The Sea of Tranquility, Katja Millay
I finished this book eight minutes ago. I can barely collect my thoughts, so I’ll just start talking. This is a Young Adult book. I actually didn’t know that going in, I sorta just picked it up and got sucked in without reading the blurb, and kept waiting for the boning to happen. It didn’t.
But so many other things did. Something bad happened, and you don’t know exactly what, you just get these fragments of character that are so beautifully written, you don’t even care that you are in the dark about so much. Nastya is 17, and she doesn’t speak, and she died once. That’s what you know. You watch her play into every irritating high school cliche of rebellion, and it’s not even annoying. She builds things and she ruins things, and sometimes you just sit there screaming at the screen, because you want to know what happened to her…but wait, no you don’t, because you aren’t ready for it to be over yet. It’s a long book, I devoured it in two days. The last line? Perfection. And now I’m going to be stuck carrying this book around in my head for months.
Beautiful Bastard, Christina Lauren
And now for something completely different. Let me just say, it’s a good thing I read this book before The Sea of Tranquility, otherwise I never would have finished it. In fact, I’m astonished that I did in the face of so many other amazingly written erotic books, far eclipsing this book in plot and quality. Which sounds super bad, but dude, I read this book before, it’s called Fifty Shades of Bared to You, only with more repetitively exhaustive sex scenes and more clepto panty hoarding. Oh, and lots and lots of angst and hate sex. I guess I’m just having a harder and harder time believing that strong-ass, capable women get off on douche-bag guys in expensive suits. The whole, I wanted to hate him but my body betrayed me thing? Really? Are you a Siamese twin, and your sister is calling the shots here, because if some asshole berated me all day, a couple tugs on my hair would not a hard nipple make…assuming I still had feelings in my nipples. Meh. (ARC courtesy NetGalley, Beautiful Bastard is available for order February 12th)
I loved Sea of Tranquility…I couldn’t put it down. It didn’t feel like a YA novel at all. And I’m with you on the whole what’s with women letting men berate them and then screw them silly. WTS, really.
Agree. I don’t read very much YA, but this really didn’t feel YA at ALL.
When is your book out, btw? I’d love to get my hands on it!
YES!!! I loved Sea of Tranquility! Another good YA book that sucked me in like Tranquility did was Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. There’s sex in this one, but it’s not smutty, but this was the first book in LONG time I couldn’t put down. I highly recommend.
As for smut, thanks to you and Angie @awholelotofnothing, I have gotten a bit more picky on my porn. Please leave the douchebags and all the self-doubting virgins who love them at home. Yawn. I like my heroines more like Nora Sutton and Grace Sheridan.
Reading Gone Girl right now to see what all the hype is about, and while it’s OK, this one I can put down. Have you read it? It’s good, but not GOOD, ya know?
I have NOT read Girl Gone yet. I have no idea why, but I like to read under the radar unless I hear something SUPER intriguing. It’s not to say I won’t read it eventually though.
Apparently Beautiful Bastard is supposed to bust out big time hype, but in my opinion… save your money. It’s just too late to the table, and has already been written about 100 times already. I read it 2 days ago and for the life of me, I can’t even remember the characters names.
Gone girl is really good. Totally suspenseful and TWISTED. There is no feel good ending here….be warned.
Brittany needs to read Gone Girl so she’s left pissed off at the world like we were when we finished.
Gone Girl was okay, but really did not live up to the hype.
Haha – I was pissed. My BFF insisted I read it and I left her an angry text immediately upon finishing. She lol’d me.
It passes ;)
NO!!! I am only halfway through, and if BLANK doesn’t get their comeuppance, I will be pissed! Crap!
Thank you so much for saying that!!!! Got Gone Girl over the holidays, I thought “hmmm I’m curious about the hype”. It went from “oh this is good….getting better…wait WHAT!!!!…seriously?!??”. Now I just want to punch Nick and Amy in their stupid faces.
PS – Funny Books: Kathy Griffin, Official Book Club Selection is hilarious!
A YA book that I adore is “Daughter of Smoke & Bone” by Laini Taylor. It is the first in a trilogy (the 2nd book is also great, 3rd is not yet out). I actually heard about this book from a link to another blog you posted awhile back. It is so well written and such a great story. I loved this book so much that I actually read it twice right in a row. Check out some of the reviews on Amazon if you are at all interested.
Smoke and Bone was another great book!!! Haven’t read the second one yet but I will be soon. Both Cassandra Clare series are great as are books by Amy Bartol.
Ooooh, I read Smoke & Bone and am halfway through the second one right now. I am OBSESSED! I wish I could play hooky from work today and just finish it! :)
I cannot wait for the last book to come out. I too am obsessed with this series.
Yes yes yes to Sea of Tranquility! Though I gotta say WHY did Katja Millay change the book cover? Original one: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346625115l/15818969.jpg Yes, I’m one of those terrible people who are turned off but a not so great book cover. Judge me.
If you haven’t yet please put Hopeless on your to be read list. Colleen Hoover is remarkable at character development and tells a story like no other.
I’ve also just read The Opportunist and Dirty Red. Really enjoying that series as well. An interesting way of telling the story through multiple characters POV. Left me aching for the conclusion of this story from the male character’s POV.
Sea of Tranquility was such a great book!!!!
Gone Girl….just wanna punch them now.
I love ya books, and teen movies, and i turn 30 this month. Thankfully my husband does not judge me. Try Hopeless, by Colleen Hoover. Amazing twist that will have you yelling at the screen, and great non-sex sex scenes.
OMG YES on Hopeless by Colleen Hoover! LOVED that book x 1 million!
When I get my Kindle back (long story) I’m going to get Sea of Tranquility…. but the way everyone is talking about Gone Girl, I’m not sure I want to read it… could my heart take it? I had a hard time with The Opportunist, sooooo.
Anyway, other good books – have you read On Dublin Street yet? b/c if not, do it! Do it now! I also really like Gabriel’s Inferno & Gabriel’s Rapture.
Off to either download or order & pre-order both. Thanks!
Anyone read any of the “Up in the Air” Trilogy by R.K. Lilly? The first two are out and the third is out later this month. I just started the second one and I think I’m fairly hooked…
Forgotten when I posted about “Beautiful Bastard” on your Wall that *you* recommended it. Feeling a combo of senile & foolish right now.
However, you asked for my input. Here goes: been there, done that, bored & irritated.
Not in any way a combo I want in my erotica…..
Literally just finished Sea of Tranquility 2 minutes ago and had to come here and share. Because you wrote about the last line of the book being so good, I psyched myself out during the last 5 chapter endings because I was so anxious to see how the last sentence could be so great. And as soon as I read it, I started bawling!
Uggggggh itwassoperfect.
So I’m glad you mistakenly picked up this book thinking it was gonna be dirty!
:)