We've decided to bring back this old favourite of a feature—Ooorah Recommends! This month, PhonerionBallznevsky has a novel recommendation.

How to Meet a Girl (At the End of the World) by Christopher Compton

HOW TO MEET A GIRL (AT THE END OF THE WORLD) has been tagged over on Goodreads as YA and romance. I would probably class it more as New Adult—yeah, the characters are young adults, but the subject matter and the way it's treated is more mature. In addition to romance, I would tag it as sci-fi or speculative fiction. But not like aliens sci-fi. 

It's kind of like The Breakfast Club on a road trip to find true love, but during the apocalypse. It's a great concept, made even better when the cause of the apocalypse is a type of steadily growing black hole, inadvertently unleashed by a team of scientists working on dark matter over in Sweden. Nate, the main character, has just twenty-four hours to finally meet the love of his life, Alice.

The best part is, Christopher Compton is a sensitive, thoughtful writer. He can go deep and deliver—this book is steeped in emotion, in nostalgia, and in hope for a beautiful tomorrow. There's one moment with a character named Sam, about midway through the book, where I just had to stop, lean back, and appreciate what a great job Chris did in writing that scene. And this is consistently done throughout the book. He gives the cast of characters personality and makes them come alive from the start.

Chris and I went to the same high school. We were in the same drama class (and therefore were both part of the school play), and we were both in the writing class. Some of my fondest memories of that place involve standing in the halls before class, joking around with Chris and his constant companion, Mitch. I was pleased to see Chris' gift for humour hasn't been lost in the years since then. Despite the heavy subject matter, HOW TO MEET A GIRL had numerous laugh-out-loud-funny lines for me. They always came at the right time, and they never detracted from the powerful moments.

In my paperback copy, there are some minor formatting issues, a few missing hyphens, and occasional instances where Mom and Dad should be capitalized. It didn't distract from an expertly told, deeply moving story. They might not even be present in the Kindle version.

In conclusion, I loved this book. It's a quick read. I hope more people read it, and I look forward to seeing what Mr. Compton will come up with next!

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Click the external link to purchase a copy of HOW TO MEET A GIRL (AT THE END OF THE WORLD), or head to the next part and read a free preview of the book!