A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The distinctive new crowdsourced publishing imprint Swoon Reads proudly presents its first published novel—an irresistibly sweet romance between two college students told from 14 different viewpoints.The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together.Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out. But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. You'll be rooting for Gabe and Lea too, in Sandy Hall's quirky, completely original novel A Little Something Different, chosen by readers, writes, and publishers, to be the debut titles for the new Swoon Reads imprint!

The Swoon Reads inaugural title, A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall is legit the perfect book to kick off an imprint dedicated to swoonworthy young adult books. Friends, this book was exactly what I expected and I am totally not complaining by saying that. I mean, I looked at the cover and expected a book that would feel comfortable, that would make me think of college, and that it would have a sweet romance. Honestly this was the perfect book for me at the time that I had read it. It had me craving lattes and leaves. It had me reminiscing about my own halcyon college days, whatever that means.

I feel like I have been reading a lot of books lately that have multiple points of view — but not the point of view of the main characters. And by a lot, I mean 2 (Evidence Of Things Not Seen and The Truth About Alice) which actually is a lot compared to last year when the number was precisely zero. A Little Something Different encompasses fourteen different points of views. What Sandy Hall’s book is about is how two characters, Gabe and Lea, fall in love. It starts with longing and takes it’s sweet time to develop into something more.

If you like the slow burn, I think that this will be the book for you. What’s cool is that we get to see Gabe and Lea through the fourteen different perspectives and how these perspectives shape our perceptions of the characters. It’s actually really cool to see Gabe and Lea from all these different eyes. Also? I think I liked this a little bit more than all the other multiple point of view books I read because it’s actually not depressing or a downer at all. The viewpoints span from Gabe’s brother to Lea’s roommate to their creative writing teacher to a squirrel to a bench and more. It’s very well done. Honestly, this book reminded me of Rainbow Rowell — it’s nowhere near as good as Rowell, but I still got the warm fuzzies from watching a relationship unfold and begin.

Gabe used to be on the baseball team. This year he’s not, for some reason. He’s tall and gangly. He likes Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He’s also really kind of quiet. Something happened to him that he really does not talk about at all. Apparently according to the bench, he has a really great ass. He finds himself really attracted to Lea, this girl in his creative writing class who he keeps running into at Starbucks and the library.

As for Lea, she’s really shy as well. Lea is the type of quiet that’s not weird or freaky, just she doesn’t see the need to be really loud or like a spectacle or anything. She also likes Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She talks to and feeds squirrels because she’s awesome. Lea thinks Gabe is cute but she never talks to him or anything. Yet, almost every point of view character tries to push Gabe and Lea together. However, there’s a whole lot of things that go unsaid and that are not communicated, so their relationship does not quite get off the ground in the way that we hope, at least not immediately.

I straight up thought A Little Something Different was super cute and was super adorable. It was a perfect mid-week read for me — light reading with swoon peppered throughout. Although — confession: I wish there was more kissing.

Who Should Read A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall?

• People who like their relationships well developed
• People who like squirrels
• People who just need some swooning
• People who are really into books that have on-point pacing
• Fans of Rainbow Rowell

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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