"Not Good Enough" is a smart, psychologically perceptive novel about learning to see yourself clearly (or at least more clearly, which is all any of us can hope for). As the story begins, the protagonist, Charlie Dowdeswell, is about to move from London to New York with his "perfect" partner of nine years, George Crawford - until their farewell celebration the night before their departure goes catastrophically awry and Charlie abruptly finds himself unemployed, homeless, and single. At thirty-one, Charlie has to rediscover who he is and who he wants to be without George and without the emotional, social, and financial insulation that their relationship provided.

Charlie is an appealing narrator with a believable backstory and issues to work through that seemed realistic but also surmountable. He frequently struck me as a British counterpart to one of Stephen McCauley's gay protagonists in the process of self-discernment (The Object of My Affection, etc.), and that's high praise indeed. I was particularly impressed at how Moore handled Charlie's complex relationships with all three members of his primary friend group since university: Niamh, Dylan, and Zachary. Part of Charlie's recovery from his break-up also inevitably includes reentering the London dating scene, which is alien territory to a man who has been partnered for nearly a decade, especially given the new ubiquity of phone apps; this process yields an entertaining series of awkward encounters with a variety of potential suitors. And then there are the problematic women of Charlie's problematic family: his mother, sister, and grandmother.

The meanings of Moore's title, "Not Good Enough," multiply satisfyingly in the course of the novel, from Charlie's fears that he is not good enough to deserve love from others to his growing sense, as he sees himself more clearly, of what is not good enough for him to accept or to settle for from others. Through the story, Moore resists the temptation of easy, pat solutions, and the book is better for it.

"Not Good Enough" is a rewarding novel. I would read more from this author.

With thanks to Muswell Press for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley. All opinions are very definitely my own.

Not Good Enough is a character-driven, emotionally grounded story about Charlie navigating heartbreak, self-discovery, and new friendships after a nine-year relationship ends. The book captures the messy, sometimes awkward reality of starting over, with moments of humor and genuine emotional beats, though the pacing and resolution feel a bit uneven and abrupt. It’s a heartfelt, realistic read, especially if you enjoy introspective queer rom-coms with a focus on personal growth.

harlie has been in a long term relationship with his boyfriend for 9 years. On the night before their big move from London to New York, Charlie catches his boyfriend in a compromising position with another man.

Finding himself suddenly single, homeless, and without a job, Charlie is determined to live the life he missed out on all the years he spent with George.

What follows is a wonderful story of self discovery, growth, friendship, and healing. Charlie’s friends come through for him in an amazing way, encouraging and supportive. As Charlie tackles the dating scene with some hilarious consequences, they are there to help pick him up, brush him off, and get him back on track.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher/author for this copy of this book.

*4.5 stars rounded up*

Not Good Enough is an emotionally-packed story of resilience, heartbreak, and self-discovery. The book stayed incredibly engaging all the way through, which is impressive especially for a debut author.

I loved the way the story showed Charlie’s self-discovery and character development after his boyfriend of nine years, who he had basically defined his whole life around, betrays him. Charlie himself was a wonderfully-written character — well-fleshed out, selfless and brave. He was flawed like everyone else, but never in a way that hurt others. This made him feel very real and easy to root for.

I felt the side characters were great overall, but their various interesting personalities and quirks felt a little unrealistic at times.

Still, this was an incredibly engaging read and a very strong debut. Highly recommend if you enjoy emotional, character-driven stories about heartbreak, growth, and finding yourself again.

I don’t know if this is where I’m supposed to leave this kind of feedback, but the formatting for this book made it very confusing to read. The words and sentences were all disjointed- I’m sad I couldn’t read it. (I rated five stars cause I didn’t want to hurt the book in any way)

Charlie met “Gorgeous” George in uni and they immediately began dating. They graduated several years back and still share a house with two uni friends, Dylan and Niamh. Charlie took lesser jobs to support George in his career, even though they hadn’t gotten engaged or married, despite being together for nine years. George moved up in his finance career, so much so that he was offered a promotion to the New York City branch of his London-based company. Charlie was excited to accompany him for this adventure, and gave up his cafe job, packed their bags, and arranged their going away bash, only to be devastated by George’s betrayal.

So, instead of jetting off to America, Charlie has jettisoned his life in an attempt to figure out who he is without being “George’s boyfriend.” He feels like George’s careless act turned Charlie’s adulthood spent taking care of George into a waste, and he doesn’t know how to cope in his new singlehood. He’s scared, frustrated, and hurt, but determined to get out and be a single gay man in London, for the first time ever at age thirty-one.

