The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

It is Nina’s 30th birthday and she is celebrating in jail! She is only there for a night, but it is the start of a self discovery journey, after one of the prison staff gift her a book.
Nina is living with her mom, after a break up, and her brother who suffers from depression. Her best friend is getting married, however the relationship seems broken. Her mom is ashamed of Nina, who is not married and lives at home.

An enjoyable and light book which talks about important topic such as depression and racism. Not sure I loved it.
3.5 stars

A lighthearted and entertaining novel centred around 30-year old nina mistry’s journey of self-love and coming to terms with her mistakes. Whilst maintaining an inspiring and enjoyable tone, the author also cleverly touches on topics of race and culture, depression, and family relationships. A great addition to the demand for diverse books in the commercial fiction genre!

The book opens with Nina being arrested and spending her 30th birthday in jail. She realises her life has hit rock bottom-she has split up from her partner, has moved back home with her disapproving mum and depressed brother and her life seems to be going nowhere fast.

Whilst in jail Nina ask for something to read to pass the time and she is given a self help book that suggest to her that she can't love anyone else until she learns to love herself. The book takes Nina on a journey of self-discovery as she has to find 30 things to love about herself. However, it's not all plain sailing as she deals with family, friendships and makes a few mistakes along the way.

Beautifully and thoughtfully written.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

I enjoyed this book; it had a really nice feel-good feeling to it.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading Thirty Things I Love About Myself after reading some rave reviews. 30 year old Nina feels like her life is falling apart. She spends her birthday in a prison cell, her ex partner already has a new girlfriend, her brother is depressed and her mother perpetually disappointed in her. Nina decides to focus on the positives and this is a novel about self worth and how we can show ourselves love and compassion. Initially I loved the character of Nina and the novel started off really promisingly and has an original premise. Sadly however I felt that the plot got a bit stuck and became repetitive and I lost interest and engagement. I also feel that the quality of the writing was variable. A mixed read but I'll look out for future novels by the author.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

A great story about Nina ‘embracing’ turning 30 with all the expectations from society exacerbated by her overly critical mother, that manages to be simultaneously self deprecating and life affirming at the same time.

We should all do this and own who we are. Embrace what we are and everything that makes us different. Positively attributing anything that others like to put a negative spin on that doesn’t serve us. We need to be kinder to ourselves and worry less about what people want to put on us.

We all need to find our own way.

Loved this book - so great to see south asian women producing such brilliant books! this was so beautifully written.

The books starts with Nina spending her 30th birthday in jail and from there we go on a journey with her as she attempts to change her life and discover thirty things she loves about herself. It is a tale of self-discovery, family, friendship and bravery.

This is a lovely book, well written and with a warm, strong, funny and honest main character. I really liked Nina and smiled along at the situations she found herself in - and how she dealt with them too!

It's a great look at identity and how experiences and how we processes these experience can shape our lives. It may seem like a tough task to some, to make a list of the things you love about yourself but Nina shows us that if you focus on the things that make you who you are (humour, love for family etc), it is possible.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

A night in jail on her 30th birthday with nothing but a self-help book proves to be the turning point in Nina’s life. Amidst topics as varied as online dating, viral social movements and depression, Nina manages to piece together a list of 30 things that make her awesome. It’s funny, touching and inspires readers to see the light in the darkest of places. I’m now trying to write my own list!

30 Things I Love About Myself by Radhika Sanghani

No one plans to turn thirty in a prison cell, having broken up with your boyfriend and knowing you need to move out. Nina has hit rock bottom, she has to move back in with her bossy mother who wants her married off, her journalist career has stalled.

An old self help book inspires her to find 30 things she loves about herself and it takes her on an unexpected journey into accepting that only person to advocate her is herself.

As she pushes her boundaries and let's go of expectations, Nina learns that self care, her community of friends and families is what she needs in her life. Hilarious insights as she finds out what is important to her. Radhika Sanghani's latest novel is not only light hearted but it also tackles mental health, race, the push and pulls of family obligations.

This is a great book to read over the valentine's period because there's more to love than romantic love with a partner.

This is a great read following a year in the life of Nina, as she navigates the ups and downs of an eventful year in her life. She is guided by a self help book that comes to her at the time she needs it most, and which imparts timely wisdom and guidance. Having started badly, with a night in police custody, her year continues to send enormous challenges but with the help (sometimes hindrance) of her family and friends she learns to apply the principles of yoga with a bit of astrology thrown in and gains self knowledge and love. This book really raced along, as lots happens to Nina in the year that follows her night in the cells, but as a reader she brings you along for the ultimately uplifting ride.

Really enjoyed this one! Easily digestible, light hearted but effectively tackling some hot topic issues like gender, race and suicide/depression. Have recommended it to a couple of pals already as being a nice palate cleanser in between ~heavier~ reads.

30 Things I Love About Myself was the perfect January pick me up and kickstarted my reading year in the best way. The writing style gave me South Asian Dolly Alderton vibes with its self-deprecating but equally self-affirming humour.

There was loads tackled in the story, but all of it was handled really well and fully. I was a bit worried when the additional storylines were being added, but it all felt complete at the end and I wasn’t left with any major ‘what if’ moments.

Despite 1 or 2 inconsistencies, it was an easy read and had a really nice flow. Thank you NetGalley for the arc and to the author for such a thoughtful read.

