Friday, March 8, 2024

Authentically, Izzy by Pepper Basham (Review)

Series: Symar #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Thomas Nelson 
Released: Nov. 15, 2022
409 pages
About the Book:

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?




My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐


I normally really enjoy epistolary stories but I struggled to connect with the character of Izzy for a good portion of the book. For the first 250 pages the story is completely told through emails and texts. I was at the point where I really wanted some in person interaction. Finally it does happen and we get a mix of in person interaction interspersed with the emails and texts. Through the main email portion I found it hard to comprehend that Izzy would share everything she was with both her female and male cousin. There were some book and movie references that I did not get, but it was easy to move past them. For most of the book I did not Izzy's cousin Josephine, but her actions at the end redeemed her in my eyes. I absolutely loved the male main character. He was the perfect guy for Izzy and helped her realize things about herself she has struggled with. There was a point of conflict near the end that I did not like how Izzy responded, but it is resolved and I liked where the story ends. I am looking forward to continuing the rest of the series.

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 
in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

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