There are few better ways to pass a sweltering August than stretched out six feet from the air conditioner, reading a book about, say, that time the New York Sun published a bunch of stories about man bats on the moon.
And if you're going to a New York City beach, you surely need a New York City beach read. It's important not to be delusional, though: leave "The Power Broker" at home. You need something fun that's nevertheless a bit of an emotional roller coaster, something that takes you just far enough out of your usual orbit to feel like a vacation from real life. Also, probably something a little horny.
What you need, in short, is a romance novel. Enter "We Could Be So Good" and "You Should Be So Lucky," two romance novels by writer Cat Sebastian that capture the city at a particularly legendary moment in time. Interconnected and set in midcentury New York, the novels—released in 2023 and 2024, respectively—are full of lovelorn pining that eventually pays off in domestic bliss. But first, there are lots of landline telephone calls and conversations in grubby, dimly lit bars and over Italian food and the odd romance of sitting around together doing boring reporting tasks. Plus baseball.