I’ve saved this to read for various unexplainable reasons. The timing of finally reading it lined up perfectly in my life so the universe does have a sense of humor. Anyway.

Reading this book felt like getting a giant gulp of air after holding my breath a tad too long in the pool as a kid. Just kind of stark, unfettered relief. The MC’s are gloriously human and well painted by Cat. Grief is a large part of the book. But it’s not the focus. The focus is a tender and sweet slow burn love story between Eddie and Mark. Two people that could not be more different yet somehow impossibly work. It’s about finding hope again, and finding love even when it’s scary.

You don’t need me to sell you on it. I say that a lot in my reviews. But this is another book that will be greatly loved by Cat’s fans and even by new readers. Deservedly so. I always feel special to get ARC’s for books that I know will leave an undeniable mark on the genre. And this is one of those.

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian was one of my favorite books of 2023. It was the first novel by Cat Sebastian that I read and I've since read several more of her novels and novella. You Should Be So Lucky is her newest work and my new favorite by her.

You Should Be So Lucky is set in the same world as We Could Be So Good. It takes place a few years after the events of that book and features the same newspaper and its lead characters, Nick and Andy, in supporting roles. You don't need to read We Could Be So Good before you read You Should Be So Lucky, but if you do some scenes are especially enjoyable.

The story follows Mark, who was a supporting character in the previous book, as he is assigned by Andy to do a series of articles on a newly transferred baseball player named Eddie. Eddie has gotten some bad press recently and is having a terrible season with his new team. Mark, who has suffered his own major loss, sees potential in Eddie's story and decides to take the job.

What I love most about You Should Be So Lucky are the characters. I did not expect to instantly love Mark and Eddie, but both characters are relatable in different ways and very likable. I love romance novels where the characters are enjoyable separately and together; these two characters and their relationship are examples of that done perfectly. Both of their POVs were a delight to read, and their scenes together crackled with chemistry and were so incredibly sweet. I was completely invested in their story within a few chapters!

I also love the themes of the novel. The story is largely about overcoming personal obstacles and coping with grief and big life changes. The themes are echoed in both Mark and Eddie's stories but also in the stories of some of the wonderful side characters. Still, even with the heavier theme, the novel's tone stays hopeful and light. The characters and their resilience feel inspiring and celebratory instead of ever being maudlin or cynical.

You Should Be So Lucky is my favorite kind of romance novel. The characters are great, the romance often had me wanting to squeal like a teenager, and there's depth beyond even the romance. It's a romance with layers that uses baseball as a lovely metaphor for life.

Cat Sebastian has quickly become one of my favorite romance writers and this is the best book that I've read by her. If you enjoy historical queer romance, I can't recommend her books enough, especially You Should Be So Lucky!

I'd like to give a huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher (HarperCollins) for this chance to read an advance copy of one of my favorite author's work in exchange for an honest review.

And, to be honest, I was a little uncertain about this book upon reading the synopsis. Despite Sebastian being pretty much my go-to author for queer historical romance, there were several things that I wasn't sure I'd like.

Like, I don't consider the 1960's to really be historical, I am not a fan of the so called grumpy/sunshine romances and finally, a solid 95% of my knowledge and fan-ness for sports goes securely to hockey.

But, really, I should have had confidence that this book would be as amazing for me as all Sebastian's other works.

Taking place in the 1960's is really more of a backdrop and is used to inform us readers of the society of the times (and a little look into what being queer in that time would be like) and is very understated and doesn't at all try-hard like a lot of other mid-century 'historical' books I've read.

The romance is wonderful and soft and sweet. I love the fact that the guys are so careful with each other - and themselves - and there is plenty of conversations and kissing before the sex. (Though I most assuredly do not consider this slow-burn.) Mark is, honestly, not grumpy - he's just a cat in human form. He's fussy and particular, likes to gripe and complain, can unleash his claws, but what he really wants is to be told he's important. Eddie is…a golden retriever that was accidentally crossed with a chihuahua, because he has more bite to him than I have ever seen in a 'sunshine' character.

