Review: 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.

Full of rage and without a purpose, former pianist Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone discovering her past and to make the boy who took everything from her pay.
All 17 year-old Josh Bennett wants is to build furniture and be left alone, and everyone allows it because it’s easier to pretend he doesn’t exist. When your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, a hot mess of a girl who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. 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 may ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a slow-building, character-driven romance about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

Please Note: This book contains mature content including profanity, drug/alcohol use, and sexual situations/language. ~ Goodreads

Review:
I stayed up into the wee hours last night finishing The Sea of Tranquility and I’m emotionally spent.

This book opened my heart then crushed it with a hammer, only to make me open it again – to take a chance. (and crush it again lol)

Nastya and Josh are so incredibly broken and make so many mistakes trying to protect their hearts that I wanted to simultaneously shake them and wrap them up in a giant hug. I was so frustrated yet I could not read fast enough. This level of angst usually irritates me but for some reason it didn't with this book.

The Sea of Tranquility is filled with moments. Beautiful, heartbreaking moments. I was almost physically ill at certain points in this book.

Am I scaring you away now? I hope not because along with all the raw emotions there is a great deal of levity provided by an amazing cast of supporting characters that deserve their own stories to be told.

I will say that The Sea of Tranquility has a very slow build. You may be tempted to skip ahead or even give up but if you stick with it you’ll see the purpose and reap the rewards.

Favorite quotes:

"My name is Nastya Kashnikov.
I was a piano-playing prodigy...
I was murdered two and a half years ago.
Discuss." 

“I believe in God, Sunshine. I’ve always believed that God exists,” he says. And what he says next isn’t self-pity or angst or melodrama. It’s truth.“I just know that he hates me.”

“We're like mysteries to one another. Maybe if I can solve him and he can solve me, we can explain each other. Maybe that's what I need. Someone to explain me.”

Rating: 3.5 out of 4 Damn!This book hurt to read at times, but it was totally worth it in the end.

Author: Twitter | Goodreads
Source: Purchased
Buy the book! The Sea of Tranquility

*Thanks to author Ann Aguirre for yet another great book recommendation!