4.8

Many thanks for Harper Voyager and Netgalley for my eARC of this title! What a wonderful tender story tribute to 1960s baseball and queerness in a time when being open wasn’t an option. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian combines a healthy amount of sports trivia and the wariness of new love to craft a story about a major league baseball player and a sports reporter falling in love. Sebastian is well versed in the historical romance genre and, though this is my first book of theirs I have read, their talent shines through. I gave it a 4.8 out of 5 and am greatly looking forward to more queer historical romances from this author!

I am a huge fan of historical romances, but add in a little spice (aka sports) I am all about it. That's what Cat Sebastian has done with You Should Be So Lucky. Eddie O'Leary is facing the slump to end all slumps, can't find himself on base, he can't even make contact with a pitch. So to find himself under the microscope for a series of journalistic diaries? Well, that just makes like grand. He wasn't expected the reporter behind it, though. Mark is young, smart, and far too charming.

Do you need to know much about baseball to enjoy this? Nope. Not particularly. If you enjoy the fade-to-black type of romance scenes, this will fit the bill.

One thing I find I experience while reading anything by Cat Sebastian, is the emotion she seems to pull deep from within my chest. My whole heart ached for Eddie. He was so lost being traded and on a new team, but then to have been given the silent treatment on top of that? It brought all those self doubts out and I just needed for things to get better for him. I didn't care how, but I needed Eddie to be happy.

Then we got to see him interacting with Mark. He was the one lifeline and he clung to Mark. Their first stilted conversations that grew into long conversations after games on the payphone, then the steady presence that just made you feel giddy for them. They healed each other in their own ways. Then they both found acceptance by people they didn't expect to have it from.

There was a sweetness. Even hours after reading the ending, that left me feeling hopeful for the two of them. I could just picture them in the 60s, 70s, and 80s moving through life. There were more than a few giggles, and incredibly cheesy smiles on my face while I read this one.

If you are looking for smut, you will not find it here. Like mentioned, it is a fade to black kind of romance, but their kisses, they were explosive!

Apparently queer sports books are filling my bookshelf right now and I am not mad about it. This book was a treat and a good history lesson as well. Two men who aren't allowed to be out on the 60s trying to navigate their relationship especially when they also need to have a working relationship.

I enjoyed the insight into past baseball especially with old stadiums being mentioned. I thought Eddie and Mark complimented each other quiet well and their happily ever after was a warm fuzzy.

My only complaint was it was a bit slow in parts, in my opinion.

By far the best book I've read this year and my first by Cat Sebastian. There really aren't enough words to describe how much I loved this. But I'll start with brilliant and perfect! It was a wonderful combination of things I love!

Baseball ✔️
Mid century ✔️
Queer romance ✔️
Witty banter ✔️
Fabulous characters ✔️
So many emotions ✔️

There isn't much else I can say other than I can't wait to read everything else by Cat Sebastian!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you so much to Avon and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

After absolutely falling in love with We Could Be So Good, this was instantly a 5 star prediction for 2024. And not a single page disappointed.

Cat Sebastian has quickly become my favorite historical romance author and this highlighted exactly why.

We're following 2 disaster heroes who are dealing with some really heavy things in their own lives - the loss of a partner and sudden move/change of team. And neither are coping well.

When Mark is forced to write the diary articles following Eddie, the 2 total opposites are pushed together and form an unlikely bond. And immediate attraction.

Not only is Cat Sebastian's writing impeccable, but it's so easy to get lost in. There is something completely transportive about her stories - no matter what time period she's writing in.

The characters in here are absolutely disasters, sometimes unlikely, yet somehow entirely charming. Eddie is rough around the edges but you can't help but want to protect him from all the hard things in life. While Mark is closed off and emotionally unavailable. Together they force each other out of their heads.

But I think what I loved most about this romance was the building, slow burn tension between the characters. Eddie hacks away at Mark's walls so slowly, that Mark doesn't even notice until he's entirely gone for him.

