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

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.5

🌶️🌶️

Pros:
✨Queer Representation
✨Character Development
✨Genuine and Organic Relationship
✨Historical Authenticity
✨Depiction of Grief
✨Heavy Topics Handled with Care

Cons:
✨Audio (No distinction between character voices)

In this 1960's historical romance set in New York, we follow a surly and grieving art columnist that, to his chagrin, has been assigned a sports diary on disdained Robins newcomer, Eddie O’Leary. Eddie, uprooted from his family and friends, gets thrust into a new city with a team that won’t even speak to him (rightfully so, after the harsh commentary he gave reporters) while he fails at the one thing he’s always excelled at--baseball. It takes Eddie by surprise when columnist Mark Bailey wants to do a series on him, and what shocks him even more is that Bailey might be the closest thing he has to a companion. 

I adored this novel. There was so much good happening here, and these characters wrapped themselves around my heart. At the core of this story are two men grieving the loss of a life they once knew. For Eddie, it was his home, his family, and his identity. For Mark, it was a partner who loved him for eight beautiful years before passing away from a heart attack, and the subsequent agony of navigating a future he never expected to face alone. 

I can’t express enough how the topic and conversation around grief in this novel moved me. It wasn’t an open cavern of despair, so much as an ache that, at times, surged forth with a crippling vengeance, and at others, pulsed with reminders of the joys shared and the memories kept. Eddie and Mark complimented one another well, and their relationship bloomed from a place of trust and kinship and loneliness. I loved how they communicated thoroughly and understood the hurt in one another. The side characters had lovely stories of their own, and sensitive topics, such as alcoholism, were approached from a realistic, yet healing, view. This will absolutely be a book I come back to and reread. 

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