I laughed out loud at times when listening to this audiobook - which has never happened to me before. I didn't know what to make of it at the beginning and wasn't sure where it was going but after only a brief amount of time I found Nina as a character warm, loveable and hilarious! The narration is superb, I loved the way Taj Atwal interpreted all the characters' voices - it was spot on for me. I would recommend this as it touches on the conflicts of belonging to two cultures, the hardship of being a woman (and learning to love oneself), and how friendships can make and challenge us. Overall a great read.

I received this from NetGalley is return for an honest review.

I went into this knowing very little but expected it to be lighthearted and about self reflection. It was full of self reflection and it did have some very funny parts but it also touched on a lot of heavier topics.

Initially drawn to the title ( so catchy and intriguing) and the cover artwork ( which is stunning).

This was a funny and endearing read by debut author. As well as being funny, it also contained sensitive moments addressing topics such as mental well-being and social media. Which we’re done tastefully.

Can’t wait for more from this author!

Not what I expected but a nice read all the same.

Nina is getting over the loss of losing her best friend, via breakup (she dumped her fiance), she greatly cares for him but not in that way.

She moves back to her mums and are given a deepful insight to her relationship with her mum, her friends and herself.

I didn’t get a chance to listen to the audiobook before it was archived but I’ve read the paperback now and it was worth the wait.

It’s about a woman’s struggle to accept certain parts of herself and change other parts for the better. It’s about mental health and relationships (the mother daughter relationship was interesting to read about). Nina is a decent main character and I enjoyed her story — it starts in quite a unique way.

I would love to see a movie adaptation of this book some day as it’s a nice story.

This was a great listen. I loved returning to it each evening. A clever plot and premise and I loved how the family dynamics were described. A book I enjoyed as an audio book but would also recommend as an uplifting and funny read, albeit with some serious issues at its heart.

The title had me presume this book was self-help, but it is not. It's a fiction.

Nina finds herself in a prison cell on the eve of her 30th birthday with nothing but a self-help book to read, she sees this as a checkpoint of starting to understand who she is and what she truly loves about herself.

We all have been in a moment in life where nothing seems to go as planned and we can’t seem to find our direction. It was hard to know what to expect with this book, but I was drawn in by the title and wanted to see for myself!

This was a fiction book full of acceptance, love and overcoming the negatives to embrace life and it has left me feeling inspired.

The book is also incredibly moving dealing with very real issues of mental health and suicide with tremendous empathy and in a very sympathetic manner.

A decent mid range book. Sadly removed from the platform before I'd finished the final chapter. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A funny, inspiring and at times heartbreaking story about a family. Nina is having the worst birthday when she turns 30, she is single, having recently broken up with her fiancé, she gets taken to the police station due to a misunderstanding and is considered a disaster by her Indian mother. After she gets given a self-help book at the police station, she starts on a self-love journey where she has to come up with 30 reasons she loves herself. She gets into a variety of zany situations, much to her mother’s embarrassment, like running into her ex-fiancé at a restaurant where she had been stood up while he was on a date, getting kicked out of her best friend’s wedding party and going on a morning show where her statements about representation and inclusivity in media were wildly misconstrued.

I loved Nina and her mum. They have such a complicated relationship, with a LOT of funny comments from her mum about her lifestyle but they got so much closer in the end and overcame a lot of difficult things. The things covered in Nina’s story are so universal and common for women in their early 30s who don’t feel like they have their lives together and who also have a lot of expectations placed on them by family members. I thought Nina was a lot of fun and she had a good attitude to things, even when everything was going wrong. The audiobook was so fun and had me laughing out loud in public. I will definitely be revisiting Nina’s story again.

This review has been made possible thanks to NetGalley and Headline for providing me with an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Nina finds herself in a police cell on the night of her 30th birthday after being unwittingly caught up in a riot she realises something has to give. Having recently split up with her fiancé and, in the process, disappointed her mother - and, to be honest, herself - Nina is at a crossroads. And the only book left in the Police Station is a self help book about loving yourself.

The structure of the novel is something between this original self help text of Nina’s and a fluffy, chick-lit style novel about the trials and tribulations of her career, home life and romantic escapades. It’s not my usual style of book to reach for. However, it is definitely enjoyable. And it’s refreshing to read a novel that includes culturally diverse viewpoints and covers some difficult topics around racism, sexuality and mental health issues.

