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smuttea_matcha's review against another edition
2.0
I can't remember when was the last time a book I finished frustrated me so much. Normally, I would have dropped a book 30% into it if it wasn't grabbing my attention. And Holy Shit was this book long. I kept soldiering through it because I read a review here that promised it would get better. I kept with this book because everyone on goodreads seemed to have a boner for it. Well, let me tell you, I got blue balls. Goodreads hyped this shit up and I was sorely disappointed.
The Sea of Tranquility covers the fucked up life of Nastya. A mute who chooses to keep quiet because she's sick of pretending to be okay to everyone. She was sick of lying to everyone that she felt better. After facing a traumatic experience where she was dead for 96-seconds and her mind blocks away the memory, she goes in-and-out of physical therapy, rehabilitation, and counseling for a year. When she remembers the traumatic experience, she becomes mute because she can no longer lie that she's okay or that everything is alright. She meets Josh, a handy-man who has lost everyone in his life, and weasels her way into his life and heart. Josh never pushes for any answers to questions he has of her past, he's just there. He's her pillar who's ready to listen. Nastya refuses to tell anyone of her past and so this book is just one big roller coaster.
I loved everything that this book promised, but my God the pace killed me. Millay moves this book at the speed of a snail. She teases so much with Nastya's past and drags everything out so far that she causes my interest to quickly drain. I get it, Nastya's fucked up. Don't drag me in circles with it. The only thing that really develops in this book is Nastya's relationship to Josh and Drew. There's no real character development until the very end. And I do mean the very end. Don't get me wrong, the relationship of Drew-Nastya-Josh was great, both individually and as a whole as they interacted with each other, but it was not enough. While this lovely trio grows together as friends, and not as a romantic triangle, the characters themselves don't really grow. What do we see from them individually? We see them each bitch and moan about how much shit sucks, but we NEVER see anyone attempt to repair the bullshit. Everyone sees the problems, as Nastya points out to Drew with his lady love, but no one solves it. Everyone's reason is, "It's too late for him/her to forgive me. I hate myself." My GOD, stop it!
This book highlights the characters disgust with themselves. No one loves themselves in this book. And it encourages bitching and moaning because no one does jack shit. Everything is solved and tied in a neat bow in the end with a god damn deus ex machina! I wanted to see Nastya work through her issues throughout the book, I thought that's what I was getting. I didn't want her to suddenly work on repairing everything at the last 20 pages. It just makes everything seem less real and lasting. I would most definitely not recommend this book. It's a waste of 500 pages and 6 hours. The only good thing about this was the dynamic of Drew-Nastya-Josh. There was no triangle, but there was a deep friendship. It's so good to see a relationship like theirs. To a lesser extent, Clay is included in there. Probably the only good thing about this book was the friendships and bonding. Character developments, story pace, plot, and everything else just disappointed me so badly I wanted to bang my head multiple times on my desk.
The Sea of Tranquility covers the fucked up life of Nastya. A mute who chooses to keep quiet because she's sick of pretending to be okay to everyone. She was sick of lying to everyone that she felt better. After facing a traumatic experience where she was dead for 96-seconds and her mind blocks away the memory, she goes in-and-out of physical therapy, rehabilitation, and counseling for a year. When she remembers the traumatic experience, she becomes mute because she can no longer lie that she's okay or that everything is alright. She meets Josh, a handy-man who has lost everyone in his life, and weasels her way into his life and heart. Josh never pushes for any answers to questions he has of her past, he's just there. He's her pillar who's ready to listen. Nastya refuses to tell anyone of her past and so this book is just one big roller coaster.
I loved everything that this book promised, but my God the pace killed me. Millay moves this book at the speed of a snail. She teases so much with Nastya's past and drags everything out so far that she causes my interest to quickly drain. I get it, Nastya's fucked up. Don't drag me in circles with it. The only thing that really develops in this book is Nastya's relationship to Josh and Drew. There's no real character development until the very end. And I do mean the very end.
