Cat Sebastian’s We Could Be So Good is a candy office romance that follows two males who work at a newspaper in late Fifties New York City. It reads like a love letter to the queer pulp novels of the period, however with an infusion of hope not usually seen in literature in regards to the time interval.
Nick Russo is a gruff, working-class journalist from Brooklyn who has labored his approach up the ladder to turn into a lead journalist for The Chronicle. Charmingly naive Andy Fleming is the begrudging inheritor to his household media empire and Nick’s future boss. Nick is ready to hate Andy, who he sees as a fairly boy who has had all the things handed to him, however that’s simpler mentioned than accomplished. During their first encounter, Nick finds Andy actually caught—his tie jammed in a submitting cupboard. Andy’s lovable mess charms the grumpy journalist, and shortly Nick helps Andy with small, on a regular basis duties like protecting monitor of keys in addition to greater points like navigating the politics of the paper. Nick, who has lengthy recognized he’s homosexual, is content material to merely pine for his hapless good friend. But then Andy begins to query his personal emotions for Nick and whether or not they could possibly be greater than platonic.
We Could Be So Good takes place within the oft-romanticized late Fifties, that are a very fascinating and high-stakes backdrop for a queer historic romance. It can be simple to fill each males with disgrace and self-loathing, given the threats to their security. And but this e book is full of a lot hope. The queer scene was starting to blossom on this period, with pulp novels performing like a street map for the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. Nick and Andy learn these books, and Sebastian incorporates plot units and tropes from them into her work. However, as a substitute of the disgrace and violence that usually accompanied modern Fifties narratives, Sebastian provides Nick and Andy a protected house to discover their sexuality. They even expertise some (albeit minor) diploma of acceptance from their households. These refreshing decisions stop the story from being slowed down by the toxicity of the time interval, permitting the reader to expertise queer optimism if not outright pleasure.
With We Could Be So Good, Sebastian provides a young, heartening stunner of a love story to her already-impressive physique of work.
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