Time Travel Thursday (1): A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Yay for my first Time Travel Thursday post! For three consecutive Thursdays, I’ll be featuring the first three Swoon Reads books! Today, we have A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall, which I reviewed last July 26, 2014.

Let’s travel back to July 26, 2014…here’s what I posted:

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Publication Date: August 26, 2014 by Swoon Reads

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

[Special thanks to Swoon Reads! I won an ARC of this book from the #10WordLoveStory contest.]

Goodreads Summary:

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 of a back story…

I’ve been wanting to read this book since February 14, 2014–Valentine’s Day! ❤ And on June 1, 2014, I found out that I won in Swoon Reads’ #10WordLoveStory contest, which meant that I’ll get a Swoon Reads tote bag of books–and among those books is A Little Something Different. Three weeks ago, I received my prize and SQUEEE!

SQUEEE for the SQUIRREL! I was so excited for the squirrel’s POV. I was supposed to read this book next month, because this review is supposed to be posted a week before the release, but guess what–I did the unimaginable, the unthinkable, and the unexpected: I ditched my TBR pile for the week just to read this book.

A little something special…

This book review is my first Swoon Saturday post. Swoon Saturdays are dedicated to Swoon Reads books. As I’ve mentioned in a few of my posts before, Swoon Reads is my first writing community and it’s very special, so I decided to create a special feature just for my writing family. ❤

I had the chance to interview the authors on the first list of Swoon Reads: Sandy Hall, Jenny Elliott, and Katie Van Ark. (You can read my interview with them here.)

My reviews for Swoon Reads books will have a different structure, but my thoughts will remained unbiased and honest, so don’t worry. 🙂

A little something of a preview…

I rated this book using my revised rating system. There will be a post explaining how it works, and the breakdown of scores. My revised rating system will take effect on August 1, 2014.

My thoughts:

Sandy got me on page 2, when Lea mentioned that she’s taking up Creative Writing. That’s when I knew that I’m gonna love this book more than I ever thought. Because aside from the swoonworthy feels, I got some writing advice. Double thumbs up!

I wish Inga could be my professor. Maybe she could even pair me with a cute classmate like what she did with Lea and Gabe. *wink, wink*

“I don’t think age has much to do with writing. I think it’s something that can certainly improve in time, but there’s no age limit on how old you need to be to write well.”

“There’s a big difference on the way we write compared to the way we speak, and the only way to learn that is to hear it. The best way to do that is to read everything you write out loud.”

-Inga

I thought the squirrel would be the only odd POV in the fourteen POVs of the book. But there was another one–I believe I can tell you that there’s a POV of a bench. I appreciated that a lot, and I’m so happy because Sandy gave them (the squirrel and the bench) a chance to speak for themselves. I found that to be adorable.

There was a part that made my heart break a little, and I loved how it was written. I don’t want to spoil you guys with anything, though.

People who like Gabe and Lea wanted them to be together so much. Some people were even annoyed because Gabe and Lea kept on denying themselves of the obvious. I found myself rooting for them as early as they met. Their story is very cute, with the special participation of the squirrel and the bench…and pretty much all others. ❤

A Little Something Different is a super cute swoonworthy book. It made me laugh-smile lots of times. It was a light read, one that had a healthy dose of everything. Nothing happened too fast or too slow. I loved it so much, and I know that you will, too. ❤

***

Initial Rating: 4.5/5

Bonuses: 2.75

Demerits: None

***

FINAL RATING: 7.25/5

***

Final Words:

This book is a little something…PERFECT.

Now we’re back in the present, and we’re going to talk about the quotes! ❤

One thing that I really love about Macmillan is that they post quote roundups of their books. However, the quotes that they post may or may not include the quotes that I want to post. If a quote I love is in their roundup, I’ll post the quote image from their site. If a quote I love is not in their roundup, I’ll just type the quote here. 🙂 (Click here if you want to see the full quote roundup!)

Okay, let’s start!

I really feel what Bob is talking about here. This quote is a sad observation of someone seeing two lonely people.

This is my favorite quote in A Little Something Different because it’s a very awesome quote about writing and I love writing so much. Inga’s my favorite human character, too. My favorite character is really the squirrel. ❤Everyone has a story to tell, it just takes the right people to see it. 🙂

“Life is tough sometimes.”
-Gabe

R-E-A-L-I-T-Y.

Sometimes it’s better to say something stupid than nothing at all.
-Casey

Silence is a conversation killer, but I think we must be careful of what we say, too.

When I think about it, it’s like I would have never been able to grow out of it…I grew around it and it became part of me.
-Gabe

Gabe was talking about his shyness here. I think what he said is true. Once something becomes part of your life for real, you can never fully get rid of it. You may try to hide it from everyone, but you can never hide it from yourself. Same thing for people. 🙂

If I miss my moment, I may never get another chance. And if I don’t get another chance, he’ll never know that I was looking in the first place. Because that’s the kind of person he is, the kind of person that makes you want to look.
-Lea

This is so swoonworthy. 14 hearts for this, please! ❤

But everyone acts stupid sometimes.
-Lea

Because everyone needs to loosen up every time things get hard. And we all make mistakes. 🙂

It’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday, February 14, so why dont you grab your copy of this swoonworthy book as your Valentine’s read? ❤