Thankyou so much to Netgalley for letting me listen to the audiobook version. I thought the narrator really brought the story to life, and really helped form the characters.

First off I thoroughly enjoyed it, I was giggling all the way through. I love how this book captured the gossiping that goes on in the South Asian community because it is rife, everybody knows everything about everybody withing seconds.

There were difficult subjects throughout the book, including suicide and self harm - but these were dealt with sensitively and appropriately.

The author portrays mental health, and the stigma behind it within the South Asian community. Despite this mental health issues were given full consideration, no glossing over and no-one getting magically better. I liked the fact the author considers the people who are caring for the loved one and how it affects the whole family.

I did love the idea of writing a list of what you love about yourself. I did feel inspired by some of the ideas in the book, including pushing yourself outside your comfort zone.
So many people feel stuck or feel like they are on their own, and this book may be the push that inspires them to change something or try something new. Find something that makes them happy and helps feel self love.

Self love is so important and this book really helps show that.

Arrested on her 30th birthday, Nina has hit rock bottom. After being given a self help book to keep her occupied in her cell, she makes a the decisions to change her life and learn to love herself.

First off I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book! It had me giggling all the way through. I love how this book captured the gossiping that goes on in the South Asian community because it is rife, everybody knows everything about everybody withing seconds. News spreads like wildfire! I particularly liked how the mental health, especially the stigma behind it, within the South Asian community is portrayed. I think this captured the way in which the community approaches mental health brilliantly. I liked that this book also has an astrology theme throughout.

Overall thoroughly enjoyed listening to this, I think the narrator did a great job telling the story and I look forward to reading more from this author.

This was a great audiobook to listen to on daily walks. We followi 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.

Ah, Nina Mistry!! How I loved following your self love journey!

Charting a year in the life of Nina, from her 30th birthday spent alone in a jail cell to her 31st birthday as a self love goddess, Thirty Things I Love About Myself is a motivational, inspirational, laugh out loud story of self discovery. Struggling to fit in with her friends and her family, Nina is unapologetically herself, for better or for worse! She is a flawed, but very human protagonist - making mistakes left, right and centre - some large, some small.

When Nina embarks on her mission to list 30 things she truly loved about herself, I felt her pain. Like her, I wouldn't know where to start! But as she continues on her journey and learns to love things about herself she never would have thought of before, she changed the way I looked at myself. Many of her flaws are my flaws, but conversely many of the things she loved about herself I found that I could also agree with.

There were difficult subjects throughout the book, including suicide and self harm - but these were dealt with sensitively and appropriately. Mental health issues were given full consideration, with no glossing over for the sake of the plot and no-one getting magically better. I liked the way consideration was given to the people who are caring for a loved one with mental health issues, and how this affects the whole family.

I was worried the book may be cheesy when I read the blurb, but thanks to the fantastic characterisation, the book avoids this. Nina is someone who I would like to go for a drink with - someone I could imagine laughing and crying with. I loved her family, and (most of) her friends. I did find the epilogue slightly cringy, and felt that it wasn't overtly necessary, but I understand why it was included.

I listened to the audiobook version of this and thought the narrator really brought the story to life, and I really enjoyed listening to it.

Uplifting and funny read, a reminder not to take life too seriously! A good read about self love and self discovery!

I found this a bit slow to get into at first but when I did get into it I enjoyed it! I loved the self-love message, the humour, the brutal mum and the important emphasis on race and discrimination.

I loved the premise of Thirty Things I Love About Myself. I was so excited to read it and delighted when NetGalley sent me the audiobook to review. But, unfortunately, it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting. So let me tell you about it…

The plot is a great idea. Nina Mistry is in her thirties and gets arrested after accidentally joining a protest. While locked up, the desk sergeant takes pity on her and gives her a book about fixing herself and living her best life. This is the book's premise as we follow Nina through her year-long journey using the book as a guide.

I love self-help guides, people improving their lives and striving to be the best that they can be. I believe we can all improve, it's a continuous cycle of small changes, so this was a perfect fit. I love that Nina has based her changes on a book. Still, it didn't feel realistic that she would suddenly pick up a book and decide to change her whole life based on it instantly and work towards this for the rest of the year.