Spoiler
We only get to see Nastya's character grow when she accepts how fucked up she is and starts to see a different therapist more geared towards what she mentally needs. Nastya then begins to start repairing her relationship with her family. Which I was waiting forever for!This book highlights the characters disgust with themselves. No one loves themselves in this book. And it encourages bitching and moaning because no one does jack shit. Everything is solved and tied in a neat bow in the end with a god damn deus ex machina! I wanted to see Nastya work through her issues throughout the book, I thought that's what I was getting. I didn't want her to suddenly work on repairing everything at the last 20 pages. It just makes everything seem less real and lasting. I would most definitely not recommend this book. It's a waste of 500 pages and 6 hours. The only good thing about this was the dynamic of Drew-Nastya-Josh. There was no triangle, but there was a deep friendship. It's so good to see a relationship like theirs. To a lesser extent, Clay is included in there. Probably the only good thing about this book was the friendships and bonding. Character developments, story pace, plot, and everything else just disappointed me so badly I wanted to bang my head multiple times on my desk.
beckeal's review against another edition
4.0
Pleasantly surprised by this book. Plot sounded interesting, and the ratings were good so I tried it. First chapter or two were vaguely intriguing, but also felt pretty ‘normal YA’. But it was intriguing the whole way through. Some impactful emotional moments. It definitely struggled here and there in a contrived kind of way. A strange combination of cliche characters with a smattering of fairly decent moments of unexpected goodness. And there were several classic, eye-rolling situations of boy-hero, girl-victim that were especially tiring because it also tried to suggest the female character could kick ass. SPOILER: She kicked no ass. But overlooking what should’ve been the unoverlookable faults, it was tough to put down and I came away liking it without quite knowing why.
akiikomori's review against another edition
5.0
I just need to say that NOTHING I write in this review is going to do this book justice.
So just stop reading this and go pick up this book. Seriously. It’s THAT GOOD. Like ridiculously good. Like one of the best books I’ve read this year good.
But seriously HOLY FREAKING HECK~! I’m not even kidding guys, this book, was like… I’m at a serious loss for words about how amazing this book is. You just have to read it. You have to, like that’s it, there’s no question about it. It just has everything! You laugh, you smile, you sigh, you cry, and you feel….awe at the end like everything in the world makes sense and is wonderful. Serious Book Hangover.
After a horrible accident and years of recovery, Nastya Kashnikov transfers a new school to start her life over. She’s one of those girls in high school that knows everyone but no one knows who she is. She’s quiet, doesn’t talk to anyone, if at all, and is almost determined to stay that way until she meets Josh Bennett. Everyone in the school and everyone in the neighbourhood knows about Josh’s tragic life and he’s determined to keep everyone away just as much as they are determined to stay away from him. Everyone, except for Nastya. For some reason or another she’s the one person who refuses to leave him alone. As their friendship starts to grow, Josh starts to wonder about what secrets Nastya’s hiding from him, and what happened in her life that made her the way she is.
The story, I thought, was exceptionally long, a bit slow, but written in such fine detail that you just know the story is going to unfold so beautifully. At first I thought it was going to drag on but once you get into it you don’t want it to end. You hold onto every page, every sentence, every word and every letter, trying to stop yourself from getting to that last page, because you fall in love with all the characters. The entire book is just so BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN, where the Katja gives the characters time to develop and grow, and gives the relationship time to develop as well. It isn’t just some instant attraction like in many love stories ie. Twilight. Like any relationship it takes a very long time, patience and a lot of care to have two very messed up people come together after all the bad and resistance they go through.
There was so many things I love about the writing. There’s just something so precise about the way Katja describes facial expression that you wish you would have thought of describing it like that first. She’s just so good at it it’s not even funny.
“The look on her face isn’t carved out of jealous or even bitterness, which is what I kind of expect; it’s forged out of one hundred percent pure, rock solid, WTF. As much as I’m trying to keep my face blank, I have a feeling that my expression quite possibly looks a lot like hers, but probably for very different reasons.”
Even her AWWWW moments just blow you out of the water
“It’s not stupid to want to see her again.”
“It wasn’t so much that I wanted to see her again,” he says, looking at me with the depth of more than seventeen years in his eyes. “I wanted her to see you.”
Another thing that I absolutely adore is I just love Nastya’s character. I mean I love all the characters but as the main character there is just something so amazing about her. Considering what she went through, even if her accident (if you can call it that) was 2.5 years ago, I still think she’s exceptionally brave and a stronger person than most people, even if many might…disagree with her methods of coping with herself and with life. Sure she’s had plenty of time to grow and get back to being somewhat normal but there’s just something brave and something you want to admire about her character. She also speaks well beyond her years and has this vast amount of knowledge you only get from being an observer in life.
