Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Title: The Sea of Tranquility

Author: Katja Millay

Publisher: Atria Books

Publication date: Jun 4 2013

Format: ebook | Netgalley

Genre: NA | Contemporary

Goodreads

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.

 

 

My thoughts

You know you're enjoying a read when you stay up until four in the morning to finish it. This was a beautiful story that I really couldn't bring myself to put down.

From the very first page I was just captivated. Nastya drew me in and had me hooked straight away.I loved everything about her. The way she kept just enough to herself that I desperately wanted to find out her deepest secrets and the way she revealed just enough that I began to understand why she is the way she is. She was one of those characters that I cared enough about to be encouraging her on in my head to make the right decisions and when she didn't, to urge her to make up for her mistakes. 

Josh, on the other hand, was something else entirely. He said things that made my heart break and caused tears to immediately start collecting in my eyes. I wanted to give Josh a huge hug every time he appeared in the story. Both he and Nastya were beautifully written characters.

The supporting characters were just as great. I think the story did revolve around Josh and Nastya more than anything but characters like Drew and Nastya's aunt just made it all the better. Drew was incredibly flawed but he knew it and Margot was the kind of no-nonsense aunt Nastya needed. Both Josh and Nastya seemed to depend on them to tell them where they're going wrong and to give them that all needed support.

The plot itself was marvellous. It was the kind of book that readers can learn whatever lessons they want to take from it. It was the kind of plot that was completely geared towards the end - the intensity of the read towards the end of the book takes on a whole new light and I was just itching to find out what happens. To find out if I would be happy with it or if it would break my heart in the painful way not the sweet moment way. 

The ending was just heart melting even until the very last line. For me, this book reinforced my beliefs of never giving up when life knocks you down. It's not so much about starting again and having a fresh start because that means forgetting everything that's happened. It's more about learning from whatever you went through so that it makes you a better, stronger and healthier person. Turn it around so that you're made better for it. It's definitely not easy, but the alternative is even harder. 

My rating: 10/10

Katja Millay:

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