The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrate and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.
Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.
Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.
Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.
The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances
My Review
5 Stars
WOW! Where do I even begin with this one.....I'm still recovering from the last page!! I think I re-read it 4 times already!
I teared up and I don't do that often! And if the last two words of this book don't give you awesome chills the I don't know what will!!
(Restrain yourself from flipping to the end before you read because it will absolutely ruin the whole story!)
Nastya is a girl whose future was irrevocably changed by a terribly violent act. She moves to a new town and new school where she adopts a new look and hopes to keep everyone away from her.
I don't dress this way because I like it so much or because I want people to stare at me in general. But if people are going to stare at me for the wrong reasons, then at least I should get to pick them. Plus, a little unwelcome staring is a small price to pay for scaring everyone off.
Josh is a boy who has had far too much tragedy in his young life and has come to accept that grief and loss are all that surrounds him. He doesn't want to be too close to anyone. He's quiet, reserved, and keeps almost entirely to himself. BUT...when some petty girls at school give Nastya a hard time, he comes to her defense.
"Enough Sarah."
Sarah’s mouth, which was open in what I suspect was the formation of another display of her scathing wit, clamps shut so fast I think I hear her teeth clash....
The boy’s eyes are trained on Sarah, giving her a look that matches the don’t-fuck-with-me tone in his voice.
I turn away from the boy and catch Sarah staring at me now. The look on her face isn’t carved out of jealousy or even bitterness, which is what I kind of expect; it’s forged out of one-hundred-percent-pure, rock solid, WTF...she seems perplexed as hell that he said something.
After getting lost while on a run Nastya comes upon Josh working in his garage. He grudgingly offers her a ride home and she grudgingly accepts. Feeling strangely drawn to him, Nastya returns to his garage most days during her runs and quietly watches him work. He doesn't stop her and their relationship develops.
I really liked Nastya's character. She wasn't annoying the way many YA heroines can be. She was definitely a puzzle that I enjoyed trying to piece together.
She’s like an optical illusion. You look at it from one angle and you see the picture and you think you’ve got a lock on it and then it shifts and the image changes to something entirely different and you can’t even find the original picture anymore. It’s a serious mindfuck.
, Drew. He was not at all what I was expecting when he was first introduced in the book and he was a nice surprise!
The pacing of this book was pretty slow for about half the book but it makes sense and works with everything going on. It also made the ATOM BOMB that was the last few chapters that much more intense.
Also, I LOVED the character
boy I'd ever read about. (Understandably so) He was also very caring and seemed to be exactly what Nastya needed. He didn't push her for information about her past even though he wanted to know badly.17-year-oldthe most somber and mature Josh was
Definitely put this one on your to-read list!!
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