You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastion is, if not one of the best, mid-century queer books I’ve read to date.

We follow Mark, an arts column journalist with the personality of a black cat, as he's given the assignment of interviewing Eddie O'Learly, a major league baseball player in the 1960s.

Eddie O’Leary hasn’t had the best year. From being traded to a new team at the start of the season to having an entire fanbase who boo’s every time he steps on the field, Eddie’s year has been nothing but downhill since it started.

Mark Bailey knows what that’s like. Maybe not the baseball part but he does know what it’s like mourning something that was taken suddenly from him. After a year of sitting alone in his apartment reliving a relationship with a partner he never got to be public with, and struggling to write about what he loves, Mark is given an assignment to write a tell all about baseball’s most hated player, Eddie O’Leary. The problem is Mark isn’t a sports reporter and is sure nobody will want to read what he has to say.

As it turns out his tell all is pretty popular. If only they knew the behind the scenes.

You Should Be So Lucky was one of those books I wasn’t expecting to love as much as I did. Having not a lot of knowledge in baseball I thought that would be a problem but I quickly realized it wasn’t going to be. The writing felt genuine and easy to follow along with which I greatly appreciated in terms of the sports metaphors and references. I fell in love with the characters almost as quickly as they were introduced and found myself yelling at the pages when Eddie, SPOILER, wasn’t given the time of day by any of his teammates. Just give that man a friend!

Eddie’s the defintion of a golden retriever. He’s sweet, caring, and almost the exact opposite from what you expect when your’re first introduced to him through the tabloids. I loved the way he cared for his teammates even when they hated him and how he had a small dog named Lula with an affinity for expensive food.

Mark was the opposite in terms of personaltiy but the same in the way he cared so much for his friends and eventually for Eddie. Cat’s writing of Mark is hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. If I could write quippy one liners the way she can I would be more then happy.

Highly reccomend.

This book was balm for my soul. Mark and Eddie were so tender and poignant and made me cry several times. This is also a heavy book that deals with grief. Cat Sebastian sure can WRITE.
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

This book genuinely felt like a warm hug. I love the dynamic between the two MCs and I have been known to devour a sports romance. I’m excited to see what the other books in the series are!

I was really excited to dive into You Should Be So Lucky, especially after loving We Could Be So Good last summer. Cat Sebastian's refreshing take on the time period is something I truly appreciate, and as someone who enjoys baseball, I found the references and setting added an authentic touch to the story.

However, I found the connection between the characters in Mark and Eddie lacked the tension and depth that I loved in Nick and Andy's relationship from "We Could Be So Good". While the book certainly wasn't bad—perhaps I just over-hyped it for myself in my eagerness to read it.

That being said, Cat Sebastian remains a favorite author, and I'll continue to read whatever she publishes. There's always something delightful in her storytelling, even when it doesn't quite hit the same highs as previous works.

Thank you to Cat Sebastian, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for sending me the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved how tender the love in this book was. It dealt with big topics such as grief, the loss of a partner, and the feeling of being closeted. I absolutely love Cat Sebastian's work and this book made me love the author even more.

So cute! I loved the first in this series and was so happy to see another one. Loved the grumpy one meets golden retriever energy. The discussions of grief were done so well.

I really loved how tender this enemies to friends to lovers romance turned out to be. I loved the callbacks from the characters from the previous book, and especially loved how this book talked about heavier subject matter like being closeted, partner loss, and grief. Truly, I would read Cat Sebastian's grocery lists!

This book had me all in the feels. I enjoyed it and it made me sob. I highly recommend. It reminded me of the movie Major League but with the characters being queer.

QUEER. HISTORICAL. BASEBALL.

This book is great. It's so fun and so soft, yet hits really hard. Thank god Cat Sebastian is able to write whatever the heck she wants.

Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for this ARC.

(4.5 stars) Picture this - You’re a young baseball player in the spotlight in 1960. You’re gay, and since it’s 1960, you have to hide that essential fact about yourself. That’s the situation Eddie O’Leary finds himself in. He’s just been traded to a Mets-like expansion team in New York called the Robins (with, inexplicably, a BLUE bird as a symbol on their uniforms! Huh?). And he’s gone from having been considered for Rookie of the Year to a Major Batting Slump.