I think this was a matter of the right book at the right time. I'm currently on my own self-love and self-discovery journey so could relate and recognize a lot of what Nina was going through and her journey. However a lot of her experiences seemed too good to be true, she became a master at whatever self-help task she was doing overnight. Although her journey was very rewarding to watch however a real self-care journey definitely has more ups and downs.
Also, her mother was incredibly toxic and I would have liked that to have been addressed rather than her mother just changing over the course of the book. No one was calling her out on her abusive nature.

So I think if I was at a different time in my life I may have rated this book lower but as I said I think it was a matter of 'right book, right time for me.

I could not love this book more; hilarious, sensitive, hard-hitting, spiritual and heartwarming, this is a feel good book that inspires you to dig out your crystals, text a friend and reconnect with your dreams.
Nina Mistry is clearly very lost when we first meet her: a recent break up, turning 30 and in a police cell! Whilst everyone around her seems to be making all the mature plans and dropping not-so-subtle hints about what a hot mess Nina is, she's back living at her mother's with only a self-help book and a dodgy job that doesn't seem to be able to pay her for months. She starts a list of things she can love about herself and the revelations begin.

I honestly haven't laughed along with a book like I did this one for ages, it's witty and perfectly captures the millennial strives and struggles as well as brutally brilliant family relationships. It shines an honest spotlight on the many pressures in society not just on women but also men, such as social media pitfalls/trolls, dating, mental health, careers, cultural expectations, racism, friendships and sexuality. It packs a lot in but with such heart and authenticity.

I absolutely loved Nina, Rupa, Kal, Auntie Trish & Meera and all they bring to this superb book!

As someone who is a bit of a perfectionist and gives themselves a hard time, I was fully onboard with the self-love message at the heart of 30 Things I Love About Myself and thought the timely premise sounded genuinely entertaining and relatable. Unfortunately after a promising start it turned into a real slog and felt like an overlong, repetitive ramble, although the theme of accepting your imperfections is emphasised throughout. The book also makes pertinent points on topic such as being open about mental health and growing apart from friends, but there are noticeable missteps, not least the fact that our British Indian heroine wants to write about race and important issues but clearly hasn’t spent a great deal of time thinking seriously about them (e.g. wanting more brown yoga teachers as yoga is an “Indian thing”).

On the eve of turning thirty and just weeks after having made the decision to break up with the fiancé that her mother adored, disconsolate freelance journalist, Nina Mistry, pops out in her pyjamas to get a takeaway and finds herself caught up in a protest march. Subsequently arrested and facing a lonely night in the cells with no distractions or home comforts she is taken pity on by the desk sergeant and given a book about fixing her suboptimal life and learning to love herself. Despite having to move back into the family home with her overbearing mother, Rupa, and clinically depressed older brother, Nina takes her lead from the book and gives herself a year to find thirty things that she loves about herself, which turns out to be the inspiration for a year of unbelievable highs and lows.

Whilst the narrative didn’t feel preachy in the slightest, it’s impact was diluted by the fact that Nina feels very immature and naive for her age and at the outset is undeniably selfish. Her burning ambition to write about ‘issues’ seems at odds with the fact that she clearly hasn’t spent any real time thinking deeply about said issues. Overall Nina’s journey felt more superficial than profound as she threw herself headfirst into yoga, astrology and meditation and suddenly turned spiritual and I found the whole narrative too glib for the sensitive topics it covered. Nina’s conservative mother is uptight and overly concerned about how she and her family are perceived in the Indian community and right from the off, one of Nina’s bugbears is her mother’s judgemental attitude and disappointment in her. Unfortunately the next moment Rupa’s attitude is used as a source of humour and it completely negates the important point that Sanghani was trying to address. The narrative lacks focus with same territory covered on numerous occasions and given the novel is more sweet than laugh-out-loud funny, it definitely could have been improved by the prose being a little more incisive and punchy. An overlong disappointment and I was bored by a third of the way through.

Thank you Headline and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

TW: depression, suicide, suicide attempt, online abuse, racism

I found this book to be quite amusing and to my surprise, some parts (especially Sanghani's portrayal of cultural pressures and expectations) really resonated with me. WE LOVE TO SEE BOOKS WITH BROWN CHARACTERS ACKNOWLEDGING MENTAL HEALTH!!! As a South Asian who also wants to be a writer, I found Nina's goals and ambitions really inspiring which made me like her character a lot. I enjoyed reading Nina's journey of self love even when she'd make frustratingly bad decisions. The structure of the book felt repetitive at times, and some parts were a little too cheesy for me but overall I enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Headline and Radhika Sanghani for this ARC in return for my honest review. I LOVED this book. Charming, funny and laugh out loud. Nina's warmth and wit drew me I'm from the opening pages. She's a character that I'll genuinely miss.

I have finished this book and wow what a beautiful book this was! I feel with books some come into your life at the perfect time, this book truly was what I needed right now. Funny, witty, emotional… there are so many words I could describe what this book was/is.
A. Book about the path of self healing, just taking life one day at a time, being present, stop chasing life away when you could be living it, it’s okay life has took another path you was not expecting, adapt and most of all a book about the self care that everyone truly should have.
I could go on and on but I’m going to stop there. Books are truly magic and you can always count on a book to make you think, to provide comfort and also a form of escapism for a little while. This is what this book did for me and it was try powerful stuff.

One of favourite books of 2022 for sure