We’ve talked this book to death, I know it… but you know when I love something I can’t stop. I feel like everyone should read this at least once and also Katja is one of my favorite authors around. I love talking books … and desserts … and tattoos with her! Â If you’ve been living under a rock… here are the details on The Sea of Tranquility.
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 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.
ABOUT KATJA
Katja Millay graduated with a degree in film and television production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has worked as a television producer and film studies & screenwriting teacher. Her debut novel The Sea of Tranquility was a recipient of the American Library Association’s Alex Award and was named one of the Best Books of 2013 by the School Library Journal. She currently resides in Florida with her family.
Let’s talk characters!
What would Josh have on his Christmas list?
Nothing. Josh has the only thing he wants and more than he ever imagined asking for. (Nastya will buy him presents anyway for the sheer joy of making him uncomfortable.)
If Josh and Nastya are spending Christmas Eve together what would they be doing?
I can’t picture a time from here on out, when Josh and Nastya wouldn’t be spending Christmas Eve with each other. If I know them at all, they’re hiding and pretending they’re not home which would work on anyone except Drew’s mom. So after a command appearance for dinner at the Leightons’, I like to think they’re baking cookies, sitting in front of a Christmas tree they put up together and appreciating the fact that it’s quiet.
What would Josh put in Nastya’s stocking?
A collection of wooden ornaments he hand carved of a chair, a sun, boots, a bucket of pennies. Then he’ll probably throw in a pair of boxer shorts so she’ll stop stealing his, sandpaper and a bracelet he’s been wanting to give her forever, since he’s pretty sure it wouldn’t be inappropriate anymore.
What’s Drew doing this Christmas?
Being Drew. Driving his mother and Tierney crazy. Eating cookies as fast as Nastya can get them out of the oven. Wondering what the hell to do with his life.
Now how about some questions for you!
When do you hang up your decorations?
We usually reserve the day after Thanksgiving for putting up the tree and decorating and whatever we don’t finish on Friday we do on Saturday. It’s an unspoken rule that it all has to be done in time for the UF/FSU game. Once it’s game time, my husband is off the clock.
What’s your favorite holiday memory?
My husband and I married young and were married for several years before we had children. My mother didn’t hide the fact that she was past ready for a grandchild and one Christmas, she gave me this horrendous crying baby doll as her form of not-so-subtle encouragement (or possibly punishment). We’d just found out we were expecting so I was able to one-up her with that announcement.
I still have the doll.
What’s on your holiday wishlist?
This year my list was basically books, books, a few more books and a pair of pink, fuzzy socks..
What’s your favorite holiday tradition?
We drive around with the kids and look at the lights and then we go home, get into our pajamas and make chocolate fondue and eat too much and feel sick afterward. It’s perfect.
What’s your favorite Christmas song?
That’s a toss-up between O Holy Night and Do You Hear What I Hear?
What’s your favorite holiday movie?
I know it’s not the least bit original but I have to say It’s a Wonderful Life because you can’t do better than Capra. That said, I also have to mention Home Alone since it was what my husband and I saw on our first date when we were seventeen. After that, I knew I’d have to marry him. It’s hard to top that kind of epic romance.
It’s midnight on New Year’s Eve, you can kiss any celebrity, living or dead, who do you kiss?
Richard Gansey the III (I’m cheating and picking a book character because I’m a rebel. But if you wanted to twist my arm and make me follow the rules, I’d say circa 1990’s Timothy Olyphant.)
Thanks so much for having me! Happy holidays!
One lucky winner will win a copy of  The Sea of Tranquility (Intl)
If Intl – please make sure The Book Depository delivers to you before entering!Â
** Must follow Fic Fare via Email **
If Intl – please make sure The Book Depository delivers to you before entering!Â
** Must follow Fic Fare via Email **
Recent Comments