You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review
“No. Absolutely not. I’m not ghostwriting a ballplayer diary.”
It's been a year since Mark's partner William died, a year of everything feeling dull and Mark not being able to find the energy and passion to keep writing beyond a few book reviews every now and again to keep on the books at the Chronicle. With the paper struggling, his boss comes to him and springs the idea of, normally arts and culture writer, Mark ghost writing a series of “diary” entries from New York City's new expansion team's shortstop, Eddie. The shortstop who is going through a horrible slump and went on a public tirade about being traded to the Robins. Mark agrees, with the thought that after a few articles, everyone will see what a bad idea it was, even though his access to the team will lead to an eventual magazine feature.
Sportswriters are the reason everybody hates Eddie. Okay, Eddie’s big mouth is the reason everybody hates Eddie, but he might have been able to keep it a secret if it hadn’t been for the reporters.
Eddie, for his part, agrees because he's trying to get back on the good side of his new team and thinks this is set-up to get a few canned lines out there and get the city back to liking him. When Mark and Eddie meet, there's an instant attraction but, as this is, 1960 and Eddie is a professional athlete, things are more than complicated, they could be dangerous. Mark's lived in a secret relationship before and doesn't want to do it again, while Eddie's aware of why he needs to keep things covert, he's optimistic enough to believe they can forge a path that works for them both. You Should Be So Lucky was a story of a jaded reporter still grieving and a baseball player that comes along at the worst time trying to chase his clouds away.
He’s making gay jokes with a professional baseball player in his living room. He could not feel more surreal about this if he tried.
If you're picking this up for the baseball setting, there is some feel of that, enough baseball culture to have fans of the sport get that smile over the ridiculousness of all the stats kept and speak to the feeling of why fans root and develop lifelong connections with teams and players. But, there also wasn't so much that non-sports fans will have their eyes glaze over, Eddie's slump plays a big part of the story but only snippets of games are shown and it's more about the emotional journey he's going on in his personal life. If you're picking this up for the historical feel, that's here woven throughout the whole context as the main conflict is Mark worrying about being a danger to Eddie, what would happen if their relationship was ever found out by the wrong person. Secondary characters play a big part of their world, the old-timer usual baseball beat reporter, Eddie's manager and a teammate, and friends of Mark, through each of these characters, the time period is felt in how protective they try to be for the couple. There was also, what turned out to be an emotional scene, that I felt hits hard in it's depth without beating it down, between Eddie and his mother. Eddie spends the morning telling her about Lula, about Mark helping the rookie buy suits, about the dumbest shit that could not possibly interest anyone but a mother, and she doesn’t falter, not once. It's Eddie coming out to his mother without explicit stating and it was the she doesn’t falter, not once. that will have your eyes watering.
Maybe he doesn’t know how to untangle caring for someone with worrying that it will be their undoing.
The story is told from both Mark and Eddie's point-of-view, but I'm going to say this is a little more Mark's story. The first half is Mark coming out from the bottom of grief and making that healing journey. The second half had more of Eddie and Mark together, with Eddie also on his personal journey of internally thinking about what it truly means to be gay, where before he knew he was gay but compartmentalized it in a way that had him not putting it in the context of his life. So, while, there is a big romance plot (there are open-door scenes but some go the fade away route before showing actual consummation), it's Mark and Eddie both taking separate personal journeys that then lead them into flowing into their romance. This seems to be how a lot of newer romances are going, and I don't know if I'm explaining right, but I personally like when there's more of a singular journey, the characters are working together in the same journey towards romance. These two are in their heads a lot and when Mark is coming to terms that he does love Eddie, he's by himself instead of having that moment with Eddie, again, making it feel like a personal journey instead of the togetherness I want in romance.
I’m telling you, Eddie, when you look at me, it’s obvious.”
“You only think so because you know how I feel.”
There was a third-act break-up, where Eddie goes on his personal journey and then shows Mark how things can work, with Mark deciding that he'll do his best to show faith in Eddie's belief. This had the author's usual naturalness to writing and emotions that never fails to emotionally draw me in and there was an epilogue that summed up the story perfectly, with some grief and proven and future optimism leading these two down the HEA road. If you're looking for personal journeys that help flow two people into a working romance, with added bonus of historical feel and some baseball, then you definitely want to pick this one up.
