I loved this book! I really connected with the main character, Nina and loved reading her story. The story starts off with Nina working at a book store and loving her quiet life. Soon after, she finds out that the father that she never knew has passed away and has other children and even grandchildren! Nina's life is turned upside down by meeting all her new family, some welcoming and some not so much. On top of that, she's falling for a guy that plays trivia on the enemy team. This was a great engaging story and I'm very sad to say goodbye to Nina. I would love to read a sequel to see how everything shakes out!

Filled with delightful literature references (such as a quiz night team calling themselves 'Yer a Quizzard Harry," The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a pure endearing delight from start to finish. For bookworms everywhere who sometimes feel they can be more themselves with their favorite characters than with people in the real world, Nina Hill is the protagonist for you! Part women's fiction, part rom-com, we follow Nina's navigation of romance and family in a laugh out loud scenario filled with tons of heart. Nina is a character I was surely sad to bid farewell to!

This is a book for book lovers and for introverts. I love Abbi Waxman and she will be an auto-buy author for me. This book focused on the romance more than I would have liked, because romance centered stories are not my thing. But! Overall this book was great. I loved the slight mystery aspect and the overall resolution. I also adored the trivia components. If you want a light, fun read that still is touching and serious at times, pick this up!

This book felt like a corky themed TV show narrated by inner monologue, giving you a first had look at a hardcore bookworm.

Told in third person, we learn about Nina Hill’s world of books, her journey through life and finding herself along the way. I think most readers will find a little of themselves in Nina. Throughout the story, Nina learns about herself and the world around her. I may have picked up this read solely based on the cover, but overall I found Nina’s world enjoyable. The story did take on a slower pace at times but after powering through, I was able to see the growth she experienced and even learned a little about myself along the way.

Smart, charming, laugh-out-loud funny and filled with trivia and literary references. It’s Bridget Jones meets "The Storied Life of AJ Fikry". Nina Hill is an introverted bookworm that enjoys living a quiet and highly organized life with her cat, Phil. Her world is sent into a comedic tail spin when the father Nina never met passes away and leaves her with a whole family she never knew she had. I loved every page of this book. I particularly enjoyed how each chapter starts out with a page from Nina's planner and a witty little one sentence synopsis of what the coming chapter has in store for us.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ratings Scale 1 (low) - 5 (high)
Unputdownable-ness: 5
Ugly Cry Potential: 3
LOL: 5
Steaminess: 2
Character Development: 4
Originality: 4
Quality of Writing: 5
Intellectual Depth: 3
Emotionally Trying/Hard to Read: 2

Nina Hill works in a bookstore and lives in her tiny apartment, both in the Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles. She has a cat named Phil, a mother who is a renowned, world-traveling photojournalist, and no other family.

As far as she knows.

Obviously there must have been a father involved at some point, but her mother has told her nothing except that he wouldn't have been a good father.

Then one day a lawyer walks into the bookstore, tells her that her father has died, and she's mentioned in the will.

She has several sisters, a brother, nieces and nephews, and even two grandnieces and a grandnephew. Her oldest sister, you see, is thirty years older, and her youngest is just ten years old. Her brother is just a few months older, because his mother was pregnant when Nina was conceived. It's a large and complicated family, with landmines she will need to discover.

No one else in the family suspected she existed. Her mother had offered William Reynolds an agreement absolving him of all financial responsibility in exchange for agreeing to never contact Nina. He accepted, and no one knew except his lawyer. But he included Nina in his will.

Nina is not prepared for a large and sometimes contentious family, some of whom welcome her and some of whom resent her. She's a quiet, shy, anxiety-prone individual whose idea of a quiet night out is book club or trivia night. She likes order, routine, no surprises. anxiety attacks are both debilitating and embarrassing.

I do so feel for Nina. Her trivia nights would be too much for me.

