Goodreads Summary:
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.
My Thoughts:
I read this due to the
review from Allison at
The Allure of Books (who always has amazing, under-the-radar recommendations). This book had me turning the pages feverishly right from the start and overall I really enjoyed
The Sea of Tranquility.
I loved the cast of characters in the novel and it had superb dual narration. Not only were the main characters awesomely unique and empathetic, but there were some well-drawn secondary characters too (which is a super-rare quality in a book). Seriously, character-driven novels are pretty much my favorite.
My only gripe is that the drama rose to soap opera-ish levels (maybe that's why the author references
General Hospital?). Granted, some extremely disturbing and upsetting things happen- but towards the end it just all seemed to pile up. It was just one crazy event on top of another to the point where I was feeling a little eye-rolly. BUUUuut there are lots of books out there where IMHO the drama levels are too high and most other people LOVE them.
So, take my criticism with that in mind. If you are sensitive to this sort of thing like I am (for example...most of the time love triangles bug me), then you may get annoyed at the latter part of the book but still like it despite that fact. If not, I think you will be absolutely enamored with this unique love story. Overall, no matter where you fall on the drama-dramz spectrum, this is definitely a book worth checking out!
4/5 stars
Disclosure: I received a copy for review via NetGalley.