All in all, everything about the romance makes me very happy. (Add to the fact that there is no melodrama, no late-story separation and no misunderstandings and this book feels like an old favorite in all the best ways, just a calm, relaxing romance.)

About the baseball…Well, it was a decently important part of the story, but as someone that knows very little - and the little they do know they picked up by osmosis from a dad and a brother that were/are baseball fans… It worked. It was easy to follow and things were explained well enough without getting into the minutia. (And, I mean, it's no hockey, but we all knew that going into it.)

Finally, I want to say that I love the attention to community this book had. It wasn't huge, but it was there and very important for both Mark and Eddie. They needed people they could be true to themselves around while also being safe, and I really think they found it and I am glad for them.

This book was a very sweet, very easy to read romance and I am so happy I got this chance to read it.

Review crossposted to Netgalley/Goodreads.

“You Should Be So Lucky” is a heartbreaking and heartwarming novel. Mark is a 28 year old magazine and newspaper writer in 1960 New York City. He’s just barely surviving after a tragic loss over a year ago. He goes to work at his friend’s newspaper but does nothing, His friends try to get him to start to move on but he’s too sad to do so. Eddie is a 22 year old phenomenal baseball player for the Kansas City pro team. He has friends on the team and it’s close to where is Mom lives so he she her frequently. So, when Eddie is told that he’s been traded to a new expansion team in New York City, he has a very public and well reported toxic meltdown. Eddie says some horrible things about his new manager, teammates and the team….and they all know it when he reports t his new locker room and nobody talks to him. He’s lonely, hates everything about New York City and the team and has fallen into an inexplicable batting slump. He and Mark meet when Mark is asked to ghostwrite a baseball “diary” under Eddie’s name. That both men are queer at very scary time for all queer people, both having to hide who they really are is at the crux of of their budding relationship. Gut wrenching and celebratory, much like “Band the Drum Slowly,” this is a love letter to baseball and all forms of love. You’ll laugh and cry and be happy doing both.

I received a copy of this book as an electronic advanced reader's copy from the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I am very torn on my feelings of this book. When I read the summary for this book, I was excited to read a queer love story in the 1960's about a baseball player and a news reporter. Eddie O'Leary is a 22 year old baseball player who just got traded to the NY Robins and is having a massive slump. Mark Bailey is a 28 year old news reporter who is a bit down and typically writes scathing book reviews and lifestyle articles. His editor assigns him to write "diaries" for Eddie O'Leary, and Mark finds himself spending time in the Robins' locker room and getting to know O'Leary. They develop a fondness for each other, which develops into a love story. And it goes on for there. For 400 pages. And it feels about 80 pages too long.

I wanted to love this so much, but there were parts I actively did not enjoy, and by the end I was ready for the book to be over. I did enjoy Eddie and Mark as characters, and how they both find each other when they are low and inspire each other to grow and become better versions of themselves. I liked the side characters. I liked the baseball elements. I felt that some of the behaviors and interactions between Eddie and Mark felt very 2020 not 1960. There were a lot of scenes in this book, and I do not think it needed the "Part V" Fall and Winter pages. The author could have tied off some of those "loose ends" in the September section, and finish it at the end of the season. I also think this book suffered a bit of identity crisis-- it wasn't light enough to be a fluffy rom-com beach read, it sometimes seemed like it was trying to dip its toe in literary fiction, but then it had some smutty scenes as well. I also felt like this was advertised as "grump and sunshine" trope, but the grump was pretty sweet and the sunshine could be a real asshole at times, so I would say this isn't really grump and sunshine.

