Cat Sebastian, the president and CEO of writing the most real and loveable characters of all time, has returned to the universe of We Could Be So Good to tell us the story of Mark Bailey and Eddie O’Leary. Mark sort of works at The Chronicle; he’s had a rough year and a half grieving a partner privately and is tasked with writing a diary of sorts in the paper for baseball player Eddie O’Leary. Eddie has just been traded and is also having a rough go at it both with the new team and in his new city.

This story is so much more than a romance. It is about grieving, and living through and with loss. It is about learning to let yourself be loved, it is about finding your place even if it takes some risks. This is a story about, literally and figuratively, stepping up to bat every day of this life and just doing the best you can, and isn’t that what we are all doing?

I loved these characters so much I am already scheming a reread and the book hasn’t even hit the shelves yet, and that is the power of Cat Sebastian.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Avon Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 4/5 STARS

This was a really lovely queer midcentury novel. I really enjoyed its precursor WE COULD BE SO GOOD, so I was happy that YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY also delivered on the cozy, gentle romance vibes. I liked both characters and their grumpy-sunshine dynamic. I hope there are more books to come in this series!

Cat Sebastian is the master of cozy hug romances, I just know she loves all her characters so deeply. Mark and Eddie were phenomenal together, I loved how whenever something came up between them, usually in the form of the outside world pressing in on them, they were very us vs the problem. I did prefer We Could Be So Good, and Andy/Nick, but I think that comes down more to my personal tastes, because these two were perfect as well.

Another home run for Sebastian Cat!
For fans of We Could Be So Good, this spin-off book was just as good as the first!
Synopsis:
Mark is grieving his boyfriend, who passed not that long ago, and he has been going through the motions, leaning on his friends Nick and Andy and the mutual love he and Nick have for baseball. Since Mark works with Andy, Andy comes to him with a baseball-related assignment, and somehow Mark writes diary entries for a famous baseball player: Eddie O’Leary.
Eddie O’Leary was blindsided when he found out he was being traded, which caused him to say some not-so-great things about his new team, who retaliated by icing him out. On top of it all, after his trade, Eddie has been in a batting slump with no end in sight, much to the public’s dismay.
But when Mark writes these diary entries for Eddie, he gets to know who Eddie really is and sees that he is a sweetheart who shares his fondness for odd books and Mark’s love for his spoiled dog. Writing the diary entries, Mark sees more of Eddie, and he believes that with his words and Eddie’s game, he might just be able to get the public to root for Eddie, after all.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. This book was just as good as the first.
It was sweet and cute to see how the characters slowly swung their way into each other’s lives and hearts. I loved to see how Eddie respected Mark’s grief and let him slowly open up to him, and how Mark came to trust Eddie enough to let him in while he was still processing.
Mark realized he no longer wanted to be kept a secret, which was difficult given Eddie’s career as a famous baseball player. But even with this admission, Eddie tried to make something happen between Mark and himself as best he knew how.
It was also nice to see the support they received from the people around them, from their friends to Eddie’s teammates to Mark’s coworkers.
Overall, this book was cute and sweet, and how could it not be, given that its predecessor is We Could Be So Good? This is accurate because both that book and this book are indeed, so good.

Cat Sebastian just gets it, man. She knows what I want and she delivers it!

This is a companion novel set in the same little world as We Could Be So Good, one of my favorite reads of last year. Just like that book, You Should Be So Lucky is the perfect little slice-of-life domestic romance (and features cameos of characters from WCBSG!). Mark and Eddie are so sweet together, and I actually loved all the opining about slumps and bad luck. I really adored Eddie and how falling for Mark helped him realize who he was and wanted to be. Watching Mark move from grieving his previous lover to opening up to Eddie's affection, and allowing himself to stop keeping so many secrets, was lovely.

The author does a great job at acknowledging the period-typical societal danger for queer, poor, Jewish, and non-white people without allowing that fact to bring down the positive vibes of the work as a whole; little one-off lines, like Mark acknowledging that his inherited wealth enables him to feel secure in being more obvious about his queerness because he doesn't fear losing his job prospects, or Price (a Black side character) not tagging along on hijinks because "getting arrested isn't as fun for him as the rest of the (white) guys on the team," help to avoid glossing over these realistic issues without dragging down the story. I kinda wish we'd seen more of Connie Newbold, the owner of Eddie's baseball team, because it seemed like she was being set up to have more of a role but it just didn't really go anywhere?

