Authentically Izzy is a book I was eagerly anticipating and, while I did enjoy it, I was a little disappointed. The story is told almost completely through emails/texts and, while fun in the beginning, I got to where I felt like I was missing out. Later on in the book we did get to have moments of normal format, which I liked so much better. I enjoy letters and all, but usually not entire stories. LOL

The characters were nice and I liked the romance. It seemed like they were perfectly matched and it was fun to see their relationship grow.

All in all, Authentically Izzy was a story I liked.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention/review it on my blog. I was not required to give a positive review, only my honest opinion - which I've done. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.*

This was my first book by Pepper Basham, and I really loved the writing style. There is absolutely no narration, with only letters and correspondences between the characters, which is new, but super fun.

I found the interactions between Izzy and the other characters interesting to read, with no filter, and it's own unique flavor. I did somewhat miss the descriptions that are given in usual narration, because I just couldn't picture Izzy as a thirty year old. In my imagination, she was still a broody teenager, who loves reading. Josie gave off more motherly vibes than a concerned cousin. I don't if this was just me though...

Not having read the Lord of the Rings and some of the other references in the book, I was completely clueless when it was mentioned, which is quite often. Probably, this is one of the best parts about this novel for fans of the references.

I received a complimentary copy of Authentically, Izzy from NetGalley and St Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.

Authentically, Izzy is the first book that I have read by Pepper Basham and it won’t be the last. I absolutely loved this sweet romance that starts off with email correspondence and then naturally evolves into an in person dating romance. I fell in love with both Izzy and Brodie’s characters and found them very relatable. I saw myself a lot in Izzy and even a little bit with Brodie as well. I highly recommend this story to anyone who considers themself a book nerd and who also likes a sweet romance. I can’t wait to read another book by this author.

AUTHENTICALLY, IZZY is an epistolary novel that introduces the reader to two shy but sweet people who somehow find each other, thanks to Izzy’s cousin, Josephine and her matchmaking schemes. Izzy is a book nerd, her own words, who works in a library. Where else would she work? Since the death of her parents, she has lived with her Aunt and three cousins. Her cousin sets up a profile on a dating website because she feels Izzy spends too much time with books and not actual people. She feels its time for Izzy to date once again. After a few first rough baby steps, Izzy meets a man called Brodie The Hobbit. Here is where the story really picks up and the fun begins!

AUTHENTICALLY, IZZY is exactly why I love Pepper Basham’s books. She always leaves me with a big smile on my face and screaming for more. That’s how wrapped up I get into her writing. Pepper has become one of my very favorite go to authors and I devour her books like a fine box of chocolates. I try to take my time and read slowly to make it last, but usually half way through I lose all control and flip the pages like a mad woman!! Readers of anything bookish are going to love this story and AUTHENTICALLY, IZZY will fill your heart with total book love. When Izzy and Brodie start emailing on a regular basis you can’t help but find yourself filled with anticipation as they build a strong relationship with each other. Brodie soon finds himself in Mt. Airy, North Carolina visiting Izzy and everything Andy Griffith. When its time for Izzy to visit Brodie who lives near Scotland, it becomes a problem for her. Her parents died in a plane crash.

Pepper Basham has once again left me in tears and crying for more. I now know I will devour everything this awesome author writes and do it all easily with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. I really loved AUTHENTICALLY, IZZY Wow wow wow!! From the very first page I was emotionally invested in Izzy and I just wanted her to be happy and to smile again. She was so devastated when her life was turned upside down once again and I cried when she cried and I love when an author does that to me. I felt like I was right there with her and I was holding my breath at the end of AUTHENTICALLY, IZZY praying nothing bad was going to happen. Please, you have to give Pepper Basham a try! You won’t be sorry. I can’t wait to read more by one of my very favorite authors. I have made it a quest to catch up on the rest of her books because her writing is just that good. She makes her readers feel every emotion her characters are feeling to the point where you feel as if you are right there, struggling along with them.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was one of my favorite books that I have read recently. It was super unique in the way the story was told but had me captivated throughout the story. So captivated, in fact, that I reached out to the author via facebook and begged her to publish more of the characters stories :)

The story of Brodie and Lizzy was enchanting and amazing! I can't say enough good things about this book and can't wait to read about more of the characters featured in this story!

