YSBSL is my second book by Cat Sebastian. I LOVED WCBSG and was so excited to read this book. Thank you, NetGalley for the arc.

In WCBSG romance is the central theme of the book. In YSBSL baseball is the central theme of the book. It’s a bit of a metaphor for resilience and life after loss. There is romance, but it took a bit of a backseat. I enjoyed this book but I found myself wanting more romance and less baseball. Both books are beautifully written and Cat is now and instant buy author for me. I’m going to go through such a book slump after reading these books in two days.

You Should Be So Lucky was a moving, sweet romance set in ~1960. Eddie is a star baseball player who is experiencing a record batting slump and a rocky relationship with the team he was traded to. Mark is a reporter who has been in a deep depression since the death of his partner. When Mark is assigned to do a weekly column on Eddie, neither of them are thrilled about it. But as they get to know one another, tender feelings begin to bloom. Feelings that could destroy their careers and threaten their safety due to the homophobic era.

The mix of joy in a blossoming relationship and fear of being outed was well balanced throughout the book. Mark's grief was sharp and had me choked up on more than one occasion, while Eddie's stubborn cheerfulness lent buoyancy and sweetness. I loved that there is NO miscommunication trope in this, despite classic setups at a couple points. Every time Mark clammed up about his feelings, Eddie coaxed him back into conversation. It was so refreshing to read about two adults navigating their feelings together instead of solely relying on physic chemistry, though there was plenty of that as well.

My overall rating is 4.5 stars, rounded to 5 on Goodreads. Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️

Thank you Net Galley and HarperCollins for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

You Should Be So Lucky is a dual-POV historical sports romance set in 1960s New York. It follows a rising baseball star, Eddie, who hits a near career-ending rough patch after being traded, and the reporter, Mark, assigned to cover him and bring some positive publicity. It is a stand-alone novel set in the same universe as last year’s We Could Be So Good with several recurring characters.

This book was both heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny at times. Mark and Eddie navigating their friendship and then a fledgling relationship in a time where being together was illegal is beautifully done. I loved the grumpy/sunshine and found family aspects and how well the story was told! This is definitely a new favorite and Cat Sebastian is quickly becoming an auto-read author for me!

Read Dates: 04/08/2024- 04/09/2024
Goodreads review: 04/09/2024
Instagram review: 04/10/2024
Blog review: 05/07/2024

I absolutely loved this story. I’m usually not into historical romances, and sometimes even struggle with a third person romance, but since I’m a sucker for a baseball romance I decided to give this a shot - and I’m so glad I did.

All the characters in this book are so lovable. The main couple is such a great match, you can’t help but root for them before there was even a “them” to root for.

This book also broached some heavier topics - grief, homophobia, racism, alcoholism, anger issues, but did so in a way that didn’t bring the tone of the book down while still maintaining authenticity.

This is going to be one of my top reads of the year!

Cat Sebastian has written a truly beautiful and delicate love story. Mark Bailey really isn’t a sports writer, but when his editor asks, he agrees to ghostwrite for the new player on the New York Robins. Frankly, Mark hasn’t written much of anything in almost a year and a half, since William died. Eddie O’Leary isn’t really sure why he’s agreed to this sports diary, but currently no one on the team will talk to him, which isn’t surprising after the temper tantrum he threw when he found out he was being traded to the Robins. Turns out, Mark will talk to Eddie, and Eddie likes talking to Mark.

Behind the brashness of baseball and the underground world of queer people in 1960 New York, lives two men who think deeply about their social positions, about how to live truthfully and safely, especially when those two priorities are in conflict. As the story unravels, the characters narration becomes more truth to themselves, and we the readers learn more about them while they discover it themselves.

Eddie O'Leary's been traded with no warning to the newest struggling baseball team in New York. He misses home. He can't hit to save his life. And the team far from appreciates some rather choice words he had upon learning about his trade from the press. Enter Mark Bailey, a one time prolific journalist turned reviewer. Since the death of his partner, Mark has been floating through his life, never fully giving up but unable to let himself move forward. Now he's been given the work of writing a series on Eddie in part to build a better public image for the shortstop. Together Mark and Eddie navigate their own isolation and the hopes they want to have again.

