Friday, March 10, 2023

AUTHENTICALLY IZZY by Pepper Basham, Reviewed by Trixi Oberembt

"It is delightful when your imaginations come true, isn’t it?” -Anne of Green Gables.

How in the world does Pepper do it? How does she make me fall head over heels in love with her writing when I'm already in love with her writing?? Oh my word, this book is just all that! Another one to add to my top favorite reads of 2023.

I just can't even form words good enough to describe this story. It's as if the pages absorbed me completely, making the world of make believe into a world that was so real and vivid. Izzy is the sister of my heart; she's one that I immediately wanted to hug and hang out with at the local coffee shop (if she even wanted to leave her house or books, that is!). She's the kind of person I wanted to draw out of her shell because there's so much personality just waiting to be discovered. Oh! Her back-story is heart-wrenching and explains why she's so closed off. My heart bled for all she's been through! I love her character growth the most; it's as if her real self was bursting at the seams to be made known. She just needed the right person to bring it out. Definitely my favorite character.

Brodie...our near perfect hero of this story. He's an avid book nerd like Izzy; he's the kind of hero I picture in my mind. Basham made him real to me; he's quirky without being dorky (make sense?), has a killer accent to make any woman swoon, and is an all around good guy. He is just the right kind of guy for Izzy. I love him for how he draws Izzy out of her shell and makes her see her worth and the potential she's hidden within her. Yeah, I admit I hate "perfect" heroes in stories, but Basham made him SO much more; he readily admits his failures and mistakes and makes no excuse for them. And to me, that makes him all the more human--flaws and all. I'd hug him if he was real! He and Izzy are magical together.

Izzy's cousin Josie (Josephine as she wishes to be called) was an irritant....loving, yes, but one I wanted to smack more times than not...lol! I felt she held Izzy back on so many levels, yet at the same time, was the voice of reason and caution. I'm not sure how to feel about her really, but she did grow on me a bit by the end.

I also love the humor, wit and hilarious banter between characters. Basham is one of those kind of writers that induce belly laughs and guffaws galore! I love everything (even irritating Josie) about this book. Basham needs to write more Rom-com in my opinion because she's so, so good at it. Throw in faith and you got yourself a doozy of a story! Highly (and I DO mean highly) recommend this to anyone who loves books as much as I do!

SEE REBECCA'S REVIEW

SEE WINNIE'S REVIEW

SEE PAULA'S REVIEW

BackCover Blurb:

Dear Reader, My name is Isabelle Louisa Edgewood—Izzy, for short. I live by blue-tinted mountains, where I find contentment in fresh air and books. Oh, and coffee and tea, of course. And occasionally in being accosted by the love of my family. (You’ll understand my verb choice in the phrase later.) I dream of opening my own bookstore, but my life, particularly my romantic history, has not been the stuff of fairy tales. Which is probably why my pregnant, misled, matchmaking cousin—who, really, is more like my sister—signed me up for an online dating community.

The trouble is . . . it worked. I’ve met my book-quoting Mr. Right, and our correspondence has been almost too good to be true. But Brodie lives across an ocean. And just the other day, a perfectly nice author and professor named Eli came into the library where I work and asked me out for a coffee. I feel a rom-com movie with a foreboding disaster nipping at my heels.

But I’ve played it safe for a long time. Maybe it’s time for me to be as brave as my favorite literary heroines. Maybe it’s time to take the adventures from the page to real life. Wish me luck.

Authentically,

Izzy

  • Witty, hilarious, and heartwarming contemporary romance about book lovers
  • A sweet, kisses-only romance
  • An epistolary novel written mostly in emails and texts
  • Stand-alone novel
Thomas Nelson Publishing, November 15, 2022
Available in digital ebook, paperback, library binding, and audiobook:

 

 

1 comment:

  1. Oh my word!!! Trixi!!! This review is amazing!!!!! Thank you so much!! I hope to write more romcoms in the future. I adore them!!

    ReplyDelete

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