So, on top of whole new large, extended family, she really, really doesn't need the complication of her and the captain of a rival trivia team becoming interested in her. That's just too much, isn't it? It's even worse when she finds that being with him tamps down her anxiety. That's weird! When she's not with him, it's another thing to worry about.

You may think this doesn't make sense. Let me assure you, as a fellow anxiety sufferer, yes, it makes sense. It makes total sense, and is completely familiar.

I love Nina, I love her discovery of her new family, her discovery of a guy who might not be the terrifying trap most guys are for her. I love that Nina doesn't need to get "cured;" she just needs to embrace who she is.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

This book is like comfort food for readers! Most of us readers secretly covet Nina’s life of working in a neighborhood bookstore. On her free time she spends hours in her cozy cottage surrounded by books, reading with only the company of her cat Phil. Her main social activity is competing with her trivia team. To manage her social anxiety she has her life perfectly planned. Her peaceful organized life is disrupted. when family she never new she had enters her life. As if that’s not enough she can’t stop thinking about Tom a “hot” guy on a rival trivia team. Nina learning to actually live life ,with other people in it ,is completely heart warming hilarious and clever. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Linda's Book Obsession Reviews "The Bookish Life of Nina Hill" by Abbi Waxman, Berkley Publishing, July 9, 2019

Abbi Waxman, Author of "The Bookish Life of Nina Hill" has written a delightful, entertaining, enjoyable, charming, and witty novel. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Women's Fiction, Humor, and Romance. The author describes her colorful cast of characters as complex, complicated, quirky, delightful and dysfunctional.

Nina Hill works in a bookshop, engages in trivia night, and various bookish activities. Nina gets anxious easy, prefers being alone with her cat, and reading books. Nina has grown up never knowing her father, and is closest to her child caretaker, than her single mother. Nina also uses a planner and organizes her life in an efficient manner for herself. It should come as a shock that Nina doesn't like surprises. She likes everything in order and predictable.

When it is brought to Nina's attention that the father she never had known, has died and she is invited to the reading of the will, Nina is flabbergasted. Now it seems there are other members of this family. Will Nina's life ever be the same? Will our Bookish Nina be able to make it to the reading of the will? One thing is for sure, Nina's Bookish Life as she knows it holds many surprises.

This is an easy to read, heartwarming story that I highly recommend.

3.5 stars, rounded up

Nina Hill is just fine with life, thankyouverymuch. She works in a bookstore, has a cat, reads a lot, and has a tightly packed schedule. She lives alone, but she's not alone. And she becomes even less alone than she thought when her unknown father dies and leaves her with a complicated extended family. And she meets a cute but obnoxious guy at her local trivia night. It looks like Nina's life is about to get a lot more complicated.

Welp, this didn't cure my reading slump. While it was cute, it felt about 100 pages too long and dragged in places.

I loved Nina. She's very introverted, socially awkward, highly intelligent, suffers from anxiety and very much knows her self. However, despite her introversion and constant statements that she is alone and likes it, she very much is not alone. She has a full life, swirling with different activities and people and community—very much what I expect from a bookseller working to keep their business relevant (libraries are the same way). But I did like that despite this bustle she is still introverted, and it's made clear that although she can "turn it in" in some circumstances, in others she's a little lost and she gets her energy recharged by being alone.

This was the first book where I felt really seen with my introversion and anxiety (although mine is very, very mild compared to hers) and love of reading—and talking to cats. It was also one of the first books where the characters liked contemporary books that weren't just all Harry Potter (although there are many Harry Potter references). There are so many references to recent children's books and adult books and it just made me so happy, because frankly I'm exhausted by contemporary romance bookworms who only read the classics. Give me a SFF reader, dammit!

I also loved much of the supporting cast. While I felt there were far too many characters (something I rarely feel), I did like all of them. Most of them. Some, like Lili and Clare, just served as a vessel to get Nina into a wedding to have another run-in with Tom, and others, like some members of Nina's new family or members of her suddenly-forgotten trivia friends (and Lisa), felt underdeveloped or just names on a page or forgotten after their objectives were met. This large group was necessary, but I struggled to keep track who everyone was and where they connected, and this hardly ever happens so it was especially irritating. I do wish Moltres had more page time, because he was adorable.

