I saw the title of this one and was hesitant, but it’s set in Leicester so I wanted to read it (I used to live there and know it well).

It is a feel-good story, very down to earth and relatable, even if the protagonist felt a bit young for her age (at 30). I appreciated the realistic presentation of mental illness, the light-touch spiritualism, and the no-nonsense discussions of sex.

I felt the career progression (overnight social media success, even after a false start) was unrealistic. And sometimes the characters felt a little 2D - there was a lot of repetition of their main characteristics.

Overall, you’ll enjoy it if you’ve ever read a self-help book or want more positive thinking in your life. It’s an easy read, and the Leicester/Indian family setting made it fun for me.

I really enjoyed this audiobook!
I laughed out loud many times, cringed too at a particularly funny restaurant scene and yoga session.
I did have a lump in my throat with some particularly difficult scenes, but felt that they were beautifully written about, considering the readers feelings.
A well written book in my opinion with a great narrator too!

This isn't the type of book I usually read, it's very self-help/self-love type of book and whilst it was meant to be an empowering story, there were times when I found it cringy.
I found the relationship between Nina and her narcissistic mother infuriating, typical of a stereotypical but very common Indian mother, I found myself wishing her mother would change her attitude towards her daughter or that Nina would be free of her mother.
This would probably be entertaining to a niche group, but it's not the type of book I would recommend as it wasn't my type.

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley and Penguin Random House Audio. Also a big thank you to Radhika Sanghani for writing this delightful book and giving me the opportunity to listen to it with an advanced listening copy.

From the very start I was laughing out loud listening to Thirty Things I Love About Myself. There is a lot of laugh out loud humour in this book and that is my favourite thing about it.

Radhika brings up some heavy topics including suicide, depression, complicated family relationships and racism but somehow manages to keep it a super light read.

Nina is a British born Indian journalist who turns 30 at the very start of the book. Infact her 30th birthday ends with a delightful overnight stay in a prison cell, not quite the luxury spa break one would imagine they would spend their special birthday at 😆🥳

After recently splitting with her long term boyfriend Nikhil she found herself alone on her birthday. Nina decides she deserves a takeaway and ventures out to get herself a yummy falafel and collides with a group of people protesting. She decides its fate and joins them in the protest, only to find herself arrested before she could finish her falafel.

Whilst in the prison cell she is given a book called Thirty Things I Love About Myself and realises she doesn't truly love herself. Which is the beginning of a fun, entertaining journey to discover who she is and finding the love for herself that she truly deserves.

I really liked Nina and connected with her character, I feel like we would be friends in the real world. Radhika did a great job creating this relatable character. I love that the author made the choice to narrate the audiobook, it isn't something that always pays off but Radhika did a wonderful job.

I have to be honest and say that the story did become a bit repetitive and fell a bit flat around the middle, hence the 3 star rating I gave it. It managed to keep sprinklings of humour in there which helped me persevere with the read. But I just needed a bit more.

Overall I'm very grateful I was given this ALC and I'm glad I listened to the book. I think the audiobook was entertaining and would recommend it to anyone who is after a lighthearted, cheery read that deals with everyday issues.
Most of all the humour was welcomed, it definitely gave me a big smile on my face 😊

BOOK REVIEW- Thirty Things I Love About Myself

When 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.

On the outset I viewed this book as being an uplifting story of a woman self-discovery journey. And whilst it is that it is also a lot more, there is brilliant analysis of life as a British Indian with the expectations that families find themselves under. There is a deeply written exploration of how hard it is supporting someone with mental health difficulties and how helpless you can feel at times whilst absolutely loving them. This book is also funny, inclusive, dating at times and has great characters.

I did find the ending slightly cringy and some parts somewhat predictable but if you need a feel good book that also delivers some substance this is definitely one to go for.

The book starts with a girl gets arrested on her 30th birthday!
I enjoyed the book and the audiobook was well read and engaging.

I posted a few days ago about the books that are coming out recently all focused on women muddling through their twenties and being a bit of a mess.

Well I loved this one. I loved that the main character was Indian and so connected to her heritage. Nina is a mess, but she was so loveable and the whole story and relationship with her family really tugged at my heartstrings, she's 100% a person I'd love to be friends with and I was really rooting for her.

Thank you Hachette UK Audio for the ARC

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.