I hope Cat Sebastian keeps writing these quiet mid-century romances, because I will keep eating them up!

TW: death of a loved one, grief/mourning, homophobia, references to racism and antisemitism and misogyny, alcoholism, heart attack and hospitalization, past parent death mentioned, past family disownment mentioned

Cat Sebastian is the queen of romance about fundamentally good people who are trying the best they can, and she comes through yet again with a historical romance about a closeted baseball player in the middle of a slump and a reporter who's grieving the death of the partner he couldn't tell anybody about. Eddie and Mark are having a hard time but from the moment they meet, it's clear why they're going to be good for each other, and that's what makes a romance worth reading to me! Full of Easter eggs about baseball (not my speed) and ambiguously queer literature (I see you, reference to Strangers on a Train!), this is a really beautiful story about finding love and community in imperfect circumstances.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

Perfect for fans of sports romance with an adorable grumpy/sunshine romance slow burn. Mark and Eddie are total opposites and their interactions were so fun to read and follow their story.

The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.
Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.
Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.

This is a lovely period piece set in New York in 1960. A journalist in grief over the loss of his longterm partner is assigned to write about a professional baseball player who is in a slump. The relationship helps lift them out of their depths, and challenges them to figure out how to build new lives.

A swoony slow burn romance that had me in chokehold from start to finish!

Set in 1960 New York, You Should Be So Lucky is a historical fiction gay romance about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season.

I LOVED this read. The characters are nuanced and I loved being in their heads. Mark is quietly grieving a lost love while unexpectedly falling in love which is so incredible to read about. And Eddie is failing at a game he was born to play while stepping into his queerness and finding love in the most unexpected places. Their quiet romance is nothing short of amazing. I was rooting from them the entire way.

Besides the romance, I loved the setting, the explanation of baseball and events at the time were well done but not overly complicated, and the side characters really added another layer to the story and showcased how community can show up for those we care about.

Read For: grumpy/sunshine, found family, sports romance, falling in love over the phone, and queer romance

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I only vaguely remembered Mark and William from <i>We Could Be So Good</i>, despite having read that book multiple times, so I was curious how this one would take their story and expand on it. The answer, surprising no one, is "very well." Taking place a year after William's death, the book finds Mark at loose ends, struggling to cope with a grief he can't really show in public, because America in 1960 wasn't all that keen on gay people being treated as people. He's just going through the motions until Andy (from the previous book) asks him to cover NYC's newest baseball team, the disastrous Robins - and mostly Eddie, their purported star player who had a messy burst of anger on national television and is most definitely off his game.

Eddie is a golden retriever of a human being, which, as it turns out, is precisely what Mark needed, although he does his level best to deny it. As the two of them grow closer, we can see both fighting in different ways: Eddie to convince Mark that they can be together despite his status as a famous figure, and Mark to allow himself to believe that he can be happy and in love again. There are themes of coping with grief, struggling against rampant homophobia (that may not be quite as rampant as they think), and a slow, sweet growth of emotion between them. I suppose the technical term for this style of romance is "grumpy/sunshine," but that's really too reductive to fully explain Mark and Eddie's relationship. They're people, not tropes, and that's probably the novel's greatest strength of all.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this book.

Mark is a reporter who has lost his motivation after losing his partner of many years. Eddie is professional baseball player who was traded to a new team and ranted about being traded on national television, which is where he found out. Once he starts at the new team, he isn't playing at his best which just exacerbates his problems.

Mark isn't a sports writer but he gets tasked with writing a weekly journal or diary article about Eddie and that's how they meet. I loved how their romance plays out and each character's growth throughout the story. Also, I can't forget to mention Lula. Who doesn't love a cute dog in a romance?

This book was low angst and sweet with some funny moments. Also, it isn't plot heavy but I didn't feel that it was too long or boring. Instead it spent the time on character growth and just showing the character's living their lives. Would definitely recommend reading. You don't have to read the first book in the series before this one but that one was amazing as well.

I’ve loved every Cat Sebastian book I’ve ever read and You Should Be So Lucky is no exception.

This book is about queer grief and queer love and how they often exist simultaneously. What I really loved about this book was how tender and soft it was. It was written beautifully, and Eddie & Mark complemented each other so well.

There is very little plot in this book - which in itself is not a bad thing! Cat herself has marketed the book as having 2% plot. However, I do think the book was slightly too long for the plot to be so thin.

