I have been in the worst reading slump for the last two weeks and I took a week to read a book which is unusual for me now so when I finally picked up A Little Something Different, which was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, I expected to take a whole week to read it. That did not happen. I read most of it last night and then read the last 50 pages or so this morning. This book was as cute and fabulous as I thought it would be. If you’ve never heard of it, here’s the summary for you:
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 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. The bus driver tells his wifer about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them togehter. 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.
This book was so ridiculously stunning and romantic yet so original. I went into this book expecting it to be cute but it was so relatable. Within the first 20 pages, the book had already referenced 10 Things I Hate About You and Mean Girls. Let me start by going through why I loved the two main characters.
Gabe was definitely my favourite character. He was so shy and from the moment you meet him, you know that he is keeping something from the readers and from Lea. You still love him because you can see that he has problems and you empathize with him. That is why I loved this book because despite not being in Gabe’s mind, I still felt so much for him and I really don’t think I could have gained anything extra from being in his mind. Gabe had so much emotion and you learn a lot about him through his brother and his friends as well as learning a lot about him through his interaction with the others. Gabe was an incredibly enjoyable main character and I want him. I also really enjoyed Lea because I felt like she represented what a lot of people go through when trying to get someone to like them. She wanted to be with Gabe and she kept trying to get him to talk to her but because of Gabe’s shyness, she found it incredibly difficult and she got frustrated. This is how I feel a lot of people get within relationships. I mean I’m completely basing this off of my knowledge of relationships that I’ve gained from books and TV shows.
The unique part of this book was that it was told in 14 view points, none of which were Gabe and Lea. I really loved reading this book because it was so entertaining to see other people’s opinions of their relationship. It was like they were all shipping them together and I loved that because my life is based on shipping! I really wish Sandy Hall writes more romance books and hopefully set out like this(however it might make it lose it’s magic but I still want it). My favourite point of view was definitely Inga’s who was their creative writing professor. She really wanted them to be together so she’d said pair assignments but then get annoyed when this other girl called Hilary would work with Gabe. One of the view points was from the viewpoint of a bench which was odd and unusual and I was a bit cynical of it before hand but when I was reading it, it actually worked. It was a way to get in their conversations that they had when nobody else was around. Another viewpoint was from the point of view of a squirrel which was unusual and it was probably my least point of view of them all but I still loved it. They all wanted them to be together and I was shipping Lea and Gabe along with them!
This book had a unique storyline because despite it being a romance novel, it kept me hooked and I really didn’t want to put it down. At no point throughout the book was I annoyed or bored. It was all entertaining and even the part where they argued, I still wasn’t annoyed. I loved the whole of this book so you guys need to read it. It’s a new release from a part of macmillan called SwoonReads and this is their first novel they’ve published. You guys should read this definitely because it is so fabulous and this review is definitely not doing the book justice. It was romantic yet captiviating. I couldn’t put it down.
Let’s do my breakdown of my ratings:
Plot: 85%. While not much happened to keep me hooked, I still was and I loved it!
Cover: 95%. This cover is so beautiful and probably one of my favourite book covers of all time.
Protagonist: N/A. There wasn’t really a protagonist so I can’t really rate it based on this.
Characters: 90%. I loved all of them, except for maybe Victor!
Love story: 98%. I loved it so much but I just couldn’t give it 100%!
Writing: 90%. The writing was very beautiful.
Pacing: 85%. I was completely hooked the whole way!
Overall: 90.5%.
This gives it a 5 stars overall which I would have given it no matter what because I loved it so much! You guys need to read this book because it was so fabulous and cute. You need to read it, okay?
Sofia
The Reading Fangirl 
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