events. Most characters & details are still fictional, of course, but the backdrop has more frequent, obvious nods to real events. This shift is valuable and, I suspect, deliberate. It contributes essential gravity to a responsible contextualization, honoring our queer predecessors & history. Sebastian brilliantly balances explorations of their political climate & their love story, navigating the unfortunate overlaps of those two spheres. This is always a delicate dance, especially in queer historicals, but Sebastian has never failed to handle it masterfully.

Cat Sebastian is bound & determined to give queer folks the happily-ever-afters we deserve. As a result, I'm resolved to slurp up her every word and lick the goddamn bowl. By which I mean, I was honored to have received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tropes: bi-awakening, grumpy-sunshine, pining, best friends-to-lovers, workplace romance, hurt comfort (x2), domestic bliss, a dumb cat, realistic first time, found family (queer), ACAB, queer resistance, infernal freckles

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Publisher for this advanced copy.

4.5 stars!!

We Could Be So Good was such a sweet book. It was slow burning romance and I loved both Nick and Andy's POVs. I also loved Emily especially in Epilogue. Plus, I finished this book in one day!! Such a page turner.

My only complaint was the marketing : Newsies shippers said : "Colleen Hoover meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo". Well, this book didn't look like any CoHo books. And it was great that this book wasn't give me an CoHo books.