Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: We Could be so Good
AUTHOR: Cat Sebastian
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Harper Audio
LENGTH: 11 hours and 46 minutes
RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2023
BLURB:
Casey McQuiston meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this mid-century rom-dram about a scrappy reporter and a newspaper mogul’s son.
“A spectacularly talented writer!”—Julia Quinn
“This historical romance is billed as being ‘for Newsies shippers,’ and it absolutely delivers.”—Dahlia Adler, Buzzfeed Books
Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city’s biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can’t let anyone into his life. He just never counted on meeting someone as impossible to say no to as Andy.
Andy Fleming’s newspaper-tycoon father wants him to take over the family business. Andy, though, has no intention of running the paper. He’s barely able to run his life—he’s never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on the way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he’ll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it.
Except, Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy: showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when it gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can’t deny. But what feels possible in secret—this fragile, tender thing between them—seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they’re willing to fight.
REVIEW:
Nick Russo is a reporter in the Newsroom of the New York Chronicle – one of the daily papers in 1950s New York. The Publisher’s son is starting at the paper and will be in the newsroom for a year. He’s being groomed to take over for his father who is past retirement age. Despite his best efforts to ignore Andy, Nick takes him under his wing after finding in a bit of a pickle with a filing cabinet 😉
These two become fast friends. They are besties who also spend some time together outside of work. They have some common friends, one of whom Andy ends up engaged to. Then his fiance breaks off their engagement after falling for another man. Andy doesn’t know what to do. Nick invites him to stay with him at his apartment. Indefinitely. Nick has always cared for Andy, but could Andy possibly return his feeling? No. That can’t be. He seems to figure out that Nick is queer, but Andy’s only been with women.
Andy has always found men attractive, but now with Nick he has to acknowledge that he’s not entirely straight. He understands Nick’s fear – he knows how the cops and the rest of the world seem to feel about queers. But he can’t help the way he feels. He’s completely awkward about it and Nick thinks he’s off his rocker. But he truly cares for Nick and wants more than friendship.
Things are changing at work and in the world. Andy’s father’s health is failing. Nick’s making a real name for himself in his investigative reporting. The Civil Rights movement is taking hold. Even things in Nick’s neighborhood are changing. Can they really do this together?
This is just a completely lovely story and a super performance from Joel Leslie. This duo is a match made in heaven if I’m honest. I really enjoyed this story on so many levels. There is the classic friends to lovers trope. There is the historical 1950s setting in New York City when so much was happening. And of course there are two wonderful characters who dance around one another for months before realizing that they are far more than friends. Their romance is a very slow-burn and a long coming realization by Andy that he’s not altogether straight. Nick’s real fear about being exposed is given an honest portrayal here. Not only is he from an old-fashioned Italian family but he’s got a cop brother who may or may not know about Nick 😉 He’s afraid he could lose everything if it were known that he is queer. Andy has a cushion of wealth but he knows that he belongs with Nick after his broken engagement. Nick has looked after Andy since they met and he’s not going to be able to stop. Their push/pull relationship finally tips and it’s clear that they need each other as well as care deeply for one another. The fact that they get to be together in this world is the cherry on top of this wonderful depiction of life in the 50s. The portrayal of Nick and Andy’s colleagues at the paper as well as the other queer characters I found really interesting and true to other narratives that I’ve read about this time period. Things were changing and New York was too.
This is definitely a long listen, but well worth it. I really loved both the story and the narration from the always stellar Joel Leslie. There are so many interesting supporting characters that really flesh out the story of these two men who are able to find happiness with each other. You won’t go wrong with this one. It’s highly engaging from the start and really paints a picture of mid-century New York Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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