Who goes out for as falafel and ends up getting arrested?! Nina Mistry that’s who. While sitting in a jail cell for the night at her local police station she begins to question all of her life choices that brought her to this moment in time, just how has her life gone so wrong recently? Who spends their 30th birthday in jail?! She’s given the only book the police officer finds as something to pass the time with and it turns out to be a self help book, which she then steals from the police station. From then onwards it’s a hilariously heartwarming, sometimes tear jerking, journey for Nina to come up with a list of 30 things she loves about herself. Afterall, how can you expect anyone else to love you if you don’t love yourself.

Thanks Netgalley for the audiobook in exchange for my review.

'30 Things I Love About Myself' begins with Nina in jail. She didn't plan to be there the day she turned 30. But with everything else going wrong in her life - what's a stint in the slammer? From there, she decides to go on a journey of self-love.

I felt this book didn't know what it wanted to be. Like a child, it picked up a lot of themes and began to start them - only to drop them when another, more interesting one came along. It wasn't particularly focused, and following the first couple of chapters, it seemed to change to a completely different book than what it was blurbed to be. That being said - I liked the themes that were chosen. They were interesting and contemporary - certainly not ones that are familiar in contemporary fiction. They were just weren't explored to the depth they needed to be.

The book becomes very same-y after a while, with drama happening for the sake of drama, rather than having genuine tension to play on. I felt like so much more could have been done to take Nina on her journey of self-love. Much of it seems to happen off-page, so to speak, and we get a description of what happened before the rest of the story continues. It even feels a little dated in places, despite it being released this year - the constant Harry Potter references were very off-putting and the astrology stuff was...interesting. And not always in a good way.

There was more that could have been done, but it was an easy read. There are CW's in place for mentions of depression, suicide, sexual assault, racism.

I have seen this book all over the place, which after having read it, feels so fitting. This book comes across as larger than life. It's comical, has a bold leading lady and demands your attention. Growth and self love are central to the storyline, however this is a light read for the most part. Personally, I feel like the tone of the book was a bit hit and miss; I was surprised at the inclusion of themes such as racism, depression and suicide, when so much of the book felt dramatised, however I was still entertained.

Nina Mistry begins her 30th birthday in a Leicester police cell after breaking up with her fiancé Nikhil. Alone with nothing to distract her from thoughts of having to move back in with her narcissistic mother and suicidal brother, as well as her failing relationship with her best friend, she starts to fall apart before being given a self help book by a police officer which triggers a whole new outlook on life. Struggling with her career and relationships, Nina decides to read the book and find 30 things that she loves about herself - one for each year she's been alive.

I really liked Taj Atwal's narration, particularly the Indian accent for Nina's mother, Rupa. The different accents for mother and daughter were really effective for emphasising their differences in values and mindset.

Overall, I don't think I was necessarily the target audience for this book, however the focus on self growth was easily relatable and I admired some of the qualities that Nina ended up loving about herself. There was a real feel good aspect to the ending and if you're interested in yoga and astrology then this is possibly a great book for you, as both feature strongly.

Great narration. Just perfectly read.
I nearly put this book down in the beginning as I thought it was going to be sappy rubbish BUT it was actually really good.
Nina has a crap time just about all the way through the book. Every step she makes seems to turn out wrong. Like those dreams where you just can’t stop things from happening no matter how hard you try. But she learns to take the rough with the smooth and eventually starts to live her life as she should. I put that really badly, but there’s a lot to be taken away from the story and I enjoyed it, which is good enough for me.

30 Things I Love About Myself is the exuberant, witty, irresistible, hilarious and unforgettable story of Nina Mistry, who finds herself accidentally locked in a prison cell on the night of her 30th birthday, where she discovers a tatty little self-help book that will inspire her to take a long hard look at her life, who she really is and what she wants - and to put into action a self-love journey like no other!
A unique and interesting story.

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. I’m already wondering if I could follow in Nina’s footsteps and write my own list. Have you read any self-help books?

There was a great mix of highs and lows in this story and Nina’s story, and the stories of her friends and family, were told without too much of a self-help feel but it’s clear that Sanghani is giving out great advice and positive attitudes through her narrator. It’s easy to sympathise with the rut Nina has found herself in, and the constant backlash and obstacles she faces throughout the story and it was incredibly rewarding and heartwarming to watch her character grow and learn to love herself. Beyond that, watching her family overcome their struggles to find happiness and improve their family bonds as well as Nina’s developing friendships was giving me all of those happy feelings.

I enjoyed Nina’s journey, even though I can’t relate to her spiritual discovery or belief in astrology which was a large part of her character’s tale of self-love. The story didn’t feel preachy - it had all the pros of a non-fiction self-help novel and this was woven well into a fictional narrative to create something inspiring and consuming.

