This book is perfect for any fan of fantasy like Lord of the Rings, romance, and book stores. This is the perfect fall read and one that features a quaint town and a wonderful cast of characters.

I had to DNF this book at 10% to be completely honest because the style was just not for me. It started out strong with witty banter and fun emails back and forth, but when I realized that the whole book was written as email/chat correspondence it really lost me. That's just not the style I look forward to reading, personally. I ended up giving it two stars because I did see lots of promise with the writing and think that some people will definitely be able to enjoy this one, it just wasn't for me!

Authentically Izzy is an epistolary romance, which means it is written from the point of view of correspondence. In this instance it is emails and text messages. There are some sections of the book that are in the third person, but the vast majority is correspondence.

Izzy is 30, and trying to find her place in the world. She meets Brodie on an online dating site. He is her other half, and he lives half a world away. Through their correspondence, Izzy is her true authentic self, and she finds, in Brodie, her true authentic partner.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is a delight for book nerds!

I am so surprised by this book and I'm going to be fully honest at first I was really skeptical. More than half of the book is in an epistolary genre which makes it hard at first to get involved in the story and to get attached to the characters. Also the fact that you do not know everything because you only get bits and pieces of certain events throughout the emails makes it very frustrating for the reader.
Nevertheless I was really surprised by how efficient the writing is because no matter the disturbing genre you actually get into the story and get attached to the characters and you even grow use to the writing which shows how well done it is.
The literary references makes the whole book an absolute delight to go through. I think at some point it became a game of guessing which book or movie is going to be referenced in the next page which obviously makes it an absolute page turner. It makes you smile so much and I feel like it's what makes this romance even more special.
Eventually, the way this book is all about being your authentic self, especially as a book nerd, made me completely fall in love with it.
Well done!

#authenticallyizzy #netgalley

This was a great story to read. I loved the storyline and the characters, definitely recommend this book!

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really like how the book was staged and the author's writing style! I really vibed with it. I wasn't a big fan of how religious it was, because there was no mention in the description that it is as religious as it was. Overall, this book was easy to read.

First of all, I loved that the main character Izzy is a librarian and book lover. I related to her preference for fictional characters over actual humans on a spiritual level. When her cousin signs her up for a dating site, she ends up meeting a fellow book lover - the problem is he lives on the other side of the world and she fears he might be too good to be true.

I also related to Izzy and her anti-social tendencies and her feelings of wanting more out of life. I loved that she was obsessed with Lord of the Rings, it made me wish I was more familiar with it. I liked Brodie as a love interest as well - a nerdy European book lover who lives in a cliffside manor and owns a book store? I want one.

As for what I didn’t like about this book - I didn’t really like the fact that it was written almost entirely in the form of letters, it got a bit tiresome to read after a while. There is some narration toward the end, but I felt like it was already dragging too much by then. All of the religious talk was also a big turn off.

This is a very interesting concept for a book I am sure many enjoy these type of novels. They just aren’t for me. I find it was hard to connect to the characters. I did love that Izzy was a book lover and librarian. I enjoyed the sweet moments between her and brodie

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

First of all I want to mention that I think the story isn’t bad. But in this format it’s a no for me. At the beginning I found the letters and emails enjoyable. But when the story continued, it didn’t have my attention anymore. But besides that the story was cute and I liked the characters.

So, Pepper Basham, if you write a new book without so much letters in the future, sign me up for it!

Between 4 and 4 1/2 stars.

This could have been perfect with a little balance between epistolary and narration. As it is, there are too many emails. I wanted more scenes from Brodie and Izzy's POVs.

It's a super cute story with adorable characters where books, libraries, and bookshops pay such an important role.

Izzy's cousin sets up a profile on a dating site for Izzy and there she meets Brodie, who loves books just as much as she does. She even doubts he's real at first, for how well they get along. Soon they move from chats on the app to emails and video calls. And then Brodie comes to visit in person.

I loved the setting, the secondary characters, all the book references. The ending was perfect.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

I LOVED the idea of this book, but unfortunately the execution left much to be desired. A large majority of the book is e-mails written between the characters, and while it’s fun and cute at first, it gets old rather quickly. I did really love that Brodie inspires Izzy to finally be her full self, but in general the book was a little lackluster and anticlimactic.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction. All opinions are my own.

