purplepenning's Reviews (1.72k)

A cute, interesting start to a short series

I usually prefer my rom on the com side, but this was as good a character-driven rom-dram as I've ever read. It doesn't hurt that you get to fan cast your favorite classic Hollywood stars in all their 1950s NYC glory. 🙂 We Could Be So Good is a mostly slice-of-life story that captures the complications, the tension, the hope, and joy of carving out a queer space and establishing a found family in an environment that is passively and sometimes brutally, actively hostile. I don't want to spoil it for you, but it ends up being…

a gentler story than I had anticipated and I might have enjoyed it more if I had known that going in

. Yes, there are oppressive laws and family issues and mistrust and corruption, but there are also flowers and dopey cats and baseball games and Italian cooking and hearth and home sweetness. For the relationship itself, you'll find grumpy-sunshine, friends-to-lovers, pining and yearning, caretaking, healthy acceptance of differences, and mostly beautiful communication with some realistic miscommunication that doesn't get tropey or lazy. 

Smart, creative, super interesting short story retellings of myths from around the world, cast into empowering, hopeful love stories from a British-West African perspective. 

A found family novella like you've never read before — full of sweetness, bureaucracy, humor, and hellfire. 

Cottagecore cozy fantasy that's mostly vibes, with nods to Howl's Moving Castle and an interesting take on mental illness, depression, and hanahaki (flower disease).