I didn't hate this. I didn't love it. I am glad I read it, but it almost put me in a reading slump, much like Eddie's batting slump in the beginning of the book.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of You Should Be So Lucky.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have always enjoyed Cat Sebastian's books and this one is added to the list. I thought the character development was great and it was nice to see the progressiveness of some of the older characters. The author's ability to bring you into the times of the book and have you understand the risks and potential dangers that might have happened was very insightful. She has a way to draw you into the characters very quickly and you feel invested almost immediately. I was happy that I did not need to have a ton of baseball knowledge to be able to follow along with the terminology. While the story line was a little predictable, it did not diminish the joy I felt in reading the story.

After being thoroughly obsessed with @catswrites book We Could Be So Good, I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy of her latest. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best and was delighted to receive an ARC.

Eddie O’Leary is star baseball player who is in a slump. He also says dumb things to reporters sometimes, and when he found out he was getting traded, he went on a tirade. Mark Bailey is a writer, who is tasked with ghostwriting columns for Eddie, essentially to make him more likable. They become friends, and more…

Things I loved about this book:
The writing in this novel is SUPERB. I got 5% in and thought to myself “oh no.. I fear I have a new favorite book” and I was right. I immediately was hooked into the story and I lost my marbles watching these two fall for each other.
God, how I loved Eddie. I wanted to, as one woman says, fold him up and put him in my pocket. Not only is he funny in a self deprecating way that I find relatable, but damn it he loves hard. He’s so trusting. I wanted to hug him.
Mark. My angel, my lovely. My grieving man. I was crying with him. I lost it at the scene with the cherries. Literally tears streaming down my face. He was so prickly and grumpy and you just had to root for him.
I loved the team, especially once they forgave Eddie. The manager really turned it around. His honesty and working to get sober? Hell yeah.
The grief in this novel was so well done. SO WELL DONE.
Loved seeing my friends from WCBSG in this one!! Andy and Nick and Lillian and Maureen!!
George. 🥹😭 oh that ending had me crying.
Eddies mother. What a goddamn gem.
The key to the apartment.
The sexy scenes were perfect. Loved that communication and learning each other.
The epilogue!!!!

Y’all I literally highlighted half of the book. Please preorder your copy (from @femmefirebooks for personalized and signed copies and some swag) and enjoy with me. I cannot WAIT to annotate a physical copy.

LOVED this! We Could Be So Good was one of my favorite books of 2023, and I'm so thrilled Cat Sebastian wrote a companion novel with You Should Be So Lucky (please, Cat, give us another one!). I love historical romance, and historical fiction in general, that is set in less-featured periods, and these books so perfectly feature late 50s/1960 New York City and especially newsrooms, baseball, and queer life in the city. I adored grumpy, grieving reporter Mark Bailey who is reluctantly covering the new team, the Robins, and particularly their infamous new player Eddie O'Leary, who badmouthed the team and is now going through a terrible batting slump while he adjusts to his new city and team. I'm also a long suffering Mets fan from a family who has followed them since they were the new team, so I loved watching the Robins and their journey, just as I enjoyed the world of reporters.

Mark and Eddie's early friendship and attraction are built up gently and realistically, and then, like the previous novel, Sebastian expertly depicts a sweet, genuine journey to happiness. While they're both dealing with their own problems - grief, fear, job worries - there is the ongoing pleasant surprise that nothing very bad will happen in these books. There are no arrests or traumatic outings. Instead, Sebastian shows the reality of two people fumbling their way to a future together despite the personal, professional, and societal obstacles to one. Her writing is both so funny and sharp and so heartwarming and touching. I really, really hope there are more books in this series.

Thank you Net Galley and Avon for the ARC! Newspaper columnist Mark Bailey is tasked with creating a new column covering the NY Robin's new Shortstop, Eddie O'Leary, but when opposites attract during the 1960 baseball season, can love hit a home run? Eddie O'Leary's time with the Robin's has been off to a terrible start. His lack of enthusiam for his trade onto the team, coupled with a sudden batting slump, has him feeling isolated and hated by his new home. Though Eddie's been portrayed as a tempermental hotheaded, Mark sees beyond this persona to the lonely young man who was just yanked away from his home and is now facing a career ending slump. As Mark interview's Eddie for a special column, the two quickly bond. Mark is the first person to be understanding of Eddie's situation (as well as simply kind to him), and Eddie's warmth and friendliness melt through Mark's exterior grumpiness to the wounded heart of a man recovering from grief. As friendship turns to love, can Mark and Eddie find a way to be together as society (and celebrity) is structured to keep them apart? With authentic characters and emotion and fascinating setting, Cat Sebastian's You Should Be So Lucky is an engaging historical romance. You Should Be So Lucky is a companion book to We Could Be So Good and features appearances by Andy and Nick.

