Gorgeous and sweet and funny, The Impossible Us is the story of Bee and Nick.

Bee's life is full of work she loves and a social circle that is always there for her.

Nick is sinking under the weight of a failing marriage and a writing career that has slid from promising to fading. At least gin is always there for him.

A chance online encounter leads to trading emails, which may lead to more...no matter the universe between their two worlds.

Lotz's characters are beautifully flawed and artfully drawn. I could read about Bee and Nick forever.



https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4607615781?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

A whole new meaning to star crossed lovers. An errant email brings together Nick and Bee, after communicating through emails off and on they decided to meet. Except things aren't what they seem. Will these two characters get to see what could be in store for them if they were given the chance to meet?
I loved this funny and emotional tale. I rooted for both main characters individually and for them to be able to beat the odds as a couple. I found it an interesting read, enjoyed how the story was told between both point of views, and the email exchanges were both fun and endearing.

Thank you to netgalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

This book was the weirdest blend of The Lake House and You’ve Got Mail and I loved every second of it. I especially liked the implications that there were so many i-mails we didn’t get to see because the relationship definitely developed faster than than what we saw. Bee and Nick connect by complete accident when Nick sends her a message meant for his latest freelance employer who hasn’t paid him. Instead of writing it off as a crazy person (or phishing) she responds to clarify she isn’t the right recipient and they just never stopped talking. At first they just let the “red flags:” go and think it was an error or one person pretending to know about something they didn’t but evening they realize they live in parallel realities and can only talk to each other through their messages. A heartbreaking relationship ensues where they realize they can never exist in the same time and the same place. This book was well written and full of good humor, fun science fiction, and a good old fashioned love story.

Thank you so much to Berkley for an advanced copy of The Impossible Us in exchange for an honest review.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Pub Date: March 22, 2022

This book was honestly one of the most unique stories I've ever read. A fantasy romance set in a multi-verse, two people connect courtesy of a glitch in the mesh between the two worlds. This story was told mostly through instant messaging and email chains, and I actually really liked that style of story-telling. I wasn't sure I would, but the story just had a wonderful flow to it. The chapters alternated POVs between Nick and Bee, and I really liked getting insight into both of their lives. The longing between them is what did me in. I'm a sucker for a good story about pining and longing!

This story also frustrated me at times. I wasn't sure how I felt about Bee's dishonesty, and I really didn't like Nick's "plan" towards the end. I'm glad he came out of his brain fog and ditched the plan, TBH, because I would have been really disappointed in his character had he continued forward.

That being said, I was rooting for Bee and Nick. I can't imagine what it feels like to have your soulmate within your grasp and not be able to have them. The story was funny, irritating, heartbreaking, and ultimately, hopeful. I was super invested in this story, and I'm so glad I read it.

Disclaimer: This is not a light rom-com. The book alternates between a lighter tone as well as diving into much heavier topics.

TW/CW: infertility, abortion, emotional abuse, suicide

The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz

When Nick sends a foul mouthed rant to a customer, who he thinks is trying to avoid paying him, his text message is received by Bee. Nick is a failed novelist who has just ghostwritten a book for his latest client. Bee operates a very successful business re-fashioning wedding dresses. Nick's depressed, in a very going nowhere but down marriage, wallowing in his failure to get off the couch and make something of himself. Bee escaped a bad relationship years ago and is happy to never again experience more than one night stands. In fact, after her latest disaster at meeting up with someone, she's happy to swear off dating at all.

But that one misdirected message sparks joking back and forth messages between Nick and Bee. They really enjoy their banter and there is no pressure to be anything but themselves since they plan to never meet. Once they realize how much they like each other, how they seem to mesh so well, they change their minds and try to meet up. That's when they realize there have been "red flags", signs that their worlds aren't exactly the same.

Turns out that they seem to be living in alternate realities, with all kinds of obstacles towards ever meeting because of "science stuff". I won't try to explain it because I can't and because I don't even understand it. Whenever I tried to think things through, while reading the book and after I finished it, I have a suspicion that things make even less sense than when I didn't try to think about what is going on, so I stopped thinking about it and just enjoyed the story.

