Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - You Should Be So Lucky

I loved watching these two fall in love and finally admit to falling in love, but there’s a lot of sadness and grief throughout this book, too. It takes place at a time when being gay is dangerous, and far from ignoring or shying away from that fact, it becomes a major plot point. My one quibble about this book is that the audiobook narrator’s high-class, mid century NYC accent really grated on me. If I read more in this series, it won’t be on audio.

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adaminmelrose's review

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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nere's review

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lighthearted

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

11 november 2024
for “we could be so good” I feel like I had a more immediate sense throughout the book of who the characters were. I understood their motivations, their internal conflicts I sympathized with them.

I think “you should be so lucky” takes a little bit longer to get there. which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. but it does mean that it takes longer to sell me on the romance since I’m not as invested in the characters.

eddie

, in particular, was a particularly hard sell for me. he’s framed from the jump as a “himbo with a heart of gold” which is generally an easily loveable character for me (see: stranger things steve harrington and 911 evan buckley) but they’re also really easy to get wrong. he, unfortunately, tips a little bit into the wrong column even if only because ik cat sebastian is capable of better.

something that is captured so compellingly in this is

grieving your partner when no one knows you’re grieving your partner

. its such a specific type of heartbreaking thats unique to queer experience. theres also something so tender in recognizing that in someone else like george does to mark insofar as kind of tipping a hat to their shared experience as

widowers

. and the cherry mariscino part when

mark suddenly breaks down in the kitchen after not having cried for months

. that feels very real

petition for cat sebastian to get better titles though. what the hell is “you should be so lucky” and “we could be so good” i can’t even think of how those phrases even relate to the STORY.

the cat sebastian books that i’ve read so far are always full of so much heart you can almost forgive it for its wrongdoings.

“Maybe Mark is wrong. Maybe this swing will slip away from Eddie, or maybe it will settle into something just above marginal, something good enough but never great. He knows better than to count on good things lasting. But when he watches Eddie—when he sees that stern set of his jaw, and when Eddie flashes a grin toward the bleachers—Mark thinks he’s seeing something that’s for keeps.”

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Read For:

✓ 1960s

✓ Baseball ⚾️

✓ Good Humor

✓ Grumpy x Sunshine

✓ Gay Sports Romance

˗ˏˋ ★ REVIEW ★ ˎˊ˗

The dialogue was SO good! I really enjoyed this book and all the characters. Queer sport romance books will always have a special place in my heart and this is now added to that list. While I know little to nothing about baseball this book suddenly had me interested.

There is such a good balance of coping with grief and maintaining a great level of entertainment. The relationship was 10/10, Mark and Eddie had great chemistry and worked so well with one another.

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Angst Level: 💧💧

POV: Duel, Third Person

Release Date: 07, May 2024

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