Thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the smart, quirky, anxious, bookish, "no one could sustain this level of wit in real life" Nina Hill. Is it the most realistic book I've read lately? Definitely not. But it is exactly the well-written and lighthearted contemporary fiction I was hoping for. It also has fun, old-fashioned chapter lead-ins ("In which Nina is surprised, not necessarily in a good way"), cute planner-style section breaks, and tons of literary and cultural references.

The daughter of a carefree and mostly absent photographer and a father who was never in the picture, Nina works at an independent bookstore in the quaint and quirky Larchmont neighborhood in LA. She leads an excellent pub trivia team, multiple book clubs and reading groups, and an inner life that is as colorful and interesting as her outer life is regimented. She isn't a loner. She has friends. And plenty of activities. She's just an introvert who is in a committed relationship with her books and her planner.

When an attorney tracks her down to let her know that 1) her father died, 2) she is in his will, and 3) she has a rather large and sprawling family quite nearby, Nina begins to see herself and her life a little more clearly. Perhaps there's room in her life for more than hyper-scheduled books, trivia, and vision boards.

Of course there is.

This is sort of a rom-com-adjacent book. The romance thread is not my favorite, but it's adequate. Vaguely enemies-to-lovers trope. I thought there were a few times when things were just a little too cute, too cliched, too perfectly witty, or too manic-pixie-dream-girl-ish. But overall, it was a fun read with some interesting perspectives on anxiety, the long-arm of child/parent relationships, family, and how a full schedule can mean many thing but does not guarantee a full life.

Content notes: Absent parents, anxiety, anxiety attack, alcohol, accidental substance use, financial stress, frank conversation about sex and d*ck pics, closed door sex