At the same time, a newspaper reporter is assigned to write weekly “diary” pieces about Eddie. Mark Bailey is the opposite of a sports reporter; he normally covers the arts. But he reluctantly accepts the assignment from his friend, Andy, who owns the NY paper. (NOTE: This book takes place in the same “universe” as Sebastian’s previous book, We Could Be So Good, and both Andy and Nick make cameo appearances, but you absolutely do NOT have to have read the first book to enjoy this one. But you should, because it’s terrific!) Mark is also gay and hides it at work, although he has a few friends who know his secret. Mark is still mourning the sudden death of his partner, William, a little over a year before.

So, sure, it’s a sports romance, but what a different one!

It’s been called a “grumpy/sunshine” story, with Mark being the grumpy one and Eddie the sunshine. But I didn’t read Mark as grumpy. He was heartbroken and, because everything with William was so secret, he couldn’t really show the world how heartbroken he really was.

I loved following the slow burn trajectory of Eddie and Mark’s relationship - from strangers to friends to lovers - and how they had to deal with the social environment they were in. And I loved how books became a sort of icebreaker for them, with Mark reading The Haunting of Hill House while he was waiting for Eddie in the locker room (amid all that chaos). Eddie was intrigued. And I’m thinking I may want to go back and re-read that book!

I mostly listened to the audiobook, narrated beautifully by Joel Leslie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Cat Sebastian is doing something special with these 1950's New York centered - slightly sports - romance novels. They're sweet and I could honestly read several more books in this series. It also makes me rethink about the found family and just what it meant to the queer person before the current century. Both books are also amazingly researched and made me incredibly interested in reading more about queer life in this time period.

I really enjoyed reading this queer sports romance that is set in an older time period, because that is something I don’t often see in sports romance, usually it is always modern and I really appreciated that. The romance between the two characters was set up in a way that felt believable and swoony and I liked them both as individuals a lot too! Sometimes the writing didn’t mesh well with me, but that all comes down to personal preference and at the end of the day it didn’t take away from me enjoying the story! I would definitely recommend giving this book a shot!

This story by Cat Sebastian chronicles the tender, hidden nest of two people facing love when the world is at odds against them, it is the 1960s after all. Mark is a journalist for The Chronicle, a New York newspaper while Eddie is a baseball player who has just gotten transferred to New York’s newest team, The Robins. Both have hit a crossroads in life, both overcoming loss in some way when their paths collide as Mark is taken with ghostwriting essentially Eddie’s diary for weekly publication in the paper. As their conversations unfold, the deeper they go, the more they fall for one another. At its core, that is this book, it is watching Eddie and Mark unfold into each other, fall deeply in love, and understand each other fully, all amidst a world that can never know.

I enjoyed many parts of this book, the pining, the longing, the wanting to want things, all rooted in queer history. Sebastian explores the queer identity of the time through Eddie and Mark and the challenges they face for merely existing. It’s hard for me to read this kind of story, actually, it brings up similar feelings of shame in myself, as I grew up in the Midwest during the early 2000s, no one was out, and you didn’t really see queer stories in any media and so to read this story now dredges a lot of that up, those deep-seated feelings of not feeling wanted, or accepted because of who you are. The shame of hiding a part of yourself from the world because you don’t know what they’ll say, or how others will react. Nonetheless, this story is important, stories that dig in and understand the queer struggle need to exist, the stories need to be passed down to help cultivate an understanding that less than 60 years ago, queer people couldn’t be out at all without fear of retaliation. Queer stories of all time periods need to be told, queer people have been here forever and will continue to be, regardless of what others may think even still today.

