Title: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Author: Abbi Waxman
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: July 9th, 2019
351 pages
4.5/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
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.
1. Completely change her name and appearance. (Too drastic, plus she likes her hair.)
2. Flee to a deserted island. (Hard pass, see: coffee).
3. 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.
Review
Being with you is as good as being alone.
abbi waxman, the bookish life of nina hill
Nina works in a bookstore. She has her routine and her planners, and doesn’t accept the unplanned or unpredictable. She loves her friends and trivia night, but isn’t great with exercise or eating normal meals. Her whole life is turned upside down when her unknown father ends up dead but she is listed in the will. She finds herself with several siblings, nieces/nephews, cousins, grandnieces and nephews, etc. It’s very overwhelming for her. Also, her bookstore can’t pay the rent and she may be falling in love with her trivia rival. Basically her life is crumbling into the unpredictable, and what is a rigid and routine loving girl to do?!
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is delightfully funny and sweet. Abbi Waxman has a way of writing that invokes deep emotion while being laugh out loud funny. Her writing style felt real and genuine, and the personality she gave the characters was second to none. There were times when you got the POV of both within the same character through thoughts they were both having about what was transpiring and it was so well done. I love when romance novels have more than one POV because I also want to read about the man falling in love with the woman.
I love how the story line with her long lost family played out, and how she went through this journey mostly by herself, mostly successfully. Her life flipped around a lot during the story but she was able to learn from the experience and be more open to life than she had been. She also has a remarkable number of friends for someone who says she doesn’t like people. She seems to make friends with everyone she meets.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. Abbi Waxman was able to create a story that was gripping and very funny. Go check it out!
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 