“Families might usually be bonded by blood, but maybe sometimes they’re bonded by shared secrets, by delicate mixture of caution and faith, by the conviction that hiding together is better in every way than hiding alone” (277).

I really loved this historical-fiction romance about two Newsies in the late 1950s. Nick, a churlish loner with a respectable reputation as a journalist, and Andy, the whimsical, waspish news owner’s son, first encounter each other when Andy is brought on—reluctantly—to learn the ropes of his father’s business in order to take over as news mogul owner. While these two appear to be total opposites, their initial reticent, working relationship very quickly morphs into a deeply, loyal and trusting friendship—and then to something beyond friendship, something both men are a bit fearful to accept. As these two friends explore the possibility of more, there’s a lot to love about their journey: the backdrop of a 1950s newsroom and news stories, the beatnik found family moments of music and dancing, the reality of what hiding was like for the queer community in the 1950s—the constant fear and isolation and missing out on “normal” things, and how even the smallest bit of progress can bring about the biggest dose of hope.

“He can believe that the future they have is worth more than his fear, and he can do what it takes to make that future as safe and happy as possible” (343). ( )

I was underwhelmed - it was all a bit too frictionless. Ultimately, I think We Could Be So Good was fine; but I was often bored and cared very little for what was happening. I think I've just moved on from this author. ( )

Relatively low plot friends-to-lovers with an ADHD coded character. It's pleasant enough, and the pacing has improved since the full length novel in the Cabot series, Sebastian's other 20th century historicals. However, it still seems a little overlong for a low conflict romance without additional substantial plot threads. All in all I think I prefer either her 20th century novellas or her more distantly historical work, which typically has a higher plot to word count ratio. Mid-tier Sebastian is still better than high tier for a lot of other authors, though. ( )

This was a sweet, slow-burn historical romance set in the ‘50s, back when getting found out was a real danger to those in the lgbtq community. As a novel it didn’t have much of a plot but the grumpy/sunshine, friends-to-lovers romance more than made up for it. Cat Sebastian’s relaxed writing style was easy to follow and I loved the way she worked references to The Charioteer, Mary Renault’s classic gay romance novel from the ‘50s, into the storyline. ( )

3.5, rounded down. Sweet, but lacked the tension I need ( )