Nina Hill's life revolves around her bookstore job, a competitive trivia team, and spending time at home where she lives alone (usually reading). Even though she does have friends, her mother has always been MIA and she likes being on her own. But then in one fell swoop her life changes. First she founds out that her father, who she didn't even know existed, has passed away and she's thrust into a huge family that consists of brothers, sisters and more who all want to meet her. And then the "annoying trivia guy" Tom, turns out to be not so annoying and is actually quite cute and funny. It's a bit of a mess but she soon learns that it's the good kind of messy that brings her out of her shell. On the surface, I really liked the premise of the story and the parts with her family were particularly well done. It was certainly the part I connected to the most as she realized having siblings, nieces and nephews could actually be pretty great. The romance was sweet too, albeit not nearly as compelling as the family moments. But my biggest hurdle with the book was the writing style. There was just something very impersonal about it and the first half in particular felt slow going. It isn't until the second half that it hits its stride but even then, I still struggled with the overall tone. It's a cute book though and I'm glad I got to check it out, it's just not something that resonated with me in the long run.

The most wonderful book! It is hilarious and interesting and I loved every minute of it! I feel very akin to Nina, with her book love and her love of solitude and introverted-ness, and I wish I had her gift of memory. Finding a huge family she didn't know about and a man she really likes both send her carefully planned life into quite a tizzy. And what a ride it is! Comedic gold! It's definitely going on my all-time favorite list. And reread when a pick-me-up is needed. Highly recommended- this would be a fantastic beach read! Ms Waxman is a genius, so definitely read her other books too.

What a fun, fun summer read. If you are an introverted book collector you’ll find this story a hoot. I found the character of Nina so enjoyable as she struggled with her life choices and how to incorporate her newly found family. A good book club selection.

I’ve enjoyed Abbi Waxman’s other books, so thought I’d give this one a whirl. I basically enjoyed it, although it was a little hokey and predictable at times and tried just a little too hard to be heartwarming. I could generally relate to Nina, as a bookloving, trivia whiz introvert who learns she has a whole new family she never knew about. Some of her romantic blunders left me scratching my head though, and she was wound pretty tightly. If you want a quick easy fun read in the summertime, this book fits the bill.

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

“She thought of books as medication and sanctuary and the source of all good things.”

I read this for Salt Water Reads book club and I just wanted to crawl in to this story, help Nina stock the book shelves at work and join her at Trivia Night. This book is delightfully quirky and I adored Nina’s character. If you love books and the bookish life, this is one not to be missed. I love Abbi Waxman and can't wait to see what she writes next!

I wanted to like this book more than I did. At times sweet, it was just a little too quirky for me and the ending felt unearned.

I loved The Bookish Life of Nina Hill! The perfect read for a bookworm like myself. I loved all the references and the story line. I just wish it had been longer!

4 / 5 stars

This book was really great, the perfect light summer read for the dog days of August. Many things about the plot and characters were not strictly realistic (people don't just suddenly inherit a bunch of money from a father they never knew), but if you can set that aside, the premise serves as a great vehicle for a fun story filled with interesting characters and entertaining encounters. I loved that the entire story was an homage to those of us who love books, perhaps even a *smidge* too much. Nina was adorable and hilarious and, at times, quite ridiculous. I would like to be her new best friend. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. If fun,slightly offbeat, and light sounds like what you want right now, I highly recommend this one.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A delightfully clever, amusing, and sincere story filled with all sorts of bookish goodness.

THE BOOKISH LIFE OF NINA HILL is a book lover’s dream. This wonderfully crafted story will bring the reader into a world of books, trivia, and family drama. Waxman gifted the book nerd inside of all of us with the sometimes quirky character of Nina Hill.

The thing I loved about this tale is the simple honesty and relatability of the main character. Maybe it is because I see a lot of myself in Nina, but I never once didn’t understand what her motives were. I just got it, and I loved reading a book that seemed to understand the uniqueness in this type of personality.

