I absolutely adored You Should be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian which portrays a slow burn romance between reporter Mark and professional baseball player Eddie, set in 1960 New York City. Mark is a lovable grump full of cutting observations who is recovering from the sudden death of his boyfriend while Eddie is a temperamental misfit adjusting to life in a new city, playing for a new team and experiencing a terrible batting slump. I absolutely loved the way they played off one another and understood each other.
There was a real sense of maturity to the writing and storytelling that I enjoyed. This was a story about adult gay men who are comfortable in their identities as gay men. Admittedly, I read a lot of YA queer romance, which tends to focus more on discovery of identity than adult queer romance, but there are still so many books in the adult genre where one half of the pairing is only just discovering their queer identity. So it was refreshing to read a story where that wasn’t a hurdle.
I also really liked Mark and Eddie as characters and how Cat Sebastian portrayed the gap between the personalities they show the world and who they actually are and how they truly grew to understand each other and see past each other’s facades. It’s something I love to see and not something I often see done well.
Some spoilers below
I don’t enjoy when romance stories (queer or otherwise) set up the conflict to be within the relationship. I much prefer when conflicts are external to the relationship and need to be overcome together or when each member of the couple needs to overcome their own internal hang-ups for the relationship to coalesce. This story had some external conflict, but most of the conflict was centered around Mark wanting to protect Eddie and Eddie figuring out if that’s what he wants. And there wasn’t really any miscommunication there (another trope I hate).
I enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t really an antagonist, unless you count 1960 as an antagonist. The characters weren’t pitted against anyone but themselves and I found that refreshing. I loved the explorations of identity as it related to the need and desire for secrecy and safety, as well as Eddie having to connect his identity as a gay man to his identity as a baseball player and realizing that the two aren’t separate. That being a public figure means he’s not allowed (in 1960 America) to be open in his queerness in the same way Mark is as someone in more of an artistic field.
The wider cast of characters was also a surprising delight. Characters I thought would end up being antagonistic ended up being allies in unexpected ways. And that was incredibly refreshing in a queer romance set during an incredibly homophobic time period.
The true star however was Lula, Mark’s dog. I would read an entire book from Lula’s point of view.
Anyway, I highly recommend You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian and will definitely be looking to read more from this author. Honestly, I’m surprised I hadn’t come across her work sooner.
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