However, the book shines with its precocious little bookworms. Millie, Clare, Annabel and the other little girls who love reading are just precious. And all of the bookworms are precious. This entire book is an homage to readers, and the care and attention and love shown to them (and the various ways books are enjoyed, savored and devoured) was probably the highlight of the entire book (and that's saying something because Lydia's superpower is fucking awesome).

Anywho, despite all this I was underwhelmed.

I think it was because I really didn't give a fig newton about the LI, Tom. He was bland, kinda had no personality, and whenever we jumped into his head it was all about how sexy Nina was because she was small but strong, not pretty but hot as fuck, a red-head, and had a voice that was low and sultry. So basically constant objectifications about her. I didn't feel like they had any connection or much chemistry beyond sex and trivia (and even the trivia was marginal), and didn't feel like Tom was developed enough to be plausible as Nina's LI. I think most of this was that Tom learns and is interested about everything Nina does, and Nina only cares that he's not much of a reader and is hot and that she doesn't make a total fool of herself. She makes very little effort in getting to know him (see below: not knowing his job until the end of the book).

I also got really tired over the many subplots and dragging plot points. While there are a lot of highs in the book (heh), there were times I just didn't want to pick this up and finish it. I should have read it in a day or two, and instead read it in four. Maybe it's the slump, or maybe it was that I was uncomfortable with some of the ablest language (there are lots of references to mental illness as making people crazy, insane, etc). Although the cliched public declaration of love (why is this a thing) was one of the cutest I'd seen in a while (along with the twist of Tom's job).

As for the plots—Nina finds her new family and gets to know them in the two weeks leading up before the reading of the will, also slowly learns that her boss has been having issues paying rent for the past couple months, competes in a trivia championship with a biased emcee (this is a point that is mildly dropped, making the final scene a little ehhhh), and the falling in love aspect (slooooow burn).

However, there are many messages that being introverted is normal and okay, that living alone and needing your space is okay, and that reading lots and lots of books and being nerdy and a little awkward is also okay. And that family is both blood and who you find—and that people can surprise you.

Overall, this was a pretty funny (seriously, this is funny and also tear-jerky) book, even if it dragged at times.

Recommended for: bookworms, introverts, trivia nerds, contemporary romance lovers and people who work with books

Not recommended for: honestly I have no clue—I guess if you need explosions in your stories? Because spoiler: there are no explosions. But there is one hell of an artisanal ice cream fight.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Five bold, big, underlined, shining, intellectual, quirky, weird, nuts, but so so so much entertaining, perfectly crafted, how can I resist to love it stars!!!

How any ordinary human being could resist the charm of Nina Hill’s characteristic attributes! Not me, this was love at first sight. I loved her!

She is not a regular smart, nerdy, introvert book-worn, she’s so busy, social with her scheduled book club events, trivia competitions (with her straightforward comments, standing up against the unfairness, cheating or any other miscalculation of their earned points, her friends and she are banned from most of the competition places!), movie nights at Arc Light theatres (mostly her date is greasy popcorn)!

She reads a lot, she drinks wine a lot! ( My God this is definition of me !!)

She may suffer from ADD, OCD, anxiety and panic attacks! ( OMG this is still me !)

She has great sense of humor, sensitive observation skills, quite creative imagination. ( I don’t want to look like pretentious but it’s still me! Oh boy! Did I know the author from somewhere????)

She has a long distance relationship with her mother since she was a little baby( She was left with a nanny and only communication way to her mother were postcards) and no relationship with her father because she doesn’t know who he is. ( Mother part is close but I love my father! Okay, the author is not BB or stalker! That means there are millions of people like me. Good to know not to be alone)

Didn’t I mention, she‘s so busy with her impeccably detailed and organized schedule, so WHO NEEDS A FAMILY! WHO NEEDS A BOYFRIEND! RIGHT?