At first I wasn't sold on this friendship. Bee seems nice, successful, and smart, but Nick is in such a slump of feeling sorry for himself and inertia, that about the only reason I cared about him was because he loves his dog, Rosie, and because he is pretty funny. I wasn't sure that was enough to carry a relationship, even one with no pressure, but once Nick gets off his couch and tries to make things happen, he seems worth giving a chance.

Things are bittersweet, knowing these two have found the person for them but also knowing they can never be together other than by text. But eventually they realize there might be something that's not the same but similar and they both work towards making that happen in each of their worlds. In many ways, things go from hopeless to even worse than hopeless. What was fate's reason for bringing them together by text? Is there some higher reason than just them getting to be in each other's lives?

There are a lot of people to keep track of in this story since both worlds have some version of most people in them. Knowing what happens in one world, that does or doesn't happen in the other, can be heartbreaking or inspiring. This book was funny, sad, and thought provoking, although I seemed to enjoy it the most when not thinking much at all.

Thank you to Elisha, Berkley Publishing Group/Ace, and NetGalley for this ARC.

An unexpected enjoyable read! Blown away... probably not, but this was a cleverly written time-glitch love story. When two different universes collide by way of an accidental email between strangers, an encounter abounds.

Bee is searching for happiness on Tinder after a failed relationship while she works away on refurbished wedding dresses from failed marriages. Nick with low confidence and feeling hopeless in his marriage and career as a writer. When he sends an angry email unintentionally to Bee, a complete stranger, she is amused and replies. The conversations through email become good therapy and they plan to meet in person. This encounter or lack of brings reality their meeting may never take place. What does occur is an incredible realization and a creative level of characters. This is a sweet love story and I enjoyed their banter back and forth....laughing aloud. This is not usually a choice I would have made....Sci-Fi can be hard to grasp....but glad I finished!

Thank you NetGalley for this title in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not what I expected but it was a lovely story to read. I enjoyed the twist of loving through dimensions part. I enjoyed the diff Pov of male and female leads. I wish the ending would of given me more or really more of a happy ending. Mainly because it reminded me of the lake house movie and I just really wanted them to somehow be able to cheat time and find each other.

Nick, upset that he hasn't been paid, writes an email to the wrong account. The account's recipient, Bee, answers, and they begin to become pen pals that turn serious when they realize that they're from parallel worlds.

This is an odd book. I'm not sure how to categorize it. With its premise definitely sci-fi, but it never felt romantic enough to be considered a romance. Honestly, as soon as I gave up thinking it would be a romance, I started to enjoy the journey.

The pacing was perfect. Every time I felt a lull, a plot point happens. The characters are silly and weirdly imperfect. Bee has a business where she repurposes wedding dresses, and I hope someone in the real world is doing that because it's a great idea.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I was intrigued when I read the premise of this book and stayed up all night reading. I find myself disappointed in the book as a whole. The email banter in the beginning was fun, but the book quickly became something I had to finish only because I requested the book.

Okay, if you're reading this book get ready to be really really REALLY sad!

This book title matches the whole energy’s for the book in the most perfect way, one of the most heartbreaking romances I’ve ever read and you're rooting for the relationship to work from begging to end.

We get dual pov in this book which I always love, we get Bees and Nicks perspective and side of the story which just makes it richer and more heartbreaking :(

Romance lovers this is your next book to read!

The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz was remarkable! Well it's fair to say, I was not expecting what happened in this AT ALL. Clever, twisty, and surprising are the best words to describe it. Loved the email exchanges and this kicks off absolutely brilliantly which absorbed me from the very first sentence. Great relationships and good characters make for a "clever" read!

The Impossible Us by author Sarah Lotz is a quirky, fun, heart-breaking sci-fi rom-com that bursts at the seams with originality. I usually inhale books like oxygen, racing through the pages in record time. Here, however, I found myself savoring the moment and wishing the pages would stretch into eternity.

