In this episode, Nina has written possibly the “book of her career” and now her literary agent Rachel is nagging her about getting an assistant. What does Nina think of all of this? Well, if you haven’t seen E18 yet – stop whatever it is you’re doing and watch E18 now which is a three-part episode leading up to the Season Finale of E20. Also, this is an extremely long article this time, but I hope that you enjoy it.

SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

We start E18 with Nina and Rachel, her literary agent and friend, having a meeting about Nina’s newest book. Rachel is super happy. This book has finally broken Nina’s three-year writer’s block, and generated, as Rachel puts it, “the book of her career.” In fact, the new book debuted as a bestseller with pre-orders in the millions. Rachel loves the commissions she’s getting from the publishers alone.

Of course, with a new book is a book tour, and as they review the upcoming schedule, Nina is annoyed. Yes, she hated having writer’s block, but she also loved having free time. The money was coming in from her royalties from previous books, but her writer’s block was choking her when it came to her creativity. She needed to write, and it was killing her that she couldn’t. But she did like having an open schedule and a lot of time to work on herself, as she puts it.

But as Nina looks over the schedule for the tour – she can’t believe how many cities she’ll be visiting and how long she’ll be away for! She now realizes how much her schedules had impacted her life in the past, and she has enjoyed her free time away from the tours.

When she started to meditate regularly, work out, and attend therapy – she generally started feeling good about her life. She was starting to get healed. That’s when she started working on a new manuscript and as it began to unfold, she realized that she has gotten through the writer’s block and had a potential bestseller. Nina kept at it (as discussed in E19 and E20) and generated a book that her literary agent was floored by, as was her publisher! Check out the name of the book in the next few paragraphs, I think you’ll like the title.

Rachel reminds Nina that since the new book debuted as a bestseller, request for public appearances is high. Studios are already vying for the rights to produce the movie. She reminds her that this by far is the book of her career.

It’s then Rachel chastises Nina for still not having an assistant to manage her professional life. For years, Rachel has said that Nina needs her own assistant to manage her professional life, and Nina has been resistant to it. She also says that she needs to start acting like the “global superstar that she is.” This results in an argument between Nina and Rachel about Nina needing to hire an assistant. I have to confess; I had a lot of fun recording this scene between Nina and Rachel. I love it when these two get to argue and annoy one another. Particularly when Nina yells out, “Rachel! Really?“

Now, with all of the demands of the upcoming schedule, Rachel states that now more than ever it is imperative that Nina gets an assistant. Nina insists she doesn’t need one and can do fine on her own with Rachel telling her bluntly, “That’s your problem. You are a Global Superstar. You can afford to hire an assistant. My assistants can’t keep carrying your workload!“

Nina gets angry and starts arguing back saying, “And there you go again! Honestly! Do I have to hear this again?” The argument continues with Nina finally caving into Rachel by saying, “Okay. Fine. Whatever. I don’t give a damn.”

Rachel is amazed and says, “Wow, I’m surprised I didn’t need to argue that further.”

“Well, I’ve been working on myself, and I know I can be stubborn.” Nina says.

“That’s an understatement,” Rachel replies with a chuckle.

“Ha Ha.” Nina mocks.

Rachel says that she will put Nina in touch with an agency that she uses herself. They have a group of assistants who are specifically trained to deal with celebrity clients. She tells her that she’ll get a full list of applicants in her inbox tomorrow morning. Then she tells her that she’s going to head out, but before she leaves, she says to Nina, “Promise me that you’ll go through with this and not back out?”

“I won’t back out!” Nina quips.

“Talk soon!” Rachel says as she heads into the elevator.

The following day Nina gets a list of applicants in her emails. As she reviews the applicants, she narrows it down to two. One is named Siobhan, and the other is Adelaide. Immediately, the photo of Adelaide catches her eye and she’s floored by how beautiful she is. She feels if she chooses Adelaide, she’s asking for trouble. She sets up two interviews for Siobhan the following morning and Adelaide in the afternoon.

It’s then Nina decides to do her daily workout, and meditation, as she’s been doing since undertaking therapy. After battling with Rachel, she needs to work it out.

Nina’s Battle with Grief, Depression, and Being Able to Heal

As we now know, Nina was suffering from depression, grief and anxiety. And it wasn’t until she started getting help, that she was able to start healing. As she started gaining clarity, she was healing her fractured relationship with Carrie, and gained a genuine friendship with Amanda and Tony based on trust and respect. In fact, they are so close now she frequently refers to them as family. She was also able to come grips with past issues that still were hurting her.

