If you are a millennial or younger and have never struck up a conversation with a perspective dating partner... you are lying or a diehard Luddite. Although email (rather than messenger style communications) can feel a bit blocky I enjoyed that this book opened with extended email communication and continued to have emails throughout. I like that the communication isn't exclusively between the leads but also with tertiary characters. It gives it a pretty unique pacing compared to a standard romance. I appreciate the variety a lot.

When Izzy first meets Brodie she couldn't believe it when he demostrated knowledge as a fellow bookworm. But with time they get to know to know each other a lot. The first non email/telephone in this book doesn't occur until over 50%! I dig this slow unveilling of themselves to each other. They are a perfect match.

If, like me, you rarely read outside your chosen genre of romance, you may find some Lord of The Rings references a bit above your head. The character is a 'stereotypical bookworm' happy to obsess over literally greats. It is good to read characters with a genuine bookish inclination other than Jane Austen and makes for an interesting banter style.

I do have to subtract half a star for the main character exhibiting the fear of sounding fat because she preferred books to hiking. When the characters not only aren't fat but also fear being mistaken for fat it is a bit too fatphobic for me.

Pepper Basham does it again. She’s so talented at writing in new sub-genres and this bookish epistolary contemporary romance merely reveals her talent stretches that much wider. Told through emails and text with the occasional scene set in the last third, we get to know Izzy and Brodie. Wonderfully plotted, touching, and full of the warm family dynamics which is Pepper’s signature specialty! Fans of Melissa Tagg and Things We Didn’t Say by Amy Lynn Green will love Authentically Izzy.

(I was surprised by talk of the “the universe” instead of God, though, so thus the 4-star review instead of 5.)

Pepper's books have a way of making me fall in love with the characters and their stories. Her cast is always unique and genuine. There were times in this story I alternated between wanting to throttle certain characters, then give them a hug. I love Luke and Penelope. Can they have their own stories? The author speaks bookish fluently and her well-woven words touches my soul with each new story. This one is truly beautiful.

Authentically, Izzy is my first read from Pepper Basham and I am truly hooked. The characters are adorable and flesh out although we only follow them in email format. Online dating and matchmaking isnt new for romance book, but Izzy the librarian make this topic become super hilarious and fun to follow. Her monologue and chat kinda oldies and full with book literature contents (especially LoTR!). I am sure fellow bookish will understand the inner joke and found this delightful read. The romance itself is clean, cute and sweet with extra kisses.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for this delightful copy. I am grateful and my thoughts are my own. Authentically, Izzy will release at 15 Nov 2022

✅️ Contemporary Romance
✅️ New Adult/YA

Introvert Izzy gets an online dating profile made for her by a family member. On there, she meets Brodie, who is also a Lord of the Rings fan (like herself). 🧙‍♂️

Cute, funny, sweet relationship. 🥰
Clean romance - few kisses 💋

*Loved all of the side characters/cousins also!

Note- Story is told through emails/texts mostly.💌

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this eARC!

I was excited to read Authentically, Izzy because of the author Pepper Basham and her history of writing humor in her romances, but finding it was written as emails made the book even a better read!
The character development of librarian Izzy and her vastly different personality cousins made the emails between them delightful monologue. The choice of conversation among them is Izzy being set up on a dating site by the no-nonsense oldest cousin and the romance that follows for her. Her love interest couldn't be better developed than Brodie, a bookshop owner from a small European Island.
I did enjoy Authentically, Izzy and recommend it as a fun romcom. My only complaint would be that I thought the story could be a little shorter and still be as delightful.
I received a complimentary copy of this book thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

If you are a lover of literature and books, like I am, you’ve got to read Authentically Izzy. It took me a bit to get used to reading the epistolary style, but I’m so glad I kept reading. I absolutely loved the characters. Izzy is adorable and so smart. Brodie will sweep readers off their feet. And the cousins are a hoot. Truly, if you enjoy a story with lots of book references, this is the one for you. Plus the description gave me the desire to visit Brodie’s island. Much of the story brought smiles to my face as I followed Izzy on her dating journey. If you read and enjoyed Katherine Reay’s The Printed Letter Bookshop and Of Literature and Lattes, you’ll enjoy Pepper Basham’s latest. I received a free copy of the book with no expectations. The opinions here are mine.

The family dynamics within this story were heartwarming and make the romantic storyline all the better. I enjoy when authors take the time to develop the secondary characters. The epistolary style was fun but the excessive use of post scripts caught me off guard. It also dragged some of the plot and made it a little difficult to finish.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love Peper Bashams books, but this one was hard for me. I don't enjoy books where it's reading emails or letters to people back and forth without any break. It seemed like almost half of the book was that and I quickly lost interest.

"Authentically, Izzy" is a young adult vibe kind of book that drawns out attention quickly and get us immersed in their narrative with delight. Altough some parts of the email conversations has got me a little bit tired, The story has flew by pretty fast and with fun. An enjoyable book!

I LOVED this book! Pepper Basham is a new author to me but she immediately made me feel cozy and at home in her storytelling world. Brodie and Izzy were intertwined in her book through this stories and blossoming love, through emails and messages and notes. Their story was alive and kicking on the page and I didn't want to put it down. A true gooey rom-com that had me swooning and laughing along, I was only sad when I reached the end. Excited to explore the world of Pepper Basham and venture into the other delicious worlds she has created.

What do you want, Isabelle?