Cat Sebastian is quickly becoming a favorite author for me. I loved We Could Be So Good and while this was a bit different, I loved this one as well. I really enjoy reading about this time period in historical fiction. Reading about how queer men had to navigate during this time is a refreshing take on a genre that typically focuses on earlier time periods. The discussion on grief and life slumps was handled with care and these were some of my favorite moments of the book. I loved the cameos from some of my favorite characters, and I can’t wait to see more of them in future books.

A truly touching and warming blast from the past story! I loved the simplicity of the story and the time period chosen to tell the story.

“What I can tell you is that whatever calamity you're imagining? There's a day after that."
This book had no right being so heartwarming! Loved the characters, the romance, and how it portrayed different types of grief. I think I even liked this one even better than We Could Be So Good. Cat Sebastian just keeps getting better! Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC!!

This was such a sweet romance.
lately, I've been looking for something softer and romantic in my books and this was just what I needed.

This was a beautiful story between Eddie our baseball player and Mark our reporter. It has beautiful elements of a slow-burn romance which I LOVE, truly cannot get enough of that trope.

Their chemistry is magnetic and I loved watching their relationship grow and progress as they got to know each other and spend time together. While I loved our main focus on our MMCs I enjoyed the stop-off with some of our secondary characters.

There are elements of baseball, found family, grief, and loss all wrapped up in a bow to create a beautiful sweet love story.

This was my first Cat Sebastian book and i look forward to reading many more!

This was my first foray into Cat Sebastian's books and it's safe to say that I'm now a fan! You Should Be So Lucky has all my favorite things--queer romance, baseball, journalism, Shirley Jackson, midcentury New York--what more can you ask for! I couldn't put this book down; I devoured it in three days and already miss Mark and Eddie. Sebastian writes about loss and hope and grieving so tenderly, but for a book that features these themes so intently, it never feels heavy; instead, reading this feels like a warm hug, or being wrapped up in your favorite sweater (just like Mark). The research and attention to detail is so evident throughout; you can tell that the author truly loves both the subject matter and the world she's created. With a touching love story at its center and a fantastic cast of supporting characters, this is a book you won't want to put down. It's a beautifully written and well-researched story about love and grief and baseball, and I can't wait for more people to have the opportunity to read it!

This was beautiful, and it did make me cry at the end! Sebastian has a gift for writing sweet and slow queer romance, and I love how well she captures the 50s/60s era. Tailored suits! Rampant alcoholism! Restaurant dinners that cost $1.50! The details she chooses paint a rich picture of the time without bogging down the story.

This wasn’t a quick read for me. It’s not a high-drama, page-turning book—the reader watches the relationship blossom at a pace that feels totally realistic, building delicious tension along the way. I really enjoyed watching Eddie and Mark get to know each other and slowly come to realize that they can make a relationship work.

My only complaint is that I wish there was more relationship-based interpersonal conflict between the two main characters. I’m old fashioned in my love for third act breakups, I know, so the lack of one here will probably be a plus for a lot of people. But this was my issue with the first book in this series, too—the characters are just too sweet and gentle with one another! I need some toxicity! I need someone to purposefully cutting and mean! Mark does a little bit of that, but Eddie never rises to the bait, and they never actually fight or hurt each other. For an angst lover like me, it wasn’t enough.

