The Sea of Tranquility

A Novel

By: Katja Millay

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, Candace Thaxton

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.

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 17 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.

©2012 Katja Millay (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

There is NOTHING wrong with this book

This sounds like lackluster praise. To the contrary, it is the best thing I can ever say about a book. You know how you read a book and you get aggravated by some little annoyance, or you feel something was left out or unexplained, or you start to feel differently towards the characters than you think you should? Or maybe you know how a turn of phrase or plot line can make you roll your eyes. All these things pull you from the story. It can still be a great book. You can still love it. But there are things wrong with it none the less. In my opinion, there is NOTHING wrong with this book. If there were any imperfections, it was so completely fantastically amazing that I didn't even notice. I was not pulled from the story once. I am still thinking about the characters now. It was all real. Funny, witty, heartbreaking. Let me repeat - funny (in case you missed it). Yes there is heartache and anguish. But there is humor and redemption, too. Just like life. This is my first Audible review. I liked it so much that I couldn't not rate it.

Great Book, Great Characters, Keeps you listen

Would you consider the audio edition of The Sea of Tranquility to be better than the print version?

Have not read the printed version.

What did you like best about this story?

I love the characters, you just really want them to succeed.

What about Kirby Heyborne and Candace Thaxton ’s performance did you like?

It was good over all.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Are second chances even possible?

Any additional comments?

I loved this book!!

Love story with a twist!

Wow! Could not put this book down. I really thought this book was well thought out and loved that it was narrated by two people.

Good book from start to end

A story so detailed that only a literary artist could come up with. I would have changed one thing and set it in college rather than high school as I feel this would have been more believable. Good weekend read for 20 somethings

Simply stunning

One of my favorite books ever! I have read it several times, but the Audio version is just as amazing.

loved it although I don't listen to this genre

took a chance on the book and was very surprised I liked it. good narrators added to the story mystique

Disturbing but good story

Didn't expect it to be a young adult book but it did hold my interest and was a nice break from other genres.

Great performance!

If I had simply read this book, probably would have rated it 3-4 stars, but the narrators brought so much emotion to the novel, it was really hard to stop listening. Kirby Heyborne was incredibly passionate during the character Josh’s exuberant moments, really bringing to life his frustration. Candace Thaxton has such a cool, smooth undertone, very fitting for Nastia’s personality. Thanks for the good Audible!

Favorite Book

First off I loved the book itself. Katja Millay has a way of making the mundane exciting and still relatable. The way the book in narrated is also fantastic. Kirby brings the pain and power to Josh and Candace makes Nastya feelings more understandable. This is my absolute favorite Audiobook. I listen to it as much as I can.

Im ok. Im ok. I need to keep telling myself that!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Josh Bennett is my favorite. He is protective and vulnerable. Loved him.

Which character – as performed by Kirby Heyborne and Candace Thaxton – was your favorite?

BOTH. Nastya and Josh were incredible.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

All of the above and more.

Any additional comments?

If there was a way to double up the stars I could give this book I would. I was skeptical about it at first, the genre wasnt one I would usually pick, but I am a big enough woman to say I was wrong.

I was dead wrong.

I wish I could say that I was speechless, but Im not. I want to say so much about this that the words have backed up in my brain and the narrow passageway were words filter into my surface thoughts is all sorts of jumbled and hectic. I feel as it Katja Millay gathered up all my feelings and then racked them through hot coals. There was so much laughter, even more pain, anguish, joy, hate and angst that reached me from these pages. The narrators became the characters and even the most two dimensional characters popped out of the page and earned their third dimension by the end of the book. The narrators were phenomenal. In fact Im tempted to listen to every single book Kirby Heyborne and Candace Thaxton have recorded. Kirby made me cry and Candace's voice is perfection.

The author thrusts you, not into action and adventure, but into the minds of young adults just wadding out of the small pond. For the majority of the book you are treated, not to spoken words, but to the main character's thoughts, their feelings, jumbled and imperfect but so eloquent that you begin to wonder if at one point in time you werent just like them. I know I was.

Josh Bennet has lost everyone he has ever cared about. They are all gone and he is alone. He is lost and broken, taking his days one at a time while trying to distract himself by creating. Nastya Kashnikov was a child prodigy in the piano. She had a bright future, a loving family, a community who raised her and all that was dashed away by a random act of violence. I loved how you knew what happened, sort of, throughout the book, she thought about it constantly, but the author does not give away the extent of it until the end. Instead, she makes you focus on the pain, on seeing this bright, clever and angry girl both the way she sees herself and how others see her. Nastya does everything she can, not to hide so much as to force others to ignore her. This is a heart wrenching story, filled with mistakes.

I may not agree with how Nastya handles her pain, how she copes and makes the choices she does. We like to think that if something terrible happened to us, that we would be able to pick ourselves up, dust off the knees, patch the hurt and move on in a show of strength. We like to think that if someone we loved went through such trauma that we could give them all the support they would need and maybe every one of us would be forming a line to dish out advice on how to get better. There is no perfect recipe for healing, there is no right way. There are only tailored choices that each of us have to make. Nastya makes mistakes and then she makes even bigger ones and it doesnt get better right away but the reader follows her and Josh through their broken spirits and watch, with joy as two broken people learn to fit perfectly together. This has easily become one of my most favorite books and I truly hope that Millay has more in store for us.