She discovered through therapy that she had never been able to grieve both of her parents’ deaths, or fully find closure on Amanda’s betrayal. For Nina it was the ultimate betrayal and heartbreak in her life when Amanda cheated. She harbored anger and hurt for years after their divorce.

She thought Amanda was going to be with her forever, and in one moment, the marriage was destroyed. Upon seeing what she saw, her trust was almost completely eliminated. She hurt daily because through it all she still loved Amanda, and it killed her. The memory of seeing Amanda with Jack in bed haunted her for years and filled her with such despair and fury. Then, when she got to a point where she considered reconciliation Amanda had moved onto Tony. Not only that but all of the toxicity was destroying her professional life when, after Amanda had gotten engaged to Tony, she had experienced the beginning of what would be her three-year writer’s block.

When she started attending therapy, on the advice from her aunt Alexa, Nina was able to dive deep into her past trauma and pain. She uncovered a lot of those unresolved feelings. The therapist realized that Nina never fully grieved the loss of her parents, and when it came to the end of her marriage – it was fueled by fury, hurt and despair. Then, there was the fact that at the beginning of her relationship with Amanda, she was ashamed of herself for doing what she was doing.

More importantly, she was afraid of betraying and hurting her cousin Robert, who truly acted like a father to her, and told her he truly thought of her as his daughter. This made Nina feel even more ashamed and dirty for her actions, and she chose to break up with Amanda. But having already fallen in love with Amanda, and denying her feelings for nearly a two-year period, it wasn’t until the day before college graduation that Amanda admitted she wanted to be with her and didn’t care what anyone thought.

I’m going to give you some backstory, some of which was discussed in Chapter 1. This is also a spoiler for E20. When Nina lost her mother, Caroline (for whom Carrie is named for,) she was twelve, leaving her with her broken hearted but caring father. Truthfully, Nina never really knew her mother all that well. Like Nina, she was a celebrity. Caroline was a champion snowboarder, skier, and adventure enthusiast. Caroline traveled the world in search of the next big thrill spearheaded by her riches, and her thirst for risks.

When she was home with her family, it wasn’t for very long until the next adventure took her away. But Nina always knew one thing – her mother loved her dearly. Hugo took the mantle in raising Nina eventually accepting a job in teaching because of his degree in education.

Alexa always knew that Caroline was a free spirit, but she was also angry that her sister left her daughter at only twelve. It was cruel. She also couldn’t believe that four years later, Hugo, who was slightly younger than Caroline, would succumb to broken heart syndrome, and die in their bedroom. Truthfully, this did happen in game – Hugo one day just died! It had no idea why, but I kept him dead to see where the dynamic would lead. It led to Nina being extremely overridden with grief.

Caroline and Hugo’s Love Story

The love story between Nina’s parents Caroline and Hugo was glanced over pretty quickly in Chapter 1 to get to the main point of the story. I didn’t want to start Chapter 1 with a lot of exposition, and decided I wanted to start it from the time that Nina lost her father and came to join Robert’s family in Windenburg.

Here, I’ll flesh out more of their story for you. This did happen in game, and I documented it with captions. I’m so glad I did that. Mostly, I use the caption writing as a writing exercise, but in June 2023, I had made the decision to launch GXSimmer in January 2024. My former employer helped speed that timeline up a little earlier when he shut down the entire company in November 2023. But getting back to the article, here is Caroline and Hugo Gãrban’s love story.

Caroline was the third child in her family, she was sixteen years older than Alexa. Alexa was the baby of her family, being born when her parents were in the mid adult stage. Caroline was a free spirit and very adventurous. When she graduated college, she took it upon herself to travel the world in seek of risks, glory and adventure. She became very rich doing it, and she also became a huge celebrity.

She remained single nearly all of her life until she traveled to Selvardorada and was hunting for relics in tombs. There, she met the very handsome Hugo Gãrbãn. Both felt an immediate attraction at the start, Hugo later said, “It was love at first sight for him.”

Hugo was a merchant in the village selling various items in his family’s business. Caroline bought a small Omsnican doll and struck up a conversation with Hugo. Over the course of a few days, she made it a point to visit Hugo quite often until he asked her to dinner. Caroline was staying in Selvadorada for the next few months, on an archaeology grant from her alma mater Foxbury University.

Over the next few weeks, the two continued to see one another finding that they were falling in love. Caroline worried about going back home, and tried to convince herself she didn’t need a relationship. But upon returning, her heart yearned for him, and on a visit to San Myshuno she bumped into him in all of all places – The GeekCon Festival. Shortly after, they were married. Caroline, with her adult life stage bordering on elder, had Nina shortly after. Nina was named for Hugo’s mother.

