Aroha Rawson

Same But Different: A True New Zealand Love Story follows Rachel, a single working Grey Lynn mum, who breaks a three-year spell of singledom to pursue her escalating feelings for Nikki, whom she meets at a Māori film festival. Things don’t go according to plan, with Rachel’s awkward first romantic attempts fumbling into a sequence of embarrassing events, and her ex-lover, Rob, turning up. With all hope gone, it’s Rachel’s humanitarian efforts that eventually grab Nikki’s attention, and the two finally connect.

When Jess's only son starts school it's a big learning curve, for Jess. She's thrown into a world of know-it-all, judgmental, passive aggressive women whose primary purpose is to promote their child as the most gifted, most brilliant and most bestest child ever. And let's not even start on the teachers. Joining the Junior Fundraising Committee to help establish herself in the school community, Jess hopes that her efforts might also help her to find some companionship, but alpha mum Heather is more interested in making money than making friends. Luckily, super chill mother-of-five Hine is there to play peacemaker. Together the mums must reach a ridiculous fundraising goal, with limited resources and a poor grasp of teamwork. Things aren't looking super great.