Sitting down with this book reminded me of the first time I experienced a Jane Austen novel. Through Waxman’s words, I was able to engage with the people I met. I was able to laugh at the sometimes dry sense of humor. But most importantly, understand the anxiety the main character experienced all the while cloaked in a writing style that seemed effortless.

This is a story for book nerds and trivia junkies alike. If you love sitting down with a completely enjoyable read, pick this one up. You will not be sorry.

PS. This is the first book I have ever been jealous of the lead’s love interests day job. ;)

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I must be honest, I had hard time with the style of writing on this one. I’m not a fan of 3rd person and I just couldn’t quite get invested in the story because of the way it was written. The writing was distracting and it took away from fully enjoying the story itself.
3⭐️ Because I did like Nina and some of the dynamics and settings in the book.

I am a lover of all things rom com and have really been enjoying the recent romantic comedies released this summer. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill fits right into my sweet spot- quirky but realistic characters, fun but endearing and realistic love story, and throw in pop culture references. This is a solid rom com. Nina works in a bookstore in a quaint area of LA (Larchmont, which I totally want to visit now) and lives a fairly solitary life, except for her weekly trivia nights at local bars. She learns that the father she's never known passed away and she suddenly has a huge family. I loved this book. It was a little slow to start, but once it got going, it was hard to put down. Fun, fluffy rom com- a perfect end of summer read for me. Can't wait to read Waxman's other work!

Nina Hill, die-hard bookworm and trivia champ, lives a relatively solitary life in Los Angeles surrounded by books both at home and at work. Her favorite friend is her cat Phil with whom she has two-sided conversations, a consequence of her over-active imagination and loneliness. It’s not difficult to see that her need for structure and extreme social anxiety are the result of abandonment, first by the father she never knew and then by her successful, globe-trotting mother who left parenting to a nanny. Her “anxiety was like her anti-superpower, the one that came out unbidden in a crisis.” So what’s she to do when, on the cusp of her 30th birthday, she learns that her father has died and left her an inheritance and a motley group of relatives? Add to the mix a trivia adversary, who occupies too much of her thoughts and whose presence seems to cancel out her anxiety, and her carefully constructed life starts pulling apart at the seams. Is the possibility of belonging and loving worth the risk or will she push everyone away to keep safe in her cocoon?

Waxman uses a third-person narrator who invites readers into Nina’s quirky, humorous thoughts and life accompanied by a cornucopia of wacky friends, family and the unique character of the City of LA. It’s a thoroughly engaging story with many LOL moments and a sweet romance, too. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

{ @berkleypub #partner }
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@abbiwaxman’s THE BOOKISH LIFE OF NINA HILL kept a smile on my face the entire time I was reading it. What a bookish delight!
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We meet ultra-introverted Nina Hill. She’s set in her ways and her routines. Every day she goes to work in a bookstore and loves nothing more than to come home to her beloved cat, Phil. She adores schedules, to-do lists, and day planners. But one day things go topsy-turvy when a lawyer contacts her about her father. She grew up as the daughter of a single mother who told her she didn’t know who her father was. We discover that her father was wealthy and included her in his will, but Nina wants nothing to do with her new family. Meanwhile, she is getting too much attention from an attractive man on her rival trivia team - Nina just wants to be left alone, thank you very much.
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Nina Hill is a crack up! She’s got a fun way about her with a fabulous sense of humor. She’s an endearing, bookish, imaginative, witty, and clever character that you’ll want to be friends with. YES, this book is somewhat predictable, but it is so in a good way because this character is meant to make you smile. Waxman writes the perfect story for every bookworm that includes entertaining and wonderfully colorful characters! It’s the perfect read for a day out in the sun! ★★★★½

why did I take so long to pick up this ARC? I mean this was a perfect book for me! I would like to apologize to the author for delaying the reading of her book.