Between late night phone calls, dog walks, drinks, and stolen glances in the locker room - the tension is unreal by the time these two final admit their feelings.

There is also a semi-forbidden nature to their romance since in the 1960's it was still dangerous to be openly queer. Which Cat Sebastian addressed expertly.

This is definitely one of those romances where an HEA feels impossible until it happens. And I quite literally cried when it did.

I’m usually never into historical fiction, but I fell in love with Mark, Eddie, and their mid-1900s New York romance. The way they got to know each other and could read each other made my heart flutter in ways I couldn’t imagine, and I just want to know them for the rest of their lives.

Cat Sebastian did it again and this was another fantastic story set in New York in the 1950s. I think that if you liked the first book you will definitively enjoy this book that has similar vibes.
YSBSL is about Eddie, a baseball player who was recently traded to a NY team and is not happy about it and was very vocal about it. right after his trade he starts doing awful and is in a huge slump. Mark is a grieving widow who is charged by Andy (from book 1!) in doing a series of diary entries about Eddie. Their first interactions are so tentative and full of unknowns. these two have had some prior experiences that shape how they see the world and while Eddie wears his heart on his sleeve, Mark is a porcupine on the outside and a softie on the inside (just don't tell him that).
I absolutely loved the slow romance build up between these two, the tentativeness, the back and forth, the late night calls, the dog walks, everything. It was cozy and fantastic.

One of the best romances I’ve read this year!

Cat Sebastian is a newer to me author, I’ve only read a few of their books, and every single one has blown me away! I can feel an entire backlist binge coming on! You Should Be So Lucky is the story of love, baseball, grief, family, and living as a queer individual in the 1960s!

This book made me FEEL! It was such a slow burn, both characters were navigating grief and stress and life in their own ways, and the way they came together was just LOVELY to read about!

Once I started it I couldn’t put it down!

Read this if you like:
-baseball player and reporter romance
-life after loss
-found family
-dogs with big personalities
-queer stories and the full spectrum of emotions, but especially love and joy!
-angst, tension, THE PINING!!!
-slow burn
-grumpy/sunshine (the best I’ve read recently!)
-immersive wolf with truly amazing characters!
-impactful character growth!

I loved it! I loved every second of it, I had a huge grin on my face, I cried, I was giddy, my heart ached, it was a rollercoaster I’ll happily ride again and again!

There really isn't anyone doing it like Cat Sebastian, What a perfect entry into her world of midcentury queer romance!

Book 18 of 2024 - ☑️! Thank you so much to NetGalley, Avon + Avon and Harper Voyager & Cat Sebastian for the ARC of You Should Be So Lucky in exchange for my honest review.

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian was one of my favorite reads of 2023, so you better believe the moment I found out that You Should Be So Lucky was going to be released and that it was on NetGalley, I hit that request button so fast. Sebastian hits it out of the park once again (look at me, using sports metaphors), with her perfect pacing, vivid writing and lovable characters that you want to shield them from everything cruel in this world.

This slow-burn rom-com features a perfectly matched grumpy/sunshine couple in Eddie O’Leary & Mark Bailey. Both are grieving very different things: Eddie - a young, professional baseball player leaving his hometown and now being a small fish in a giant pond that is NYC + going through a career slump that has him in his head like never before, and Mark - a journalist mourning his boyfriend’s untimely passing about 18 months prior to him being assigned to write articles/diaries about Eddie for The Chronicle.

If you know me, you already know that I’m absolutely in the target audience for this book: I love love, I love mid-century pieces, I love New York & I love stories about journalism/journalists. I’m not a “sports girlie,” which might be why I didn’t rate it 5/5 as I did with We Could Be So Good, but gosh did I enjoy every moment of this book. The softness. The humor. The scene about the cherries. 😢

I’d give it 4.5/5🌟 and 2.5/5 on the 🌶️ scale. If Cat continues to write books in the Mid-Century NYC universe, I know I’ll be reading them the second I can. She continues to be an auto-read/auto-buy author for me. ⚾️ 🍒 📰 #NetGalley #YouShouldBeSoLucky

The only thing you need to know about this book is that you need to read it. It's spectacular and I don't know how Cat will top herself.