This is a pretty deep dive into the “what comes next” phase of unraveling a long-term relationship. Charlie’s depression is present, but so is his determination to carry on and find himself. Small flashback vignettes reveal the underlying insecurity he’s struggled with, and how he’s never felt very good about himself, outside of how he felt with George. Despite his enormous inferiority complex, Charlie persists. He applies for a bookshop position and gets it. He deepens his friendships. He figures out Grindr. He clubs, and pulls, and embarrasses himself, and lives through all of it. I wish he lived a little better, but he does find companionship, and comes to the realization that he’s a good person and worthy of love–even if he’s still looking for it when the book ends.

The book isn’t very uplifting. I felt it was sadly realistic, and wished for more moments of lightheartedness where Charlie didn’t feel crushed by the weight of his experience, or lack of it. There’s some humor, usually at Charlie’s expense. He’s been put down by those closest to him for a long time, and those emotional scars speak in his mind often. I liked how he stuck to his convictions and rebuilt his life, but the tone is subdued, and I wished he had a better growth arc than drinking a lot and searching for…satisfaction, I guess. I kind of felt like Charlie was mainly marking time, looking for the next best thing, with the wrinkle that it was at least on his own terms now. That he sought help for his depression was good, and I liked how his friendships were growing, but it took a lot of page time to get there. I think that was why the resolution of the story was so abrupt and frustrating.

The resolution has from some poignant moments at Halloween, where Charlie sets some healthy boundaries and plans new steps for his future. And then, the next page literally kicks the reader to next year’s Pride fest. Eight months summed up in a couple of paragraphs. Charlie seems to finally–after more than a year apart–seek closure on the end of his relationship with George. There are some hints about how he’s possibly moving his life forward, all of which felt tacked on and incomplete. Having suffered along Charlie’s sad journey, this ending felt like an abandonment and was entirely unsatisfying.

I enjoyed this book and some of the characters actually reminded me of how me and my friends behave sometimes. The book is incredibly human and so the characters do not behave perfectly or even how you would actually want them to behave but we have all done things that are stupid or embarrassing so it felt very real to me. There were some parts i got second hand embarrassment really bad though but still enjoyed it

I did not enjoy this book. It felt directionless, which I guess mimicked the main character's perspective throughout the book - but that didn't feel purposeful.
I was frustrated off the bat with Charlie's refusal to tell his friends he was cheated on - I didn't feel that how his emotions about it were portrayed justified such a response. And oh my god, some of the characters just felt mean for the sake of being mean.
Maybe this one just wasn't for me?

I was really torn on this book, and it is a time where I definitely wish that Goodreads allowed 1/2 stars, because it is a solid 3.5 stars. The story itself is well written and covers a lot of things that are issues in the lives of not only LGBTQ lives, but anyone who has a relationship with another human being. It's a lovely tale of friendships that often grow to mean more than the family you are born into, the evolution of new friendships and the dissolution of relationships with those you love. The book's weakness is that just sort of narrates a year in the main character's life, but made me feel like there wasn't much story to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not Good Enough is a funny, heartfelt debut about starting over when everything falls apart. After the end of a long-term relationship, Charlie is left to navigate London’s queer scene solo (scary!), and the result is a sharp, relatable story full of awkward dates, emotional lows, and found-family joy.

The author did a great job to balances laugh-out-loud moments with deeper themes like self-worth, identity, and the long road to healing. Charlie’s voice is painfully honest and millennial in the best way. The classroom scene on LGBTQ+ identity was a standout—simple, impactful, and beautifully done.

While not everything is neatly resolved, that’s part of the book’s charm. Growth is messy, and this story captures that perfectly. A great read for fans of LGBTQ+ contemporary fiction with humor and heart.

Not Good Enough by James Robert Moore was made available to me thanks to @netgalley and @muswellpress and I’m so glad I read this one! This was a great book about starting over when you never thought you’d have to, and all the joy that can be found in finding yourself again. I loved the MC’s friends and this book had me laughing out loud more than once in the first few pages!

Charlie's life seems to be going well, he's got good friends. A long term boyfriend of 9 years and they're about to leave the country and move to New York together. Only Charlie's boyfriend betrays him the night of their going away party by cheating.

After breaking up and having to leave his apartment Charlie is sent adrift. Not sure what to do with his life, where to live and dipping his toes in the dating pool after being in a relationship for 9 years.

I really enjoyed the Charlie's voice in this story. He has a very silly and often honest inner monologue not only about his life but also about those around him. It's so awkward seeing him how to try and date again, at times the second hand embarrassment was almost too much! Poor Charlie makes so many bad choices, it's sometimes hard to read. I will say that the general fatphobia in the story was a little over the top.

I really enjoyed Charlie's friends, they are very much his found family. I love when a story can show that you don't need a significant other in your life to be fulfilled. Charlie was extremely likable and you can't help but root for him. It was a joy to watch him grow and figure his life out.

This was a fun debut novel, I flew through it!

Thank you NetGalley and Muswell Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me feeling many emotions as it moved from disastrous dates to one brilliantly chaotic flat share, stumbling into self-worth, friendship, and the kind of healing that doesn’t come with neat answers. It’s warm and painfully honest.

