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A review by alisonheide
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
5.0
My top book of the year so far. Writing this review a good 3 months and 30+ books after finishing it and it still hasn’t been topped. We Could Be So Good came close, but queer athletes mean so much to me.
This book surprised me in the absolute best way. Optimistically realistic is the way I would describe the setting of the book which worked well to set the seen for a hostile historical backdrop but it still made sure to highlight the way queer people were able to carve a life for themselves. It’s also impeccably researched and I can feel the influence of real life stories shining through. It means more to me to see how queer people purposefully fought for their place in society and gouged out a place to honor their relationships than a rose colored story where we suspend disbelief. It perfectly captured the lovely but melancholy feeling I get when secret queer relationships from this time are discovered and discussed.
The conflicts and relationship progression were realistic and the typical third act breakup happened early enough that we were able to spend significant time with the couple after. I would eat up another book of just the domestic bliss of every queer couple highlighted. Sadly we know the more tragic stories of this time but queer joy has always been there whether or not “normal” society was given the privilege of knowing. The book took the typical story someone would tell from this time period of Mark’s secret loneliness and grief for a love tragically ripped away from him that he had to live with in silence and said fuck that, no more queer trauma porn.
This book surprised me in the absolute best way. Optimistically realistic is the way I would describe the setting of the book which worked well to set the seen for a hostile historical backdrop but it still made sure to highlight the way queer people were able to carve a life for themselves. It’s also impeccably researched and I can feel the influence of real life stories shining through. It means more to me to see how queer people purposefully fought for their place in society and gouged out a place to honor their relationships than a rose colored story where we suspend disbelief. It perfectly captured the lovely but melancholy feeling I get when secret queer relationships from this time are discovered and discussed.
The conflicts and relationship progression were realistic and the typical third act breakup happened early enough that we were able to spend significant time with the couple after. I would eat up another book of just the domestic bliss of every queer couple highlighted. Sadly we know the more tragic stories of this time but queer joy has always been there whether or not “normal” society was given the privilege of knowing. The book took the typical story someone would tell from this time period of Mark’s secret loneliness and grief for a love tragically ripped away from him that he had to live with in silence and said fuck that, no more queer trauma porn.