For this book, I felt a distance from the characters, which helped me feel some separation from my own feelings of my queer identity that came up but also left me wanting to know more about them and what was going on deep within their heads. Third person tends to be hit or miss for me and I don’t know if I can say this was either because there is also part of me that thinks this is a right book wrong time scenario. Everything I was told or read about the book was major hype while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t what I expected it to be. That being said, It’s a tender, gentle portrayal of the harsh reality of the queer existence during the 1960s. I loved that about this book, I love how Sebastian writes as though she’s gently brushing the words onto the page, with deep respect for the characters she crafts and the history she’s reciting.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and it is worth the read. You Should Be So Lucky is a tender tale of two men falling in love against the backdrop of America’s pastime. An important examination of the queer existence told through romance, something I think you should read to understand that queer joy and queer pain coexist, now and back then, they always have and always will. The shame today may feel different and may come out in different forms but it’s there, rooted deep in us, the fear of coming out, of having to relearn being yourself, of hiding parts of you around certain people, all of it lives deep in the queer existence, yet it’s okay to want and to hope for more, and to let yourself have it.

Taylor Swift Songs I associate with this book: Lover, Cornelia St, Illicit Affair, August, cardigan, Maroon, invisible string, I Look in People’s Windows, Guilty as Sin?, Labyrinth, False God, Delicate, Dancing With Our Hands Tied, You Are In Love

A love story as much about crawling out of dark or hard times to accepting the new and broken parts of yourself. As much about the futility and beauty of being a fan of a sport, a team, a player when it’s all random and unimportant. Highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for approving me for this ARC!! I couldn't put this book down!!

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'s
↠Pre-Review↞
This book takes place in 1960s New York and the two main characters are a reporter (Mark Bailey) and a baseball player (Eddie O'Leary). Mark is doing a weekly cover of Eddie O'Leary's season, as he is in a slump from the year before. They, of course, are both gay and have to navigate this alongside living in New York in the 60s. Overall, I was stoked for this book!!
↠Review↞
I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book for so many reasons! It's not only a slow-burn romance, but has elements of grief, loss, and found family. Mark is recovering from the loss of a past relationship, having to cope with his large apartment and two best friends who are very much in love with each other. Mark is sort of retired, as he has lost touch with his writing after the loss of his relationship, and is forced to cover Eddie O'Leary's weekly diaries to keep his office.

Eddie O'Leary is dealing with his own problems. He has been unexpectedly uprooted from his hometown to the New York Robins, to make matters worse, he found out he was being traded by a reporter, so he has some issues regarding them.

Alongside the growth of their relationship, both Mark and Eddie experience tons of personal growth, and each lead their own independent storylines. This was a MAJOR like of mine, I love when romances show characters' lives outside of that romance, it makes it more realistic and relatable. Overall: I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to anyone and everyone!!
CAT SEBASTIAN, I WILL BE READING YOUR OTHER GAY HISTORICAL FICTION NOVELS, AND THE BACKSTORY ON NICK AND ANDY!!

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian was a cute baseball M/M romance that takes place in 1960’s, centered around a famous shortstop and a newspaper writer. I enjoyed the sumptuous scenes that felt glamorous New York lifestyle and the serious tone scenes of anxiety and navigating gay life in the 60’s(the fear and hiding). As always the finding of found family and finding one’s courage to pursue happiness takes a role here. But I wish there was more to the romance and the initial connecting, but the end was still wonderful. The baseball facts were highly researched and almost showed up more than the romance, which I’m sure someone appreciates I just wish it was more romance focused. I really fell for Eddie O’Leary(Shortstop) and his earnestness and soft spirited nature.

A healthy mix of LGBT+ representation in a time where it wasn't accepted, sports, and romance! This book had me giggling and kicking my feet. I appreciated the fact that it was low angst and slow-burny. I felt like a small part of myself healed just the tiniest bit when I finished it. Bravo!

Totally enjoyed You Should Be So Lucky! I am not a fan of sports at all but really liked the main two characters.

What a wonderful story by Cat Sebastian. Mark and Eddie are a beautiful, healthy representation of queer love and romance mixed in to a past society that didnt accept or understand them. I love the way the sport and romance in this one are woven together to where the progression of their relationship is so natural while their interactions together are very tender and sweet. I really loved getting to know them and watch them pull each other in to a new and healthier pathway together.

This was a tender and wonderful story. Eddie and Mark made my heart melt, they had such an amazing dynamic. I enjoyed the mid-century time period!