Extra points for an awesome cover!

I had read some advance reviews of The Sea of Tranquility, and they were SO good that I pre-ordered this book months before it came out.  I also bought it on Audible.  I listened to the first half while exercising and tanning (both in preparation for Des’s wedding), and at the halfway point, I decided, This needs to happen RIGHT. NOW.  So I stayed up till 2 am finishing up my paper copy.

I very much enjoyed this book, though I’m not quite willing to add it to my list of favorites.  I also was very fascinated by Josh Bennett, yet he’s not going to make it onto my list of literary boyfriends.  Should you read this book?  Yes, no hesitations there.

It’s about Nastya, a girl who stopped speaking after she was randomly attacked, and about Josh, a boy whose entire family has died.  They are both incredible characters, so deep and rich and FUNNY and real (gosh, this is making me want to go re-read it already!).  This is their story.

Millay’s writing is this no-holds-barred, slap-you-across-the-face kind of wonderful, and the book’s content doesn’t hold back either.  If you’ll be offended by underage drinking, drugs, and sex, then this book is not for you– although I would definitely not call this book gritty.  Not in the usual sense– where teenaged hoodlums are living lives of crime on the street.  These are normal ol’ kids in the ‘burbs– except that they have seen terrible things.

Loved the characters.  Loved the writing.  Loved the story.  It’s fascinating that the book addresses that girls each have “one unforgivable offense” for boys– because this book kind of broached mine— and that alone is why I am not throwing a parade in honor of The Sea of Tranquility.

Read it.  You’ll like it.