Review: Significance by Shelly Crane

Title: Significance
Author: Shelly Crane

Published: June 12, 2011

Buy: From Amazon UK

"It's you," he whispered in wonder. "You're the one." 

The whole concept of 'imprinting' on someone and finding your ideal ‘soul-mate’ in less than a minute is not something I would usually enjoy reading about. I am a romance junkie. Believe it or not, but I do actually - occasionally - enjoy romantic tales that are a little more on the intense side. As long as a romance is believable, then it is fine for me. The thing is, with stories about imprinting, including this one, the romance tends to move at a ridiculously fast pace. You would expect it to of course; after all, when you have found your ideal match, what is there really to wait for? What I find tends to be lost with such romances is time for realistic feelings to develop. There is the constant risk of everything appearing to be forced into the story, which isn’t what you want to feel as the reader. Surprisingly, Significance by Shelly Crane doesn’t feel that way at all. In fact, Significance tells one of the most touching and compelling love stories I have read to date. 

To say I was surprised by my feelings towards this story is an understatement. Shelly Crane has crept up on me and delivered a book that is now looking more than comfortable up on my ‘favorites’ shelf. Significance is a riveting tale about Maggie Masters and one unexpected event that changes her life forever. Maggie, a character both complex and easy to warm to, finds herself suddenly bound to the beautiful ‘Ace’ that is Caleb Jacobson after she saves his life on a road crossing. From the moment their hands meet, Destiny takes hold and the imprint joins the two together as they both encounter visions of their future. And it all takes place in mere minutes. Now Maggie finds she cannot physically stay away from her soul-mate and nor can he from her. While they try to keep up with their complex situation, the Jacobson clan faces an impending threat from the Watsons, a clan who is determined to stop Maggie and Caleb from ‘ascending’ and gaining powers as a result of the imprint. 

I will admit, I wasn’t completely convinced at first. I wasn’t convinced that Maggie could be so accepting of not only her sudden feelings for Caleb, but also the revelation that the supernatural do in fact exist. This seems to be an abundant issue in many Young Adult tales of paranormal romances. The main character is nearly always too quick to agree that werewolves, vampires, faeries, and in this case ‘Aces’, are actually real. So I held back a little from the story at first, and wasn’t too impressed with Maggie’s character either. 

But I was quick to realise that Maggie wasn’t just being extremely naïve. The imprint juggled rational thought up for her, making Caleb the number one priority and everything else followed after. Once she does eventually realise the craziness of her situation, the questions poured out and she begins to shine as an independent and logical character. As the course of the story progresses, both she and Caleb get to appreciate each other beyond the effects of the imprint and realise that they are, in fact, perfect together. From there on in, Significance made me swoon every other page and, yes, I believed in the romance. 

Overall, Significance is most definitely a book for anyone who enjoys an emphasised romance, who wants the journey for the couple to be seamless and powerful. This is a heart-felt romance, but also one of those romances that some people will devour and others will most certainly hate. I am definitely among the devourers. This book has left a lasting impression on me – one I wasn’t expecting – and I am now more than eager to make my way through the rest of this series.

Rating: 4 stars