Nora November's story is before a traumatic event happened and after it happened. Sometimes, things happen, so it makes you stop and think about things. When she woke up from a coma, she knew she wasn't the same person she was before, but she kept feeling like she was failing everything. Her journey leads her to meet new people, new things she discovers she likes to do, and things she actually is good at. Instead of trying to live her life the way others think she should live it, she slowly sees that she has to be who she truly is. It was after she remembered the accident, that she stood up for herself, with her father. Her journey really is different from who she was before, and it is helping her become the person she is meant to be. Sometimes you have to give up the life that was planned and accept what life wants you to have.
I received an ARC from Harper Muse through NetGalley.

Unlike any previous Julia London books I’ve read, Nice Work Nora November still bears her stamp in the high quality of the writing, the excellent characterisation and the intriguing plot. Nora is, of course, the star of this story and she’s certainly got some challenges to overcome as she tries to fulfil the tasks she’s listed on her reverse bucket list. Stuck in a job she hates, facing massive medical bills and with parents who belittle her, it’s a wonder that Nora has any drive at all to bring joy into her life, but even when she’s feeling at her bleakest, she soldiers on. I loved watching her slowly discover the self confidence she’d had bled from her in her life before her near death experience. She's resilient, persistent and definitely a character to cheer for.
Nora is not a sole performer in this story however. There’s Jack, the corner store guy that she spends much of the story searching for. He adds plenty of interest as we see glimpses of his work life at a palliative care facility and his quirky notes to Nora in the community garden where they’ve each inherited a plot. I desperately wanted these two to find each other and loved Nora’s efforts. While these two are central to the story, thr supporting cast—self-centred characters like Nora’s thoroughly unpleasant father and thoroughly likeable characters like Nick from the garden centre and Catherine and Walter from the community garden—all add richness and depth to a story I couldn’t put down. This is definitely a keeper!

Trigger warnings for this book include: near death experience, death, infant loss, parental abuse, coma, hospice, cancer, suicide, depression, and anxiety.

When I write out all the trigger warnings it’s a wonder how I have a book 4 stars. Nora November is a mess. She was a depressed workaholic shell before a near death experience with a less than supportive, mostly neglectful and abusive family. Her twin brother died of SIDS and she has always felt inadequate with his loss and her father expecting her to fill the role of ‘son.’ Trying to start over and failing royally at many many things, Nora finally starts to find her feet and her new self in ‘the after.’

Told in a dual timeline between Nora and a guy she met in a corner store robbery, this is a coming of age tale. Nora November is finding herself.

'You can't grow the good stuff when the life is choked out by weeds'


It's a story about Nora who almost died. Like literally she was dead for a short amount of time and then came back to life. But her life 'Before' was not that perfect as somebody could think. But maybe life just gave her a second chance and it is finally time to do something good and just for herself, not for anybody else?


I honestly really enjoyed this one. I am, too, a people pleaser and i know how hard it is to do something only for yourself or just simply to say 'no' to others. It is very hard actually. But i know it's important do do so, because while giving everything to others, you slowly loose yourself and at the end youd don't even know who you really are... and it sucks.

The idea of reverse bucket list was such a nice thing to do! The fact that it took a literal death experience to finally stand up for herself is saying a lot. But i hope that every other people pleaser will think about themself and that maybe, just maybe, life is not just about making the others happy - it's about YOU being happy (Not that we don't have to be too selfish - just a little bit is good too!).

I did also enjoy the fact that her story was not the only one here, we also saw a bits of life from Jack, the guy she briefly met while being held hostage - they were sad parts, but i loved it.


I only wish we would get them to meet sooner, but it was a nice story anyway. It was more like journey for Nora than a romance story i think.



*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Nice Work, Nora November was a cute book, overall. The book follows Nora on a journey to fulfill her "reverse bucket list" that she developed after a near death experience. Understandably, Nora is dealing with a lot in her life - lots of hard things as she reconciles her life in the after with how she lived "before." A major underlying plot point is her desire to connect with Jack, the man she met before through yet another challenging experience (a hostage situation in a robbery).