I was actually super excited to read this particular book , while i did find it nice and a good read i just didn't find myself enjoying it as much ,so an extremely short review. Nevertheless i did find the writing really good.

This is going to be quite a short review as I did not enjoy this book, and don't want to rub salt on the wound by overexplaining.

I am taking this book as a lesson to read more about an author I don't know before I request a copy. If I had done that in this case, I might have saved myself from reading a book that just does not fit my tastes. That is not to say that 'Authentically, Izzy' is a bad book, because that is untrue. I am sure there are many readers who enjoy epistolary novels - I am just not one of them. The emails and texts just grew tiresome for me to read. I enjoy the occasional email/text conversation in books. What made the emails more painful is how long they were, and with all the characters using PS and PPS and PPPS', it really was just too much.

In this format, I struggled to connect to the characters and could not relate. I find having a connection to the characters makes a book more meaningful.

As well, I have decided that all of these characters, from Izzy and Brodie to Luke, do not love in the world we know. How many people actually talk like these characters do in real life? Yes, they spoke eloquently and it felt like they were paying homage to the literature that Izzy and Brodie both enjoy (and continuously quoted). However, it did not seem realistic for 30 something year old's to speak that way.

I'm sure if I had read up more about Pepper Basham, I would have known that she loves her faith. I recognise that. However, I am not religious (though, I was raised Anglican but chose my own path at 18) and prefer to not read about characters that are.

Whenever the narrative switched to prose was when I found myself more engaged. I also really love the cute cartoon cover and the bookish theme throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pepper Basham, and the publisher for this advanced reader copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really like the concept of this book, however, something with it just didn't work for me. I loved part 1 at first but then just E-mails got a bit boring, would love to see the video chats written out! but overall part 1 was okay, then came part 2 and I really didn't like it, it was mostly just dramatik and just generally had a lot of things that I personally don't enjoy in books. then part 3 was my favorite and I kind of loved it, until the end which was just too dramatic for me. so overall it wasn't a bad book and I can see a lot of people really enjoying it but it just wasn't for me personally.

This book was a delight:
- Beautiful writing with tons of bookish references
- Two introverted main characters who don't fit the usual stereotypes
- Sweet dogs
- Even sweeter romance story

But there is a big "BUT":
Why do the families interfere with the main characters love lifes?? If someone from my family did something like that I would probably break the contact, it's just a no-go.
I have seen this in several romance books by now and I start to wonder if that's a cultural thing? Is this typical in US families? Please let me know!

Also I found the writing a little slow paced.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley for the ARC!

The majority of the book is emails and text messages amongst the characters, which unfortunately for me, my brain shuts down with any books written in this format.

I really dislike this format in any book, so I could not get myself to enjoy it.

This book started off strong. Izzy was a great character who I found easy to relate to and connect with. Her love of all things books and attachment to fictional characters was fantastic. Overall I loved her as a whole and felt she really carried me through to the end of the book.

The thing that really threw me off the story was the constant use of letters. They really started to make things drag, and it was just overdone in my opinion. It began to feel like a chore to read them, when they should be something sweet and exciting to get to.

I do think the writer has a lot of potential, and I will definitely be interested in picking up their future work!

This book was charming! I love epistolary novels, so I enjoyed that most of the story was told in emails. The pacing felt a bit slow at times, but I enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching them grow. I didn't realize this is Christian fiction but it was not preachy at all. I recommend it to anyone who would like a sweet romance that leaves you smiling.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.


Well, what can I say. Maybe I should have done a bit more research before requesting this book because the way I view religion made it difficult for me to enjoy this book.
The format was something you either like or hate. I did not really like it, tbh.

It was cute and breezy but I did expect a little more.

This was a cute read, but I unfortunately struggled with it. I found the format difficult to follow, with almost the entire book written via letter and text message.

I also was unprepared for the amount of Christian content, which was my fault for not doing a bit of research prior to requesting.

The premise itself is super cute, and I did enjoy the blossoming relationship between Brodie and Izzy. I just found the relationships between the family members a bit unrealistic and struggled to find the book believable.

Overall, a cute spiceless read with a format that unfortunately just didn't suit me.