Hugo and Caroline had many happy years together. Despite Caroline running all over the world, he loved her and was content to stay at home in Henford-on-Bagley in their cottage raising their daughter.

But one morning, they got a phone call that Caroline had died in a ski accident in Mt. Komorebi. Hugo was devastated, and Nina was grief-stricken. Her father continued to raise her, even taking a teaching job to be with her as much as possible. In fact, shortly after, their cow Sugar had a calf who was Daisy.

When Nina was sixteen, she arrived at the cottage from school to find her father had died. In game, I was playing Hugo and Alexa had come to the cottage to visit. Hugo went up to the bedroom and died. I have no idea from what. He just died right then and there, and he wasn’t an elder. I tend to think he died from broken heart syndrome. I made Alexa wait for Nina because I felt that was only the right thing to do.

When Nina comes home from school, she is greeted by Alexa who tells her that her father has passed away. Nina breaks down in hysterics. Alexa, being the only one who can comfort her in this time of need, holds her as Nina cries on her shoulder.

After Nina stops crying, Alexa urged Nina to come live with her and her cousin Robert’s family. Nina didn’t want to let go of the cottage. The cottage was the last remaining link to her parents, and she needed it in her life. She told Alexa that she refused to leave her home and wanted to stay in Henford.

Alexa told her that she and her husband would stay at the cottage and take care of the animals. She told her that her and Gideon had never really been alone in a house together and this would be a nice change for a while. I also had to do it because of the eight-Sim rule in a household. But it made sense too because of Nina’s link to her parents, and how she wouldn’t let it go.

Nina agrees to live with Robert’s family and Alexa says that her and Gideon will take care of the cottage until Nina is an adult. You may wonder why Alexa didn’t ask for Nina to stay with her and Gideon at the cottage. Alexa was already a senior at that point, Robert was younger with his own children. Alexa felt that Nina would be happier living with a family that had children, one of which was her best friend.

My Process with Nina & Amanda

Alexa (and me) had no idea of the events that would later come from this. Then Growing Together made Amanda have a crush on Nina, before I had changed Amanda’s preferences, and at first, I was like, “wtf?” Not because they were crushing on a same-sex partner but because they were second cousins! Originally, I had planned for Amanda to be with her high-school boyfriend Riley Peacock, and eventually marry him.

In real-life I know of a married couple who are second cousins and have a family. I will not name them to protect their privacy, but they are wonderful people, and just celebrated their twenty-year wedding anniversary. As a general rule though, I do not condone getting involved with or marrying relations except if it’s like fourth or fifth cousin once removed or something like that.

And before you ask, no, my husband and I are not related.

But I digress, when I get an idea for a new book (I have written three. Check my author site on Amazon) I get what’s called a bite for it. When I get a bite, the story happens almost instantaneously from start to finish in my head. I usually start planning immediately to lay it out, starting with my favorite part of the story first and then working around it to connect the chapters. And that’s what happened with Nina & Amanda I was like – this is going to be good. So, I ran with it making sure to capture screenshots and caption them for referral for later.

Also because of my former full-time job, the last novel I came out with was Potholes in 2017 but I was always writing in some shape or form. Part of my job at Muscular Development was to assist my CEO with articles every week. I hated doing it, because I had so many other duties to do, but the articles always came out great. So, when I started to flesh out the script for Nina & Amanda, I was happy to be working on some type of writing again. Two things I love about this story is that it combines my writing with TheSims4, and it’s so much fun to do.

When I started GXSimmer, I knew I wanted to do a Let’s Play series that could involve my four favorite work things: writing, producing, voice acting and The Sims. So, I had decided that the first Let’s Play series I would do for the channel would be Nina & Amanda. There is already a follow up planned for Nina & Amanda, but we will discuss that at a later time.

The main reason for Nina & Amanda was because of my LGBTQ+ family members and friends. They always complain to me that I never have any main gay characters in my stories, and it’s true – I don’t. My answer to them was I write what I write about, and if it doesn’t have a gay character in the story – I’m not adding one for the sake of it! I stand firm on certain beliefs, and if that makes me based or conservative, so be it. It does not mean I wasn’t opposed to the idea, but I refuse to do what so much of Hollywood and big streaming giants have done, and that is insert gay characters just because. Nope, not doing it! For example, look at the latest season of Bridgerton that has many fans of the books upset.