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, the opinions are my own.

Have you ever been in one of those seasons in life when you just need a fun, little pick-me-up...let's say in the form of a heart-warming, romantic, endearing book? That's where I was not long ago when I decided to take a chance on Authentically, Izzy by Pepper Basham. I wasn't sure that an epistolary novel was going to be able to accomplish what I was searching for, but all my skepticism was laid to rest once I got started. I was instantly taken in.

Several aspects of this book really worked for me. First of all, I loved the characters. They were authentic, funny, and relatable. Movie quotes were sprinkled throughout the dialogue, and I got (most of) them. The epistolary style didn't take away from any of the chemistry between Izzy and Brodie, but I loved that the author stepped away from it during some important moments. It drew attention to those parts of the book in all the right ways.

Another aspect I loved is the way Pepper created a sweet, wholesome story, but still gave us romance lovers that tension and (clean) contact that we want. Thank you!

I can't wait to read the second book in this series!

With the first half overwhelmingly relying on an epistolary rather than "live" story, I struggled to invest in the purpose of the story. I didn't have this urge to root for anyone in particular. I hate saying that because, generally speaking, I love epistolary romances. This setup right out the gate was a bit rough though.
While I did struggle, I liked the end result and will keep Pepper on my want-to-read author list. This one simply wasn't wholly for me.
Thank you to Thomas Nelson and Netgalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Have you ever read an epistolary novel? I highly recommend Authentically Izzy.

An epistolary novel is where the main part (or sometimes all) the story is told through written communication. Letters, emails, texts, journal entries, transcripts of phone conversations…you get the idea. The technique can be really powerful and a lot of fun.

Pepper Basham is a master of this. Book obsessed librarian Izzy is surrounded by colorful cousins. (Please tell me Luke and Penelope are both getting stories). Her quiet, predictable life turns inside out when one cousin signs her up to a dating site.

Izzy finds love. Unfortunately, bookstore owner Brodie, lives halfway around the world on and island with strong Scottish heritage.

Basham’s books (I’ve read quite a few, because she’s a gifted storyteller), are often characterized by wonderful characters and Authentically Izzy is no different. Izzy is another heroine to root for, and Brodie, a swoon-worthy hero to fall for. The humor as the cousins interact, when their personalities clash, is hilarious. The controlling Josephine, laid back and philosophical Luke and frothy Penelope are a perfect counterpoint to bookish and considered Izzy.

As romance develops and plane rides follow, family dynamics grow more complex. But through it all, Izzy and Brodie fight for the love they’ve found and as ever, Pepper Basham delivers a wonderful ending.

Did I mention, highly recommended?

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley. And Pepper is a friend. I’m very glad she’s also a great storyteller or this would be extremely awkward!

“Dear Izzy—I feel certain there’s a book-loving man living relatively nearby waiting to speak bookish to you ’til death do you part. You just haven’t met yet.” .... um if there is a similar man that is also living nearby me please let me know. No but actually this story was so cute. I think from start to finish not only the love story an its development, but the character development as well as the family dynamic and banter was just so fun to read about. I thought that all in all this story was such a fun read and I definitely plan on reading more from this author in the future.

A beautiful, sweet and uplifting romance. You will definitely enjoy every page! Pepper Basham has a way with words I enjoyed her writing style!

A fun and flirty twist on "You've got Mail" that will leave you in stitches as you engage in Izzy, Luke, Penelope, and Josephine's emails. And then there's Brodie. I loved the email correspondence, and the way it gave the characters away in bits and pieces and with a clarity that you might not get in a traditional story. I thought I would feel like I was missing out without that deep point of view and seeing life through the characters instead of through their writing. At times, I did wish I could see the events unfold to get that deeper connection, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this epilostary novel. I received a copy of this book from netgalley. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I think the best things I can say about this book are that it’s inoffensive and that the protagonists have good taste in books.

