Book Review: Positively, Penelope

How grateful I am to Pepper Basham for providing another light-hearted, uplifting, clean romance! After enjoying Authentically, Izzy, I gave the second book in the series a go. Positively, Penelope returns to the same sibling set, but you could read it as a stand-alone novel. What a delightful and upbeat character! Penelope shines in a dark world. Since my world has had its own gloom, it was thrilling to enter this alternate reality and have Penelope's words "turn my frown upside down." (Ha! My husband's frequent complaint. He says I always frown. He's not alone. When I was in high school and concentrating on something I was learning, the teachers would often stop to say I looked like I was in pain. Oh my! I need to channel Penelope from now on!)

Penelope Edgewood loves musicals and all things theater. When she takes a temporary internship at the Darling House Theater on the island of Skymar, she brings her love of magic and fairy tales and princesses along. Is her positive spirit strong enough to battle the darkness of the owners (still reeling from several losses), the mystery of an idea thief, and her own bout with homesickness? Can she remain positive when life threatens to pull her down?

I had forgotten my intention of seeking a hard copy of the book for this second installment. Others complained about the awkward inconvenience of listening to each epistolary entry read aloud. It is true. Epistolary novels, especially if involving emails and texts, read better on the physical page. However, I love a good epistolary novel, so I put up with the email subject lines and text tags. This is a delightful series with fascinating and quirky characters, light-hearted romance, and other-worldly settings. I look forward to exploring the next book, Loyally, Luke.