However, when it is written as part of the story and has the necessary mechanics to make the story work like in the Last of Us for example, or on Star Trek Discovery – it makes perfect sense. On ST:D when they show the marriage of Stammets and Culber, they show them as a regular functional gay married couple. They also keep the characters to the core of their purpose which is Stammets’ is the Chief Engineer and Culber is the Chief Medical Officer.

Also, if Terry Matalas gets Star Trek Legacy greenlit, we may see the adventures of Captain Seven of 9, which is something I truly look forward to. Please, Alex Kurtzman, make that happen. Can you tell I’m a true Trekker at heart?

With Nina & Amanda, I could respond to those requests for a story involving LGBTQ+ lead characters, but at the same time also have other elements as well. So yes, I wrote and recorded the story mainly for my family members and friends who have requested it of me.

But I also liked the part about the second romance of Amanda. My favorite part of the story by far is Amanda’s relationship and eventual marriage with Tony. I was just speaking to my husband about this. Tony not only gets Amanda to believe in love again, but he gets her to be a better woman overall. She marries him and loves the close family dynamic he shares with Carrie. Now they have a child together, and their relationship has never been stronger. With Amanda, he saw the chance to be a better man, when at several times in his life – he wasn’t. And he also has a dream of being a father fulfilled. Tony is also integral because he’s a healer. It’s because of Tony that Nina and Amanda become friends again, and that Carrie changes her ways.

Nina Hires An Assistant

Getting back to Chapter 18, for the first time in years Nina is in a good place mentally, physically, and emotionally. The Difficult Family Dynamic she had with Carrie has been healed, thanks to help from Amanda and Tony. In fact, Nina and Carrie now have a Close Family Dynamic and enjoy spending time with one another frequently. She’s also become a good and genuine friend to both Amanda and Tony as they work as a team in helping raise Carrie. As you saw in E17 when the three of them went to the principal’s office for a meeting. Plus, her professional career is about to be at all-time high.

The following day Nina reviews the emails from the agency and looks through the profiles of some of the candidates. She eventually narrows it down to two candidates. One is named Siobhan, and the other is Adelaide.

When she interviews Siobhan, she finds that Siobhan lacks the necessary skillset required for the job, but when she interviews Adelaide – she feels like she’s hit with a lightning bolt the minute she sees her. Aside from her beauty, Adelaide’s skills and education are impeccable. Plus, she’s extremely qualified having been an assistant to A-listers like Judith Ward and Dirk Dreamer. This to Nina is a plus.

Against her better judgement, she hires Adelaide. Adelaide is thrilled to get the job. She stands, shakes her hands and says, “Thank you, Ms. Garban. I’ll be here at 8am tomorrow.”

“Call me Nina.” Nina says softly.

Adelaide smiles back and says, “Thank you, Nina. I’m Addie.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, Addie.” Nina says.

Yes, Nina is attracted to Addie, but her skillset is amazing. She tells herself that she can be professional and nip this in the bud. To work through the attraction, Nina puts herself through an intense workout, and tries to force these feelings out of her.

As Addie starts work, Nina’s professional life gets managed exceptionally well. She doesn’t have to contend with mundane tasks, and she can concentrate on her work. Addie is extremely thorough and attentive to almost every professional requirement of Nina’s.

Plus being the workaholic that Nina is, Addie reminds her every so often to take a break. Nina feels it’s a thoughtful gesture knowing how she frequently zones out for hours while working. (I admit I do the same. Many a time, my husband leaves me a plate on my desk to remind me to eat lunch and take a break! In fact, I probably wouldn’t eat lunch daily if not for my husband.)

As they prepare for the upcoming book tour, Nina’s feelings for Addie do not go away – they get stronger. She desperately tries not to think about Addie, and it becomes increasingly difficult. Especially on one hot summer day, Addie is wearing an outfit that makes Nina’s eyes pop out of her sockets. Yet, she still acts professional and keeps her emotions in check.

Nina knows what could happen by giving into how she feels – a possible scandal. The last thing she wants is to have her professional reputation destroyed with a ridiculous headline in the news! Not only that, Carrie, now almost fifteen years old, would be mortified to learn that her mother got her hand caught in the cookie jar! For that reason, she deals with the occasional gaffe in concealing her feelings as she works alongside Addie. Check out the fake news article down below when Nina thinks about what a possible headline would look like. I also added a fun article about Lovestruck.

While Nina is working and is deep in thought about the fear of scandals, Addie enters the office and sits down. Realizing that Nina is completely zoned out she snaps her out of it by asking, “Nina?”