“I do know that she pays attention: she’s watching everything all the time, even when she’s not even looking. I don’t think she misses a damn thing. It might creep me out if I didn’t kind of get it. I wonder if she sees things that I don’t, but it’s not like she’d tell me and I would never ask anyway.”
I stayed in therapy long enough to know that nothing that happened to me was my fault. I didn’t do anything to invite it or deserve it. But that just makes it worse.Maybe I don’t blame myself for what happened, but when they tell you that something was completely and utterly random, they’re also telling you something else. That nothing you do matters. It doesn’t matter if you do everything right, if you dress the right away and act the right way and follow all the rules, because evil will find you anyway. Evil’s resourceful that way.
I don’t know about you but I find that really insightful.
Nastya and Josh are two very complicated characters with interesting character interaction. Even though Josh does all if not most of the talking, there’s just something so powerful about the way these two people stricken with grief and loss come together, in a love/hate relationship that grows into more. Their conversations, when they have them, are very clear-cut, straight forward, precise and too the point. No fluff. Neither of them has time for fluff conversations, but at the same time they’re cute, and banter like any normal couple and are more than likely guilty of what I like to call ‘UNCONSCIOUSLY/SUBCONSCIOUSLY FLIRTING’.
“I’m going to put water on for tea. You want some?” I call from the kitchen where I’m filling the teakettle.
“You drink hot tea?”
“So?”
“So, you’re not old. Or British. I can count on one finger the number of teenage boys who drink hot tea.”
“I used to make it for my grandfather. I got used to it. Shut up.”
I think these two are just adorable!
There is just so much to say about this book that I want to say and that I can’t. My heart was completely taken
over by The Sea of Tranquility. You grow into this deep understanding and have this connection with every character, it’s just phenomenal. This is definitely one of my FAVOURITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME. Thank you so much Katja. I don’t know how you did it but you’ve managed to up my standards for the THE BEST BOOKS I’VE EVER READ.
“Yes I will be okay. Maybe not today or tomorrow or next week. But yes, one day, I will wake up and I will be okay. Yes.”
6/5 Hearts of Love!!!
So just stop reading this and go pick up this book. Seriously. It’s THAT GOOD. Like ridiculously good. Like one of the best books I’ve read this year good.
But seriously HOLY FREAKING HECK~! I’m not even kidding guys, this book, was like… I’m at a serious loss for words about how amazing this book is. You just have to read it. You have to, like that’s it, there’s no question about it. It just has everything! You laugh, you smile, you sigh, you cry, and you feel….awe at the end like everything in the world makes sense and is wonderful. Serious Book Hangover.
After a horrible accident and years of recovery, Nastya Kashnikov transfers a new school to start her life over. She’s one of those girls in high school that knows everyone but no one knows who she is. She’s quiet, doesn’t talk to anyone, if at all, and is almost determined to stay that way until she meets Josh Bennett. Everyone in the school and everyone in the neighbourhood knows about Josh’s tragic life and he’s determined to keep everyone away just as much as they are determined to stay away from him. Everyone, except for Nastya. For some reason or another she’s the one person who refuses to leave him alone. As their friendship starts to grow, Josh starts to wonder about what secrets Nastya’s hiding from him, and what happened in her life that made her the way she is.
The story, I thought, was exceptionally long, a bit slow, but written in such fine detail that you just know the story is going to unfold so beautifully. At first I thought it was going to drag on but once you get into it you don’t want it to end. You hold onto every page, every sentence, every word and every letter, trying to stop yourself from getting to that last page, because you fall in love with all the characters. The entire book is just so BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN, where the Katja gives the characters time to develop and grow, and gives the relationship time to develop as well. It isn’t just some instant attraction like in many love stories ie. Twilight. Like any relationship it takes a very long time, patience and a lot of care to have two very messed up people come together after all the bad and resistance they go through.
There was so many things I love about the writing. There’s just something so precise about the way Katja describes facial expression that you wish you would have thought of describing it like that first. She’s just so good at it it’s not even funny.
