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Thu, December 13, 2012

Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay Review

Sea of Tranquility
By Katja Millay
Publication date: Nov. 13, 2012
Atria Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

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.

— Goodreads.com description

Oh, glory me, this book is good.

So here’s the deal with Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay: Nastya has gone through something major. We don’t know what, but we can tell from the get-go that she’s damaged and she had to escape to a new school to get away from it all. The not knowing part is something I love: things were revealed bit by bit — a few I saw coming and a few I didn’t. Either way, I adore suspense in a book, so I was hooked.

Then there’s Josh, he’s all sorts of damaged too. And then they find each other and it is sad and AMAZING all at the same time. If you love angst — think Easy by Tammara Webber or any of Simone Elkeles’ books — you are going to be all about this. I described it to a friend as “what I wanted Pushing the Limits to be,” if that means anything to you.

If you’re in the mood for some dramarama (AND KISSING!), I cannot recommend this one enough.