Cure for the Common Universe by Chris Heidicker

 Boys meets girl. Boy gets girl. The end. Right?  Chris Heidicker's new novel Cure for the Common Universe is a novel take on relationships between kids who aren't exactly a-listers at their schools.

You know a kid has issues when their family actually has to do an intervention and this is exactly what Miles' dad and stepmother do. He is hauled off to a camp for recovering gaming addicts where they make the kids engage n a game of sorts to earn points so they can leave (how ironic). They are sorted into houses (a la Harry Potter) and Miles ends up with a motley crew of kids with which he has to work and get along with. Bear in mind that these kids were not exactly social butterflies before arriving at camp so their awkward attempts at cooperation provide for some very interesting reading.

For the entire time that Miles is at the camp he is focused on winning points so he can met the girl of his dreams. As a gamer he is not used to female attention so the mere fact that this girl smiled at him at the car wash was enough for him to become smitten. There is an old saying that goes, "don't wish for something, you might get it" and this turns out to be very true.

This is a fascinating if not somewhat unorthodox take on boy-girl relationships, gamers and the like. I recommend it.