Thursday Oldie: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
Source: Bought paperback
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Original Post: Nov 20, 2013
Age Genre: Young Adult

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.

The Sea of Tranquility is a powerful, heartbreaking, painful story about two broken individuals who find solace in one another. It was definitely one of the more unique and emotional books I've read last year... but I don't regret it for a second.

"I hate my left hand. I hate to look at it. I hate it when it stutters and trembles and reminds me that my identity is gone. But I look at it anyway; because it also reminds me that I'm going to find the boy who took everything away from me. I'm going to kill the boy who killed me, and when I kill him, I'm going to do it with my left hand."

The Sea of Tranquility took me by surprise. It had a completely different and unique feel than anything I've read so far. Love is not treated in it like in most books, with vows of undying emotion and grand gestures. It's understated, it grows over time, it sneaks up on both participants, it moves slowly but surely. It's told through actions, between the lines, rather than outright confessions.

It's the best kind of romance, in my opinion.

I don't think there could ever be any doubt in your heart that Josh and Sunshine (or Nastya, whatever) belong together.

“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.”

They are both irreversibly damaged. Josh has lost everybody he ever lover, and Nastya lost herself. Though you don't actually know what happened to either of them for a long while. In fact, the journey to figuring out both these individuals is piled on shock upon shock. I didn't see all that was coming.

Just like Josh is trying to piece what happened to Nastya, she's trying to figure out why people treat him the way they do. And we're right there together with them, which is what makes the book so incredible.

"Bad things happen all the time; they don't wait until after dinner"

And both of these characters, despite being so inherently broken--or maybe because of it--are captivating. They make you love them. They make you swoon. They make you pray everything will be okay--good, even. Great. They make you love their friends, too, like Drew and Clay.

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

The only reason this book is not a solid five star is because of how I felt confused and thrown all over the place at the beginning of the book, with all the time jumps back and forth. I had a hard time figuring what came before what, and understanding all that was going on. Wasn't she just walking into the English building? How is it the end of the day--wait, now we're back at shop?
It took time for the book to find a rhythm I could follow. After that, it was damn near perfect.

"Your garage."

The "punchline", so to speak, the very last line of this book, is utter perfection. I didn't see it coming before it was asked, but when he did, the answer was suddenly obvious and I wanted to hug the author for creating such an absolutely right ending for these two.

 Nitzan★

One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker

One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths, #2
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: June 11, 2013

Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents' tragic death and Kacey's self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would...and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.

Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?

As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.

I started One Tiny Lie with the hope that it would be just as good, if not better than Ten Tiny Breaths. And while it maybe wasn't as good, it was still an awesome read, and I really enjoyed getting to see into Livie's mind. In Ten Tiny Breaths, she was very closed off. She was a loner, but in this one we really get to see her open up and thrive, which I thought was really nice!

Livie was an interesting character for me. I can very rarely identify with very driven characters, so it was kind of a shock for me. But she was just learning who she really is, and that kind of self-discovery in a character always makes me really happy. The only thing that doesn't make me happy about that trope is the fact that it almost always involves a guy. In this instance, though, Livie doesn't really let the guy define her. Her reasons are her own, and I'm so proud of her for her decisions.

On that note, let us talk about the love interest for a bit. Ashton. Oh, how I systematically loath and love you. Why am I capable of both emotions? For one, I loath you because you're a pig. You treat women like trash, like throwaways. I very much don't like that about you. And yet it seems that lots of lovable guy characters do the same?! So I kind of forgive you. A little bit. Because even though you do such terrible things like that, you're still a nice guy when it matters. But this brings me to the next question: Who are you? I really don't think that you know, which is a disappointment. I get that your past was rough, I really do. But I'd like to understand you better. Your closed off personality makes it so hard to get to know you.

Ashton & Livie together was like a power couple. They really seemed to understand each other, but I don't really understand their relationship. I feel like relationship-wise, we should have gotten more development on them. Something to really help us identify with them as a couple and really root for them. As is, I think that they need a little more work in the relationship part. This, however, did not dampen my enjoyment of One Tiny Lie!

This was, in fact, a lighter read than Ten Tiny Breaths, which was actually really nice. I liked the introduction of new secondary characters (Reagan was so fun!), and the new dynamic of the row team boys. Kacey's sense of humor and spunk was still absolutely amazing, and the fact that Kacey & Trent were still thriving together just melted my heart. *happy sigh*

All in all, One Tiny Lie is actually a really good read. I would definitely recommend it for fans of Ten Tiny Breaths!