ERRRRRRR! Wrong answer Nina! So sorry, you may answer all the trivia question without blinking or breathing (at least she didn’t suffocate) but she has a crush on Tom who is a member of rival team competing against them at the trivia quizzes.

And she learns that she has a father who has watched her from a distance, married too many times, lived a joyful life, put her into his will before dying from a sudden heart attack.

Now she learns that she has brother, sisters, nephews( older than her), grand-nephews, a crowded, crazy, dysfunctional, big family. ( Okay this part is close to me ! For the first time in my life I have so much common with a character))

Now she wants TO RUN, HIDE, DISAPPEAR! Anything she can do not to connect with those people who fight too much, who resent each other so much, who have so many differences but still they manage to stay together! Isn’t this a classical definition of a regular family?

I loved the parts about Nina’s worldview changing. As soon as she starts to connect with each member of her family and open her heart to Tom by letting him in, she realizes she still likes to be alone but in the meantime she also enjoys to be with the people she loved deep in her heart!

This book is about resistance to change but learning to adapt and be brave to share your feelings, be openminded to enjoy different and challenging experiences of life, take risks, embrace your differences, quirks, antics and finally learn to love yourself and share your love without putting any restriction or limitation.

Yaaaayyyy ! I found my fiction twin! Of course it was easy to give five stars!
I loved the author’s way of thinking, writing, creating characters that so easy to be resonated. I mostly agree with her comments and observations about LA life. I really laughed so much at those parts, my cheeks still hurt!

So as soon as it’s released, go and get this book and devour every word of it! Laugh without thinking people giving you weird faces! (They gave me but I handled it maturely. I stuck my tongue!)

Special thanks to Berkley Books to send me ARC copy via NetGalley( also special thanks to them, too) for exchanging my honest review. ( This part always reminds me of Academy Award speeches but at least this is short one. )

Thanks to #netgalley #berkleypublishinggroup for a free digital copy of #thebookishlifeofninahill in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Fans of rom-com, a quick read, and likable characters might enjoy The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

Nina’s life revolves around her planner, her schedule, her cat, her reading nook, her books, several book clubs, her trivia team, and her job at her neighborhood independent book store. She’s the book seller that knows your preferences and can recommend your next great read based on books you’ve read and liked. Her life is ordered and routine until it isn’t. The plot twists in her life include an introduction to a bio family she didn’t know existed, an inheritance, and a chance encounter with the potential love of her life. The inclusion of her planner pages at the beginning of each chapter is a delightful visual addition to the story. Even though Nina’s love interest is a sweet and thoughtful guy and she is warming up to some members of her new bio family, Nina suffers from crippling anxiety attacks which tempt her to withdraw into her former safely structured life and to give up on the idea of forming closer relationships with the boyfriend and her bio family. For guidance, Nina turns to the only person in her life that she can trust. Will Nina resolve these complicated issues and find happiness?

Although the writing is humorous with a generous dose of snark, some of the crassness was not to my taste and I felt the entirety of Chapter Five could have been eliminated. Perhaps modern readers expect this type of dialogue in their rom coms (or at their book club meetings!), but for me it detracts from the story. Some readers might like to know that the romantic passages are not explicit and the romantic details take place off the page (I believed this is referred to as “closed door.”). Overall I enjoyed the flow and quality of the writing with the exception of Chapter Five.

I think fans of rom-com and books about books will enjoy this engaging story for its unique premise, love of books and bookstores, and snappy writing.

I really enjoyed this book! It was so light and happy. Nina was adorable and I connected with her a lot (I think everyone who reads this will, she’s obsessed with books). She had her flaws, but didn’t come off as whiney, annoying, or too weird. She was certainly weird, but in a charming way. The whitty banter and dialogue was so accurate to real life. Overall I’m very happy I read this!

