He braces his hands on the edges of the sink and looks at his reflection, surprised to see that he looks normal, almost calm. He feels as if he’s been turned inside out, as if he just learned that a part of his heart is on the outside of his body, in the possession of somebody else entirely.
page 97, Andy
Table of Contents
Why We Could Be So Good?
I have been hearing about Cat Sebastian and her historical romance novels for a while now. I think the first time I heard about them was from one of cari can read’s videos mentioning You Should Be So Lucky which is in the Midcentury NYC series which this book is the first of. As far as I know these books are standalones and the series denotes a specific time period and location – 1950s New York City.
As for We Could Be So Good, I heard about it most recently from lexi aka newlynova’s best books of 2025 list where it was number 6. lexi’s praise for the book had me intrigued and since I want to be reading more romance I put it on my to-be-read pile and put in a hold for it at the library in early February 2026.
My reading of this book was a little delayed because it arrived before the end of February and since I was only reading books by Black authors in February and I had Automatic Noodle in the queue before this, my reading was delayed until the first week of March. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
The Book
We Could Be So Good is a historical romance set in 1950s New York City. More specifically it is set in the late 1950s, the book’s timestamps indicate that the plot of the book happens in the span of two years – 1958 and 1959. And even more specifically since I made note of this, it starts in March 1958. Nice little coincidence that I also happen to have read this in March.
The book’s story is told from the perspective of our two main characters and love interests. Nick Russo, mid-20s, a reporter for the Chronicle, a newspaper in NYC & Andy Fleming, also mid-20s and the son of the newspaper mogul who owns the Chronicle, aka the big boss’ son. The book is split into five parts alternating between Nick and Andy’s perspectives.
A few pages into my reading of the book I immediately became a fan of Cat Sebastian’s writing style. This book is genuinely quite funny and at many points in the story I found myself laughing out loud. What’s even better is that the book balances its humour with an excellent understanding of what makes for a good romance – tension, yearning strong enough to give me second-hand heartache, and a healthy dollop of queer drama. Just a perfect blend on display here.
The book also does a fantastic job building its characters. Nick and Andy are unique characters, each with their own quirks & foibles, both of whom I came to root for as the story progressed. Again, Cat Sebastian managed a good balance of character and romantic plot development. At every point in the story Nick and Andy felt like fully fledged people with lives outside their romantic interest in each other.
Let’s talk themes. There is of course the queer romance happening – a key component of the romance in We Could Be So Good is that because it is set in 1950s America, being openly queer/gay is something that will lead to social ostracization and marginalization from mainstream society. The book explores the nuances of this particular theme thoroughly and it forms one of the foundational pillars of the romantic tension at play.
Is Nick so mired in gay paranoia that he can’t even admit to being friends with another man without thinking vice cops are about to crawl out from under the desk and arrest him? Is he so used to being lonely that even companionship feels dangerous?
page 32-33, Nick
There are multiple references made to the covert ways that gay men in 1950s America had to interact with each other and the world to be able to survive in a world hostile to them. The term gay paranoia is very apt and it is a feeling that is pervasive throughout the book in the ways Andy and Nick interact with each other and with the people around them.
Families might usually be bonded by blood, but maybe sometimes they’re bonded by shared secrets, by a delicate mixture of caution and faith, by the conviction that hiding together is better in every way than hiding alone.
page 277, Andy
And this is where I think the book dodges the giant bullet of the queer tragic love story. Instead it opts for a story about a heartwarming romance in a cold world and with Andy displaying a charming amount of oppositional defiance to the world around him and living the life he wants to live. And, he finds that he has found family amongst friendly people who care about him. All-in-all, I am quite happy with how the book ended and I’m glad it is not yet another queer tragedy.
Conclusions
We Could Be So Good is a very good book. It is certainly one of the best romances I’ve read this year. I have found a romance writer whose writing style and sensibility I really enjoy and I finally feel like I’ve gotten a foothold on the genre from which I can build my taste further. So yes, I definitely want to read the second book in Cat Sebastian’s Midcentury NYC series and any other romances she has written or will write.
I will leave y’all with one final quote from the book which is what I would describe as a Big Mood.
And, fuck it, that’s what Andy’s going to do. He doesn’t care if the world wants to give him space to make a life. He’s going to push and shove until he and Nick have the space they need and then he’s going to build the kind of life they want. If he wants someone to come home to, and if Nick wants to be that person, then Andy’s going to make sure they have it.
page 314, Andy
That’s all from me. Stay safe out there. I’ll see y’all in the next one.
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