Overall I adored this one & absolutely recommend!
Thank you to Avon Publishing & NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book!

These books are just so, so good. The author managed to fit together grief, gorgeous writing, LGBTQ+ poignancy, and truly beautiful romance into a cohesive and lovely narrative. The whole thing was just so tender. It featured queer trauma, but as part of what had shaped the characters, not as on-page events. The protagonists were delightful and I wanted purely the best for them. I sincerely loved this book.

Regarding smut, this never went above a PG-13 reading.

In 1960 New York, reporter Mark Bailey is assigned to cover the upcoming baseball season, specifically focusing on obnoxious shortstop Eddie O'Leary's antics. Mark is grieving the loss of his long-time partner William, although given the necessary secrecy of their relationship, his grief must be private and contained, isolating him from those around him. For his part, Eddie has been thrown off by a trade to a new team in a new city, and seems to lose all his baseball skills the moment he is transferred. Dealing with an unfriendly new team, Eddie is struggling with his career and his sudden loneliness. Thrown together by circumstance, these two men slowly begin to realize their mutual attraction but must decide how much they're willing to fight for their relationship.

I'm not normally a sports romance person but I will unquestioningly read anything Cat Sebastian writes. And she does such a good job with this story that even if you are also not a sports romance person, I would encourage you to read this anyway. There is really not a huge focus on the baseball aspect here--the story is tender and sweet, with a focus on loneliness, grief, and loss. There are some truly heart-wrenching moments, but the book also highlights the joy of new relationships, the fizzy feeling of falling for someone, what it means to connect with others, and learning to let yourself be loved. This book is emotional in all the right ways and will leave you feeling hopeful about the world and optimistic about the innate goodness of people, despite everything.

Highly, highly recommend.

Oh my freaking goodness, I LOVED You Should Be So Lucky SO MUCH. This book was one of my most anticipated of the year, and I went through a BUNCH of trouble to try to acquire the ARC. And boy am I grateful I got one because this was ALL I was hoping for and more. While it shares the same world as We Could Be So Good, You Should Be So Lucky somehow ends up being a little softer and sweeter. Though the overarching themes were healing from grief and recovering from a baseball slump, the romance that develops alongside was just so perfect. I liked this as much as or possibly more than WCBSG, and I must say that Cat Sebastian has now become one of my absolute favorite authors for her incredibly endearing characters, low angst plot (that still manages to make me cry), and spectacular historical settings that I cannot get enough of.

Semi-retired reporter Mark meets baseball player Eddie O'Leary when he is assigned to write a series of articles about Eddie's incredible batting slump after being traded to the New York Robins. Eddie is initially suspicious of the prickly, hard-t0-read reporter, but he rapidly softens when he finally has the opportunity to open up to someone. In addition to suffering through his slump, his teammates are refusing to talk to him, so gregarious Eddie is extremely lonely. And, though he pretends otherwise, Mark is surprised to enjoy talking to Eddie as well. Eventually, they recognize that they are both queer and have some pretty intense chemistry - but their underlying friendship and concern for each other makes for a slow burn where they take things slow for a long time. Then, as Eddie slowly starts performing better and Mark starts to open up about his past, they seem to realize that there are real feelings behind their attraction. But are they both ready for the many complications that might underlie a relationship between a relatively out gay man and a very recognizable baseball player?

Oh my stars, I absolutely LOVED how Eddie could simultaneously be incredibly naive and supremely confident in his actions, especially when it came to Mark. He recognizes that there is something between them and doesn't want to let it go, so he's willing to do whatever he can to make it happen. He's also so incredibly understanding and considerate of Mark, especially once he realizes that Mark is still grieving for his partner. And oh gosh, I don't always fall for the grumpy half of a grumpy/sunshine, but I was just in love with Mark. His struggles to get over William just BROKE me - it made his ability to fall in love again seem so much more meaningful. I loved his snark, the way he turns into a total sap around Eddie, and his absolute devotion to giving him what he wants even when he doesn't want to.

There are also some amazing side characters in this one that just made it all the more enjoyable. This book was filled with supportive people that gave me so much joy, from Eddie's mom, to Mark's fellow reporter George, to Eddie's team manager Ardolino, to freaking Lula the dog. So many precious scenes of love and understanding that got me right in the feels.