What a great read! The perfect blend of family, humor and heart! I really loved Nina Hill as a character and she will definitely resonate with book lovers for sure. Pick this up if your in the mood for Contemporary/Women’s Fiction or a great beach read! Highly Recommend!!

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I think it's entirely fitting to start my post about this book by talking about another book (Nina Hill would approve, maybe even insist on it). I remember a lot of what I read about High Fidelity in the late 90's (I was a little late to the party), was about guys saying to either hand the book to women to help them understand how we think -- or to keep it out of their hands, for the very same reason. That resonated with me. I never thought for a second that I was Rob, Dick or Barry, but we thought the same way, we had a similar weltanschauung -- their banter was scripted, where mine frequently fumbled -- but overall, they were proof that I wasn't the only one in the world who thought that way. It took me less than two chapters to feel the same way about Nina Hill -- our tastes differ somewhat, she's more clever than I am, and there's the ridiculous affection for felines -- but on the whole, she's my kind of person. In fact, many of the people in this book are -- she's just the best example of it.

The authorial voice -- Nina's voice, too -- is fantastic. I seriously fell head over heels almost instantly with them. The narrative is specific, funny, observant, compassionate, and brutally honest -- mostly funny. It's just so well-written that I knew (and said publicly) by the end of the first chapter that this was going to be in my personal Top 3 for 2019 -- I've had some time to think about this, and have reconsidered. I'm confident it'll be in the Top 5, but I should give the rest of the year a little room to compete. It's one of those books that's so well-written you don't care what or who it's about, as long as you get to read more of that wonderful prose. By chapter 4 -- and several times after that -- I had to self-consciously stop myself from highlighting and making glowing notes -- because if I didn't, I'd end up never finishing the book (I still have a lot of notes and passages highlighted).

Let me try to explain via a tortured metaphor (this is where you see why I blog about books, and not write my own). Say you're taking a road trip, say, to go look at autumn leaves and you know the city you'll be staying in, but know that there are about 18 different ways for the driver to arrive in that city. You know the whole time where you'll end up, but you don't have a clue how you'll get there, what kind of foliage you'll see (hint: it'll be brown, red or orange), what the roads will be like, or what random and surprising things might happen along the way. It's not about the destination, it's the journey -- as the fortune cookies and high school graduation speeches tell you. This book is the same way -- readers are going to know pretty much where this book is going to end up once they've read a few chapters. What they don't know is how they'll get there, what they'll see on the way, what kind of surprises will be along the way, and how fast they'll get there. It's in these things that Waxman excels -- her plotting is pretty obvious, but her execution is dazzling and often unexpected. (I want to stress that this is an observation, not a criticism)

Nina Hill is a reader -- books are how she defines herself, the prism through which she sees and interacts with the world. She has a job (bookseller), a cat, a small home with a lot of shelves, a trivia team, book club, a place she exercises, a visualization corner, a fantastic planner and a love of coffee and quality office products. Her life is pretty regimented, but everything is just how she likes it. She also is introverted, prone to anxiety, and averse to change. Nina's smart with a great memory, a penchant for honesty, and highly-developed sense of who she is.

Her friends are essentially the women she works with and the members of her trivia team -- all of whom are intelligent, witty, well-read and fun. The kind of people I'd love to hang out with over coffee or wine for a few hours a week.

Nina's mother is a noted and award-winning photojournalist and spends most of her time traveling the world being one. Nina was largely raised by a Nanny (although her mother visited frequently). Nina has never known a father.

Until one day her life changes -- a lawyer arrives with some news. Her father is dead. Apparently, her mother discovered he was married and refused to have anything further to do with him. He was absolved of any need to support Nina or her mother as long as he never made contact with her. Which he honored -- but made provisions for him in his will.

