Review: Authentically Izzy by Pepper Basham

About the Book (From Amazon)
Dear Reader, My name is Isabelle Louisa Edgewood—Izzy, for short. I live by blue-tinted mountains, where I find contentment in fresh air and books. Oh, and coffee and tea, of course. And occasionally in being accosted by the love of my family. (You’ll understand my verb choice in the phrase later.) I dream of opening my own bookstore, but my life, particularly my romantic history, has not been the stuff of fairy tales. Which is probably why my pregnant, misled, matchmaking cousin—who, really, is more like my sister—signed me up for an online dating community.

The trouble is . . . it worked. I’ve met my book-quoting Mr. Right, and our correspondence has been almost too good to be true. But Brodie lives across an ocean. And just the other day, a perfectly nice author and professor named Eli came into the library where I work and asked me out for a coffee. I feel a rom-com movie with a foreboding disaster nipping at my heels.

But I’ve played it safe for a long time. Maybe it’s time for me to be as brave as my favorite literary heroines. Maybe it’s time to take the adventures from the page to real life. Wish me luck.

Authentically,

Izzy

Amazon / Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS

What a delightfully fun novel! I've loved everything I've read by Pepper Basham, but this one takes the cake. It's an epistolary novel, told in the form of emails and text messages, and I loved that! It's such a fun way to tell a story, and it's done perfectly here.

Izzy and Brodie were the perfect bookish duo. They were so relatable. I loved all their quotes and references, especially the Lord of the Rings ones. I enjoyed seeing them open up and share their authentic selves with each other. It was neat seeing them discover new things about themselves along the way, too.

Not gonna lie, Josephine got on my nerves quite a bit. I know she was only trying to be helpful and that she only wanted the very best for Izzy, but, my goodness, her delivery was lacking, to say the least. But I think we all know someone like Josephine, so that was very relatable. I really liked Luke and Penelope, though. I'd love them to get their own stories.

I highly recommend this feel-good, heartfelt, and romantic read. It had me laughing and put a big smile on my face. Even now, thinking about it, I can't stop smiling. It was so, so good!

I received an early copy of this book via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and comments are my honest opinion.

FIVE STARS