I LOVE THIS BOOK! It’s hilarious and heart warming. The protagonist has ADHD but the writing is not making a joke about that or her quirks, it is generally funny. And it has references to so many books 😍😍 I had read the synopsis some time back but had completely forgotten. So I went in to this book knowing nothing and was pleasantly surprised.

Thank you so much for writing this book @abbiwaxman . I would give it 4.5 stars. It’s not a five star only because I can’t handle so many characters.

I wanted so badly to love this book and I went into it enjoying the plot, but sadly I ended up having to make myself finish this one. The plot was perfection, but the execution wasn't. The timing just didn't work for me at all. It was just so slow and honestly, I had no pull to keep me reading.

Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

At times the author was trying far too hard to create a nerdy bookish character. Nina is relatable in many aspects (especially since most people reading this book are book lovers themselves) but she often overflows into this cartoonish character.

I was really intrigued by the concept of the book but overall disappointed in the stereotypical characters, cheesy writing, and cringey character decisions.

Very cute. Nina is definitely my kind of person! This is romance, comedy, contemporary women's fiction, and tough topics all rolled into one.

I always love a good book about people who love books and this one fit the bill perfectly. Nina was such a fun character to read about. Her insatiable quest for trivia knowledge, anxiety for new situations, and brand new family added to her already quirky nature. There were also plenty of secondary characters that added to the story. I did feel like there were a few things that were a bit unbelievable, but they were small enough to be overlooked. Overall, this was a quick, fun read with plenty of humorous situations for a good laugh.

This book was an absolute delight to read. Nina's character is so relatable to the introverted bookworm (aka just about every person in the online book community) and it was so much fun to follow along while her life absolutely changes. The romance was adorable, the girl talk during book club was again, super relatable and hilarious, and I LOVED the trivia element added to it. As someone who knows endless information on pointless stuff, I thought it was alot of fun. I would highly recommend this book!

Nina Hill has her life just how she wants it: a job at a bookstore, an apartment with a reading nook and her cat Phil, and her days scheduled around her organized planner. But her neatly designed life gets a big shock when the father she never knew suddenly dies, giving Nina newfound knowledge of a host of brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews. Add on to that a crush on her trivia nemesis, Tom, and Nina's careful life is a mess.

I've been wanting to read this for a while, as it sounded totally up my alley, and it so was. It's a major ode to books and bookworms. I felt such an affinity to Nina, and I found the book to be witty and sweet. When I first started it, I was worried it might be a little too cute (the writing style is quirky and different), but Nina and the writing quickly grew on me.

There's so much to love and identify with in this one--about books and bookstores, trivia, family, love, and it deftly handles anxiety and introversion. I'm sure so many readers will find parts of themselves in Nina. I know I did.

"As an only child of a single mother, Nina's natural state was solitude. Growing up, she saw other people with fathers and brothers and sisters, and it looked like fun, but generally, she thought she was better of without a crowd."

I absolutely adored how Nina's finding her new family changed her--it was touching and funny. The cast of characters we meet is hilarious and yet poignant at times. Because Nina's (now late) father was older, she has brothers and sisters of a variety of ages, as well as a charming gay nephew. But watching her come out of her shell, meeting these people, is really lovely. (And brave.)

"Nina worried she liked being alone too much; it was the only time she ever fully relaxed. People were... exhausting. They made her anxious."

Honestly, I loved Nina. The way she interacted with the kids in the various book groups she ran at the bookstore. The way she handled falling for Tom. The way she loved her cat. The realistic way she presented her anxiety. The fact that she was introverted but friendly and kind. (Imagine that? Introverts can be fun, not just evil curmudgeons.) Her deep love of books and her desire to help other people love books, too. I could go on and on.

While you can see how some of this story will play out, it doesn't make it any less fun to read. It's really sweet, funny, and enjoyable. I totally fell for Nina and found it so easy to get caught up in her story and her life. This book was very touching, and I totally teared up at the end, which is rare for me. Definitely recommend this one. 4+ stars.