Her father was a successful entertainment lawyer, and a serial monogamist. He was married three times (one divorce, one widowing, and one marriage intact), had several children and more grandchildren (there are contextually appropriate and helpful graphics to help you understand the family structure). Nina went from being alone in the world to being a sister, an aunt and a grand-aunt in one conversation. She slowly meets various members of the family -- discovering similar personality traits, interests and physical characteristics. The family she meets is wonderful -- I could easily spend more time with them all. One brother and a nephew (who is older than her) in particular stand out -- she gets to know them sooner and deeper than the rest. But many others are on their heels, and even the least-likable among them turn out to be great (with one exception, but that's by design).

While reeling from the changes of learning she has an extended family, starting to meet them, and learning about her father -- another thing happens in her life. There's a member of a rival trivia team that she finds attractive, and who just may find her attractive. They have similar tastes and many shared interests, but he seems to know a lot about sports (including what "a Don Shula" is) and isn't much of a reader. But there's something about him . . .

There are three significant child characters in the novel -- they're not around much, but when they are, they have a large impact on the plot. They are all pretty unrealistic, talking and (apparently) thinking in ways that are immature, but not how kids talk and/or think. But they're so adorable that you forgive Waxman immediately for these overly-precocious children. It's not a major thing, I just wanted to say something less-than-positive about the book, and this is all I could come up with.

Throughout the novel, Nina learns how little she's really alone in the world and how she might be able to find time for more people in her life -- without losing who she is and too much reading time. This is the core of the novel and everything else is in service to this goal. While this is going on, there are plenty of laughs, chuckles and wit to carry the reader from plot point to plot point.

It's a good thing that I stopped quoting from ARCs (I almost never got around to verifying the lines in the published version), because this post would either never be completed or would be so long that I'd be the only one who'd read the whole thing. I had to stop myself -- repeatedly, actually -- from highlighting great lines. Particularly comments Nina made to others (or the Narrator made on her behalf) about books and/or reading. Book memes are going to be mining this novel for years -- you've seen 357 variations on the Tyrion lines about reading, or the 200+ takes on "Books were safer than people anyway" from The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Folks, Nina Hill is going to bury both of them.

According to Goodreads, I've read 122 books so far in 2019. If pressed, I'd easily say this is better than 120 of them, and might tie the other (it's a lot more fun, I can say without a doubt). Your mileage may vary, obviously, but I can't imagine a world where anyone who reads my blog not enjoying this novel and protagonist. It's charming, witty, funny, touching, heart-string-tugging, and generally entertaining. I don't know what else to say other than: Go, go read this, go buy it, expect it as a gift from me (if you're the type to receive gifts from me, I'm not buying one for all of you on my wages, as much as I might want to).

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post -- thanks to both for this great opportunity!!

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill was a cute, funny romantic comedy in book form. It had an adorably quirky protagonist who loved books and whose life wasn't that interesting until Something Happened to kick it into gear. She had a nerdy meet-cute with a fellow trivia-buff who was an all-around Good Guy. She worked in a bookstore, talked to her cat as if he were a person, and her apartment had three whole walls entirely devoted to books. She ended up really clicking with (most of) her birth family and nothing really bad happened and then the book was over.

And everything was just kind of meh along the way.

Did stuff happen? Yes. Did it feel like there was any way everything was not going to work out in the end? No—and that was my main gripe with the story. I certainly enjoyed the book (and thought that Nina and Tom were like the cutest nerdy trivia-loving couple), but I also never felt truly invested in any of the characters or their struggles. Abbi Waxman writes everything through such a rosy glow that even Nina's sometimes debilitating anxiety never feels that serious (as if her panic attacks are some kind of personality trait).

Nina lives alone and works in a bookshop and goes about each day according to her planner and nothing really (truly) matters because she doesn't get emotionally involved in anything and so we aren't emotionally invested in her. (This line from the summary pretty much sums it up → "If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book.") I liked Nina, and I liked Tom, and I liked this book, but it never went anywhere besides like. Instead, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill was a nice cozy book you satisfactorily close once you've finished, pause a little, and then maybe say "hmm, that was nice" before going about your day.

