Books Like You Should Be So Lucky: 5 Queer Romances to Read Next

As an Amazon Associate, Fractal Enigma earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon links below are paid links.

You Should Be So Lucky pairs baseball player Eddie with journalist Mark in 1960 New York. Grief, the risks of being publicly queer, and the attention paid to a struggling athlete give the romance its particular shape. A useful readalike might preserve the historical pressures, the care between the men, or the relationship between public reputation and private life.

We Could Be So Good is the obvious first stop, but it is not the only route. The recommendations below include other historical MM romances and a contemporary sports option. Each changes something significant, so you can decide whether the period setting or the emotional dynamic matters most.

Choose your next read

• We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian — more midcentury new york and a relationship built through familiarity.
• The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles — historical danger, class differences and a connection worth protecting.
• The Gentleman’s Book of Vices by Jess Everlee — queer historical romance with a literary connection.
• The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian — sebastian’s approach to class and vulnerability in a different era.
• Time to Shine by Rachel Reid — a contemporary sports romance with growing domestic closeness.

1. We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Try this if you want: more midcentury new york and a relationship built through familiarity.

Nick and Andy’s newspaper-world romance is the closest setting-and-author match. Choose it if the workaday city, the difficulty of living openly, and the importance of small acts of care are what you want more of. It centers a different couple and an earlier point in the same broad midcentury world. The shift from baseball coverage to colleagues also makes this a particularly useful choice when Eddie’s sporting career was secondary to the tenderness of the relationship.

Search Amazon for We Could Be So Good →

2. The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

Try this if you want: historical danger, class differences and a connection worth protecting.

A gentleman and a smuggler become entangled in Regency England. This is a stronger pick for readers who want the outside world to put real pressure on a queer relationship, while giving the plot more adventure. The countryside, smuggling and class tensions move it well away from a New York baseball season. Choose it for historical stakes and the question of whom a person can trust, rather than for a close match to Sebastian’s particular setting.

Search Amazon for The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen →

3. The Gentleman’s Book of Vices by Jess Everlee

Try this if you want: queer historical romance with a literary connection.

A collector of erotic books seeks out the author behind them in Victorian London. That premise makes this an appealing change of period for readers interested in the relationship between private desires and public respectability. The bookish setup replaces the athlete-journalist connection, and the era changes the surrounding social world. Try it if words, secrecy and finding someone who understands a hidden part of your life sound more enticing than another sports storyline.

Search Amazon for The Gentleman’s Book of Vices →

4. The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

Try this if you want: sebastian’s approach to class and vulnerability in a different era.

A former highwayman and an aristocrat give this historical romance a very different surface from You Should Be So Lucky. It is the same-author choice when you want to see how questions of power, money and trust work outside midcentury New York. The criminal past and aristocratic setting bring more overt adventure. Pick it because you want another Sebastian relationship, not because you expect the baseball book’s particular rhythms or treatment of celebrity.

Search Amazon for The Queer Principles of Kit Webb →

5. Time to Shine by Rachel Reid

Try this if you want: a contemporary sports romance with growing domestic closeness.

Reid’s hockey romance brings Landon and Casey together through a temporary team assignment and a shared home. This is the route for readers who want to keep athletes and affection while leaving historical restrictions behind. It is not a journalist-player relationship, and its central situation is different from Mark’s grief. The useful overlap is the space a relationship can create alongside professional demands, especially when the moments away from the sport interest you most.

Search Amazon for Time to Shine →

Which one should you read first?

Begin with We Could Be So Good for the closest overall connection. Choose The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen if you want a more adventurous historical plot, or The Gentleman’s Book of Vices for a literary premise. If you mainly want another sports romance with an affectionate central relationship, Time to Shine is the clearest change of period. The list offers routes, rather than ranking five versions of the same book.

Before you choose

Should I read We Could Be So Good first?

It is the earlier midcentury New York novel and a sensible starting point if you want the setting in publication order. The two books center different couples.

Are all these books historical?

No. Time to Shine is contemporary. It is included for the sports-and-relationship connection, while the other recommendations retain a historical setting.

More reading guides

• Books Like We Could Be So Good — 10 Queer Historical Romances With Reporters, Found Family & Secret Domesticity (2026)
• Books Like Red, White & Royal Blue — 10 MM Romance Reads (2026)
• Books Like Heated Rivalry: MM Hockey Romances to Read After the Show (2026)

Find your next favorite book

Get more romance and fantasy reading guides from Fractal Enigma.