The Bookish Life of Nina Hill ⭐⭐⭐💫

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

G👀dreads About Summary

Meet Nina Hill: A young woman supremely confident in her own...shell.

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.

Genre: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Books About Books

The How/Why: Recommended by bookish people on IG but now that I finished it I'm not sure why. It was more Trivia-ish. 

⭐⭐⭐💫 

🎉 Overall Storytelling? 🎉🎉🎉🎊

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎏

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? No ➖

🕮 Would I want a sequel? No ➖

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? Maybe. All of the reviews on GR are under 4 stars so 🤷. 

💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? No

🌶 Spice? No

🌪 Plot Twist? No

👟 Pace? Started off slow, moved to medium, won't be winning any trophies.

💻 Tidbits ~ Cute but a little of a slow start.

Nina works in a bookstore, lives in a small apartment with her sassy cat Phil, and has her planner detailed down to the minute.  Her rigid routine helps her manage her anxiety.

She was an only child raised by her nanny while her photographer mother traveled the world and kept in touch via postcards. She never knew anything about her biological father. She gets a call that he died and she’s in his Will. Only child status revoked as she discovers he had other children and grandchildren.

I had a little disconnect with her high anxiety and fear of talking to strangers. She was “as nervous as a short sighted fly at a spider convention” yet was at ease talking to her newfound family while they were getting to know each other. TBH they seemed pretty awesome and were very welcoming.

Also when her trivia crush Tom asked her out and she was booked three weeks out. For someone who would rather be alone with her books she sure had a packed social schedule.

Cons - There was a LOT of trivia and a random camel.

Pros - I did appreciate when they had a little breakup it wasn’t over a misunderstanding which is typical in a lot of rom-coms. She full-on told him she needed to be alone. He protested that he wanted to be there for her but then respected her wishes. Much to her dismay.

Favorite Character - Phil the Cat. He’s not a talking cat, it’s an internal voice like thought bubbles. When she hugged him he warned to watch his whiskers “because they do not remain gorgeous on their own”!  He makes snide comments such as the quality of the kibble, like a judgmental roommate.  Phil gets five stars!

🎧 Narrator: Emily Rankin 👍She captured the warm and the witty characters.

🎧9.03 hours 🕮 352 pages