Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

“I recommend this for fans of HOPELESS by Colleen Hoover and TEN TINY BREATHS by K.A. Tucker.”
~ Under the Covers

This is one of those hyped books that I’ve owned for a long time.  A couple of years ago everyone was raving about it and it sort of got pushed back on my to read pile enough that it got lost and forgotten.  Now it was finally its turn and I’m just a little ….. underwhelmed.

I think this has a lot to do with changes in reading taste for me, and things that I’ve already read before and now I’m over.  Had I picked this up when it came out it was fresh, new and interesting.  This is a young adult contemporary story about two people that are extremely broken and damaged and how they help each other heal and move forward.

I recommend this for fans of HOPELESS by Colleen Hoover and TEN TINY BREATHS by K.A. Tucker.  It draws on the same angst and emotions as those books did for me.  Even though this story didn’t quite hit me like those did.  I think I would’ve liked to see both of them grow up a bit more and have them meet a few years later, that would’ve been perfect.

Josh Bennett has suffered loss.  Losing his mom to a car accident at an early age devastated him and his father, and now he finds himself in high school and all alone, without a family.  He’s learned to cope with the pity of others around him but he hates it.  He’s learned that he’s bound to lose everyone he cares for and keeps himself isolated from most people.  Until the new girl starts coming around and forcing her company on him.

Nastya doesn’t speak.  By choice.  After tragedy struck her and her life dramatically changed.  Josh’s company and the ease of their non-speaking relationship starts to draw her out of her shell.  I loved the strength and pace of their bond and connection, and that build up in the book was my favorite part.  They slowly break through each others barriers until they complement each other so well.

There were some things that just didn’t hit the mark for me.  One of those being Nastya’s actions towards Josh at certain point in the story.  It didn’t make sense to me especially once my suspicions of what happened to her proved wrong.  It made me a little angry and question why everyone was so on her side when he was the one that was done wrong.  Of course, then his actions pissed me off and I just wanted to throttle both of them!  But I digress.  When the big reveal of her past and confrontation with her demons comes, I found it…. anticlimactic.  Yes, this book was already somber but I wanted to dig deeper and go darker here.  After such trauma and devastation in her life, I wanted more closure for her.

Josh and Nastya have gone through a lot in their lives and they’ve matured maybe more than someone else their age, but they are still immature kids stumbling through big life traumas.  And I think ultimately that’s what I didn’t connect with as much as I wanted in this story and why the rating isn’t higher.  The writing in this book was superb though, and I found myself sighing and swooning at how deep some of the lines were.  And maybe rolling my eyes at how cheesy others were.  That’s the appeal of these books, I guess.  But in the end it was an enjoyable read and I’m glad I took the plunge and experienced it.

“I can be your other hand when you need it.”

(FAN MADE) BOOK TRAILER

*This video was not made by us!  But love the quotes she used in it.

[about-author author=”Katja Millay”]

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