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The Sea of Tranquility A Novel edition by Katja Millay Literature Fiction eBooks

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The Sea of Tranquility A Novel edition by Katja Millay Literature Fiction eBooks

Here are my (spoiler-free) Top 5 Reasons why you should read The Sea of Tranquility:

1. No insta-love. If you're tired of YA protagonists locking eyes across a crowded hallway one minute and plotting their forbidden elopement the next, this is the book for you. The central relationship is built slowly and thoughtfully, with realistic setbacks and obstacles. You can feel them falling in love, which doesn't always happen in YA romance.

2. Creative, memorable romantic gestures. As the boombox was to Say Anything, so a bucket of pennies is to The Sea of Tranquility. Read it and you'll see what I mean. There are at least three or four really cinematic courtship scenes in here that will make you melt (and wish you knew someone like Josh Bennett).

3. Great supporting characters. Sometimes secondary characters are there for comic relief or steadfast support - which can work fine, depending on the book. Here, I appreciated the extra care and attention given to characters like Clay and (especially) Drew. I like an author who thinks beyond the two main characters and takes time to build a believable network of friends and family around them. (She could easily write a sequel about Drew, a realistically flawed and endearing character readers will love.)

4. Compelling, respectful treatment of trauma and its aftereffects. The characters' pasts are much, much more than dramatic devices. Nastya's ongoing struggle with the trauma that changed her life is complex and well-drawn, and your heart will be in your throat when the details of that day are slowly revealed. She's got quite a wall around her at first, but take Josh's cue and stick with her; she opens up as the story unfolds, and you'll be rooting for her all the way to the end.

5. Very satisfying conclusion. Without giving anything away, I have to emphasize that this is NOT one of those books you'll want to throw against a wall (or delete from your Kindle) when you get to the end. With all the drama that unfolds in the book's last third, it would've been super-easy to miscalculate the ending, but this story wraps up just right. Plus the last line is KILLER!

Very much recommended. Looking forward to much more from this talented debut author!


Tags : The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel - Kindle edition by Katja Millay. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel.,ebook,Katja Millay,The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel,Atria Books,Coming of Age,Contemporary Women,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,Coming of Age,Contemporary Women,FICTION Contemporary Women,Fiction,Fiction - Romance,Fiction Coming of Age,Fiction Romance Contemporary,Fiction Romance General,General & Literary Fiction,Intended specifically for women,Isolationism,Love stories,Man-woman relationships,Modern & contemporary fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Romance - General,Secrets,FICTION Contemporary Women,Fiction Coming of Age,Fiction Romance Contemporary,Fiction Romance General,Romance - General,FICTION Women,Fiction Romance New Adult,FictionComing of Age,Fiction - Romance,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,Love stories,Fiction,General & Literary Fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

The Sea of Tranquility A Novel edition by Katja Millay Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

Trust me, no one is more disappointed that I didn't love this book than I am.

I wanted to love this book so bad. I've had this book sitting on my kindle for 6 years. And it was sitting on my "top tbr" collection in my kindle for about 3 of those years. Everyone that I knew had loved this book. Everyone spoke about how amazing and beautiful and captivating this book was and at first I was a little scared to read it because I didn't know if I was ready to feel those things for a book. I feel like books like those--the kind that change your whole perspective on life, the kind that make you feel more in a couple of hundred pages than you've felt in years--are not the kind you can take lightly. Or the kind you can just jump into without being ready for. And so I waited. And I kept waiting. And finally, almost a week ago, I felt ready.

And then I felt nothing but disappointment.

There are parts of this book that are beautiful. There are even parts of it that made me tear up a bit. But this book didn't change my life in the way that everyone else seems to have experienced. In all honestly, I don't think there's anything earth shattering about this story at all. Not really. The writing is ok, most of the time I felt like I was being told the story instead of being shown it but it had it's moments where the writing was kind of like poetry and was even a little moving.