When Nina spends her 30th birthday in a jail cell, this will be the start of her self-love discovery.

This novel spans over the space of a year looking at the main character of Nina, as she takes a year of self-discovery, finding her roots, speaking out for what she believes in, exploring her sexuality and breaking down the barriers of what is expected of her.

This novel not only explores the theme of self-love but also the negative and positive impact of social media, from getting your opinions heard to trolling, racism, cultural stereotypes and looking at suicide and depression.

Although this novel seems to cover a lot this is done through the use of the minor characters involved, who will also help Nina on her journey. This narrative is cleverly put together, using many important themes to keep the reader engaged.

I really enjoyed the character of Nina (as not only do we share the same name), but I loved how her little self-help book allowed her to find the positive in everything that went wrong in her life. The metaphors and little anecdotes that are used will stay with the reader even after you finish the novel; I feel anyone who reads this can easily take something away from it.

I was drawn to this book by the title as learning to love yourself is something I think is really important. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an audio-ARC for review.

We join journalist Nina Mistry at the beginning of the book in a police cell the night before her 30th birthday. Having just broken up with her fiancé she feels at an all time low. The only reading material she can find is a self-help book about learning to love yourself.

This kickstarts a year of soul-searching and personal development which is at times hilarious and at others heart-breaking. I really wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy this book at the beginning as Nina seemed very self-centred and I couldn’t really relate to her, but as we are shown her history I began to understand what had caused her to be that way. Over the course of the book Nina discovers a lot about herself, and also about her friends and family. She is subjected to viral fame and infamy due to her writing and just navigate the fallout from this. Yoga and astrology and the new friend she meets through them become an anchor for her as she addresses a tragedy from when she was a teenager and the impact it has had on her family ever since. When history seems about to repeat itself she must look inside herself for the strength and love she needs to support those who most need it.

Although it took me a while to come to like Nina, her character development is such that by the end I was proud of the changes she’d made. The book deals with some very serious topics and on the whole this was done honestly and sensitively. Nina tries to address the racism she experiences as a British Indian woman, as well as challenging cultural expectations. Mental health is also a central theme in this book.

I thought the narrator of the audiobook was very good and was a good fit for the book.

Please be aware that there are references to suicide in this book.

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.

"Nina did not want to spend her thirtieth birthday in a prison cell. But, unfortunately, it looked like that was exactly what was about to happen."

Thirty was meant to be her year - the year she came back from her devastating break-up, unstable journalism career and general chaos of her life. But instead, she's sitting in her PJ's at Leicestershire jail after an ill-fated attempt for a late night falafel.

But as she's sitting there, alone, the only entertainment available is an old self-help book that she's sure will be so boring she'll be able to sleep - but instead she can't stop reading. And as a journalist, she can't help but wonder if something so simple as finding things you love about yourself could change the world so drastically. By the time her first morning as a thirty-year old woman arrives, she realises she doesn't love three things about herself, let alone thirty, so something needs to change.

Despite all the challenges, from her brothers severe mental illness, her cold and judgemental mother, her broken heart and her ex-fiancé moving on, she realises there's only one constant in her life - herself. And it's time she finally finds out if that's enough.

"You have a very big heart, Nina, and it'll just get bigger the more it breaks. Remember that the cracks let the light in."

From the very moment we meet Nina, with her hummus-stained PJ's, she immediately became my friend with her wicked humour and unique voice even when faced with spending the night alone in jail for something she (technically) didn't do. She encapsulated a young lost soul, watching everyone put out their image of a perfect life and constantly wondering why their timelines don't match up.

The story flowed seamlessly, luring us quickly into her life and quickly piecing together the different parts of her life and painting a beautiful picture. We learn about Nina, and so does she. Everything felt very natural, like a conversation rather than the info-dumping that can often happen when we learn a lot about a character in little time. This is kind of book that's so easy to read and you know that means it was masterfully written. The narration flowed easily, both a little dramatic but also with a personal conversational feeling to it that made it lovely to listen to.

Each character was remarkable, full of life and vibrant - with a stunningly diverse and inclusive cast full of people I found different parts of myself in and I'm sure any reader will too.

Even if like me, you don't believe in astrology or self-help books, you'll find behind all that it's a story about learning and self-love and all the many ways you can try and find it yourself.

A heartbreaking story about love, loss and life, about the darkest and lightest parts of the human condition -full of feminine fury and totally unforgettable.