30 Things I Love About Myself by Radhika Sanghani
Verdict: ehhh…
Recommended: maybe
If you feel like you could use a self-help book but in a more palatable novel format, if you like crystal-astrology spirituality, if you can support a main character who is ACTUALLY a bit of an idiot
Summary
Nina didn’t plan to spend her thirtieth birthday in jail, yet here she is in her pajamas, locked in a holding cell. There’s no Wi-Fi, no wine, no carbs–and no one to celebrate with.
Unfortunately, it gives Nina plenty of time to reflect on how screwed up her life is. She’s just broken up with her fiancé, and now has to move back into her childhood home to live with her depressed older brother and their uptight, traditional Indian mother. Her career as a freelance journalist isn’t going in the direction she wants, and all her friends are too busy being successful to hang out with her.
Just as Nina falls into despair, a book lands in her cell: How to Fix Your Shitty Life by Loving Yourself. It must be destiny. With literally nothing left to lose, Nina makes a life-changing decision to embark on a self-love journey. By her next birthday, she’s going to find thirty things she loves about herself.
Thoughts
I definitely didn’t love this as much as I thought I would. It was a little too goofy with some of the spiritual stuff, and the totally serious conversation about making a “heightest” (like racist) jokes was a bit too much to me. It wasn’t a bad point, exactly, but the way it was conveyed was a little holier-than-though.
Overall, I also just… didn’t really like Nina. She’s fine, I guess, but she’s so stupid about situations and decisions that I couldn’t empathize with her. Some of the lessons she learned felt like obvious things she should have known. For example, when she “discovers” that helping others instead of being selfish is a good thing to do that also makes a person feel good, I disliked her for not having known that already. What a crappy friend and person to not get that idea from the start.
Some of the little inspirational messages were okay, but again, some were things I felt like she shouldn’t have needed to learn.
My Book Joy 
I read another review for this one the other day that made it seem a little underwhelming. I feel like I’d definitely not like Nina so that would probably make me not enjoy this half as much either. Great review though!
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Yeah, she felt much younger than her age and like she had a lot of growing up to do. Which I guess was the point of the book, and she kind of does start that journey, but boy it made her hard to like! Good luck if you give this one a go, I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts!
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Ah doesn’t sound great or like I’d get on board with Nina either. Great review, sorry it didn’t work for you 🤷🏻♀️
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Thanks! It’s all good, at least it read pretty quickly so I could know the resolution at least 🙂
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