Happy Wednesday, guys!
Hope your week is going well. Sorry, I’m a day late with this review. Life got ahold so it took me an extra day to finish Pepper Basham’s newest release. But never fear, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on Authentically, Izzy. Grab a cup of tea (or coffee) and keep reading!
About the Book
“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.”
Izzy Edgewood is a wannabe bookstore owner, quote queen, and Lord of the Rings nerd who has been waiting for Prince Charming to sweep her off her sneakered feet. But it’s hard to meet people when you spend more time with fictional humans than real ones. Which is why her pragmatist cousin Josephine decides to take Izzy’s future into her own meddling hands and create an online dating profile for the hopeful romantic.
To Izzy’s shock (and suspicion), Josie’s plan works. Soon, she’s dialoguing with a Hobbit-loving man named Brodie who lives in a small town an ocean away from her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But is their shared love of books, family, and correspondence enough to overcome Izzy’s fear of flying and the literal distance between them? And is a long-distance relationship even worth considering when a local author has been frequenting the library where she works and is proving to be a perfectly fine gentleman?
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My Thoughts
Authentically, Izzy is an epistolary novel that brings you two adorably awkward people who find each other thanks to some matchmaking schemes of Izzy’s cousin.
There were some great lol moments, swoony moments, tons of bookish quotes, adorable pets, and a cast of characters that were a great representation of family imo.
Though this is different than other Pepper Basham novels, it still has her voice throughout the pages. You’ll get a love of Appalachia, Blue Ridge mountains, and international countries. In fact, that country may be a chain of islands complete with a set of royals. The imagery was vivid and made me wish the places were real.
Another great Basham novel for readers!
*I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley. My review was not required nor influenced.
About the Author
Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is a pastor’s wife, mom of five great kids, a speech-pathologist, college instructor, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, and Jesus. She writes both contemporary and historical novels and sprinkles the love for her Appalachian heritage and her slight obsession with the UK into many of them. Her debut series, Penned in Time, has garnered recognition in the Grace Awards, Inspys, and the ACFW’s Carol Awards, with The Thorn Healer, listed as a finalist in the RT awards. Her contemporary romance novels have received high ratings from Romantic Times, with Just the Way You Are as a Top Pick for 2017. Her first experiment into true crime fiction placed her writing back home in Carroll County, Virginia, with The Red Ribbon and her adoration of Biltmore in Asheville, NC shines through in her split-time novel, Hope Between the Pages. Her sixteenth book, The Mistletoe Countess, released in September 2021 and combines Pepper’s love for humor, mystery, and England and places them within the pre-World War 1 era.
Pepper loves to engage with readers and other authors. You can get to know her on her website, www.pepperdbasham.com, or engage on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.
Toni Shiloh 