Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

6 reviews

vj_thompson's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

3.0

I really wanted to like this book like I loved the second one, but I didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked aspects of this read. Learning more about Nina and her father’s side of the family. That was probably my favorite part. 

Abbi Waxman’s books are similar to Emily Henry’s in the sense of the romance takes the back burner but it is still very relevant to the story. That’s what I was missing with this book. The romance was very dragged out and I hated the third act break up. I think there should have been more explanation or background between Nina and Tom instead of a quick they get back together like nothing happened.

I would still recommend the series as a whole. The second book was my favorite, and I cannot wait to reread it. Hopefully Polly gets her own story!!! 
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coacklebee's review

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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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easypeasy17's review

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book! I had been excited to read it for the past few years and the beginning started out great. However, as the book goes on I just got frustrated. It really felt the the characters were all one-dimensional caricatures. And then Nina, the main character, meets her extended family. This gave the author a great opportunity to explore this experience, but she just made the characters the same.
Spoiler Everyone in her family is a massive reader. When she meets her brother, he also has anxiety. And when she meets her niece, she also likes random facts.
It was like the author thought that just because you are related, you have to have identical interests.

There were also moments where I thought there were some problematic elements. The main character has anxiety.
Spoiler At one point she has a panic attack and the love interest helps her get home. He also makes her tea and does some other stuff while she’s in the bathroom. Once she emerges from the bathroom, she tells the love interest that she needs to be alone in order to process her anxiety. He proceeds to then not leave her alone and persistently asks her if he can stay and tells her that he just wants to take care of her. SIR, the best thing you could do to take care of her is to listen to what she is telling you she needs right now. She’s not telling you to leave her forever, just that she needs to process this experience. I was so annoyed! Then at the end of the book, NINA is the one who apologizes for that event. The love interest is the one that should be apologizing. And he proceeds to describe her panic attack as a “freak out” and says, “I don’t want to be with someone who’s ready to throw me under the bus every time she loses her composure.”  This is just such a dismissive portrayal of anxiety!
Lastly, there were jokes throughout that were meant to be witty but they read to me as problematic which then took me out of the story. I was so disappointed by this story.
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mydearwatsonbooks's review against another edition

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katielaine_w's review

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hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.75

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dyerneedtoread's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-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

4.0

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