That being said... though the book had lots of cute aspects, it was not a "feel good" sort of read at all -- and to me, that's what the description of the book suggested. There were a lot of triggers in this book. Nora is/was clinically depressed. Her family is absolutely awful (especially her parents). She's experienced a lot of trauma in life and hasn't really adequately dealt with it -- and now that she wants to, the cost of therapy is a barrier. Hardly anyone in this book is likable, and really, that includes Nora, sadly (though she is trying to flip her life). I think I would have liked this book more had the story been told less along the way of Nora's journey, and more after she'd already arrived. I also would have liked more of Nora and Jack together, instead of just their recollections about the hostage situation. I waffled between rating this book 2 or 3 stars, but ultimately ended up going with 3 stars because I liked the writing style and I liked the ending.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a first by the author.

I thought this was a cute read but it is very slow. Seems to be that way through the whole book but i wanted to keep reading to see where it was going.

The MC parts were very easy to not like but i would definitely recommend the book and i would read more from the author. I bet the audiobook would be fun to listen to as well.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

I received this complimentary digital ARC from Harper Muse and NetGalley. This review is my own. Nora experiences death and her outlook on life changes when she has been rehabbed and is living on her own. Death has changed the values that she had previously set in her life. It also let her see that she was not happy with the life she was living. This is a story that will get a reader thinking--what would you change or would you? I truly enjoyed this book.

Rating: 3.5

I don't really know how to feel about this book. I was debating between giving it 3 or 4 stars, so 3.5 it is. I hated the parents. Especially the dad because he was a narcissist who clearly had no intention of changing. I feel like most of the issues I had were addressed, but I still don't know if I completely like the way some things were handled.

I have read many of Julia London’s books and have enjoyed them all.
Nora November was one of her top books. I love the way Ms. London writes.
She shares the POV of view of many of the characters which is my favorite.
The story has a mystery to it but as we follow Nora it unravels. Jacks story and POV was powerful too.
Nora almost dies and makes a list of things she wants to accomplish. She goes about doing it.
I highly recommend this book --

When I read "just a hint of romance" I knew that this was not going to be the book for me. I am not a big fan of book where the romance is not the forefront. I am sure there will be many people who enjoy learning about Nora November! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

The description of Heaven at the beginning of the book is beautiful!! I loved Nora's journey of finding her new life in the After of her NDE. It was realistic in that it doesn't always go smoothly and she struggles, but there is that constant hope in the After. My only complaint is that this is clearly a secular book and the ending reflects that.

Well done, Julia London. This novel took me on an emotional journey, for sure. There should definitely be a note in the beginning to let readers know about the difficult topics addressed in the story, but the catharsis of following Nora’s journey from the first page to the last was worth dealing with the painful emotions it brought up inside me. It is a beautiful story about living life and loving who you are and what you have to offer!

I love the tone and author voice of this novel. Unfortunately, the book is missing trigger warnings. Nora is dealing with deep trauma. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher.

I love books that take us on a character's journey and this was right up my alley. Thank you for letting me be part of of your "nice work" Nora.

Well-paced, lovely and relatable book.

The author did a great job portraying the weight of life, from the pressures of family, a job that you don't like or align with, and forcibly trying to fit into society's expectations. It was so relatable in so many ways, and loved the sense of trying to restart life.

The spirit of a community, of having support, but also that relationships are mutual was very well highlighted and again, added to the relatability of this story.

Recommend for a nice and relaxing book, being mindful of some trigger points.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I thought this book was very cute. With that being said, I thought the book was a little long and I found myself getting bored about 50% of the way through the book. but overall I thought this book was super fun and upbeat and I thought Anna was a great FMC! I loved to hate her parents as well. I also wish the romance had been a bigger part of the book, but I am also all for female empowerment and independence! I will be definitely adding Julia London to my authors to watch list, and I will also be keeping my eye out for the audiobook, which is set to be narrated by Karissa Vacker -- one of my top 10 favorite Female audiobook narrators!


Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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WARNING: it's time to jump aboard the unpopular opinion train again!!