Sebastian's newest book is kind and sweet and an absolute treat of 1960s baseball. It is everything you might want from a period romance without shying from the reality and beauty of historical communities. It is at heart the story of building community and letting a community care for you. Sebastian captures the complexity of healing wonderfully. Her worlds are not limited to a view of history that glosses over inequality but instead celebrates the joy and love that has always existed in the queer community. It is one of my favorite pieces of Sebastian's writing. At the end of the day, people were happy. Families of choice were made. Lives were led and can for a few hundred pages be soft and hopeful and happy. And sometimes come with a side of sports drama.

Beautiful, fun, and witty.

This is a great not-so-past queer historical that touches on the grim, depressing realities with so much lightness and comfort and hope.

I love Eddie and Mark's individual personalities, and how they loved each other so deeply for their quirks. Eddie's honesty and Mark's prickliness are a combination that helped both through such lonely moments in their lives, it's impossible not to cheer for their happily ever after.

There were also many laugh-out-loud moments due to their banter!

First things first: I know absolutely nada about Baseball and I'm also not interested in learning more about it. Yet here I am reading a baseball romance, and I can confidently say: Yes, even if you, like me, only know the sport from movies you can still enjoy the lovestory between baseball pro Eddie and journalist Mark.
It's a sweet and tender romance, well-written and with perfectly balanced rom and com elements. It's easy to read, fluffy yet also tackles more serious themes of mental health and grief, all in a story about two gay men in the 60s, one of them famous. I really liked the first half and enjoyed my time with the characters. Then, admittedly, the book lost me a little.

In general, I do think that the book is too long and the pacing too slow, because there really is not that much happening in these 400 or so pages. While it's a very sweet story and both characters are likeable in their own way, I also felt, dare I say, a little bored. There were no real highs and lows in this book, and the high stakes promised by the description and the historical setting aren't as high after all. Yes, the characters worry a lot about how dangerous being found out as gay would be for Eddie, the baseball pro, but really, nothing ever happens. Everyone close to them is conveniently either queer or queerfriendly, which can be nice to read about and is a genre staple, but when half of the book is comprised of dialogue, both internal and external, about the dangers of being gay in the public eye yet everyone that ever finds out or suspects is totally fine and supportive and there is never any risk at all, it takes away from the struggle. I never felt any threat so I wasn't invested in that part of the story.
There is also just no actual conflict. The romance is very instalovey on both sides, and any minor complication on their journey to an HEA is solved immediately and easily. Barely an inconvenience. There's just so very little drama, and I love drama, so most likely it's an "it's me, not the book" issue. I prefer a cliché third act breakup over smooth sailing from the beginning to the end.
I also don't think the historical setting is really explored that well. Bar some minor techological stuff, it could have been set in modern day NY. The language, the tone of the book, none of it really works for the era it's set in.

So yeah, in the end this is a sweet lovestory between two well-written and complex characters that will most definitely find a lot of fans. It's also just a tad bit forgettable.

I wasn't sure how Cat Sebastian would adequately follow We Could Be So Good, which was one of my absolute favorite books of 2023. But she freaking did it.

You Should Be So Lucky is a romance about Mark (You remember Mark, right? The journalist who works with Nick and Andy at the Chronicle in WCBSG, and keeps giving queer books to Nick?), who has been grieving his previous relationship for over a year, and Eddie, a shortstop on New York's new MLB team who's in a major batting slump following his standout rookie season. Mark's prickly and lonely. Eddie is angry and lonely. They're both a mess. And Mark has to ghost write a column for the Chronicle, about Eddie's first season with this new team.

Folks, YSBSL has forced proximity and grumpy MCs (to be fair, Eddie is part sunshine, part grumpy). It's kind and generous and honest and sad. It's tender. It's funny (like, so funny). It's hopeful AF. And it follows up on themes from WCBSG and amplifies them. Found family? Check. Worthiness of love? Check. Honesty and living as our whole selves? Double check. And it surprisingly made me... care about baseball?

