Reviewed by Marieke
TITLE: Nothing Special
AUTHOR: Jay Northcote
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 43,453 words
BLURB:
Noah thinks he’s nothing special. Average height, a bit on the skinny side, andcute but rather geeky, he’s relentlessly ordinary. He certainly doesn’t expect to be noticed by Sol, the gorgeous dark-haired stranger Noah sees on his commute home most days.
But when Noah’s friend, Dom, persuades Noah to take a huge risk in a bid to get Sol’s attention, things turn out better than Noah dared to hope. Noah and Sol start dating, and much to Noah’s surprise, his feelings seem to be reciprocated.
But Noah’s insecurities make him doubt Sol. He doesn’t believe he’s interesting enough or sexy enough to hold Sol’s attention, and as Sol tries to get closer, Noah’s instinct is to pull away to protect himself. If their relationship is going to survive, Sol needs to convince Noah that he sees Noah very differently than Noah sees himself. Because to Sol, Noah is something very special indeed.
REVIEW:
I was looking forward to reading this book very much. I read other books by this author and loved them a lot. I started reading eagerly, and loved the first chapters, but then it got a bit less interesting.
Noah is not overly insecure in the first chapters. He’s not exactly confident, but I had expected way worse, when I read the title. I loved how Noah and Sol met. Sol is a perfect guy. Handsome, confident, kind, funny and caring. He has a little sister that he loves and takes on outings. He works at the London Zoo, but he used to be a gymnastic then a coach, but when he needed a change he went back to school to study to be a zoo keeper. In my eyes, that’s kinda perfect.
Noah is a bit of a nerd, a cute one. He studied English Lit, but couldn’t get a job with that, so he started working at a bookshop. When he first goes out with Sol, he’s a bit shy. He can’t believe he’s in Sol’s league. But they seriously hit it off and their connection is an easy one.
The trouble isn’t starting until Sol asks him to move in. Then it also starts to be a bit weird. The past weeks Noah is pretty secure in this relationship, but all of a sudden he’s doubting. I think the author could’ve worked up to this a bit better.
The rest of the story, like the talk scene and the make up scene are good again. The ending is a seriously mushy one, which I love. The only thing I would change in this story is the bit where Noah starts to doubt. If the author would have made the story longer, I think it would have been worked out better. But I did love this story.
RATING: 
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