I love books about bookish dreams and happily-ever-afters... this is a delightful read and totally worth my time. Well done.

DNF

This books was just not for me :(

I really struggled to get through this one, the majority of the book is told throughout email/texts which quickly grew tiresome for me to read personally even if some of the conversation was enjoyable. I just really struggled to connect with anything due to the format and I just couldn’t find myself to feel anything for the characters either. There was also a lot of religious narrative that tended to end up just a bit to much in this book.

I’m sure this book will be amazing for someone else but for me it just wasn’t my usual taste so decided to stop reading it before I finished.

thanks net galley for this arc!

its written in emails! very witty, was kinda hard to get through because of it.

I am a fan of epistolary style writing and humor always hits the mark, so I really enjoyed Authentically Izzy. It's a delightful romantic comedy about dreams coming true if you have the courage to face your fears and live an authentic life.

The story is told in three parts with the first half of the book being something of an appetizer of things to come. Izzy is a bookworm of the highest order working at the public library. Her interactions with her cousins via email and text concerning her love life, or the lack thereof, sets the stage for a variety of funny situations including her bossy matchmaking cousin Josie making Izzy a profile page on a dating site and not telling her until she's done it. Hilarity ensues and some of the potential dates and Izzy's responses had me laughing out loud. But there' is one bookish guy name Brodie Sutherland who catches Izzy's attention, and the online dating is on, chock full of bookish characters and references.

The second part of the story has more third person point of view and was so satisfying with Brodie Sutherland finally traveling to Mt Airy, NC to meet Izzy face to face. However my hands down favorite part of the book is the third part with Izzy facing her fears and flying to the island of Skymar to meet Brodie's family and visit his bookstore. Izzy's experiences while visiting Sutherland's are the kinds of things book lovers dream about. It was so enchanting!

One of my favorite quotes that sums up Izzy's hopes, dreams and insecurities too,

"They fit together so well. Frighteningly well. It all seemed too good. Too beautiful. Like someone dipped their finger into her dreams and painted them into reality."

Authentically Izzy was pure reading pleasure and I recommend it to readers who enjoy a fresh witty story complete with all things bookish, including their heroes. I appreciate Thomas Nelson making a copy of Authentically Izzy available for review. All thoughts and opinions are my very own.

izzy and brodie read the classics, and it shows in the book’s extensive vocabulary (which is almost exclusively written in email format). unexpectedly this novel left me pensive; sitting here after reading it, i’m left to ponder some big thoughts: am i being my authentic self, what is my authentic self, what if i want more…?
character-wise, brodie (romance novel names are starting to become a bit of a pet peeve for me… just spell it correctly) is someone’s fantasy put on paper. he’s direct about his feelings, he’s well-read, he’s got a scottish accent, and lives in a freaking castle. his lines are all swoon-worthy. i honestly think Josephine’s character could use some work. she doesn’t really have any redeeming qualities, despite Izzy’s insistence that she knows her actions come from her love.
something to note that I did not expect is that the author is the wife of a pastor, so some facets of christianity (prayers, god’s plan, church singles’ group, etc.) are sprinkled throughout. overall, i’m looking forward to recommending this one to my mom. she’s gonna love it.

It takes a lot for me to DNF a book. Once I start, I almost ALWAYS feel compelled to finish it. However, I could not force myself through this book.

At first, the format of emails and messages back and forth threw me off. But I kept pushing to see if it was just the beginning of the book. After 10% in, I started to realize it might be the whole book, and that does seem to be the case.

I could have possibly gotten over the format, if the emails and messages seemed even remotely authentic, but they just didn't. People don't email in the format that this book was in. First off, who spends all that time emailing their family members? Not only that, but emailing them super long missives when they could just call them?

I just cannot continue reading this book.

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.