Nina is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi

Title: Nina is Not OK
Author: Shappi Khorsandi
Series: N/A
Publication: 9th February 2017 by Random House UK
Genre: YA Fiction

ARC Provided by Random House UK Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge –  A title that doesn’t contain the letter “E”.

(Goodreads)

Nina does not have a drinking problem. She likes a drink, sure. But what 17-year-old doesn’t?

Nina’s mum isn’t so sure. But she’s busy with her new husband and five year old Katie. And Nina’s almost an adult after all.

And if Nina sometimes wakes up with little memory of what happened the night before, then her friends are all too happy to fill in the blanks. Nina’s drunken exploits are the stuff of college legend.

But then one dark Sunday morning, even her friends can’t help piece together Saturday night. All Nina feels is a deep sense of shame, that something very bad has happened to her…

I’m always a bit skeptical when celebrities write books but I was blown (haha, no pun intended) away with this book. It isn’t a normal coming of age story. It deals with slut shaming, victim blaming, alcoholism and friendship, among many other issues. Yet it still made me laugh on numerous occasions throughout.

The book opens with Nina being marched out of a club by a bouncer for performing a lewd sex act. She passes out with no memory of what happened until she is in the taxi clutching her knickers. These events lead to her drinking more heavily and inevitably leading her life to being spiraling out of control.

Khorsandi has done an amazing job of writing Nina and her story. Despite me not particularly liking her at the beginning I found myself rooting for her by the end. The book had a gripping and evolving plot, relatable characters  and, unfortunately, a very realistic reflection of society today.

This is definitely worth a read regardless of age or gender!

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