The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Author: Abbi Waxman
Published: July 9, 2019
352 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
The only child of a single mother, Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book.
When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They’re all—or mostly all—excited to meet her! She’ll have to Speak. To. Strangers. It’s a disaster! And as if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny, and deeply interested in getting to know her. Doesn’t he realize what a terrible idea that is?
Nina considers her options:
- Completely change her name and appearance. (Too drastic, plus she likes her hair.)
- Flee to a deserted island. (Hard pass, see: coffee).
- Hide in a corner of her apartment and rock back and forth. (Already doing it.)
It’s time for Nina to come out of her comfortable shell, but she isn’t convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. It’s going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor, and the combined effects of ice cream and trivia to make her turn her own fresh page.
Kim’s Review:
This book is fantastic! As soon as I read the description, I knew I had to read it. And the cover is gorgeous. From the very first page, I was completely engaged. I’ve said before that I very rarely ever “relate” to many characters. I enjoy them, I sympathize with them, I get very emotionally involved with them, but I usually don’t identify with them. Nina Hill is a big exception. I identified with her from the very beginning. To this day, I’m still the one in any group who is the know-it-all nerd who pulls out random trivia. I’m the one who makes plans, but then at the last minute backs out cuz I’m in the middle of a good book.
Thankfully, I’m a successful enough gold digger that I get to stay home and read and review books all day. But a good second choice dream job would be at a bookstore. Plus, all the dialogue is flippin’ hilarious. Nina’s interactions, not just with her friends, but with random people she meets along the way, are so much fun to read. One thing that the author does so well is the seemingly contradictory nature of LA. I have never been there so I can only base my knowledge on things I’ve read or seen on TV. While in one sentence, Waxman makes fun of the usual LA stereotypes, in the next she applauds the beauty of the city. It was just fascinating and now I kinda want to visit.
Overall, this was a really fun read that made me laugh a lot. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only weird one in the world. I had a great time reading it and I would love to read other things that Waxman has written. I adore this book and I think y’all would too!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