“Huh? What?” Nina says in an almost startled tone, as she sees Addie in front of her looking quite amazing in the outfit she’s wearing, and damnit, it irritates her. She clears her throat saying, “What was that you wanted me to check on?”

“No, Nina. You wanted me to check on something.” Addie says.

“Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry.” Nina says quickly. “Can we look into making these signings a little more local? I’m hitting three cities in three weeks that’s going to be exhausting.”

It’s then Addie suggests getting in touch with restaurant mogul Christine Ito who owns some of the most exclusive restaurants in the world. She tells her that sometimes Christine gives celebrities free services for using her restaurants for publicity events, and it is also extending to friends and family. Nina is impressed with Addie’s offer and asks her to make the deal and take a commission on it for 15% of all book sales from each event.

Addie proposes the idea to Rachel in a phone call and Rachel loves it. After a quick meeting with Christine Ito, which I do have footage for but ended up not using, Addie makes the deal and finalizes the schedule for Nina’s tour. I felt the scene was more or less filler, but it does show Addie in action negotiating the deal like a true business shark.

By the way, when I did a review of Carl’s Dineout Reloaded V.4 mod, I used Christine to demonstrate how you can effectively use the mod. Check out the video down below. I happen to love this mod when it comes to running restaurants, and it’s the only way I will play with Dine Out because of this mod. Carl knocked it out of the ballpark with this amazing mod.

The Summer Tour starts with Planet Honeypop first, and since Tony works there – Addie negotiates a fair and reasonable fee for Tony’s exceptional mixology services. Nina’s whole family is able to attend, and there’s even a Sim in a wedding dress.

I think all of us have had that problem where we change the formal outfit to a wedding dress and then forget about changing it to something else. When I saw the footage of this, I laughed and decided to leave it in because I think all of us Simmers at one time have experienced this. Some of us, like me, have experienced more than a few times.

The next stop is the Greenhouse Restaurant, designed by one of my favorite builders Marmelad. Nina again has a wonderful time giving a reading of her latest book Lovestruck which I thought to name in honor of the 16th expansion pack for The Sims4 Lovestruck which I am looking forward to.

Nina is having a great time with the readings. She truly is enjoying her work and loving seeing her fans so happy to see her. She’s also happy to see her family is in attendance and smiles when infant Zoe waves at her from a highchair. Again, I had the scene, but it was awkward, so I cut it.

Addie is proud of her work. She’s glad to see a genuine smile on Nina’s face, and see the room be receptive. Christine Ito is especially happy because she’s making a fortune from the restaurant business. Not only that, but Addie is also gaining commissions on the book sales off of the tours giving her a sizeable return.

When they return to Nina’s penthouse, which is the Stargazer Penthouse built by another one of my favorite builders Deligracy, Nina is filled with pure joy. She turns to Addie and exclaims, “This was such an incredible day! You’re incredible! You’ve made me…. love doing this again!”

Addie smiles and responds with a humble, “Thank you, but it’s what I do. Part of the job.”

“I’m so grateful for you.” Nina tells her.

“As am I,” Addie responds softly looking back at her but quickly snaps back into business mode by saying, “But it’s been a long day, I should head home.”

Nina on impulse asks, “Would you like to stay a while? Maybe….have dinner with me tonight?”

Addie sighs and responds with, “That’s very kind, but I should go.”

Nina realizing what she just did replies with, “Sure. You worked hard today. You probably need to rest.”

Addie says quickly, almost with urgency, “I’ll….see you on Monday morning.”

Addie exists the penthouse as a paparazzi photographer is standing by the elevator. Nina quickly ducks to avoid being seen, and then heads into her bedroom to sleep off the day, and her feelings.

So, the question is, what just happened between Nina and Addie? Is this the beginning of a slow-burn, or will Nina continue to keep it strictly business and deny how she feels? More importantly, how does Addie feel? Is she interested at all? Will she risk crossing that line?

We’ll find out.

In upcoming Chapter 19, we focus on Carrie visiting the cottage in Henford. Nina is on the last leg of her book tour at the Tartosa Hotel & Resort in Tartosa with Addie. In fact, Nina had asked Carrie if she wanted to go with her to Tartosa but Carrie wanted to visit the cottage in Henford to see her beloved Daisy. She is also hoping to possibly catch up with Drake who she hasn’t been able to see whenever she visits the cottage.

Nina was hoping that Carrie would go – she could distract her from Addie. And as we know, Tartosa is a very romantic destination for a lot of Sims. Can Nina resist temptation, or will it be just a business trip? Thanks for reading. Find out next week.