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 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.

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.

Rhonda 's Review

5 EXTRAORDINARY Stars!!

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. -Nastya

I’m sitting here contemplating what I could possibly have to say about The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay that hasn’t already been said. I guess I’ll ramble through my thoughts and hopefully you can bare with me. 

I’ve had this book in my kindle for quite a while, and I’m not sure why it took me so long to pick this up, but finally I did. (Better late than never I suppose.) I could just kick myself for not reading this sooner! So add me to the masses that have loved this book. 

I take both of her hands and pull her in front of me, because I want to face her when I say everything I have to say. And maybe it’s a mistake, because when I look at her now, I think, for just one second, that God doesn’t hate me so much after all. -Josh

I tried to pace myself with this book, but all I could think about when I wasn’t reading it, was reading it. This book is absolutely stunning!! It’s beautifully and flawlessly written. And the characters were superb, I loved them all from the H/h (Josh and Nastya) to Drew and the rest the secondary cast. I adored Drew for so many reasons. These characters are much more mature than I remember being at their age, but they have dealt with some serious situations in their lives that made them grow up a lot quicker than your average teenager. There were some funny moments while getting to know the characters, and there were times when I felt like my heart was being ripped out. 



"Emilla," he says, and when he does it warms me to my soul. "Every day you save me." 

I’m very excited for this author and her much deserved success of this book, which easily landed on my “ favorites” shelf, and I can’t wait to buy the paperback in June to add to my “real” book shelf. If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. This is one of those books that grabs a hold of your heart and doesn’t let go. I was so in love with this book, that I would completely loose myself in it, and was so sad when I had to leave these characters and the gorgeous writing in this book. 

This is a YA book and I highly recommend it to anyone who reads the genre, but make no mistake there are serious issues going on in this book, and these characters are really mature. 

Thank You Katja for an AMAZING read!! 

True Story!!