This story was so cute! I loved that most of it was told through emails and text messages. I felt like the tension at the climax of the story was rather predictable, but it was still a delightful, enjoyable read.

What a delightful read!

Pepper Basham shares the story of Izzy, who is pressured into creating a dating profile. Upon doing so, she takes on the authenticity of herself and chooses to share her obsession with Lord of the Rings (books first, but also the movies).
It's a wholesome romance story of embracing your quirks and finding someone that loves you for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson- Fiction for the ARC of Authentically, Izzy.

I was excited to read this because I love books centered around book lovers. The writing was strong and clever. I just wasn’t hooked by the story this time. I tried to get into it and get lost in the story several times and it just didn’t happen.

Overall this book was cute and had a fun plot. The characters were funny and I especially appreciated the family dynamics and personalities coming from a large family myself.

The romance and sweet and the fun tropes we know and love we’re there. The LOTR references made my millennial heart happy too! :)

I will say, I love books that include text conversations and emails but these were harder to follow than most books like it because the emails were so lengthy and the characters were writing very formally, not just the main character Izzy who you would expect this from as she is an avid reader and self proclaimed nerd. I think this would’ve been an easy more enjoyable read had the conversations been a little more brief or as text messages instead.

I mean. how could you not want to read a story about two bookish people falling in love? Based on the trope I was super excited, but I feel that format of this book let something to be desired. The characters were cute. but not too much depth to this story.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this ARC

I wanted to love this book because I love the author and it’s fun to have a book loving character but the story and format just didn’t come together and I couldn’t finish.
I like the concept of epistolary story but it just doesn’t work in 2022. No adult is emailing back and forth daily with their cousins-a group text I can totally see but not emails. The messaging on the dating site worked for the couple but otherwise it just didn’t seem realistic.
I also wasn’t fully connecting with Izzy, she was a little too far down the book loving introvert passing and kind of crossed into nerdy hermit which isn’t a great look.
All in all not the book for me but I’ll still be reading other things this author puts out!

I think the best description for my feelings on this book is “it wasn’t for me.”

I went into this book with different expectations than what it gave me. In a quick list form:

* I thought this book was going to be New Adult. Izzy is 30.
* The description says Izzy is a “Lord of the Rings nerd”, which I thought meant more emphasis on the “nerd” part. Instead, the book references Lord of the Rings a lot. I’ve never interacted with any LOTR media and had no idea what I was reading. That’s my fault.
* There’s a lot of references to god and religion in this book. I’m an atheist.

I also went into this book knowing it was an epistolary, but I think I bit off more than I could chew with this. This book contains so many emails. A tiring amount of emails. Enough emails that I never want to look at another email in my life.

I think this book is about 200 pages longer than it should be. There’s a lot of content in this book, but not a lot of it is important. It feels as though you’re reading through a whole server of emails and text messages between these characters and hoping you’ll find even so much as a glimpse into something interesting, which makes this book a very tiring read.

93% of the way through the book introduces conflict, but this conflict is something readers will already have known from the very first page. Instead of being surprised, readers instead have to watch the main character find out this information and go through a period of shock as she wrestles with her feelings on the matter, which works in some books. Not this one.

As I say in my vlog for this book: “Smash or pass? It’s a pass.”

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I requested this book because of the amount of great reviews it has and I'm so glad I did. This book completely surpassed my expectations in so many ways and I wish I already had the physical copy of it to put on my shelf!

There is something special about how we can learn so much about a person by what they write.
I believe that the insight into our thoughts that come out when we compose our thoughts into readable words is a special kind of expression.
That kind of expression is exactly what you see to get to know the characters in this book.
Emails, texts and messages take the place of traditional letters in this modern twist of the epistolary novel.
It took me a bit to get into the flow of the story and away from the distractions of life but once I was in, I was here for it!
The banter between the cousins is very entertaining and you get the fun quirky characteristics of the characters, as well as the hints of hurts and insecurities. It is beautiful and entertaining to watch.
I especially loved Luke's humor in this story. He was definitely the funniest of the bunch, and someone who has his loved ones back. I love Luke.....
The romance was adorable, sweet and just a delight to read. It was a sweetly evolving slow burn that was filled with things book lovers, love. I underlined several parts because there are some very quotable lines in this book. Some insight that strikes me as something that I want to remember.
If you are at all interested in checking out a modern expiratory that once you get connected with the characters you will want to know how it all turns out.
A book for book lovers, and readers who love a thoughtful, sweetly romantic read.
I recieved a complementary copy of this book from the publisher through Netgally. All opinions are completely honest and my own.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review .

