The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

By: Abbi Waxman

Narrated by: Emily Rankin

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Instant USA Today best seller!

“Abbi Waxman is both irreverent and thoughtful.” (Number one New York Times best-selling author Emily Giffin)

“Meet our bookish millennial heroine - a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet, if you will... Waxman’s wit and wry humor stand out. She is funny and imaginative, and Bookish lands a step above run-of-the-mill romantic comedy fare.” (The Washington Post)

The author of Other People’s Houses and The Garden of Small Beginnings delivers a quirky and charming novel chronicling the life of confirmed introvert Nina Hill as she does her best to fly under everyone's radar.

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.

©2019 Abbi Waxman (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Move over on the settee, Jane Austen. You’ve met your modern-day match in Abbi Waxman. Bitingly funny, relatable and intelligent, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a must for anyone who loves to read.” (Kristan Higgins, New York Times best-selling author of Good Luck with That)

“It's a shame The Bookish Life of Nina Hill only lasts 350 pages, because I wanted to be friends with Nina for far longer.” (Refinery29)

“The Bookish Life of Nina Hill will put a smile on your face the entire time you’re reading it. It’s a light, fun summer read with a cast of colorful and lovable characters that you wish were real and that you had on your trivia team. This book is the perfect beach read or pick-me-up for a cloudy day.” (Hypable)

Disjointed

This book was very disjointed. I found it hard to like the main character and to believe in the randomness of this book and it's bipolar characters.

A happy read for book nerd's everywhere

This book was so cute, corny, funny and had a happy ending. I loved it!!

Inconsistent but lots of fun

Not my usual fare but I really enjoyed it. The humor was spot on. Not much happens—it’s drama-comedy-romcom, none of which are what I usually listen to, and it’s kind of a fairytale masquerading in part as slightly-realistic fiction—with its tender and serious treatment of anxiety, it feels like it’s trying to be more “real” but then it throws in a picture perfect romcom romance and a miraculous inheritance that sort of throws the “real” out the window. I don’t mind since I like fairytales, but it felt like the story wasn’t 100% sure what it wanted to be when it grew up. Great main characters. Nina was an anal snob but managed to be mostly likable. No villains. The 2 supposed antagonists were resolved incredibly easily, adding to the fairytale flavor. Loved the humor and the writing style. I laughed all the way through.
Narration was absolutely perfect.

Such a cute book!

Unexpected love story, and not necessarily in the way we’ve come to expect. It all comes down to the last few chapters, then, Bam! Bam! and Bam! again. :) lThe storyline throughout is well played...

A real book lover's book!

The narrator is so good at setting the scene in this book. As a true book dragon, I wanted to live in Nina's little guest house with all her book shelves and Phil.

So sad when it ended

I miss the characters!!! Want more!!! Wish it was longer. Great book. Sequel would be nice

Sometimes Hype is True

Loved every second. People are good if you can get past their defenses. I am just going to believe that going forward no matter what.

Can you ask more from a book?

Laughed out loud

Truly entertaining. Great story line and I couldn’t stop listening! Reminds me of the bantering within Gilmore Girls tv show. Great light read.

I nearly gave up

In the initial chapters ... in fact, quite far in to the book ... I kept thinking "this isn't for me". Something made me carry on with it though, and in the end I am glad I did.

Excellent

This is the best book I have read in a long time. This is a wonderful breath of fresh air. My faith in quality writing is renewed. The author knows how to lure you in to the story and doesn't rely smut to hold a readers attention