I liked the concept of this book and I found it enjoyable. Some of the book references I didn't know so well, but that's just me. Would recommend

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Thomas Nelson- FICTION and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Romantic comedy about a librarian who ends up on a dating site. Cute.

This book follows main character Isabelle as her cousin sets her sights on matchmaking Izzy with a number of possible suitors, and even creates her an online profile with the goal of Izzy finding someone to settle down with, this book is mostly written in an epistolary format with the occasional first person narrative here and there, with the emails being predominately sent between Izzy and her three cousins; Josephine, Luke and Penelope, until she begins to exchange emails with Brodie, is there a budding friendship/romance here?

“’I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.’ His quote from The Alchemist”

I really liked this book, and I enjoy books with the epistolary format, I feel that they really can make a books flow smoother, plus it is always interesting to see the thoughts from each character when reading the messages from their perspective, I loved majority of the characters especially Izzy, Brodie and Luke. There were a few characters that irritated me, such as Josie and her constant interference, although I really liked the change in her character towards the end, which made me warm to her slightly, plus Anders, if there was ever a character that was insufferable he is it in this novel, his attitude is just awful.

There are so many bookish quotes and mentions in this book that I really struggled to keep up with them, but there were also a lot of mentions of popular books/movies, such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, which I find brilliant. Plus, I like the way that Izzy was able to use her skills and literary knowledge to find herself her perfect job. Also, the way that the author made a little nod to the book that this was similar to – possibly a retelling? – “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was a really lovely addition.

I had been struggling to give this book a star rating as there were a couple of things about the book that I struggled with, such as a few “throwaway” comments in the book that felt unnecessary to me, such as the mention of Faramir – is that Indian? Plus, the book was very heavy on the descriptive writing which in places was fantastic as I was able to completely envision Skymar and the Waithcliff Manor, but there were places that it felt a little too much, and I struggled to keep interested in the drawn-out descriptions.

A lovely additional at the start of the book was the map of Skymar as well as the authors note which also doubled as a prologue, this really set the tone for the number of references and giggles that the book promised, and it really did deliver, there were such heart-warming moments as well as cheeky chuckles, the author did a great job in bringing the cousins/siblings relationships alive through the emails, even Luke’s last email to Izzy you could feel there was no malicious intent, it was written with a large amount of admiration and love.
Either way this is an adorable feel-good book that I would definitely recommend to readers of the romance genre!

3.5

As a thirty something, single, book loving library assistant, I really wanted to love this book. So much of the synopsis sang to me, and as the book started I thought it was going well. Unfortunately, I then found ,Yelford looking at how many pages I had left to read and wondering when I'd get to the real bones of the story. I didn't get there. I skipped forward so,even pages, and then a few more and it.was.still.emails. I finally got to dialogue with less than 150 pages left and I couldn't bring myself to care about the story.

This title sounded like it hadoes such great premise, but it jUstinov ain't executed very well. I found a lot of similarities between myself and Izzy, I liked Luke, but Josephine needed to take a long walk off a short pier. I never felt a real connection to the characters or story and as such, I couldn't finish.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

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.

An adorable rom-com about a librarian who’s cousin makes her an online dating profile to help her meet someone. It doesn’t go too hot until someone messages her about The Lord of the Rings (as her profile picture is one of the characters) and they hit it off! What starts with quick friendship may become more but the only problem is that he lives in another country!

This rom-com is largely written in emails and texts, in fact the first 50% of the book is only emails and texts. While the author does a good job of sharing the main character’s thoughts and feelings in these messages I was still wishing for more! Luckily, a little over halfway way through we get more in the moment writing that ends up being my favorite parts of the book!

If you love a good strangers-to-friends-to-lovers that’s wholesome and light hearted you’ll definitely want to pick this one up!

I honestly got halfway through this book and couldn't finish it. I try to never give up on a book but this was hard for me to read.

I really, really enjoyed this book! It was captivating and it hooked me from the very first chapter! It was such a sweet and romantic story!

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have to be honest I did not know right off the bat the story is written mainly in letter/email form. After I read the book and looked at the summary did I see the word "epistolary" and looked it up. The word literally means "written in letter form". I know the cover has letters on it but it wouldn't have crossed my mind that the story would be 95% in emails.

Now my review:
Authentically, Izzy is a story written in emails, texts, and messages between three cousins and a couple of love interests for Izzy. Josephine wants to see Izzy fall in love and starts matchmaking Izzy with a few blind dates. Izzy is on a dating site called Heart-to-Heart and meets Brodie, a fellow LOTR lover and book nerd. Izzy is excited but wary and isn't sure if Brodie is just Josephine in disguise. Izzy and Brodie spend months writing back and forth, learning about each other and video calling. Izzy battles doubt as she learns Brodie is in a different country and whether or not to continue the romance or stop before she gets hurt.

I did enjoy the sweet moments between Brodie and Izzy and knew they would have a happily ever after in the end. The story is a little predictable and the pacing does drag quite a bit. The emails are not that bad but there are a few I've skimmed, actually a lot of them I skimmed because I was getting bored and impatient.

I liked learning of Izzy's insecurities as they feel realistic and believable. Brodie is a sweet guy who treats her with respect and cares for her a lot. There is another guy, Eli, who only wanted to be with Izzy so she could edit and help him write a romance book. Of course that made me root for Brodie over Eli.

Josephine is kind of annoying as she mother-hens and is judgmental towards Izzy's choice to meet Brodie face to face even though it was her idea to get Izzy on dates but because it wasn't a person of Josie's choice, she gets mad. I liked Penelope and Luke's supportive nature and helping Izzy realize that Brodie is the one.

Overall not a terrible read but I just don't think it was for me.