Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

6 reviews

lizzie_b99's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this! The writing is light and funny but occasionally deep as it dives into the charcters' deepest insecurities. The audio book is really well done - I found myself laughing at multiple points. 

The novel is a mix of contemporary day in the life, enemies to lovers romance, and navigating complicated family issues. Waxman mixes all of these almost effortlessly. 

I did find the ending a bit abrupt, but I think it also fits in with the day in the life novel style. We see Nina's life day to day, so
it makes sense that the ending wouldn't be drawn out or look far into the future or that all the issues in the family would be magically resolved. I still would've liked an epilogue, though. And it would've been nice if the letter delivery portion of the novel took up more space. I'm curious what the other ones said and how everyone reacted.
But hey, if the biggest critique I can make about a book is that it left me wanting to learn more about the characters and world, that's a good book and good writing. 
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fromjuliereads's review against another edition

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This book just really didn't work for me. I didn't like the main character - the author made her so quirky that she became unlikeable - and the supposed romance, nothing happens. The book is just a bit boring for me and I didn't want to pick it up anymore.
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samanderson24's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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coacklebee's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

This was a huge miss for me, and I'm really disappointed about it because I love books and I love books about books. Nina was a walking stereotype of an anxious book-lover, and as someone who has suffered from anxiety for most of my life and read voraciously as a child, there was nothing relatable about her for me. Nina and Tom seriously lacked chemistry, and I have no clue why on earth they ended up together beyond the fact that he apparently really wanted to have sex with her. The sudden found family could have been really interesting, but it just wasn't fully explored. Almost all of the family members love Nina immediately, and the only one who doesn't turns out to be exactly like her (so of course by the end of the book they're best friends). And everything got completely nonsensical in the last couple of chapters.

I'm not normally this harsh reviewing books, but man, I wish I had DNFed this one. A lot of other people seem to really like it though, so maybe this author just isn't for me.
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abigailp's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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catladyreads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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