I absolutely adored this. I was so immersed into the world Cat Sebastian created and fell in love with the characters and all their sharp parts and the way they fit together so beautifully.

I am not entirely sure that I was the best audience for this book but it was a cute romance nonetheless. Unlike most gay period pieces, there wasn't this overwhelming plot point of will they get found out, and the world ends when they do. The romance was cute and slightly slow burn, the friends were charming but not to memorable that I want a separate story for them.

Overall, I think this story is one that is super important and needed in the queer community. A sweet, cute, and reasonable romance that happens without strife.

"You Should Be So Lucky" has a great sense of setting and such good writing, but it's just so slow! The first half especially felt like the same sad scenes on repeat with very little movement.

There was still a lot to appreciate, though - Eddie's storyline of failure and loneliness; Mark's grief and refusal to hide his queerness. And the history! Baseball history. New York history. Queer history!!

This one won't be at the top of my list, but I eagerly anticipate whatever beautiful story Cat Sebastian writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Thank you Avon & Netgalley for the review copy of You Should Be So Lucky. We Could Be So Good was my first read of 2024 and tbh it set the bar high for my year of reading. Thankfully, the second book in this world does not disappoint either. Both can be read as standalones but I recommend reading both and in order.

I loved the element of having Mark, an arts writer, writing a season long feature on Eddie, the young baseball “star” who is struggling in his second MLB season and first in NYC. Both Mark and Eddie are out of their comfort zones in so many ways: Mark trying to live with the grief of losing his longtime (secret) partner, Eddie hiding his queer identity in the hyper masculine world of professional baseball in an unfamiliar city. The way Cat writes with alternating POVs allows us to feel the range of emotions both men feel for each other, including their elations as well as their reservations.

"Even if he never goes back to the way he used to be, he might still be all right."

As a forever baseball fan, and a long-time reader, I must say I feel like this book was written just for me. I've entered a time in my reading life where I have no expectations and simply hope for the best, and in those times, I find little gems like these. I'm so grateful to netgalley for letting me read a copy so I could say such nice things about it.

Let's start with how I felt it in my soul when Cat Sebastian described the sound of a good hit. The echo, the anticipation, the slow motion cheer in a crowd. There is nothing quite like entering a ball field and knowing that for the next several hours you get to sit with hundreds of people that feel the same way you do. Hundreds of people waiting for the sound of that bat and ball connecting in the absolute perfect way. Sebastian describes the game as glacial, and for the firs time I truly understood why people call baseball boring and slow. Because it isn't glacial in the sense that you can't see the bottom or experience the best at the top. It's the appreciation of every moment in between the very first pitch and the very last out. Everything in between is just as important as each step before and after. It's the perfect game, the one that makes patience feel almost fun.

And it wasn't just the praise for baseball that sucked me in, but the couple, whom I found bafflingly unlikely to have ever been together without a spark. Mark is sad, and grief-stricken, and has been in a writing slump for months. Eddie is just in a slump, but you wouldn't know that based on his attitude when he's around Mark. Think golden retriever and black cat and you'll almost have them pegged for their compatibility.

But they bring out the best in each other simply because they both have a very important lesson to learn.

Time changes you, and it's meant to. And maybe who you become doesn't have to mean you're leaving a loved one behind, but instead, that you're lucky enough to love someone so much on two separate occasions. Maybe who you become can be alright as well. Maybe moving on isn't so much moving on as it is keeping the things that make you great, and allowing more to come into your life so you can be better.