The thing is, there IS angst in spades in this book, it’s just angst due to external factors. The conflict stems from homophobia and the tragic end of Mark’s previous relationship, both of which are extremely heavy topics. While difficult to read about, the homophobia brings the time period to life and makes it all the sweeter when Mark and Eddie choose happiness and each other despite the danger it puts them in. The death of Mark’s partner is just really freaking sad, and while I can’t say I enjoyed that aspect of the book, I thought Sebastian wrote about loss quite wisely and beautifully. I found it a little odd that the death of Eddie’s father didn’t get the same kind of treatment as other losses in the book—it happened when Eddie was 12, which seems pretty major—but it didn’t take away too much from the book for me.

I’ve also noticed an interesting class dynamic in Sebastian’s books. She writes romance novels about queer people in eras that were not friendly to open queerness, and she seems to know that the best way have a happy ending in such circumstances is to have a lot of money. I have pretty neutral feelings about that, but I’ll say that it’s the one part of her books that really feels like a fairy tale.

Overall,this is a lovely, deeply satisfying romance, but it isn’t light or breezy. Keep that in mind going in and enjoy! Thank you to NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading Cat Sebastian’s work and I’m dazzled. I was so fascinated by the era in which this story about Eddie and Mark takes place—coins for phone booth calls, typewriters, and of course, the importance of absolute discretion for certain relationships are things most people hardly think twice about anymore. This was a heartfelt slow burn with snappy dialogue and lots of likable (and accepting!) characters, and I’m still thinking about it days later.

5/5 stars.

i LOVED this book.

When I saw this book on NetGalley, I leapt in without knowing a thing about it. I went in knowing I loved "We Could Be So Good," and that there was a baseball dude on the cover. And I was not the least bit disappointed. It took me like 2 days and 3 tries to write this, and I still don't think it's enough.

<b> Let's get started with a plot summary [insert sparkles here]: </b>
Former golden-boy and all-star rookie player Eddie O'Leary is struck out on the worst batting slump in baseball history after being transferred to a crappy team he didn't want to join. His media reputation is less than sightly after mouthing off to reporters and trash-talking his new team.

Enter Mark Bailey. Mark Bailey is a reclusive reporter who's hardly done any reporting (or leaving his apartment) since falling into a self-destructive grief spiral over a partner that's already been gone a year. He's not really a reporter anymore, and he's definitely not a sports reporter. But when his editor asks him to ghost-write a diary series on the angry, failing shortstop that's taken public attention? Well, he's back on the case, chasing after obnoxious angry ball players in sweaty decrepit locker rooms.

Eddie sees Mark, and his heart stops. He doesn't think he's ever seen a man so wondrously pretty before. He's headstrong, naive, and comes off totally the wrong way. But he sits down with Mark for the interviews. Mark is shocked when he finds out his charge really isn't who he thought he was going to be. He's struggling to continue his normal standard of scathing, brutally honest reporting, but he just can't help himself. Especially not when everything he writes seems to effect Eddie so intensely.

And then they Keep talking. It's no longer reporting anymore, but he doesn't know quite what to call it. Eddie reads Mark's favorite books and calls him in the middle of the night to talk about it. He watches Eddie's games more for Eddie than for the articles. They eat dinner together every night, and Eddie's made best friends with Mark's dog. Suffice it to say, Mark's terrified.

<i> QUE ANGST. QUE PINING. QUE SWEET MOMENTS THAT HAD ME KICKING MY FEET AND SMILING TO MYSELF </i>

--------

The characters, the pining, the adorable displays of affection, THE WRITING. This book like completely enveloped me and had me wrapped up in the characters and their entire life stories. The characters were more than perfect, they were real. Cat Sebastian managed to write real people, who make mistakes, who aren't perfect, who grieve and mourn in ways that aren't always the best. But, at the end of the day, they're people trying their best to do right by one another, and it was BEAUTIFUL.

