Just Read: Just the Way You Are and When You Look at Me by Pepper Basham

Pepper Basham is a new author to me. I discovered her from a book blogger I follow on Instagram and decided to feed by curiosity by reading a novella she wrote, Jane by the Book. The thing I like about novellas is that they give you a taste of an author’s work without the commitment of a novel. Sometimes I decide an author is not for me, but this time I decided I had to read more of her books!

Enter Just the Way You Are.

Single mother Eisley Barrett immediately caught my attention. Kind of like when you meet someone for the first time and you just know you’ll be great friends. Maybe it’s her inner monologue or the fact that she squishes a grandpa within the first few pages. Either way, I connected with her almost instantaneously.

Actor Wes Harrison took me a moment, and for good reason. Basham is incredibly smart to introduce Wes through Eisley’s point of view. I immediately understood Eisley’s reservations. I mean, handsome men can be very dangerous, especially when you’re still healing from another handsome man’s betrayal. And Wes starts off as suspicious and combative, leaving you wondering, “What is this guy’s deal?”

Don’t worry. Basham doesn’t make you wait very long. In fact, Wes’s apology to Eisley is the first sign that he’s a gentleman, albeit a cynical one. But who can blame him after his experience?

The characters are just superb. I don’t know how Basham does it, but I even felt a connection to the secondary characters, especially Eisley’s family. But maybe that’s because I’m from a Southern family, so I understand the atmosphere very well. In fact, I have an uncle who is quite similar to Nate Jenkins. I can relate to that mixture of love and embarrassment.

Even though I didn’t enjoy Just the Way You Are as much as I did Jane By the Book, I still liked it. It was good, the romance was sigh-worthy, and while Wes slowly worked to win Eisley’s heart, he won mine in the process.

Until I met Henry, that is. Which brings me to When You Look at Me.

Julia Jenkins, who we meet in Just the Way You Are, is about to embark on motherhood after a rape leaves her pregnant. I thoroughly appreciated how Basham explores Julia’s feelings, especially her anxiety around men, as well as how her life has changed since her assault.

Henry Wright is Wes’s best friend (or best mate, as the British say), and he’s come to Pleasant Gap to research the culture and music to help him compose the soundtrack to Wes’s movie. From the hilarious meet-cute, we see that Henry is a bit awkward (which I identify with) and a gentle soul. Here’s the thing about gentle heroes: they’re underrated and underappreciated. Everyone seems to fawn over extroverted men with a ton of confidence. But give me a Henry Wright any day.

There are several reasons why I love this book. For starters, the characters’ introverted personalities made me feel an immediate kinship with them, while they form an immediate kinship with each other. A lot of times I see introverts paired with extroverts as the extrovert tries to draw out the introvert and “fix” them. I’m not too fond of that, though. While it never hurts to be pushed out of our comfort zone, God made us all different. Introverts have their place just like extroverts, and I think we should all be appreciated for who we are. So I could completely understand why Henry is fascinated with Julia. She understands his people limit, understands that he sometimes needs a moment to switch from his internal thoughts before entering a conversation. And she accepts that he’s a bit awkward.

I also really enjoyed the spiritual takeaway that sometimes we don’t think we’re ready when God KNOWS we are. Sometimes we rush His timing while other times we try to pump the brakes. But either way, we have to learn that God is sovereign and knows what’s best for us. And Julia and Henry’s story is such a beautiful picture of this.

I have to say, I liked this book a lot better than Just the Way You Are. Normally, a sequel rarely lives up to the first book, but in this case, the sequel just made the series better. I hope to goodness there’s another installment coming. I’m not ready to leave the Jenkins family behind, and I’ve discovered a bit of fondness for the mixture of Appalachian and British culture.

Want to check out the books for yourself? Click on the pictures to purchase a copy from Amazon.