Y'all, I didn't want this book to end. Something about Cat Sebastian's mid century stories especially are just so special and absolutely needed. Maybe it's the recency? The fact that we can still see the reverberations of this time in our own? I don't know, but I need more of this stuff. I wholeheartedly recommend this one, be sure to watch for the release in May because you do not want to miss this one.

I had exceptionally high hopes for this book after We Could Be So Good (the first book in this little, beautiful universe) was tied for my personal BOTY in 2023, and I’m thrilled to report that Cat Sebastian has exceeded my expectations.

“Rooting for a team doesn’t always mean that you need them to win; sometimes you just want to see them fight, do their best, or even just keep showing up.”

You Should Be So Lucky was breathtaking. Love and grief and solitude and companionship are all woven together so beautifully that I found myself rooting alongside the Robins fans for every single character. I wanted Eddie and Mark to find their peace as badly as I wanted the same for Ardolino, for George, for Lula.

“The world is filled with people who could happily be alone, their solitude interrupted by occasional conversations with friends. Mark might, in fact, be one of them. But Eddie isn’t. You can see the words he isn’t saying bubbling away just beneath the surface; you can see every aborted effort to reach out.”

Eddie O’Leary, a short-fused rising star in the baseball world, copes with falling into a batting slump, being traded to a team across the country with no warning, and being torn from the world he knows and the people he loves. Eddie’s solitude and pain was visceral, an ache that I could feel inside my own chest. Between being pulled from his mom and friends in Kansas City and the way the Robins shut him out for the first several months he was part of the team, you can’t help but find yourself hurting along with him.

“Mark always had to be careful, and careful means dishonest; careful means making sure that there’s always a lie at hand that he can reach for and use to paper over the truth.”

Mark Bailey, a semi-retired reporter for the Chronicle, is asked to follow Eddie’s first season with the Robins. It’s the last thing he wants to do in his attempt to shut himself off from the world after the sudden passing of his long-term partner William. To anyone on the outside looking in, it would appear that Mark and William were no more than roommates — certainly nothing that Mark has any right still grieving over a year later.

“He feels like every part of him is wrapped around Eddie, like they’re tangled up in something dangerous and lovely and terribly, terribly precious.”

There’s nothing I love more than a slow-burn romance, and this book was worth every moment of it. The buildup was everything — I was honest to god hollering over a forehead touch — and the eventual resolution made everything worth it. Watching these two fall into each other and grow together was just. Everything.

I can’t say enough good things about this book. Cat Sebastian has cemented her title as one of my favorite authors, and I will continue to inhale anything she puts out into the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was entirely wonderful. I love a sports romance, they are my absolute favorite but this one was charming, warm and fuzzy and I truly fell in love with these characters.

before i leave my thoughts, i would love to thank the publishers avon and harper voyager for sending me an advanced e-book copy from netgalley.
now as most people know me, i am a cat sebastian stan through and through, i might have discovered her only last may, but this is already my fifth book frlm her that i've read. this (in typical cat sebastian fashion) was INCREDIBLE. i might've related to eddie a little too much but that didnt stop me from enjoying this. i am definitely picking this up once it releases. cat sebastian, the mastermind that you are.

I don't know what it is about baseball that makes it the perfect backdrop to a story equally about grief as it is romance but it does. Perhaps it is the inherent nostalgic romance of baseball or the skill of Cat Sebastian as a writer but this book was incredible.

It felt like the spiritual successor to KD Casey's baseball books (highly recommend everyone read those) while being a completely new and refreshing take on baseball romance. Which it is very refreshing! One of my notes on this book is "weirdly refreshing about sports and homophobia??" because similarly to We Could Be So Good, the historical realism of being gay in mid-century New York - particularly as a well-known professional athlete- is absolutely present, the book is still incredibly hopeful and sweet.

And the romance! It's an absolute masterclass on domestic slice of life slowburn. Eddie and Mark are very different but they are so soft for each other, especially when it comes to helping each other deal with loss and grief and healing.

While We Could Be So Good gave me urban planning as a treat THIS book gave me literary criticism as a treat. The use of books as a way for Eddie and Mark to connect and, uh, declare themselves to each other was superb (and amusing) (particularly for me). And now I want to read The Haunting of Hill House to see what being "literally haunted by the specter of heterosexuality" is about.

In conclusion, another excellent book from Cat Sebastian.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins.

I think this is a good book with a good plot. I'll be honest though it was rough getting into for me. I think the whole baseball thing kind of through me off. While I do love the whole sports journalist idea. It feels very unique in this book.