ARC Review: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Author: Abbi Waxman
Publication: Berkley (July 9, 2019)

Description: 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.

My Thoughts: This story was both hilarious and touching. Nina Hill is 29 and perfectly content with her life. She plans it all out in detail in her daily planner and she fills it with her work at a local bookstore, trivia contests with her friends, movies, and most of all reading. Her carriage house apartment is filled with books!

But her ideal life hits a snag when she learns that the father she never met has died and left her something in his will. He has also gifted her with three sisters and one brother, nieces and nephews, and even great-nieces and nephews. From a family which consisted of an absent, globe-trotting photographer for a mother to a multitude is quite an adjustment for anxiety-prone Nina.

And then there is the man she is interested in who plays for another trivia team. Tom is interested in her too but both being nerdy makes it hard for them to get together. But it does lead to hilarious interactions for the reader.

I loved Nina's interactions with her friends. I loved that she got to know a nephew and a brother that she never knew she had. I liked that her world was expanding and she was coping with all the changes. I loved Nina who had always been happier alone and lost in her books but who is opening up enough to add in more people to her life.

I read this one in one evening and would have read it even faster except I had to keep setting the book down to wipe away the tears of laughter that made it hard to see the print. Highly recommended!

Favorite Quote:

Nina reached Larchmont Boulevard, with its artisanal hat and cheese shops (two different shops; that would be a weird combination, especially in warm weather), and turned into her favorite cafe to grab a gluten-free low-fat bran muffin. Just kidding, it was a chocolate croissant.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.