Failure is inevitable, and it's what you make of it that shows who you are. Baseball is the perfect place to find that simply because failure is built into the game. You're meant to do the impossible, train for the impossible, and sometimes slumps need to be celebrated as much as our highs. Sometimes we just need something to cheer for.

"Two men clink their mostly empty glasses, toasting bad luck. Toasting the fact that bad luck is both inevitable and impermanent. Even terrible things come to an end." 🍀⚾️✨

This book felt like a togetherness of moving on, and finding joy in the impossibility of life's expectations, and I loved every second of it. I loved watching Mark and Eddie learn to accept the parts of themselves they felt were wrong and unlovable, but I loved more that they didn't try to change each other for those things. They loved each other in a time where they could have been arrested for doing so, but it never stopped them from being more than that barrier. More than any barrier placed in front of them.

We were so lucky to have received an ARC of this lovely book!! So first thanks to @netgalley and @catwrites !! This book has been one of the best I have read all year. It had everything. It was a slow burn, a happily ever after, all of it!!!!!! Eddie is traded from a team that was aiming towards the fences to a baseball team that could only in name could call itself a major league team. Once he moves to the big apple he has lost his umph, he can’t hit the ball, his teammates won’t talk to him, and the city seems to hate him with mean glares and angrier fans every where he turns. In order to right his wronged image the team employs a magazine to start publishing his diary, so to speak, with weekly updates to try and fix New York’s hatred of him. Lo and behold they contract a well known art critic, Mark, to help ghost write Eddie’s diary. Eddie and Mark fall into a friendship with the signals of possibly something more. This is a very heartwarming story about assisting others along in their journeys of grief, self actualization, and relationships all while coming to terms with yourself and what you are willing to give up of it. And as Cat says it best there’s a very good doggo who stays with us through the entire journey!!! Beautiful and impactful, slightly historical fiction, sapphic romance that received ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ five hearts from this gal!!!

This wonderful book comes out on May 7th and I would highly recommend this sweet tale!!

Earnest and charming. The romance is endearing but the personal growth and depth of characters make this book a grand slam. Sebastian explores the pain of a closeted era without sparing any punches while infusing it with a tender, hopefulness and the reminders that even when the world wants you to be alone, queer connections are possible and are life saving. The rich friendships were as powerful as the main romance, which was epic in itself. I kept waiting to roll my eyes at the predictable forced conflict and resolution, but instead the arc of the story gradually builds and shifts in ways that are as surprising and storied as, well, a good baseball game. I was rooting for Eddie and everyone on the Robins the whole way through, and for Mark and George and Lillian and Nick and the two girls with their own run of bad luck. This was a team of characters I wanted to be a part of, and I’ll be returning to again and again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC!

Overall I think I went into this book with expectations that were too high. The idea of the story is unique and I loved the historical take on what it was like to be gay during that time period, especially in professional sports. I just found myself not caring about the romantic relationship at all, and overall felt the plot lacked .... something. I loved Eddie and his character was charming and endearing. Mark was.... well he kind of sucked? I couldn't understand why Eddie liked him so much and the romantic connection wasn't believable for me at all.

This story had so much potential to get deep into some pretty great topics but stayed very surface level. This didn't work for me because the book was very long and quite slow moving. With that much verbiage - why did we only get a skimming of the meat ?

Low level spice. Loved the historical elements. Wanted more out of this.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

It took me a REALLY long time to get into this story. It felt like it started off suuupppeerrr slooowww but once it picks up and you get to see more of Mark and Eddie's personalities, the story really shines through. I'm not a baseball fan (or a sports fan really) so maybe that's part of the reason I was put off. Eddie and Mark made this story special though. The grief that Mark feels, over William, and Eddie, over baseball, were very palpable. I was able to understand them better because of their struggles and I throughly enjoyed watching them fall in love with one another. I think this story could have been a little shorter in retrospect, given how I almost decided to DNF it at 10%, but if you can get past that first slump where Eddie is having the absolute worst time of his life before he meets Mark then you'll love the rest of the novel!