More than anything though, for me anyway, YSBSL is a exploration of living through grief, and recognizing that all our experiences, including the painful ones, shape us. It's a beautiful reminder that we can love fully, have that relationship end, and love again, without diminishing the current or prior relationship.

I loved it so, so much. It's already cemented itself as one of my top books of the year.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Cat Sebastian really hit it out of the park with YCBSL. By "it" I mean <I>the spiraling eddies of grief and the gentle rebuilding of home.</I> Thematically tight, with small things coming back 200 pages later, I think this is one of (if not the) best novel by Sebastian yet. It's funny, heartfelt, and thoroughly queer.

Of all the unimportant things, baseball is the most important (is not how the quote goes, but humor me). Baseball, here, is an extended metaphor for life and learning how to do life differently when all your plans crumble and you can't get into the swing of things.

Eddie has the yips. He's been traded suddenly from his team in Kansas City to a team in New York. He misses his mom, he misses the modicum of free expression he knew how to find, and he can't do his job. Excoriated in the stadium and the papers, Eddie loses hope and joy, becomes insular and hostile, but he's mostly sad. Sad that his dream is dying and he feels like he's killing it, sad that his new teammates seem to hate him, sad that he's literally without direction in an unfamiliar city.

Mark's partner has died. He's lonely. He's reading horror for comfort, he's barely working, and he's counting his After William life in months. Unable to untangle himself from his relationship, he soaks himself in memories. Wears William's too-large sweater and too-big watch. His hair is too long. He's too small for his life right now.

Both suddenly bereft of something they'd expected to last, Eddie and Mark each are yeeted into the depths of mourning. YSBSL is as much about their romance as it is about making space for things you'd never planned to need.

Mark's grief believes in "the inevitability of unhappy endings", placing him in opposition to genre expectations. #themes The way his grief manifests sometimes made me cry, and I am suing for emotional damage (for legal reasons, this is a joke). This book made me tear up over ill-fitting watches and overabundant cherries, over Eddie's stubborn, persistent hope and Mark's gradual, inexorable love.

One thing that romance stories can elide is the reality that relationships aren't always forever, and that's ok. When past relationships were healthy and simply ended, it can feel a bit out of left field to claim that the current partner(s) is/are so much better. Comparison is a thief of joy, and imo it makes a book feel trite and the relationship feel insecure.

How YSBSL handles William, Mark, and William and Mark is beautiful. Mark is given space to grieve, and the importance of his relationship with William is never diminished in order to bolster the relationship with Eddie.

Seeing Eddie and Mark nurture themselves and their relationship and watching them grow into new spaces and new dreams, all as they learn to navigate "the tug-of-war between being yourself and being palatable", was beautiful.

Mark asks for "proof that something else exists on the other side of what looks for all the world like an ending." He reads a book where lesbians make a home and are then "literally haunted by the specter of heterosexuality." He "catches himself smiling in public."

Through and through, this book is about the restorative power of queer joy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

I DO feel so lucky to have gotten an ARC of this book from NetGalley! I never thought I would get approved, but I'm so glad I did because I loved every moment of this book. This series is absolutely one of my new favorites of the year.

This book is a fantastic mid-century historical romance and baseball romance all wrapped up in one. Folks who read book 1 will know Mark Bailey as an arts reporter for The Chronicle who doesn't exactly hide that he likes men. But he's also been struggling through the deep grief of losing someone he loves. Mark is every one of us who's ever lost someone. Who feels like they have no one to talk to. Who feels like the world is carrying on without them. But who's getting up every day and doing his best.

Eddie O'Leary's life has been upended. He's had to leave behind his home, his family and everything he knows to play baseball in New York. He's every one of us who's ever left home. Moved away. Said goodbye to family and friends. Started a new job. Started over. Tried to make friends as adults. But he's also hiding that he's queer, and doesn't really know how to be safe in this new city.

Mark and Eddie are forced together when Mark is asked to write a profile on Eddie to bring in more readers for the paper. When the two meet -- there's an instant connection that neither wants to acknowledge. Eddie cracks Mark's carefully crafted armor. And Mark helps Eddie see his luck isn't all bad. The slow burn between Mark and Eddie is everything!! Eddie warms himself to Mark through Mark's dog and it's just so so irresistibly sweet! I could not get enough of the banter between these two -- so here are a few spots to convince you to read:

"Jesus Christ, you don't mince words.
Do you require words to be minced?"

