Sunday, July 7, 2013

The Sea of Tranquility

The Sea of Tranquility
 
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 disintegrates 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.

All Josh Bennett wants is to be left alone, and everyone allows it because they all know his story: each person he loved was taken from his life until at seventeen years old there was no one left. When your name is synonymous with death,
people tend to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, a new girl in town who 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 a mystery 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. (from Netgalley)

My Thoughts
This book has been on my to read list for awhile now. I can’t expain it, but for some reason I was hesitant to start it. Was this really a book I could get in to?

Now that I’ve finished it, the only question I have is - why did I wait so long to read it?

Josh and Natsya are teenagers who have had some serious difficulties in their lives that causes them to be loners. We find out relatively early what has happened to Josh, but it takes almost the whole book before we get to know what really happened to Natsya. You might say fate brought these two together, but really, it was their destiny.

Since most of the characters are teenagers, I felt the author was spot on in her writing of teenage behavior and attitude - oversexed boys and catty, clique girls. Ultimately though, this is a beautiful, beautiful love story. I am so glad I decided to give this book a try. It left me breathless.

It is amazing to me that this is Ms. Millat’s first book. What a joy! This is definitely an author to watch!

Many thanks to Atria Books, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchnage for an unbiased review.

Publish date: June 4, 2013.

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