Authentically, Izzy - Pepper D. Basham - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Pepper D. Basham

SERIES: Skymar, #1

GENRE: Romantic Comedy, Epistolary novel.

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A cute epistolary romance between two book nerds. Sweet storyline, loveable characters, loads of bookish trivia, predictable, Christian. (Only the last feature caught me by surprise.) The epistolary part is exaggerated though – no one will write such elaborate emails to their family members. Still, a fun read.

Story Synopsis:

Thirty-year-old Izzy Edgewood is an introverted librarian who prefers the company of her books to romance. While she does want to meet her Prince Charming, she hasn’t found anyone who matches up to the fictional men she adores. When her well-meaning but meddling cousin Josephine sets up an account for Izzy on a dating app, Izzy is horrified. However, she is even more stunned when the app connects her with Brodie, a fellow LOTR lover and one as family-oriented as Izzy is. The only downside is that Brodie lives an ocean away, on a small island Izzy hasn’t even heard of. (And let’s not forget that Izzy is petrified of flying.) In the meantime, a wannabe author has started frequenting the library where Izzy works, and he too has great partner potential, though he doesn’t set her heart aflutter the way Brodie does. What should Izzy do?

The story comes to us mostly through emails and text messages sent by Izzy and her cousins – the siblings Josephine, Penelope, and Luke. The second half of the book adds some more characters to the emailing frenzy.

Bookish Yays:

😍 The bond between the Edgewood family (except for Josephine) is amazing. Izzy, Penelope and Luke have an amazing camaraderie, and their banter, especially when they differ in their opinions, is fun to read. I got almost a voyeuristic pleasure in reading their witty emails and messages to each other, because it felt like I was snooping into a family’s private communication. It felt so authentic!

😍 Though we meet most of the characters only through emails, their personalities still come out amazingly. I am sure it isn’t easy to highlight the personality of a character just through their communication, so kudos to the author for handling this marvellously.

😍 There are plenty of beautiful bookish lines courtesy the titular book lover. Izzy is a diverse reader, but with a fondness for the classics, LOTR in particular. Some of the bookish references might go over your head if you aren’t that avid a fan of classic literature, so it would certainly help to either be familiar with the classics, or, be ready to Google (though the latter wont be as much fun.) I enjoyed all the classic references, and thankfully understood most of them.

😍 As an introverted book lover myself, I resonated with Izzy on many levels. Her thoughts about books, her passion for the written word, and her idealistic fondness for fictional characters resonated with me to the core of my heart. For that matter, even Brodie was an introverted bibliophile. But his taste in literature was somewhat more sombre.

😍 Through Izzy’s work as a librarian and Brodie’s work in his family bookstore, we also get some amazing behind-the-scenes glimpses of a library and a bookstore. This book is a bibliophile’s paradise!

😍 Brodie lives on the fictional island of Skymar (hence the name of the series), but the way Skymar and its local attractions are described, it feels real. I loved its culture as much as its castles.

😍 Much to my surprise, there are some Christian elements in the missives. I haven’t ever read a Christian romcom, so this was a novel experience for me. Thankfully, the Christian content was more on the lines of trusting God to take care of things and having faith during times of trouble rather than characters spouting verses from the Bible. So it was my kind of Christian fiction, and I liked this approach. (Of course, I am not sure how this aspect would work for those who aren’t fond of religious elements in fiction. It is definitely not going to be a ‘Yay’ for them.)

😍 Goes without saying that if it’s Christian, it’s fairly clean romance. Nothing beyond some kisses. Again, a yay for me, don’t know about others.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 As an epistolary novel, a major chunk of the plot comes to us through emails and text messages. Most of the emails are fun to read, with the two girls Izzy and Penelope having a crazy habit of adding a PS, a PPS, and sometimes even a PPPS to almost every email. However, after about 35-40%, the emails do get saturating and I longed to see some actual on-page action. Thankfully, just as I was tiring of getting the story indirectly, the writing shifted over to a traditional narrative style, and the second half used both epistolary as well as regular third-person narration. This medley of styles worked much better for the book, because there was no way emails would have done justice to those later plot developments.

Bookish Nays:

😒 The story does require suspension of disbelief. After all, it isn’t logical that a contemporary family who meets fairly regularly and also has access to text messages will send so many emails to each other. The book was written in 2022, so WhatsApp would have been a far more believable medium of communication than email. (Then again, who uses logic while reading romance? Me. I do. Every time. I simply don’t learn!)

😒 As with most romances, there is a conflict in the third act because of a trivial misunderstanding over a communication issue. But the conflict in this book is quite dull as it is guessable much in advance and hence we just wait for the issue to be addressed and sorted out soon than being caught unawares by it.

😒 At 420 pages, the book is too long for this genre. The middle part feels especially dragged. Some of Brodie’s emails also become a tad too flowery, adding to the needless length.

😒 There’s a love triangle in the plot, but this held no charm at all. While I get why the triangle was set up, there was no chemistry between one pair, and it just served as a way of extending the romantic dilemma without adding any charm to the story.

😐 I am not sure how to feel about Josephine’s portrayal. Her pregnancy was used as a way to explain away a lot of her behaviour, and though she does redeem herself, she doesn’t come across as likeable. Some of the comments spoken by/directed towards her are quite regressive.

All in all, despite some boring bits in between, I enjoyed the book to a great extent. I am not a fan of typical romances anymore, so the epistolary factor, the fictional island of Skymar, the adorable Edgewood siblings, and the bookish tidbits were the main factors behind my enjoying this read. The story is predictable but fun. As always in this genre, the book will be better experienced if you don’t overthink it.

The second book in this series focusses on Penelope Edgewood, and based on what I know of her from this book, I can’t wait to dive in because she sure is one heck of a character!

Update: Read my review of the second book, 'Positively, Penelope'. It is just as charming as this one!