The flip side of those comments is that the book is so inoffensive it’s bland and while the protagonists may like good books, they talk about them like teenagers gushing to their diaries about how no one understands them and their bookish ways. (I can say this because I’ve been there.)

On paper, this book looks perfect for me: I love epistolary novels and I love books about readers. I also have a lot in the common with the heroine so it should be easy to like and relate to her: we’re the same age, we both grew up in small communities where social activities centered around church, we both are considered old-fashioned by our peers (even friends 20 years older than me call me grandma), and again, we love a lot of the same books.

And yet despite these similarities, I find it hard to believe she’s still this self-conscious and defensive about loving books so much. I just want to take her aside and introduce her to the internet. We know she’s online at least nominally because she mentions online bookseller communities and now she’s on the dating site, but has she found booktube? Bookstagram? Booktok? Or any of the other places where she would realize she’s not alone and meet like-minded people?

I think this would work better if it were set in the ‘90s or even early 2000s, when online dating and making friends online were still new. In the 2020s it feels odd — and not in a charming way. I got bored quickly and eventually dropped the book because life is too short, and unlike the heroine, I already love myself.

My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2 *stars*

Sad to say but I'm very disappointed. I really enjoyed the concept of a book being mostly e-mails and some text massages, but no. No, no no it isn't good. Okay the last part was mostly told in regular fiction but the writing was so weird after the whole e-mail/text thing. It felt so out of place and wasn't connected to the book in my opinion. At first it was really hard to get into the concept and the story itself, but when I got the hang of it I started to enjoy the story. Characters are not well developed and it made really hard to like anything particular about this book. Especially Josephine and Anders, the despicable people in the story, because every story needs those right?

The one thing I really loved about the main character Izzy is the LOVE for books, the vision she sees and how she cares about them is so heartwarming as I love books myself. Not on her level yet, but hopefully some day. Oh and the scene where Brodie let her see his cabin for the first time in real life. Okay, I imagined it so beautifully, the sea and dark academia vibes and that chandelier.

Why is this book soooo long? I don't get why it felt so stretched out that I wanted to skim a lot of this book and I wouldn't miss anything important in the plot. And what about those PS, PPS and PPPS. at first they were okay, but then they got so long and not really relevant or entertaining for me.

I think author tried to put a lot of things like, grief, being the outsider, unhappy love experience, love for books, online dating etc. into this book and it felt like "the soup was made out of too many ingredients so that it turned into a stew"'.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson--FICTION for approving this copy for me.
I received a complimentary e-book copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Sadly, DNF @ 16%. I just don't see this book getting any better. I love the Lord of the Rings references, but it gets to be a bit much at times, and I am a HUGE nerd. I like the *idea* of the epistolary format, but something about the way it is executed here made my attention wane. I don't think Izzy is written in a way that properly shows how 30-something years olds communicate with their friends, family, and strangers online. I get that Izzy is a bookish geek, but she's not a spinster (despite what her cousin Penelope might think). I was constantly left wondering if she was really 50, not 30. It's also much too Jesus-y for me, which was a turnoff.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pepper Basham, and Thomas Nelson for the ARC of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my honest review.

Set in the Appalachian mountains, Izzy has lived her whole life doing things to make others happy. Case in point Izzy is entertaining the idea of online dating after her meddling cousin signs her up for Heart to Heart an online dating website. In this book of def discovery Izzy learns to make herself happy, even if that means meeting a handsome man who lives an ocean away. I received this book as an Advanced Readers Copy via NetGalley.

What a fun book! All the book references and recommendations—So Great!! This book is told in letters which may be odd to some, but they contained so much interesting information, they never felt dull or cumbersome. I loved the romance, but their ability to kindly but firmly stand up to bullies, raised it to The Best Book Ever! And the character growth was so heart warming! Strong contender for my favorite fiction of the year!