Nick and Bee meet online when Nick accidentally misdirects a scathing message meant to go to a client who hasn’t compensated him for ghost writing a novel. Bee, a seamstress who repurposes wedding wear, receives the missive and responds, thus beginning one of the most beautiful and frustrating love stories ever penned. Back and forth they banter, until finally they both agree it’s time to remove their blindfolds and meet in person. Clearly they are soul mates who have finally found one another. When both arrive at Euston Station for their first encounter, they are unable to connect, in spite of the fact that they are texting in real-time, both insisting they are in the exact same location. Bee is convinced she is being ghosted, but Nick feels there are forces at work that neither of them fully understand. When they finally compare notes, it’s clear that they WERE both at Euston Station—in parallel worlds. Somehow a glitch in the mesh between their worlds has allowed them to connect electronically. Both quickly realize that trading barbs via the internet will never be enough. The novel follows their love story as it unfolds, and the two reach out, grasping only the space that separates them, as they are forced to acknowledge that sometimes even soul mates aren’t guaranteed a future.

First and foremost, the plot is incredibly clever. Melding romance and quantum physics is no small feat, yet Lotz pulls it off with aplomb. Her use of brilliant character development in advance of the parallel world twist is nothing short of genius, as it first allows the reader to establish an investment in Bee and Nick. In doing so, if the reader wants the relationship to continue, it is imperative to suspend disbelief and accept the premise. The investment pays off in ways both large and small, as Lotz delivers barriers and obstacles against a backdrop of a profound connection between the truly star-crossed lovers. As the book winds it’s way to a conclusion, the reader experiences sadness and joy, rooting for the impossible and hoping for a Hail Mary pass.

I cannot recommend this novel strongly enough. Set aside a few hours, find a comfy chair in front of a fireplace or a quiet spot on the beach, and allow yourself to be whisked away on a romantic adventure that will leave you with both smiles and tears.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me access to an ARC for review. The scheduled date for publication is March 22, 2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for a review.

In The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz, one misdirected email creates an impossible connection between two people. Bee thinks she has everything: a successful business repurposing wedding dresses, and friends who love and support her. She’s given up on finding love, but that’s fine. There’s always Tinder. Nick thinks he has nothing: his writing career has stalled after early promise and his marriage is on the rocks, but that’s fine. There’s always gin. So when one of Nick’s emails, a viciously funny screed intended for a non-paying client, accidentally pings into Bee's inbox, they decide to keep the conversation going. After all, they never have to meet. But the more they get to know each other, the more Bee and Nick realize they want to. They both notice strange pop culture or political references that crop up in their correspondence, but nothing odd enough to stop Bee and Nick for falling hard for each other. But when their efforts to meet in real life fail spectacularly, Bee and Nick discover that they’re actually living in near-identical but parallel worlds. With a universe between them, Bee and Nick will discover how far they’ll go to beat impossible odds.

I really wanted to like this book, but I nearly gave up on it multiple times. In the end, I finished because it was a galley that I had specifically requested and I felt I owed the book the consideration of seeing if it could resolve the issues I had with it. I was intrigued by the premise, since I have a soft spot for stories about parallel worlds and multiverses. I read an excerpt of Nick and Bee’s first email exchange prior to requesting the galley and from that excerpt developed the inaccurate assumption that this would be a funny epistolary novel with banter and a multiversal twist. In all fairness, that assumption colored my reading experience because I was expecting something very different from the story I got. While selections of the emails between Nick and Bee are peppered throughout the text and were the parts I enjoyed most, the majority of the book is told through alternating chapters of first-person perspective from Nick and Bee. The world building, banter, and some of the clever twists on how the plot makes use of the parallel worlds premise were great. The romance, unfortunately, did not work for me at all and was my main issue with the book. It seemed unsure whether it wanted to be a light, witty rom-com or a heavier, bittersweet love story. The romance plot also hinges heavily on deception, manipulation, and infidelity (debatable, but the characters involved consider it infidelity and react accordingly), all of which I do not enjoy as elements of a romance plot. This meant that I spent most of this book very uncomfortable with what was happening and the choices the characters were making, which isn’t my ideal experience when reading a book billed as a romance. Your mileage with the specifics that I disliked may vary, but because I couldn’t buy into the romance part of the plot, I had a hard time appreciating the rest of the book. The beginning was intriguing and the finale is interesting and engaging, but you have to wade through so much uncomfortably unpleasant middle to get there that it didn't feel worth it. Despite my issues with the overall plot, I loved the writing style.

Just how far would you go for love? ❤️

That is the question posed in this UNEXPECTED love story, written by British FANTASY Award recipient Sarah Lotz.

Nick sends a non-paying customer a not-so-nice message but mistypes the recipient’s email address.