Right... I didn't expect this to happen to be honest. I guess you can't trust a fun cover and blurb! I was intrigued by Nice Work, Nora November as soon as I read what it was about, with the near death experience and the reverse bucket list angle. I was in the mood for a fun and uplifting read, so I fully expected to have a great time with this story... But sadly the completely opposite ended up happening. Uplifting? Heartwarming? Try highly depressing, tedious and extremely frustrating instead! Oh yes, this book and me didn't get along at all.

This is one of those books where I liked the premise a lot more than the execution. Nice Work, Nora November has so much potential with the near death experience and the main character trying to change her life for the better with the help of a reverse bucket list. The romance itself also had a lot of potential with the missed connection and Nora trying to find him... BUT. What I was expecting to be an (at least mostly) uplifting story about self improvement and new connections, turned out to be an absolute chore to get through.

Why do I say this? Well, this book is just so extremely negative and depressing all the time, and I'm not sure how you could ever call Nice Work, Nora November uplifting and heartwarming with everything that happens. The epilogue and chapter before? Maybe. But the rest is just mainly tedious and highly frustrating instead. Basically, Nora is clinically depressed and her own family treat her horribly. Her father, her mother, her sister... They all seem to be in an competition for most horrible family member, although the father is the obvious winner of course. Talk about toxic relationships, abuse, bodyshaming, mental health shaming and treating someone like a human doormat! There is so much repetition of this and almost no character growth along the way, and it all made me SO angry (and not in a good way).

Talking about the characters: most of them felt underdeveloped and too much like stereotypes. There wasn't a lot of character growth to be found; not even in our main character Nora, who seemed to be taking a looooong time to finally get there. People keep treating her so badly and she never stands up for herself until well into the second half, and I was ready to throw in the towel long before that. The romance angle was also very disappointing; how are we supposed to believe they had such a strong connection after a few hours, and then they never contacted each other? And to make things worse, they don't even meet until the story is basically over? With more focus on the romance, them meeting sooner and Jack helping her find her way, this plot could have been so much better...

As you might already guess, I didn't exactly get along with Nice Work, Nora November. Too depressing, too much focus on the negative and too little too late when it comes to that dose of uplifting and heartwarming story that the blurb seemed to promise... This was without doubt a miss for me, and I kind of wish I had DNFed it instead.

When Nora nearly drowns in a surfing accident, she recovers to realise that she has not completed all her dreams. Having a pressure-filled career in an attempt to please her father, have held her back. So, she decides to create a "reverse" bucket list of all the things she wants to do after death. The list includes ordinary aspirations like learning how to cook and cleaning out her late grandfather’s garden. However, she also wants to find the man she met in a corner shop during a robbery, when they were locked in a backroom together. Jack Moriarity also regrets losing the number of Nora. His life as a nurse is one filled with helping those with incurable disease, in their last days. When he finds himself the owner of a plot of land in a community garden left to him by a patient, he finds himself also reflecting on his life.
This was not quite the book that I had imagined, especially given the blurb. Int was an interesting concept for a book with the stories of Jack and Nora, told in parallel, as they both hope to meet again, whilst living their own lives. There are several trigger warnings for this story, including death, depression, and emotional abuse.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nora November's life takes an unexpected turn after a surfing accident shakes her out of her routine existence. Faced with the realization of her mortality, she embarks on a journey to fulfill the dreams and wishes she had neglected. Despite the promising premise, "Nice Work Nora November" fell short of my expectations. While billed as "uplifting and heartwarming," I found it to be a stark portrayal of a young lawyer battling depression and familial pressure. Nora's relationships are marred by cruelty, judgment, and mistrust, making her quest for self-discovery a challenging and often disheartening one. Although I admired Nora's resilience and determination, the narrative's relentless stream of negative experiences left me feeling overwhelmed. The romance subplot felt underdeveloped, contributing to my overall disappointment with the story. While Julia London's writing is undeniably powerful, this particular tale failed to resonate with me.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Muse.

Nice Work, Nora November by Julia London
I wasn't sure when I started this book - but it didn't take long to get me hooked. Nora's NDE, dead grandfather/his garden and her reverse bucket list. "The corner store guy" Jack and her search for him and all the near misses. This book was a little dark - covering depression, alcoholism, family dysfunction - but Nora's journey finding her way. Loved the senior's, basketball, James the assistant and the HEA.