The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

Photo Credit: Berkley

This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

Summary: 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.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Ok. Ya’ll know I LOVE book covers. Fun ones. Glamorous lady ones. Beach ones. Absurdly gorgeous ones. I LOVE BOOK COVERS.

And that is why I hit the button on Netgalley to read more about Nina Hill and to request it. Because THAT is a book cover. It’s a bit nerdy. It’s a bit bright. It’s A LOT of fun.

What I Liked:

The cover. I think I devoted an entire paragraph to my love for this cover so I won’t repeat myself 🙂

Nina. If there was ever a character that was speaking some of my love languages (books, planners, cats) it’s Nina.

All the lines I made highlights of in my Kindle copy. I’m reading in the pool, saving lines and laughing so hard that I almost dropped the Kindle in the pool.

What I didn’t love (or worked mostly, but didn’t work completely for me)

So about 3 sentences back- I spoke of Nina speaking my love languages. I did love this character. She was memorable in a quirky way.

BUT….

Ok so I know she’s fiction and I know that some of her behavior is exaggerated for this book. I know that. I also know that part of the point of the book was for Nina to learn to open up and loosen up and maybe be a bit less plan obsessed.

I also know about the thrill of a “nothing” night ( in college, Thursday night was “party” night and while my roommate and I did go out- we did Must See TV first- Friends, Will and Grace and ER.) So when the guy asks her about going out and she doesn’t want to give up her “nothing” night- on one hand, I TOTALLY understood that. But on the other hand, I wanted Nina to relax and deter a bit from her planner.

Again, I totally understood Nina’s wishes. How she needed that night. But… it just gave me some feeeeeelings.

Bottom line: If you love books about book people, have a planner that you LOVE, and want a book with a quirky heroine who will quickly charm you and steal your heart- The Bookish Life of Nina Hill will be your jam.

*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*