“The look on her face isn’t carved out of jealous or even bitterness, which is what I kind of expect; it’s forged out of one hundred percent pure, rock solid, WTF. As much as I’m trying to keep my face blank, I have a feeling that my expression quite possibly looks a lot like hers, but probably for very different reasons.”
Even her AWWWW moments just blow you out of the water
“It’s not stupid to want to see her again.”
“It wasn’t so much that I wanted to see her again,” he says, looking at me with the depth of more than seventeen years in his eyes. “I wanted her to see you.”
Another thing that I absolutely adore is I just love Nastya’s character. I mean I love all the characters but as the main character there is just something so amazing about her. Considering what she went through, even if her accident (if you can call it that) was 2.5 years ago, I still think she’s exceptionally brave and a stronger person than most people, even if many might…disagree with her methods of coping with herself and with life. Sure she’s had plenty of time to grow and get back to being somewhat normal but there’s just something brave and something you want to admire about her character. She also speaks well beyond her years and has this vast amount of knowledge you only get from being an observer in life.
“I do know that she pays attention: she’s watching everything all the time, even when she’s not even looking. I don’t think she misses a damn thing. It might creep me out if I didn’t kind of get it. I wonder if she sees things that I don’t, but it’s not like she’d tell me and I would never ask anyway.”
I stayed in therapy long enough to know that nothing that happened to me was my fault. I didn’t do anything to invite it or deserve it. But that just makes it worse.Maybe I don’t blame myself for what happened, but when they tell you that something was completely and utterly random, they’re also telling you something else. That nothing you do matters. It doesn’t matter if you do everything right, if you dress the right away and act the right way and follow all the rules, because evil will find you anyway. Evil’s resourceful that way.
I don’t know about you but I find that really insightful.
Nastya and Josh are two very complicated characters with interesting character interaction. Even though Josh does all if not most of the talking, there’s just something so powerful about the way these two people stricken with grief and loss come together, in a love/hate relationship that grows into more. Their conversations, when they have them, are very clear-cut, straight forward, precise and too the point. No fluff. Neither of them has time for fluff conversations, but at the same time they’re cute, and banter like any normal couple and are more than likely guilty of what I like to call ‘UNCONSCIOUSLY/SUBCONSCIOUSLY FLIRTING’.
“I’m going to put water on for tea. You want some?” I call from the kitchen where I’m filling the teakettle.
“You drink hot tea?”
“So?”
“So, you’re not old. Or British. I can count on one finger the number of teenage boys who drink hot tea.”
“I used to make it for my grandfather. I got used to it. Shut up.”
I think these two are just adorable!
There is just so much to say about this book that I want to say and that I can’t. My heart was completely taken
over by The Sea of Tranquility. You grow into this deep understanding and have this connection with every character, it’s just phenomenal. This is definitely one of my FAVOURITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME. Thank you so much Katja. I don’t know how you did it but you’ve managed to up my standards for the THE BEST BOOKS I’VE EVER READ.
“Yes I will be okay. Maybe not today or tomorrow or next week. But yes, one day, I will wake up and I will be okay. Yes.”
6/5 Hearts of Love!!!
mdevlin923's review
3.0
Slow-paced romance between girl and boy...each trying to push literally everyone away. Somehow, I could not put it down, despite the fact that it ends exactly like you think it will (there is some mystery surrounding Nastya's attack).
nathalyalvarez's review against another edition
4.0
Hace mucho mucho tiempo que me siento culpable por no haber escrito una reseña para un libro que disfrute tanto como este ¿Por que sera? Porque al hacer una reseña puedas dar a conocer a tu punto de vista sobre un libro a otras personas. Y de verdad, quiero que otras personas lean este libro y les guste tanto como a mi.
Decidi leer este libro porque una de mis reviewers favoritas lo estaba leyendo y recordé ver su portada entre mis to-reads. Así que lo empece sin tener alguna idea de que trataba, lo cual me hizo leerlo con mucha mas curiosidad.
Nastya es una prodigio de piano que tiene un pasado que nadie querría recordar, y su único propósito es huir de su pasado y terminar la escuela sin que nadie la note demasiado. Mientras que Josh es el chico que esta perseguido por la tragedias, todos conocen su pasado pero nadie se atreve a acercarsele hasta que Nastya, la misteriosa chica nueva lentamente empieza a meterse en todos los aspectos de su vida. Aunque mientras mas la conoce, mas parece un enigma.
