“Gabe and Lea are perfect for each other. Everyone sees it. Except possibly Gabe and Lea.”

New / Old Flames are our favorite books  – the ones we really think you should read too.

 

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
Reviewed by Megan

Relationships don’t happen in a bubble. There’s the barista who watches as you and a certain someone sit across the coffee shop from each other, never quite locking eyes. Your best friend listens as you dissect what he possibly could have meant by “hey” and lends you her favorite sweater because you look great in green. And don’t forget the squirrel in the park where you take your first ambling walk together…

Gabe and Lea are perfect for each other. Everyone sees it. Except possibly Gabe and Lea. In “A Little Something Different,” Sandy Hall treats readers to a classic love story told with a decidedly non-classic twist. Told from the viewpoints of 14 different people around the lovers, the reader never actually hears from Gabe and Lea, and like the watchers never quite knows how they feel, except that there’s something there, if they could just get out of their own way.

Since one of my favorite romance novels tropes is when the characters don’t see they’re perfect for each other, I loved being able to share the fun of this frustration with the characters who watched Gabe and Lea’s story unfold far too slowly (and with pitfalls that really didn’t need to exist). This twist is what elevates the story from cute to charming, and gives the reader a different perspective on what otherwise could have been a fairly typical college romance.

And sometimes watching the people in your life fall in love can be as fun as falling in love yourself, since you get all the fun of anticipation and discovery, without the added angst of self-doubt and fear of rejection.

 

Megan is a Youth Services Librarian at Shirlington, and also run the “Books on Tap” Book Club.