REVIEW: It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard

It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard: For June it all started with a strange email about the old brown stone that she used to live in with her then friend Adam. With nothing left to lose after her new promising TV show got the can, June hops on a plane and heads to New York, to get to the bottom of this mysterious email and the promising offer that it hints at. Though the last thing that June expected was to learn that thanks to some bizarre loophole in their old lease, if she and Adam can stay together in their old brownstone for one month then the house is theirs!

Now any true New Yorker knows that, a free brownstone located in prime real estate is an absolute no brainer. Which is how June and Adam find themselves sharing crisp autumn mornings, reliving memories and facing old wounds that still ache… June and Adam are now forced to confront everything they left unsaid. While the easy friendship that they had once shared might be gone, there is no denying the heavy lingering feelings of hope mixed with regret… They now need to decide if love after all this time is worth the risk of losing what little they’ve managed to rebuild.

I have to say I found myself enjoying this book more than I had expected, there was something quietly beautiful about It’s Different This Time. We get to see a story that doesn’t rely on grand gestures or sweeping declarations but instead lingers in the soft spaces between what was and what could be. There was a softness to this book that wormed it’s way into my heart. Richard brilliantly captures the ache of second chances with a kind of emotional honesty that feels both comforting and raw. This was the kind of book that will make you slow down and think about the small moments and the beauty of a second chance at love.

It was so easy to love both June and Adam, they both felt so real and raw and completely relatable. With June we see her struggling between the person that she wants to be and the person that she has become. There was something very relatable in seeing her struggle to balance her desire to chase her dreams but also want to have something stable and grounded. I did really like her character and getting to see her vulnerable moments. Whereas Adam is more calm and grounded. Though beneath all of his composure is a tenderness that still aches from how things ended. I really liked getting to see Adam being so soft and open and allowing us to see the quiet lingering pain that he had been holding on to all of this time.

The thing that really made the connection between June and Adam stand out for me was not the big loud moments but instead the soft familiarness that just enveloped them. There was no denying that they had shared something so special once, but getting to see them fall in love all over again, in all the small moments, the shared memories and effortless feeling that comes from being with each other, that is what made this book special for me. We get to see them walk the line between fear and desire and the inevitable pull that draws them back to each other.

All in all I really found myself liking It’s Different This Time, this was the kind of book that is warm and comforting but also doesn’t shy away from the raw ugly moments that come with finding love. If you are looking for a book that doesn’t shout but rather whispers the power of a second chance then this is a must read!

Book Info:

Publication: September 30, 2025 | Dell |

Subject 74 Perry Street

So begins the email that turns June Wood’s entire world on its head. Five years ago, she lived on Perry Street with her former best friend Adam Harper. But why is the management company reaching out to her about it now?

Still smarting from the news of her hit TV show being canceled, June has nothing else to lose. She boards a plane from Los Angeles to New York City to find out more about the mysterious email and the promised opportunity it alludes to. It turns out that, thanks to an unbelievable legal loophole, if she and Adam can live together in the stunning West Village brownstone for a month, it’s theirs. Any true New Yorker knows you don’t pass up prime city real estate, and that fall in the city is magical—so what’s there to think about?

And yet, though most things have changed in the time since they last spoke, one thing hasn’ June and Adam have unfinished business. They didn’t exactly end on good terms when they each went off to chase their dreams. Now, confronted with the consequences of their choices, they must navigate the minefield of their past the best way they know together.

Every day they move closer to owning Perry Street reveals misunderstandings, long-term resentments, and long-buried feelings . . . which are suddenly feeling very, very not so buried. But they’ve already lost their friendship once before, devastating them both. Can they risk losing it again for something a little different this time?