Awkward heroines are my catnip, and Nina Hill is the new queen of quirkiness. My dear fellow introverted bibliophiles, let it be known that I was utterly charmed by The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

The book is written with a cheeky sense of humor that may be over the top for some, but I loved it—particularly the more I read. It fits Nina’s quick wit and eccentric personality. I enjoyed her overactive imagination, her endless well of trivia knowledge, and her compassion. Nina’s struggle with anxiety and her delight in solitude really resonated with me. I got a kick out of her full but regimented life, and I particularly looked forward to her cute daily planner notes at the beginning of each chapter.

Her long lost family boasts a colorful and diverse cast of characters. The way she navigates these new relationships is incredibly fun to experience. Throughout all the highs and lows, Nina embraces her weirdness, and you’ve got to admire that.

This lovely, heartwarming story fit my summer mood perfectly. A reader’s guide with some great discussion questions is included at the end, so you could easily make The Bookish Life of Nina Hill your next book club selection.

Recommended for fans of:
Bookstores
Trivia
Quirky heroines
Introverts
Artisanal ice cream

Sometimes a book and a reader just do not match, and this is one of those books for me. 29-year-old Nina is a shy introvert who loves books and trivia. Meeting a family she didn't know she had throws her into trauma and angst. I couldn't bring myself to care about Nina, her family, her friends, or her story, so I gave up and stopped reading after about 30% of the book. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a preprint copy.

I don’t think I’ve ever identified with a character quite as much as I do with Nina Hill. Because I also love books more than pretty much anything else and am in possession of a brain full of useless random facts. (Did you know Alaska is the only state you can spell using only one row of the keyboard? Or that Abraham Lincoln was afraid of dentists? I could go on for a very long time, but I’ll stop.) She also suffers from anxiety and is a pretty serious introvert. Which are two things that definitely have a big impact on my life, and I enjoyed seeing them in a book. If I worked in a bookstore and had a crazy family situation, we’d basically be the same person.

The story itself was really fun and interesting. There was more to it than the traditional romance, and I think that was what I loved most (even though I definitely enjoyed the romance). I thought all the side characters were great as well. I have a soft spot for Peter (you’ll have to read the book to find out who he is, I won’t spoil it). It makes a big difference if a book has a great cast of secondary characters, and this one definitely did.

As for the romance itself, I enjoyed it. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I can definitely identify with how being an introvert with anxiety can influence your social life. That’s just not something I’m totally comfortable with, and I really liked seeing Nina go through that as well. It’s always nice to see yourself in books, especially when your experience is not what is normally portrayed. However, I do wish there was a bit more of the romance. I liked Tom a lot, but I don’t think we get to know him as well as I would have liked. My biggest complaint about the book is that the ending, in regards to their relationship, felt a bit too abrupt. Having read more romance than is my usual habit lately, I think that might be characteristic of the genre, but it still felt a little unsatisfying.

I liked this in the beginning, but it just went downhill from there.I wanted so badly to relate to Nina because of her love of reading and the fact that she works in a bookstore, but honestly coming out of this book I hope I'm nothing like Nina. She puts herself on a pedestal and very much has an "I'm not like other girls" attitude, which I never appreciate.

What’s the last book you totally devoured? The Bookish Life of Nina Hill was that book for me. First of all, can you ever go wrong with a bookish book? I think not. This was simply a flat out fun read that I so enjoyed from start to finish. It had me laughing out loud and I couldn’t get enough of the author’s witty and sharp writing. Side note: My planner obsessed self really appreciated Nina’s planner pages that were between each chapter (such a cute touch!).

I especially loved the quirky characters we get to meet in the story, and I could easily see myself and Nina being BFFs. I saw so much of myself in her. Plus, I’m always a sucker for the large, dysfunctional family dynamic, which was particularly hilarious and well done here.

This thoughtful, charming, heartfelt, relatable story could be a great fit for any and all bookworms, and will definitely be one I recommend over and over.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.