11 november 2024
for “we could be so good” I feel like I had a more immediate sense throughout the book of who the characters were. I understood their motivations, their internal conflicts I sympathized with them.

I think “you should be so lucky” takes a little bit longer to get there. which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. but it does mean that it takes longer to sell me on the romance since I’m not as invested in the characters.

eddie

, in particular, was a particularly hard sell for me. he’s framed from the jump as a “himbo with a heart of gold” which is generally an easily loveable character for me (see: stranger things steve harrington and 911 evan buckley) but they’re also really easy to get wrong. he, unfortunately, tips a little bit into the wrong column even if only because ik cat sebastian is capable of better.

something that is captured so compellingly in this is

grieving your partner when no one knows you’re grieving your partner

. its such a specific type of heartbreaking thats unique to queer experience. theres also something so tender in recognizing that in someone else like george does to mark insofar as kind of tipping a hat to their shared experience as

widowers

. and the cherry mariscino part when

mark suddenly breaks down in the kitchen after not having cried for months

. that feels very real

petition for cat sebastian to get better titles though. what the hell is “you should be so lucky” and “we could be so good” i can’t even think of how those phrases even relate to the STORY. 

the cat sebastian books that i’ve read so far are always full of so much heart you can almost forgive it for its wrongdoings.