Nina lives at home with her overbearing mother, Rupa and her older brother, who is depressed. Nina is a freelance journalist and uses this book to find thirty things she loves about herself, which leads to a year of incredible highs and lows. Unfortunately, instead of her 30 years, Nina felt like a young 20-year-old through most of the book. She feels immature and naïve as well as being selfish at the beginning; this did change towards the end, which was good to see and obviously part of her journey of discovery.

Nina's mother is portrayed as conservative, uptight and overbearing. She is overly concerned about what others think of her and her family, especially how they are perceived in their Indian community. Nina's annoyance with her mother is centred around her judgemental attitude and disappointment in her daughter. Still, instead of this being used to demonstrate an important message, Sanghani has chosen to turn her philosophy into a humourous trait which was disappointing.

The storyline following Nina's brother was interesting and gave thought-provoking ideas about helping others with their depression. Still, it didn't get too dark, but I wasn't sure it realistically portrayed that journey particularly well either.

The book felt too long and drawn out for me. It could have done with being a little shorter. It felt like too many issues the author was trying to cover, which led to none being fully covered. For example, they dip into yoga, and Nina wants more brown people to teach it as yoga is an 'Indian thing'. It felt too lightweight and not very well thought through. There was also a lot of repetition surrounding the theme of accepting your imperfections and loving yourself.

Overall, I enjoyed the idea of thirty things I love about myself more than the actual book. The premise is excellent. I love that Nina becomes more self-aware; she accepts her flaws and begins to get who she is. However, I felt it could have been more condensed, less rambling and more concise to produce a more rounded novel. Perhaps that could also explore some of the themes inside more and others less or just leave them out altogether.

I did love the idea of writing a list of what you love about yourself and a newspaper or magazine column encouraging this each month.

I did feel inspired by some of the ideas, like pushing outside your comfort zone. So many people feel stuck, and this book may be the push that inspires them to change something or try something new, which would be awesome. Still, it didn't resonate with me, unfortunately.

This was such a great book to slip into. So entertaining and the audiobook I listened to was fantastically narrated. So funny, heartwarming and empowering. Following Nina and her quest for self improvement and self love, it all starts with a rather unfortunate trip to a police station after being placed under arrest..!

Nina gets given a book after one of the police takes pity on her, and from there, her life is changed for the better. She goes through so much, ending old relationships, starting new ones, making new friends, making mistakes and growing from disappointments and disasters.

The main character was really easy to warm to and I found myself hooked into this book. It made for effortless listening and I really enjoyed it!!

Our main protagonist Nina is such an amazing loveable character, and you can't help but root for her on every step of her self-love journey.

This book carries all the same empowering feelings that you get from reading a true self-help book and I would 100% recommend giving it a read. It does however cover some pretty tough subject areas so I would recommend checking the TWs out beforehand.

In the words of our Nina/Nins
"Life is a journey, and I'm riding this shit out of it!"

Excellent life-affirming novel about self-love. I saw so many parallels to myself in Nina, also being a Taurus from Leicester recently turned 30, even if I have never spent the night in a prison cell (yet at least!)

Nina starts a list after spending the night of her 30th birthday in a prison cell. It’s a list of self-love, the 30 things I love about myself, inspired by the book that kept her company during her lonely night in jail.

I found this hugely relatable, having felt all the doubts Nina does on turning 30, and I was so inspired by her self love list! Her escapades from naked swimming to daytime tv faux pas had me giggling and I felt pain at her low moments.
A timely reminder to live life to the full, this audiobook was a breath of fresh air and I raced through it in a couple of days.
A journey to self love told with humour, honesty and emotion.

Funny, warm and engaging, I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to more from Radhika Sanghani.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me listen to an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my feedback.

Funny, raw, uplifting and emotional story of family, friends, self-help, spirituality and horoscopes.

Nina briefly leaves the house (in her pyjamas) and finds herself arrested and in prison on her 30th birthday. Her mother can't understand why she split up with her boyfriend while her friends are all settling down and getting married. She's beginning to wonder herself what she's doing with her life.

She decides to take stock, making a list of things she loves about herself, meditating and being open to good things happening for her. A soul-searching, uplifting read with great narration.