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A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall: Review

Title: A Little Something Different
Author: Sandy Hall
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Buy This Book: Amazon / Book Depository
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. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship. Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together.... 
A Little Something Different is, just as the title suggests, a little something different. A romance told in fourteen perspectives, none of which are the two characters that they're all itching to see get together. I thought that premise sounded so intriguing and isn't one I have ever come across before. It just sounded so incredibly cute and fluffy and I really couldn't wait to read it.

Sums up the book perfectly.
The book delivered on the cute, the fluffy and the fourteen perspectives. But I didn't end up enjoying the book as much as I assumed I would. It's actually incredibly frustrating getting the story from everyone else's perspective, except for Gabe and Lea's. Sometimes I was just itching to find out what they were both thinking. The fourteen POVs was definitely an interesting choice in how to tell a story, but I could have done without a few of them. The bench and squirrel for instance, both quite funny but neither very necessary.


If you're a fan of cute romances, than A Little Something Different is probably the perfect book for you. I am just one of those people who can only deal with so much cute fluffiness before I want to vomit. It's how I have always been and I never see that changing. This is cute, cute, cute, cute, cute. But Gabe and Lea's friends have way more patience than I do. I would have been shouting at them to get their sh*t together after a month or two. I applaud their friends for having to listen to them go on and on about the other person, whilst never having the courage to even say hello to one another.

My Gabe feels.
I think that Lea and Gabe were actually my biggest problems with this book. Not being able to get inside their heads made me feel like I never really got to know them. Seeing them through everybody else's eyes just made them seem like two of the most useless human beings on the planet. They are perfect for each other. Both just seem beyond help at times, but Gabe a lot more than Lea. He really reminded me of Charlie from the Perks of Being a Wallflower in a lot of ways. I loved Perks, but always felt like Charlie was just a bit too awkward and a bit too annoying considering he burst into tears every two minutes. I connected with Charlotte, the barista, who also thought that Gabe was a weird.

My other main problem with this book was the writing. It's not awful, but it could still use a large amount of work. The biggest problem is the dialogue between characters. Most of the time the dialogue feels forced, stilted and unnatural. It really took me out of the story because the conversations never flowed or felt real to me. I also lost count of the number of times that Lea announced 'The most amazing thing just happened!' after every interaction with Gabe.


3/5 Butterflies

This book delivers all the cute fluffiness that I was expecting, but it was just a bit too much for me to handle. I thought the premise was really interesting. seeing a romance play out from everyone else's perspective and not theirs. My main issues came to be Gabe and Lea, they both frustrated me and made me want to hit them. I also hated the dialogue because it never felt real, it always seemed really forced. If you can handle lots of fluffy cuteness then I think this is probably the book for you. 




*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.

16 comments:

  1. Ahh, I couldn't finish this because it was SO different. yes, fluffy, but man, it just felt like a drag, and I just couldn't do it, and I felt as though all the other characters were treating Lea and Gabe like puppets rather than human beings, pairing them up for their happiness and enjoyment, not Lea and Gabes, I am pleased though that you kind of liked it, makes up for a lot of things. Although, I do admit, the squirrel was damn adorable, I could have read about him all day long!

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    1. It was so different, and so fluffy! It was okay but it jut wasn't that brilliant. I KNOW!!!! I got annoyed with practically every character in this book. Except the adorable squirrel ;)

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  2. Hmmm, fourteen POVs is a LOT to deal with, especially not getting the two you want most. It does sound like a cute read overall though.
    Glad you did at least like it.

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    1. It really was, it kind of got to me. I kind of just wanting the main two and you never get them.

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  3. Oh my word. No I wouldn't be able to handle that at all I don't think. So many POVs would make me twitch especially if you don't get theres. And I would have to just lock them in a room together and make them talk I think. lol

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    1. The POVs were too much and too short and too sweet. The more I think about the book the less I like it, which is not a good thing.

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  4. The Agnes gif made me click on this post XD She's soooo cuteeee <3 I also wanted to read this book when I heard about it but for now it's a fair way down on the TBR. You made some points that sounded like exactly what I'd say for similar types of books.

    "I think that Lea and Gabe were actually my biggest problems with this book. Not being able to get inside their heads made me feel like I never really got to know them."
    OH MY GOOOSHHHHHHHHHHHH
    It's so interesting you should say this. Last year this idea... (well long story short it was told by everybody other than who the story was actually about.) But I never considered how I would write it to prevent the reader feeling detached from the focus of the story. Hmm this is a good point!!! Anyway I'm glad you brought that up. Great review =]

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    1. I love Agnes, she's adorable!!! :) I hope you figure out a way to do it without making the reader feel like we're kept at a distance from them. I just never got to feel like I truly came to know them, and when I didn't know them fully I couldn't love them or root for them fully.

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  5. *wails* It just ate my comment. (But by if some strange chance I really do comment twice? Ignore/delete/throw things at me. Whatever. I'm flexible.)

    This does sound really cute and fluffy, buuuut, I have to admit I'm not the world's biggest fluffy-romance-fan. And I think I'd be quite frustrated by never being in the main character's heads. 14 POVs?!! Woah! But the cover is super cute. XD

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    1. Blogger is so mean! It eats my comments all the time, the greedy thing.

      I am not a fluffy romance fan and that made reading it real hard. The more I think about the book, the less I like it. I think I was pretty generous with the 3 stars I gave it to be honest.

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  6. I think I was just in the light and fluffy mood when I read this because I definitely liked it a lot more than you. And I thought I wouldn't connect with the MCs because we never get their POVs but that didn't happen to me. When I read Let's Get Lost I didn't connect with the MC because of it (although we get her POV in the last chapter). But for some reason, this one just clicked with me. But I do agree with you that it was frustrating that they took SO LONG to get together. ~Pam

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    1. I just struggled dealing with everyone else's side of things except for theirs. And the wait for them to get together was beyond frustrating. It was cute and fluffy, but it just wasn't for me.

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  7. I loved this book because of its cute and fluffiness. I was in the mood for that kind of book and I thought this book really delivered, I loved it. I can definitely see how Gabe and Lea can be annoying, they kind of frustrated me while reading at times as well. :)

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    1. It's definitely a cute read, but I am not one for fluffy romances so that's probably why it didn't work for me.

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  8. Thanks for a wonderful review, Charnell! <3 This book is on my TBR for when I need a cute and fluffy romance. I usually can't deal with a lot of fluff, but there are occasional times when I crave it. I'm sorry you didn't like this as much as you were expecting too, but I' glad you enjoyed it overall. :)

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    1. I am not a big lover of fluff, which is probably why me and this book didn't get along. The title is right though, the book is very different and that can take a little getting used to. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it! :)

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