I really thought I would like this one more. Between the two super bookish leads and the modern epistolary way that it's written, I sat down fully expecting to love it.
Alas, there is something about the author's voice that never really let me connect with the characters and care about their story.
Which is a shame because the story is great. Izzy is the ultimate bookworm who spends her life content to just interact with her family and her pet. Her cousin decides to take things into her own hands and signs her up for online dating. Izzy is dubious at first and even accuses her cousin of trying to catfish her, but she really does meet the almost too-perfect Brodie. Meeting and interacting with Brodie pushes Izzy's boundaries to the point where she's finally able to step out of her shell and really go for what she wants. In the middle of all that we get crazy family interactions, a very obviously wrong contender for her affection, international eye-opening travel, unexpected meetings, a not-quite secret that leads to misunderstanding, and world-shaking epiphanies for Izzy.
All very interesting things in outline, but sadly not executed in a way that I enjoyed. And unlike most other books I can't enjoy, I'm sorry to say that this time I do I know it's that I didn't click with the way Basham writes. The quirkiness and eccentricities that are there to make the characters likable made them very unlikable to me. They made a lot of the interactions feel forced and unnatural, which made being interested in the story but not the way it was told a bit of a hard read.
Overall, I loved the story told but not the way it was told. I do recommend giving it a chance if you love bookish romances but be warned that it might not be for everyone.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson--FICTION for the chance to read it!

Izzy has just met Mr. Right. Possibly. Maybe. Perhaps. Except that she’s only really met him online, and he lives half a world away. Could he possibly be real? Will Izzy have the courage to find out? Toss in an interfering cousin, a Clark Gable look alike, and an imagination as big as the ocean she’s afraid to fly over, and you have Authentically Izzy—a bookish person’s delight. Which might sound odd for a book—aren’t they all bookish delights? But two pages in and you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

An epistolary tale, Authentically Izzy is told largely through the exchange of emails and texts, giving a depth to the characters and a variety of perspectives that might otherwise have been missed. I laughed out loud, groaned along with the character’s in their awkwardness, dabbed away a tear or two, and sighed with the romance of it all.

With its abundance of literary references and quotes, this novel has significantly added to my TBR stack , while Authentically Izzy itself will be added to my very short stack of TBR Again. Now to sit back and wait for the author to tell Luke and Penelope’s stories. And maybe even Ander’s. (Hint. Hint.)

*Thank you to @netgalley and @tnzfiction for the complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. A book about a bookish book lover....yes please! This book was written with a fresh approach for me, it consisted of mainly emails and texts and I have to say, I loved it, it was just a perfect read! I found Pepper Basham’s writing instantly; it’s delightfully witty, engaging and very funny. Izzy was everything a main character should be, strong and full of optimism despite her difficult past. And Brodie her love interest, also became my love interest, I’ve always loved the quiet, bookish type with a lovely sense of humor. They were a perfect pair of book lovers. This was such a charming read, and the text/email format made it a very quick read also. It was a perfect read for me, I didn't want it to end. #autenticallyizzy #pepperbasham #netgalley #goodreads #greatreads #tea_sipping_bookworm #litsy #thestorygraph #chicklit #bookqueen #bookstagram

I dnf'd this book at 20%. I cannot even say in my review if the characters, story, plot or writing was even any good because the formatting of this book was awfully painful to read. The author has chosen to write this book from the viewpoint of emails therefore any concept of sentence structure, grammar and paragraph structure is out the window. The sentences and paragraphs go on for pages and pages and it was extremely difficult to read and absorb the information. The PS and PSS and PSSS was just childish when these are mature adults. I think writing in emails is fine in books but you have to break it up with character scenes outside the mail and not tell the full story in the mails. It works with movies e.g. "Just like Mail" because they have scenes written outside the mails.