The writing is nothing short of utterly captivating. Not just the style, but the language, the pacing, the attention to detail, and the character development. With all masterfulness and prose, Cat Sebastian weaves together this wonderful picture of what these two characters look like, and how they interact with the world as well as one another. The writing is just so vivid that I could literally see what was happening on page. I'm not a super visual person, but without shoving endless details and world-building down our throats, the author painted a wonderful picture of what was happening at literally every moment in the book. And again, for the attention to detail: if I hadn't read the Acknowledgements, I would've just assumed that the author was a professional Baseball Enthusiast. But upon hearing otherwise? Hello?? I respect everything that went into this. All I know about baseball is that dudes wear rather impractical white outfits to roll around in grass and red dirt and catch really hard balls if they manage to somehow hit them with a long metal bat. Oh, and the umpires are grumpy.

When I said earlier that the characters are real people, I truly mean it. They have their own lives, they have their own interests, they have hobbies and friends and unique worldviews. So often romance novels focus only on the relationships between the two love interests, and this was the exact opposite of that.

Cat Sebastian wrote about a baseball team struggling to get their act together, struggling to fully become a team-- but still a group of men that looked out for each other, and valued one's success as <i> their success </i>. I think the team dynamics was one of the reasons I really loved this book. Eddie is originally featured as the team's pariah, but as he works for their forgiveness and he works on himself, they come to love, accept, and protect him for who he is. Mark initially feels isolated and alone, but as he gets to know Eddie, he feels empowered to reach out again to his friends, who were really there all along. He steps out of his comfort zone and does things he never would've considered before, and it was a joy to witness.

I'm confident I've said this before, but the way Cat Sebastian was able to slowly peel all the layers off of her characters, and slowly reveal them to the audience in a way that kept you eagerly picking up all of the pieces the second she dropped them was amazing. And the character development, oh <i>the character development. </i>I feel like so rarely is there like real character development in romance novels nowadays. Like the characters just meet and then their relationship develops, and we're supposed to believe that somehow them falling for each other and admitting their love for each other is the real development? I wasn't disappointed with "We Could Be So Good" and I wasn't disappointed with this one either. This is one of those really, really good books that you read slowly to savor like a fine wine, even though you want nothing more than to experience the full breadth of it all at once. I read WCBSG on a beach and spent time looking dramatically out at the coastline and just replaying it over and over in my head (it was amazing too, you should read it, and then you can see the subtle cameos). I read this in my bedroom, and stared at my bookshelves, wondering how anyone could write something this good, <i>twice. </i>


The biggest thanks to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for supplying me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review!!💞

YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY is such a good sports romance with all the feels. Cat Sebastian does historical fiction really well with beautiful details seamlessly woven into the fabric of the novel. It’s lovely to read a queer historical romance that is not subjected to violence or homophobia as well, because that can be a stressful aspect of reading period pieces featuring queer characters.

There is a good balance between baseball and romance so you don’t have to be a huge baseball fan to enjoy the story. The characters Mark and Eddie are lovable, as is Lula the dog. The relationship builds organically without relying heavily on tropes. I only wished the book had been a bit steamier. Intimate scenes can be revealing about relationship dynamics and a chance for characters to show vulnerability in a romance novel. As emotional as this book gets, there are themes on grief and coming to terms with one’s sexuality, it didn’t quite punch me in the gut like I’d expected.

Overall, an enjoyable mm romance with a great blend of baseball and historical details.

This was cute! Honestly the fade to black was a little disappointing and there was way too much baseball talk but the romance was really tender and sweet.

Cat Sebastian is really knocking it out of the park (if you'll excuse the pun) with this series of midcentury queer romances. Mark Bailey was such a small, yet colorful character in "We Could Be So Good" and it was so lovely to spend time with him and to meet true golden retriever boy, Eddie O'Leary. I'll never get over the small, everyday moments that Sebastian imbues with so much love and softness that I find myself suddenly crying over a jar of fancy maraschino cherries or a pot of soup.

CW: grief, loss of a loved one (before story), homophobia, fear of homophobic violence, racism, fear of racist violence, sexual content