Oh the dangers of browsing book-blogs with some time to waste and an e-reader ready to accept new books at a moments notice…

So, I was using up a few of my remaining days of annual leave the other day, when I came across this review of Pete Houtman’s The Big Crunch, by Mellissa at YA Book Shelf and was immediately tempted. And I was doing okay in resisting temptation. Right until I check to see if an ebook version was available…

Later that day, I put my Sony down for the last time after having finished my most enjoyable read this year. (Yes even more than, Will Grayson, Will Grayson!) It’s everything Mellisa promised it was in her review. Now it’s my turn to make someone want to read it!

“The first time Wes saw June, he thought she was kind of funny-looking. She had these thick lips, a wide mouth, greenish-blue eyes that were a little too far apart, and her hair – a dark blonde color – looked still wet from her morning shower. Wes thought she looked like a sea creature pretending to be human.”

So, love at first sight then! Well no, and that is entirely the point.

There’s no instant attraction in that first class of their junior year, other than the above observation from Will that opens the book, they barely even acknowledge each other. There’s no smouldering glances, funny feelings in the stomach, or attraction through unattainability.

Romance creeps up on these two slowly and without them really noticing, and they find each other without even trying. It builds from a little bit of intrigue about each other’s apparent personalities, but even then it’s not something they pay a lot of attention to.

But then it happens, and just as they find themselves in a relationship, a rather large obstacle lands in their paths. June’s father changes jobs and June has to move away.

But they keep the relationship going long distance, until June gets the chance to return, and Wes and June get the chance to build something special.

The thing that makes their story special is that is that it isn’t spoiled by over-the-top longing, you come to expect from most teen-romances. In fact the overwhelming emotion in this one is uncertainty. Uncertainty about what they really feel for each other , about their future, and about life in general.

They certainly know they like each other and don’t want to be apart, it’s more like they haven’t yet realised how strongly they feel about each other, and don’t yet have the experience to ‘know’.

Without necessarily meaning to, they build one of the sweetest, strongest and most realistic ‘relationships’ I’ve come across in a quite a while. A love that is true, rather than true-love, if you like.

The fact that it has a slow pace, features two really likable main characters, isn’t really romantic (in a romance novel sense) and yet still is, and everything just feels so real, makes this a highly satisfying read.

If his other books, display the effortless understanding of his characters, and what it means to ‘be them’ Hautman does in this one, then I can see me devouring many more of them.

Buy, buy buy!: The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman from The Book Depository