A review by thegreatmanda
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

“Love is love” has become such an overused phrase that it’s lost some of its meaning, but this is what it is to be falling in love: feeling so glad to see another person that it feels like relief; wanting to read something they’ve read or written and understand their thoughts about it; wanting to be the person they call at all hours just to hear each other talk.

The way Eddie and Mark get to know one another, figuring out the unspoken things about each other, is painfully sweet. Few things make me cry like a man grieving his male partner, who also had to be a secret throughout their relationship, and Mark's story was no exception. The way Eddie wanted to know about William and their life together, and to understand Mark's feelings through those experiences, touched me deeply. It felt like every few pages, there was another moment that broke my heart and then fit it back together again.

Favorite Quotes:

He holds the book carefully, because it's something special, and it doesn't belong to him.

He probably ought to be more shocked by this than he actually is. But when he looks at Mark, he just thinks: Of course I'd take that risk.

"I thought you were beautiful! I couldn't believe how beautiful you were." Beautiful and smart and a little mean, like he was made in a lab to lure Eddie to his doom. But instead of doom, it's this: coffee and breakfast, a dog snoring on the carpet, the near certainty they'll do this again.

He feels like every part of him is wrapped around Eddie, like they're tangled up in something dangerous and lovely and terribly, terribly precious.

He thinks of Mark having to keep his own private life a secret for years. It's the kind of secret that seals a person off from everyone around them. Eddie's heart breaks a little for him.

"You can cook." Eddie feels like he's uncovered a deep, dark secret.
"I can't be bothered to cook for one."
With that one sentence, Eddie can see years of dinners cooked and shared, and then all of it taken away. He already knows that Mark must have grieved—must have been grieving, the whole time they've known each other—but this might be the first time Mark's let him know it. He's pretty sure Mark will crumble into dust if Eddie tries to say something kind, so Eddie just brushes Mark's shoulder with his own. "Do you have an apron?" he asks.

"You missed me," Eddie says, because it's not like he was going to be able to hold that back for more than two seconds anyway.
Mark glares at him.
"I missed you, too," Eddie says.
Mark glares harder, but is distracted long enough for Eddie to get rid of both their shirts.

"I love you." He kisses Eddie then, because otherwise that phrase is going to linger in the air, true but somehow inadequate. He has a professional aversion to phrases that refuse to get the job done. "I'm going to keep loving you," Mark says, and that's much better.