4.5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review:
Not Good Enough is an absolute breath of fresh air in the queer contemporary fiction space. From the very first chapter, I was rooting for Charlie. After a devastating breakup shatters his nine-year relationship, he’s suddenly thrown into a world he never thought he’d have to navigate: the London queer scene. Apps, dating, labels, Charlie has no idea where to start, and that’s exactly what makes this story so relatable and heartfelt.

James Robert Moore perfectly captures the vulnerability of starting over later in life. The writing is warm, witty, and full of those awkward, tender moments that make you laugh one second and clutch your heart the next. Charlie’s journey isn’t just about finding love—it’s about finding himself and embracing the friendships and community he never knew he needed.

What I loved most was the authentic representation of queer life, the highs, the struggles, and the sheer joy of chosen family. Moore handles heavy themes like self-worth and identity with such care while still delivering plenty of humour and heart.

If you’ve ever felt “not good enough,” this book will remind you that you absolutely are. Highly recommend for fans of uplifting LGBTQ+ stories full of heart and humour!

✅ Tropes/Elements I Loved:
✨ Self-discovery
✨ Found family
✨ Queer community representation
✨ Humour + heart

This title took several chapters to hook me, but there was something that told me that it would be worth my investment. In the end, I read the last third of the novel in one sitting. The main thing that I want to highlight is that I found 'Not Good Enough' to be laugh-out-loud funny; something which is very rare for me. The humour, however, contrasts well with the moments of deep pathos and the author manages these two extremes very well for a debut novelist. The secondary characters are sufficiently well-fleshed out for their roles and the protagonist's main circle of friends are brought to life through the dialogue.

What has kept me from giving five stars is that I felt that the novel left some things unresolved which meant that the ending wasn't as satisfying as I'd have liked. To be clear, I am usually a fan of "unresolution", but there were some aspects that kept being hinted at that led to me wanting to know how these resolved. On the other hand, secondary plot points -- such as Charlie's relationship with his mother and sister -- were resolved, even though this would have been perfectly satisfactory if left open.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable read, with likeable characters.

Overall it’s an easy fun read. Charlie is a super reliable character. I think we’ve all had the rug pulled out from under us at some point in our life and had to find our footing again. The characters in this book were by far my favorite part. I like that they felt like real people who are a little bit messy and imperfect. One thing I didn’t like is that I felt the pacing to be a bit slow for my liking. It felt like it was dragging on a bit in some spots.

This one sadly wasn’t for me.

I DNFed fairly quickly because the story wasn’t making much sense to me - the pacing felt very odd and the dialogue was quite disjointed.

It’s a lovely idea and I wish I’d connected with the writing more!

DNF 50%

I was really enjoying this book at first: the side characters were fun, the humour landed, and the main character’s self-deprecating voice felt relatable (if a bit bleak). But a few things started putting me off, including a classic case of bi-erasure (a man working in a gay club had a woman's name tattooed on his arm and the main character thinks "He’s either a mummy’s boy or straight."), and general air of fatphobia (mostly at himself, but it was uncomfortable).

Despite pulling me out of the story a but, I was able to look past these issues; however, there’s also a scene where he bakes brownies for a gathering, forgets the host is vegan, and then lies that they’re vegan anyway, instead of just apologising for forgetting. The joke ends up being that the vegans are fooled and rave about them, the subtext being that even bad non-vegan brownies are better than anything vegan. Beyond being disrespectful, it’s also irresponsible — people avoid animal products for all sorts of reasons, including allergies.

Later, a character defines pansexuality as “loving people who might be LGBT or Q”, which suggests that pansexual people are specifically attracted to queer individuals. This, combined with an earlier explanation of bisexuality as “loving people of both genders” (which reinforces a false gender binary), implies, perhaps even more problematically, that people of other sexualities are only attracted to cisgender people.

It’s a shame, because I liked a lot about the beginning of the story and couldn't put my kindle down at first. But these moments added up and I just couldn’t keep going.

This one just didn't quite work for me. We never get a feel for who George was, as he's absent from almost the get-go; the characters are meant to be in their early thirties, but seem to live their lives like they are 18. The communication amongst the members of the friend group (and between Charlie and George) is really poor - (ie. what you'd expect from very young people , not 30somethings).

The build-up of the relationship with Dylan is kind of sweet, but couldn't quite over come the rambling randomness of the rest of the content - it felt like a lot of filler conversations, rambling dialogue that just went on with no purpose or advancement in what little plot there was, and things trying too hard to be a little too quirky or funny.

This book hit hard when I read it. The main character is sympathetic and it is really easy to invest yourself in his story. The side characters are interesting and I really enjoyed the way that information was revealed about them as the main character recovered from the relationship that he had so fully invested himself in. The plot is engaging and well-paced with a really satisfying resolution. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.