Pepper Basham brings her love for books, earnest characters, and the Blue Ridge Mountains to Authentically, Izzy. Isabelle (Izzy) Edgewood has had some harsh breakups, and she doesn’t want to repeat the experience. She wants to find romance in a shared love of books. Except her cousin Josie has other plans, signing her up for online dating and blind dates. Izzy might change her mind when two potential matches, who also love books, come into her life.

This is an epistolary novel, with the majority written as emails and texts between Izzy, Brodie, and their respective families. It does have some narrative portions in part two of the book. It is also a New Adult book, with characters in their early 30’s. Though, the tone and writing style of the story is more suited to Young Adults. With no bad language, or references to adult content. The romance is sweet and is a slow burn, as Izzy is initially cautious with her relationships. Relying on a mutual love of books for the two introverted characters to meet, and become friends online.

Pepper Basham does a wonderful job of characterizing introverted characters, without any harsh criticism. She especially works hard to call Izzy quiet, and not label her as shy. It is also a Hallmark like book, and does compare and reference hallmark stories. Brodie even reads Shakespeare love sonnets with Izzy in front of her fireplace. The descriptions of Mount Airy North Carolina, and the fictional country Skymar are lovely and picturesque. Mentions of faith are not the forefront of conversations, but Izzy gauges her dates on their book preferences. Izzy, Brodie and their families are kind, supportive, loving, and just a little bit overprotective.

This is a very sweet story of Izzy finding courage to pursue new experiences, and begin new relationships. Brodie is just as charming, and thoughtful as any book boyfriend should be. Together, they have a lot of fun bookish conversations, and a great TBR book list.

This book was a delight! The romance was really sweet and fun, and I can't wait to see it on shelves!

Cute book for a reader interested in a youthful escape read. Really fun bookish details, sweet quotes, etc. Ultimately for me it was just a tad too youthful, but I know many readers will love it!

I picked this book up because the cover screamed "bookish" at me, and I love bookish romances, so I thought it would be a match made in heaven! And while this is a bookish romance... it was not a match made in heaven at all.

Authentically, Izzy is told mostly in an epistolary format, until about 60% of the way through where some narration is sprinkled in. I usually enjoy books told in this way, but it just didn't work for this book I don't think. It started to drag pretty quickly, especially as there were very long paragraphs written out in these emails and I just had no motivation to trawl through them. It also felt very out of touch, writing long emails as if they were letters, in a time where I don't know a single person who communicates through emails unless it's for work. Maybe that's being part of a younger generation but... these characters are only meant to be ten years older than me, so I don't think I'm way off. I was also confused as to why these cousins who live houses apart from each other, are writing so many long emails to each other. Just go and have a conversation in person.

Speaking of being out of touch: they are thirty-year-olds, talking like they are 80. It was all a bit "holier than thou", a bit twee. The way every single character would write phrases like "Oh my heart!" "Squee!" etc., they didn't feel like real, modern people. It felt like they were speaking as if they were in Regency times, which would work excellently, for, you know, a book set in Regency times... if you want a Regency-era romance where they communicate through letters, then just write that!

There was also a love triangle which didn't work to begin with, but then just died off two-thirds of the way through the novel, and it was if the second guy just stopped existing. There were other side plots that were introduced and then just never picked up again - for example, the love interest's brother seemed to want to mess in their romance, but then nothing came of that; we learn early on that Izzy's parents died when she was twelve, and that it was in a plane crash so she hates flying, but then we pretty much hear nothing about it for the rest of the book and she's suddenly perfectly happy to fly here there and everywhere.

Other little things that annoyed me was Izzy being kind of misogynistic as she says that she should write/read women's fiction because of the melodrama in her life, that there was some weird diss against Miley Cyrus in favour of Kate Middleton "there is no comparison" (I just don't understand what the point of adding this in was), and countless, COUNTLESS HP references. It's 2022. Everyone knows what the author of HP is like at this point. It is completely unnecessary (and kind of telling) to include HP references in your novel in 2022. Also a lot of Christian/religious tidbits that kept throwing me off the story.

Overall, I would not recommend, and I'm really disappointed as I was expecting a fun bookish time, but instead I was bored out of my brain.

The plot sounded so good, but unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The format was really not my favourite, and I think that is what put me off in the first place. I was expecting the texts and emails to end and the real/normal story to begin, but it didn't happen.

The character had so much potential, and usually the idea of nerds/book lovers finding themselves together makes me happy and excited to read a book, but the writing style wasn't for me.

I really tried with this book. It is cute and I thought the main characters were fun but it was unfortunately a DNF for me. I just couldn’t get into the emails back and forth. While this isn’t for me, someone else may really enjoy this book and I think everyone should give it a chance.

Unfortunately this book fell a little flat for me. Maybe it was the epistolary format? It made it seem so drawn out, as there was so much unnecessary information added in.

Kind of a shame as Izzy as a character has so much potential and I feel I could’ve related to her had I liked the format more, she’s a librarian and book lover and has anti-social tendencies.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

The book started off quite well and I loved the whole story being told in most emails and messages thing. But it got old really quickly. While I do think the characters individually were quite funny, especially Izzy our protagonist who is a librarian and book nerd (like many of us), but the chemistry between the characters was lacking. The families were great and the cousins were hilarious. I loved everything about them. I just think the story would have benefitted more if it didn't have as many emails/messages as it did and a bit more classic narration.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a missed opportunity. While I typically enjoy epistolary fic, the plot was slow and the characters weren’t as endearing or developed enough. It was hard for me to get attached. I REALLY wanted to love this one but it wasn’t for me…