Light-hearted, funny, yet far more ambitious that expected considering it's a sequel to a low-stakes and silly romcom, Not That Impossible by Isabel Murray features one of the most wholesome and endearing queer romcom main character I've read in quite a while. Although the marketing and the book's synopsis doesn't really mention it, Not That Impossible is a purposeful sequel to Not That Complicated rather than a spin-off story or anthology entry. Despite being narrated by another character and obviously having a different love interest, this novel covers the same events as its predecessor and includes all of the same characters portrayed in a different light from a new perspective. Knowledge of the events and the plot of the first book are required to enjoy Not That Impossible and the more familiar one is with the existing characters and story, the stronger and more satisfying this read can be. I picked up this novel on a whim, having recently received a three month free trial of Kindle Unlimited and was curious to see where this story went after reading the rather mixed reviews it has. I went in expecting more silly romcom shenanigans similar to the first book but ended up impressed by how much stronger and well-executed this story was. If you are considering giving this a read, do not read into how negative a lot of the top-rated reviews are and give it an honest chance before judging it. 

In order to talk about and review Not That Impossible, recapping a bit of Not That Complicated is a must (this will contain spoilers of the first book which you SHOULD have already read if you are looking at reading this one). The general premise of the first book involves a 30+ yr old graphic designer Ray who is repeatedly forced to check-in to a local hotel after his house becomes a potential crime scene when a dead body is found mummified under the floorboards of his bedroom. The hotel's front desk is staffed by 20smth yr old Adam Blake who he has a "complicated" history with (get the title reference?) who has been utterly infatuated with Ray for years. Side characters in this story are Police Detective Liam Nash who is in charge of the investigation into the dead body found at Ray's house as well as Jasper Connolly, an amateur aspiring journalist who becomes involved while attempting to report on the case. Not That Impossible covers the same general story, except this time told from the perspective of Jasper who has been dreaming about Liam for the last decade. Additionally, although he is not the focus of the story, Adam is also heavily featured in this story as Jasper's childhood best friend and Liam's cousin. Timeline-wise, this novel actually starts much earlier than the first book as Ray doesn't find the dead body until well into this story and the it ends after Ray and Adam become a couple. 

I make a point to recap the first book because it serves as important context in order to properly review and highlight some of this book's best features. Easily one of the best parts of Not That Impossible is how well it builds off of the existing story in Not That Complicated and fills in a lot of details that perfectly work around the original's continuity. While I found Not That Complicated's story to be fun and light-hearted, my review for that book wrote that the plotting felt a bit haphazard yet also contrived, seeking to get Ray and Adam into as many steamy scenes regardless of how plausible they seemed. Interestingly, this book feels the complete opposite where the story only has two notable sex scenes (technically only one while the other is mostly one-sided foreplay), but the rest of the plot feels purposeful and well planned out. From start to finish, this is a character-focused story specific to Jasper as it's less of a slapstick romcom and more of a standard contemporary romance drama. While still light-hearted and comedic, Not That Impossible is more than just Jasper x Liam scenes and heavily involves Jasper's pursuits as an aspiring journalist, his main day job as a personal trainer, and his Liam Nash erotica fanfiction writing hobby. While the last one obviously is played for laughs initially, by the end of the story even that one has an important narrative purpose. While early fanfics are hilariously silly, Murray uses them as a metaphor for Jasper's feelings; the most comical ones of him being killed off or sidelined in his own stories during his irl moments of dejection. Near the end of the story, one of the most comical moments of the book is when he hilariously role-swaps Liam and his characters in the dom/sub warlord fanfiction (intimidating leader and plunderer, Jasper is most certainly not). The story is is such a substantial jump in quality and plotting that I almost feel like the events of the first book were written as a framework for this book, rather than the other way around. The way the discoveries of the two dead bodies contribute to Jasper's journalism pursuits, the involvement of Liam's professional work, and Adam's newly revealed thoughts via his friendship with Jasper that felt lacking in the first book, I have to commend Murray for how well the story comes together. 