Para ser el debut de una Katja Millay, es un buen libro aunque tiene sus detalles.
Siento este pequeño gran amor por los libros narrados por ambos personajes principales ya que te deja conocer ambos lados de la historia. Y conocer los dos lados de esta historia hizo que yo pasara por una montaña rusa de emociones.
En resumen, es un libro lleno de tragedias, llanto, ira, culpabilidad, amor, aceptación, salvación y muchas otras cosas. Lleno de pequeños detalles que hicieron todo un poquito mas interesante. Con carismáticos y profundos personajes y diálogos divertidos.
Ambos personajes fueron victimas de un destino que no pudieron controlar y la tragedia es lo único que tienen en común. Puedo decir que los personajes fueron muy especiales porque Nastya tiene este raro pasatiempo de buscar nombres y sus significados. Y eso no es algo que lees muy a menudo. No es que yo sienta mucho cariño por Nastya, pero es uno de esos personajes que no pude entender completamente.
Y no solo los personajes principales, sino tambien lo secundarios tenían un gran significado. Cada uno llevaba consigo un detalle que añadir a la trama. Personajes como Drew y Clay, entre otros.
Pero sin duda, lo que mas ame de este libro fue el final. Uno de los finales mas hermosos que he tenido el placer de leer.
Decidi leer este libro porque una de mis reviewers favoritas lo estaba leyendo y recordé ver su portada entre mis to-reads. Así que lo empece sin tener alguna idea de que trataba, lo cual me hizo leerlo con mucha mas curiosidad.
Nastya es una prodigio de piano que tiene un pasado que nadie querría recordar, y su único propósito es huir de su pasado y terminar la escuela sin que nadie la note demasiado. Mientras que Josh es el chico que esta perseguido por la tragedias, todos conocen su pasado pero nadie se atreve a acercarsele hasta que Nastya, la misteriosa chica nueva lentamente empieza a meterse en todos los aspectos de su vida. Aunque mientras mas la conoce, mas parece un enigma.
Para ser el debut de una Katja Millay, es un buen libro aunque tiene sus detalles.
A la gente le gusta decir que el amor es incondicional, pero no lo es, e incluso si era incondicional, todavía nunca es libre. Hay siempre una expectación unida. Ellos siempre quieren algo en cambio. Como si quisieran que fueras feliz o lo que sea y eso te hace automáticamente responsable de su felicidad porque no van a ser felices al menos que tú lo seas. Se supone que seas quien ellos creen que se supone que seas y sentir como ellos piensan que se supone que sientas porque te aman y cuando no puedes darles lo que quieren, se sienten de mierda, así que tú te sientes de mierda, y todos se sienten de mierda. Yo sólo no quiero esa responsabilidad.
Siento este pequeño gran amor por los libros narrados por ambos personajes principales ya que te deja conocer ambos lados de la historia. Y conocer los dos lados de esta historia hizo que yo pasara por una montaña rusa de emociones.
En resumen, es un libro lleno de tragedias, llanto, ira, culpabilidad, amor, aceptación, salvación y muchas otras cosas. Lleno de pequeños detalles que hicieron todo un poquito mas interesante. Con carismáticos y profundos personajes y diálogos divertidos.
Ambos personajes fueron victimas de un destino que no pudieron controlar y la tragedia es lo único que tienen en común. Puedo decir que los personajes fueron muy especiales porque Nastya tiene este raro pasatiempo de buscar nombres y sus significados. Y eso no es algo que lees muy a menudo. No es que yo sienta mucho cariño por Nastya, pero es uno de esos personajes que no pude entender completamente.
Y no solo los personajes principales, sino tambien lo secundarios tenían un gran significado. Cada uno llevaba consigo un detalle que añadir a la trama. Personajes como Drew y Clay, entre otros.
Pero sin duda, lo que mas ame de este libro fue el final. Uno de los finales mas hermosos que he tenido el placer de leer.
laer's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
thujnker's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
zelle_ash's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Their POV sounds so similar that I get confused which one I'm reading at the moment.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
eesh25's review against another edition
5.0
This book did have a review. But I didn't like it because it barely even mentioned how awesome the book is and how much I love. So I'm going to reread it (properly, instead of just reading my favourite parts), and then review it again.