A really great book, it flows well.

Izzy enjoys her life and family but once her cousin sets her up on a dating site, and the man of her dreams shows up, she starts to question her life and self on what she really wants. Is this man even real or is it her cousin messing with her?

I didn’t realize this was Christian fiction but I really appreciated the inclusion of God without it feeling preachy. It was a part of their lives without seeming inauthentic. I loved the idea and the creativity in the style of storytelling through emails, texts and when it was most important (aka when the deep parts were happening), third person.

My beef:
When it got to about 75%, I lost interest. The story seemed to drag on. I struggle with stories where the lovers are just infatuated the whole time. There didn’t seem to be any heat or climax. Just a sweet story of two bookish people meeting and falling in love on a dating site.

This book was awesome to me! This book was mixed by all the things i love in cute romances. 3rd person POV, literary romance and emailling, text conversations. I feel so comfortable when im reading this book. Also so much good bookish / book references. I’m so glad that i want a advanced reader copy from netgalley.

If you need a cute romance that telling by 3rd person POV, and much bookish references, Authentically Izzy is a must-read for you!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC🫶🏻

I think this book fell into the trap that most modern epistolary novels and that it never felt believable. Most people who write emails or use the internet don't really talk that way. They don't really write pages upon pages to their cousins (who live in the same town, that part really weirded me out. the cousins all should have communicated primarily through text) at least I know I don't. I also think taking us out of the epistolary format halfway through was a mistake, I found it jarring and not my cup of tea.

I am desperately searching for a Christian romance that is affirming, sweet, and believable and unfortunately, I'm still looking.

I have not read such a delightful book in a long time! I could not put this one down! I enjoyed seeing Izzy and Brodie’s relationship grow and how they both had real life challenges they had to work through and deal with. This wasn’t just another one of those sappy, boy meets girl and instantly falls in love kind of book.
Pepper Basham’s books never disappoint and I loved the different format of the book (like reading emails). It didn’t stop the smooth flow of enjoying reading the book at all to me.
Being an avid reader and Lord of the Rings fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the literary quotes and LOTR references. This is one enchanting book that I will be re-reading!
I received an advanced ebook copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I Liked the idea of the book but I couldn’t finish it I had to DNF halfway through
I feel like it had potential and it didn’t reach it for me

I absoultely love multi-media books... It just brings an interesting book to the next level and this book is one of my favourites so far this year. I can't wait to have the physical copy in my hands its just magical and amazing and everyone should go out and read it as soon as they can.

This was an interesting book. I have a thing for books that are what I call multi-media, where the story is told not just through the traditional means but also with texts, e-mails, etc. Izzy was fun, cute, and charming, and so was Brodie. It was delightful and cheesy. I also liked their families, the premise, the setting, and all the bookish talk. The banter was witty, heartfelt, and encouraging. I related to the main character in her love for books. I plan to check out more by this author.

Eh. The synopsis promised a fun bookish time but it feels like click-bait now. I would not recommend it, and I'm really disappointed as I was expecting it to be hilarious and relatable but yeah as I said, it's just the synopsis.

Do you think there is a clinical diagnosis for obsessive matchmaking or do we chalk it up to overeager, loving family members with too much time on their hands?

Themes and vibes:

• talk bookish to me
• quirky heroine
• family meddling and matchmaking
• not-so-secret pen pals
• Lord of the Rings
• Christian romance

Oh man. Well, this was definitely different from what I normally read. And I really liked most of it. Izzy was fun, cute and charming, and so was Brodie. I also liked their families, the premise, the setting, all the bookish talk…

As for what I didn’t like, the epistolary form had its pros and cons. There were scenes I wanted to go through with Izzy instead of being told about them in an email. Plus, the storytelling was a bit dense.

Still, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got, and I definitely plan to check out more by this author.

If you want to see my much more in depth review, you can check it out on my book blog NovelOnMyMind.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Authentically Izzy by Pepper D. Basham in exchange for an honest review.

this book was cute!! i loved all the book quotes and references. while it was a lot of Lord Of The Rings (which i’ve never read) it also referenced some Agatha Christie which, as we all know, is a favourite of mine.

i liked Brodie and Luke, i think i probably think a lot like Luke which is why i really enjoyed his character.

the book is set between email conversations and typical book writing, the typical book style doesn’t come into play until half way through the book so i found it a bit jarring to go from consistent email format to actual storytelling without the email format.

overall, it was a really easy, pretty enjoyable read. very cute and sweet!