In terms of characters, Jasper is a national treasure and an absolute delight to read about. I previously commented that although I liked Not That Complicated, Ray's character voice and personality was a bit overdramatic for my taste (or as I wrote in the review, I'm not flamboyant enough for this story). However, Jasper is pitched perfect and is almost impossible to dislike, with a good balance of emotional IQ and a healthy amount of self-confidence/personal flaws. Jasper's narration style is highly entertaining and his character is a nice combination of geeky hobbies meshed with being physically attractive and fit (this is a key point that adds a lot of humor when Jasper overpowers detective Liam who is both older and gruffer, a refreshing reversal of a common m/m trope). The story has far more character growth and development than you would expect based on the romcom synopsis, and Jasper's journey with his writing pursuits is surprisingly ambitious and well-written, not to mention fully matching his existing movements and events in the first book. Not only that, but this story actually explains why all the other characters kept telling Ray not to sue Jasper for defamation in the first book and that's he's actually a good bloke. The character motivations also make perfect sense for why Jasper writes two off-beat newspaper articles that were seen as random and damaging in the first book. 

Liam on the other hand, seems to be controversial to many other readers who write him off as a jerk and undeserving of Jasper. Whether its my own personality being somewhat similar to Liam or the fact that I'm a similar age to Liam (should I take offense at how OLD I am according to these books...?), I don't agree with these assessments. While Liam sends mixed signals on paper over the course of the book, reading between the lines actually paints a different picture and one that shows he does care about Jasper and means the best, despite how his actions and words are interpreted at face value. The story actually has great explanations for Liam's uncertainty around Jasper and I'd be lying if I said I haven't also done things in a similar vein. One minor critique is that the same cannot be said about what causes Liam to change his mind and follow through with his restrained feelings. This is a potentially big sticking point as the book elaborates how he first met Jasper as Adam's bratty teenage friend and how big their ten year gap is. While a ten year gap later in life is less of issue, it takes a pretty substantial shift in image to change that impression which the story doesn't really attempt to do. Not That Complicated avoided this pitfall by writing around it and having Ray first meet Adam when they're much older. This pairing doesn't have that luxury and has the potential to run into the uncomfortable idea of a grown adult x teenager pairing, despite Murray's attempt to downplay this scenario by stating Liam only started developing feelings a year prior to the story. 

Surprisingly, despite not being part of the focal romantic pairing, Adam unexpectedly benefits almost as much as the other two in this book. I had critiqued that Adam's character and his interest in Ray felt underdeveloped and vague in Not That Complicated. Via his friendship with Jasper and his familial connection to Liam, this book shows a whole different side to Adam (dare I say, Adam actually has a personality outside of being just smoldering and cool here). The mutual pining and suffering between Jasper and Adam is refreshing and their friendly banter is great supporting material that I felt was lacking in the first book. On a side note, it had been a year since I read Not That Complicated so some of the details were a little fuzzy to me at first. For some reason I got confused and thought Jasper and Adam were related instead of Adam and Liam, so when Jasper mentioned that they were sort of friends with benefits before, I definitely raised an eyebrow (Isabel Murray's books have spice but I didn't know I was also signing up for incestral spice too). Comedic mix-up aside, this book definitely does not have any of that kind of forbidden encounters going on here. 

As far as the writing is concerned, Not That Impossible again feels like a universal improvement in just about every way. Not That Complicated was certainly funny and had a lot of laugh out loud jokes, but the humor often was often walking the line between funny and cringey with a mixed track record. The overall story and read also had a low-stakes, just for fun steamy romance vibe that certainly has its purpose and readership, but felt like it could've been so much more with more ambition. Murray basically took my review for the first book and threw it back in my face, hitting just about every point of criticism I had. Besides the actual story, Murray's writing feels more polished and consistent, at times even clever and heartfelt. All of the slapstick humor and over the top silliness is downplayed in favor of more sophisticated humor (fanfiction jokes aside) and relies far less on pop culture references. While the comedy aspect of the romcom genre isn't quite as funny here, I am more than happy with the tradeoff for an overall stronger and skillfully story. 

