Book Compare! (Amy Byler and Nina Hill)

 

What makes this two books similar is that it is about two incredible (though flawed) women who love and care about books. Nina Hill(red hair MC) and Amy Byler are essentially book  geek women. Nina hill works in a book store (Knight) and Amy Byler is a librarian who is also a single mother of two two teenagers. Also the two booms are books I really enjoyed reading. They were fun to read, really.

    Another similarity would be in the titles. Both titles have the names of the MCs in them, coupled with a bookish adjective. Overdue in the context of the title, relates to overdue in the "use of library term". You dig?

Also they both have  titles that are kinda long and I dread typing no matter how cute they are to say. 😹

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill Summary:

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.

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler Summary:

Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City.

Usually grounded and mild mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture, sophistication, and—with a little encouragement from her friends—a few blind dates. When one man in particular makes quick work of Amy’s heart, she risks losing herself completely in the unexpected escape, and as the summer comes to an end, Amy realizes too late that she must make an impossible decision: stay in this exciting new chapter of her life, or return to the life she left behind.

But before she can choose, a crisis forces the two worlds together, and Amy must stare down a future where she could lose both sides of herself, and every dream she’s ever nurtured, in the beat of a heart. 

I think what made me love these books was the fact that they were about bookish women, but it wasn't the whole centre of the book. We didn't read about the MCs reading all day or buying books all day. They had actual lives, I mean lived actual lives. Nina Hill, as anxious as she was, broke boundaries, she even found a love life with a hot dude who makes bookshelves. How cute!

I like that The Overdue Life of Amy Byler, wasn't  so easy going or laid back. Gosh! It was funny and realistic and her story was just so understandable.  Any Byler is a character that can be easily identified, except that she got the chance to revamp her life. I believe everyone should get that chance too. Oh!  have I mentioned how much I love Amy's Children. Ha! They are so smart and mature and open minded and strong. Especially Cori. I loved reading Cori's journal entries at the beginning of each chapter, which made the book more funnnnn.

 I really love what Abbi Waxman did with The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. I am surely going to gulo the rest of her works soon.

Uh….I don't know the book I liked better.  

I loved reading both books!!!