I suppose you could argue that the heroine, Natsya, journey is moving and sad and all those words and yeah, I guess in some ways I agree with that. But considering I spent about three quarters of this book disliking her (and trust me I tried SO HARD so love her), I can't say that I was really invested in her story at all. Now that I've read the whole book, I get why Nastya was the way she was in the beginning, and while I did grow to like her more by the end the point is that i wasn't invested in her growth and so I wasn't really invested in her story.

Instead, even though every part of me wanted to stop reading this a million times in the last couple of days I made myself continue for two surprising (for me) reasons for Josh (and by extension, the romance) and for Tierney (and by extension, Drew). Josh I really liked. His POV was the one I could skimmed the least in, the one I found interesting which doesn't usually happen for me because I typically enjoy the female pov and find the male pov irritating. But Tierney was definitely my favorite character in this book and the one who made me perk to attention when I was trying not to skim too much. I just found her so interesting but unfortunately she is a minor character so those moments of interest were very few. Drew I couldn't stand because at first glance he is a manwhore. But I found myself melting a bit to him once I learned more about him and I found myself 10x more invested in his story with Tierney than I did with Josh and Nastya.

I don't typically rate books lower than 3, mostly because I feel like I'd have to really dislike it to rate it that low. And I'm struggling with my rating for this book because even though I didn't like about 3/4 of this book, I skimmed sooo many pages and found myself not connected to these characters or the story for the majority of the book, I did like certain parts. I don't think this book is amazing, I don't love it and I'm not really sure that I even liked it. It was ok to me. I wish goodreads would let me rate things with a half star because it's how I feel about this book. In the middle between "it was ok" and "I liked it".

Anyway I guess this is one of those times where the book doesn't live up the hype for me but I guess I'm just glad I finally read this book and now I can move on from it.
When I read the last word on the last page it was like the author had reached out and grabbed me. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. It was one more revelation, one more shocking moment, one more emotional truth on top of all the rest. It was like cymbals crashing at the end of a symphony. Bravo, well played.

I believe the mark of a good author is when they can make you feel, and this book has all the feels, the entire spectrum. As a reader, I felt invested in the characters. I watched while Nastya grew, while Josh grew, while their relationship grew. I hurt for them as they struggled. When their paths first crossed I couldn't guess the extent that both of their lives would change. By the end of the book Nastya has entirely transformed, and not for the first time in her life. It was a happy ending that left me feeling it would only become happier as time when on.

I am putting this author on my very short list of authors to watch, and I am yearning to read more of her books in the future.
Here are my (spoiler-free) Top 5 Reasons why you should read The Sea of Tranquility

1. No insta-love. If you're tired of YA protagonists locking eyes across a crowded hallway one minute and plotting their forbidden elopement the next, this is the book for you. The central relationship is built slowly and thoughtfully, with realistic setbacks and obstacles. You can feel them falling in love, which doesn't always happen in YA romance.

2. Creative, memorable romantic gestures. As the boombox was to Say Anything, so a bucket of pennies is to The Sea of Tranquility. Read it and you'll see what I mean. There are at least three or four really cinematic courtship scenes in here that will make you melt (and wish you knew someone like Josh Bennett).

3. Great supporting characters. Sometimes secondary characters are there for comic relief or steadfast support - which can work fine, depending on the book. Here, I appreciated the extra care and attention given to characters like Clay and (especially) Drew. I like an author who thinks beyond the two main characters and takes time to build a believable network of friends and family around them. (She could easily write a sequel about Drew, a realistically flawed and endearing character readers will love.)

4. Compelling, respectful treatment of trauma and its aftereffects. The characters' pasts are much, much more than dramatic devices. Nastya's ongoing struggle with the trauma that changed her life is complex and well-drawn, and your heart will be in your throat when the details of that day are slowly revealed. She's got quite a wall around her at first, but take Josh's cue and stick with her; she opens up as the story unfolds, and you'll be rooting for her all the way to the end.

5. Very satisfying conclusion. Without giving anything away, I have to emphasize that this is NOT one of those books you'll want to throw against a wall (or delete from your ) when you get to the end. With all the drama that unfolds in the book's last third, it would've been super-easy to miscalculate the ending, but this story wraps up just right. Plus the last line is KILLER!

Very much recommended. Looking forward to much more from this talented debut author!