"Look at that, I was sincere, you didn't die -- good work, team."

"What I can tell you is that whatever calamity you're imagining? There's a day after that."

"I'm not a connoisseur of d**k.
Come on. It's not every day your d**k gets that kind of compliment."

"When Eddie needs reassurance and affection, Mark gives it, wholeheartedly and without reservation. But when Mark needs it, he hisses and complains."

*Minor Spoilers Included*

I am always excited when a Cat Sebastian book comes out! Of course, I loved it.

I found myself holding my breath waiting for the moment that Mark/Eddie would be broadcast to the world their life would come crumbling down. I am more than thrilled to say this is not one of those books. This is not a tragic historical queer romance, which is so important to write about. I feel that every time I pick up something queer and historical, they are outed against their will. That being said, "out and proud" meant something very different in 1960.

This was a four star read for me solely because it did not capture my attention as much as I thought it would. It took me a little over two weeks to finish it. However, I strongly recommend this book for anyone looking for queer sports romance where public outing is not a major plot point, it is down right refreshing.

“Even if nobody here knows I'm queer, maybe I don't have to hide it from them. Maybe when I walk down the street, people won't automatically assume I'm something I'm not.”

What do you get when you cross a homesick and tempter-tantrum-throwing baseball star having an off season with a mourning arts reporter forced to cover the sports beat? A swoon-worthy Cat Sebastian romance that will absolutely make you cry and sigh contentedly.

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian was definitely a top contender for my most anticipated read of the year. I mean, hello, it’s set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good! Ya girl had given up hope on getting at arc, but at the last minute Avon came through and I felt so blessed!

I flew through this story of growing through grief and managing a changing life - it’s so good and it tugged on my heart in the way that Cat Sebastian does so well! I can not wait to get my physical copy so it can sit in its rightful place alongside the rest of my collection.

Whether or not you like baseball if you’re a fan of mid century queer romance you gotta pick this one up! It’s out on May 7th and don’t forget to pick up We Should Be So Good too!

"Now, though, he thinks that the game may have earned those metaphors. It's slow, and often seems pointless. It's beautiful, when it isn't a mess. There's a vast ocean of mercy for mistakes: getting hits half the time is nothing short of a miracle, and even the best fielders are expected to have errors. The inevitability of failure is built into the game."

Cat Sebastian’s You Should Be So Lucky is utterly glorious: beautifully written, tender, meditative, and romantic. Centered around the prickly Mark Bailey, a reporter who recently lost his partner, William, and the hot-heated Eddie O’Leary, a baseball player recently traded to the (fictional) NY Robins, an expansion team composed of aging players and untested rookies, managed by an alcoholic former player with a reputation for violence.

Eddie himself exploded colorfully on live television when told about the trade; he’s also mired in an epic batting slump, and both of these things make his integration into the team and its dynamics almost impossibly difficult.

Mark, meanwhile, is tasked by Andy (our favorite newspaper owner from WCBSG), with writing both ghost writing weekly diaries for Eddie and producing a piece about Eddie and the team for the paper’s new Sunday magazine. Mark and Eddie are drawn to each other, even as they wrestle with what it means it to be queer in 1960s New York. As was the case in WCBSG, both men wrestle with the balance between safety, their happiness, and their sense of self.

YSBSL is a story about second chances, both big and small (in addition to seeing Eddie battle his slump, we watch the Robin’s manager wrestle with his sobriety and see the team form itself into something cohesive), grief (Mark both mourns William and reproaches himself for still feeling his loss even after a year and half has passed), aging (the paper’s sports reporter George, is an incredibly lovely side character in a book full of them), and found family, including Eddie’s teammates, Mark’s friends Lillian and Maureen (and Nick and Andy), and Eddie’s delightful mother. Thrown in a haughty dog, a poignant romance between two lonely men, and mediations (both melancholy and beautiful) on baseball, and you pretty much have a perfect book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Cat Sebastian for the privilege of reading You Should Be So Lucky early.

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.