Bee, receives the misdirected email and decides to respond to let him know.

So, begins a correspondence between the two who discover that they enjoy their playful banter much more than anything else going on in their current lives. They get to know each other through their messages for about the first 25% of the book and that’s where the story really kicks in.

They decide to meet at the Euston Station, under the clock-Bee in a red coat-Nick in a tweed jacket.

Both claim to be there-but they are unable to connect, and Bee decides that she has been played, and blocks further contact. Until……

I will leave you in suspense from here, but suffice to say, that Nick isn’t giving up so easily. But, his will may not be enough….

Will their ending be everything he imagines it could be?

Find out on March 22, 2022 if you are searching for a love story unlike any you have read before-and you don’t mind a SCI-FI vibe!

Thank You to Elisha at Berkley for my gifted copy! It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

At no point during the course of this book did I have any idea about how things were going to turn out.
I am not at all disappointed by the way things did happen.
This was an engaging story, although things did slow down a bit in the middle. They quickly picked back up, made a bunch of turns, and took me on the kind of adventure I’d expect from a thriller.
I got a little scared towards the end, but that was my fault. I’m very impressed, not only with the fairly original concept, but also in the ebb and flow I’d the story itself.

When Bee receives a nasty email from a stranger one day demanding payment for services provided, she lets the stranger know that he sent his email to the wrong email address. Nick, the guy on the other end of the email, apologizes profusely and they begin a back and forth correspondence via email. Their exchanges are easy and there is clearly some sort of connection between the two. When they finally decide to meet in person, their scheduled date doesn't happen. They seemed to have stood each other up, but upon closer inspection, they realize that something is not right. Eventually they realize that they are not in the same world, but somehow communicating with each other from parallel universes. Can they find a way to be together, or is it as impossible as it may seem?

This is not normally the type of book I read. I mostly steer clear of science fiction, but once in a while I may pick up a science fiction novel that centers around a romance. Author Sophie Sullivan was raving about this book in a book club chat that she attended and I thought I would give a try. I am glad I did!

There is a lot to process from this book. Sarah Lotz crafted a very intriguing story around parallel universes. I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around the concept of parallel universes but this story really worked for me. The way that she built their worlds with similariites and differences - it is mind blowing to me that someone can think these things up! Kudos to Lotz for effortlessly convincing me to suspend my disbelief while reading this book.

The chemistry and connection between Nick and Bee was instantaneous. I loved their back and forth, them bouncing off each other with their clever and witty banter via email. They made some questionable choices but if you know me and my taste in books, you know that I am drawn to flawed characters who don't always do the right thing.

I have a lot more to say about this book but I don't want to spoil the plot. This is a poignant, unique and kind of heart-breaking book that I really enjoyed. And that ending...I think it was perfect for the book!

⚠️: infidelity, suicide, partner emotional abuse

Wow. What an utterly unique, and intriguing book this was, not to mention beautifully written ❤️ The story is unlike anything I’ve come across before.

The characters are wonderful and the relationship is so real. I had to keep reading this; I really needed to know what was going to happen.

Definite recommendation.

I don't typically read romance books, so this one was a fun change for me. I love novels that explore the concept of multiverses so I'm sure that is the reason this one intrigued me. It was fun to see the differences in the two different worlds and I couldn't wait to see how the story came together in the end.

I loved this multiverse-crossed romance. It was simultaneously fun and twisty sci-fi, a sweet and somewhat heartbreaking love story, and very, very funny.

Oh boy! I love this sci-fi plot a lot that reminds me of Reeves and Bullock’s Lake House meets Fringe series!

The execution of the plot via emails was smart.
The correspondences were sharp witted, sarcastic, resembling British sense of humor!

Imagine you finally found your soul mate but there’s small obstacle! She/ he lives in another universe and you can only reach her/ him via emails because there’s a glitch keep those universes separated!

Well, I personally brainstormed a lot to find alternative ways how those lovers may reunite! I crossed my fingers so the author might find a better way I imagined on my mind!

I can happily say the conclusion was hopeful and truly satisfying! I yay-ed myself and put my e-reader on my desk with the biggest smile on my face!

This is one of the most unique, unconventional , intelligent, addictive novels I’ve lately read! I highly recommend it!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.