It feels as though Abbi Waxman was secretly stalking me for years in order to write Nina Hill. Clearly, that is not the case and I'm not nearly as unique a person as I thought I was, but when I say that Nina Hill is the living embodiment of everything I am, I'm only slightly exaggerating. There are significant differences in appearance and circumstance, obviously, but so much of Nina's internal thoughts and feelings and interests sync with mine. She is my fictional character soul mate, which means I should love her, and I did, but I wasn't in love with her.

Nina Hill is an introverted bookworm who is wooed by a trivia team rival at the same time that she discovers she has a long lost paternal family. Both of these situations are overwhelming for the normally very private Nina, and seriously infringe on her reading time. A stickler for planning, so much spontaneity challenges Nina, and she has to learn to go with the flow a little bit in order to form meaningful relationships with her newfound family members and her love interest.

I think what turned me off from The Bookish Life of Nina Hill was the romance aspect. I enjoyed the story line of the long lost family, and the subplot of the bookstore's money troubles, but I felt that the romance was weak. For one, there was very minimal chemistry between Nina and her love interest. I just didn't believe the sexual tension that the author claimed was existent between the two but never actually showed. Secondly, the pair had very little in common. While the message of the story is

Spoiler

to accept people's differences as strengths rather than weaknesses

, I think that it is important for people to have at least something in common.

Spoiler

Just because Tom was the perfect compliment to her interests on paper, with his sports knowledge and his book shelf making, doesn't mean that he was an actually good partner for her in reality

.

Also, forgive me fellow Goodreads reviewers, but I found Nina to be remarkable selfish and annoying in certain chapters. I understand anxiety. I have it, and I know all about being averse to social interaction. However, I felt that there were quite a few instances where Nina used her anxiety as an excuse to be a dick. She was a bit of a snob, uncompromising in her relationships, and generally uncommunicative. I suppose a few of those can be chalked up to anxiety, but I'm a firm believer in people taking ownership of their actions and the consequences despite their mental illness, and Nina never sought help to improve her anxiety.

Because of everything stated above, I cannot in good conscience rate this book higher than 4-stars. It is, however, a cute little story and Nina is likable despite her weaknesses, so the 4-stars and Goodreads Choice Awards Fiction nomination were well deserved.