I normally specifically avoid referencing other opinions or reviews apart from brief mentions, but I feel the need to address how disappointed I am with the top-liked reviews for this book on Goodreads and other platforms. Except for one review, nearly every review bashes Liam as being an underserving jerk and criticizing this book for forgetting it was supposed to be a romance novel. It doesn't happen often, but upon finishing this read, I felt like I had to defend this book and address these points of criticism in hopes that potential readers will not be turned off by their reviews. The first point, although Liam can be perceived as a jerk based on his hot/cold signs and his hurtful words to Jasper, many reviewers fail to acknowledge that the character actually does care and at the end of the day, means well. Every interaction they have outside of the accidental run ins in the local coffee shop and at Ray's house is initiated by Liam where he provides Jasper valuable material for his journalism pursuits or is seeking out a personal connection. Additionally his terse yet caring inquiries to Adam about Jasper also provide a glimpses into his head in the middle section of the book where the character is mostly absent. Based on what I read in other reviews, a lot of these readers seem to be female m/m readers who are projecting their own preference for words of affirmation as a crucial love language (Liam's weakest love language) vs the character's preference for acts of service (the offers of information, their pizza dinner, etc.) and physical touch. There is a sizeable number of women who read romance m/m novels and this particular one seems to sit poorly with them. This is an weird hunch and while I don't mean to purposely stereotype, I do feel like this book is one that will likely appeal to queer individuals who actually are attracted to men far better than those who are not (particularly the sex scenes which feel different from past romance books I've read catered to chick lit readers). While there's always going to be a degree of subjective taste, the character's personality is an intentional choice that compliments the story and the author has the narrative details to back it up. Most comically, there is one review that has the characters of Liam and Adam mixed up which is kind of a major mistake, oops! 

The second point that this isn't a romance novel is completely off-based and straight up baffling to me. So many of the most popular and well-received romance novels are typically romance in addition to character growth or another storyline incorporated in the book. Reviews that criticize Not That Impossible for giving Jasper a journalism interest or fanfiction hobby is ridiculous as they both add depth to his character and the substance to the story. The journalism element plays an important role in the character's self-realization of what's important and makes him happy, and the erotic fanfiction serves as a foil to the journalism and as a metaphor for the state of his broken heart to Liam, shifting accordingly as their relationship evolves. Even if Liam isn't in the picture 24/7 and the two characters are not conversing face-to-face often, the romance element is constantly present and connected to just about every other element in the story. If these criticisms were instead something along the lines of "This isn't a meet-cute romance story", "this isn't a fair, balanced sexual relationship" (there's a dom/sub commanding tone to it that won't be for everyone), "this isn't a steamy novel and doesn't have enough sex scenes", sure I can understand and follow these sentiments. But to say this book lacks romance is very off-base. 

Other harsh online reviews (stereotypical for Goodreads) rant aside, Not That Impossible was an unexpectedly solid read for me! It certainly defied my limited expectations based on the first book Not That Complicated, and in direct conflict with majority of other readers, I greatly preferred this novel over the first one! From the plotting of the story, the more developed characters, more polished writing and sophisticated humor, Not That Impossible is a huge jump in quality and has a legitimately solid story instead of just coasting on silly humor and sex scenes. When I reviewed Not That Complicated, I wasn't sure if I'd ever go back to read the sequel especially with such an extensive to be read list. However, I'm glad that my current Kindle Unlimited marathon run gave me an excuse to revisit this book which is a fun and very quick read! (For Goodreads ratings, it's a 4.5 star rating rounded down, I'm very selective with my 5 star ratings).