Everyone knows who Josh Fucking Bennett is right? If you don’t we need to talk…for real. The Sea of Tranquility is one of those books that not only has words and characters that grab your attention but a story that has a bit of everything. Plus….Josh. If you haven’t read this book yet, get on it right now. I won’t tell you anything else about the book, but I will tell you how amazing Katja and her writing is. She’s wonderfully kind, and humble and has become one of my favorite people to talk books with. Someday… someday she and I will meet and I will be all flaily in person. I’m excited to see what she has in the works… I know it will be amazing!
Now, Katja Millay has joined us this month to share some of her Favorite Book Things but first check out the summary of 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.
Favorite Book Title – Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Don’t ask me why because I have absolutely no specific explanation. It’s been my favorite since I was in high school. I love it so much that I refuse to read the book because I can’t imagine it living up to the title or worse it will end up changing the way I feel about the title. I just like to let it mean what I want it to mean.
Favorite Cover – Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Creepy-cool and gorgeous. I could stare at it all day but I wouldn’t because that might be a little weird.
Favorite Secondary Character – Finnick Odair from Catching Fire or Kenji from Unravel Me or Roar from Under the Never Sky
I have a weakness for cocky boys and smartasses who are more than what they seem.
Favorite Badass Male Character – Jericho Barrons from the Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning
Because he’s Jericho Barrons.
Favorite Badass Female Character – MacKayla Lane from the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning
I love the evolution of her character over the course of the series. It was amazing to watch her transformation happen and anyone who can stand up to Jericho Barrons is an indisputable badass.
Favorite Movie Based on a Book – Gone with the Wind
I have to go classic. Even though it goes without saying that the book was better and I did have an issue with a few of the casting choices, Vivien Leigh makes up for it all. Never has an actress been better cast for a role than Vivien Leigh as Scarlet O’Hara. Plus, the attention to detail in the production is beyond words.
Favorite First Line – A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice – not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God…”
Favorite Last Line – This is a tie:
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean – “I am haunted by waters.”
My Ántonia by Willa Cather – “Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past.”
Favorite Series – The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning
I recommend it to everyone. I’m probably rather annoying.
And The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
I’m cheating a little because the series isn’t complete yet, but I’m so completely sucked into these books. The story, the characters, the writing – every aspect is extraordinary.
Favorite Classic Novel – My Ántonia by Willa Cather
I read this in college because it was required and at the time I wasn’t much of a reader so all of the books I read, I read because they were required. And while I love Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice and Wuthering Heights and countless others, My Ántoniais still my favorite. To this day, it’s one of the most poignant, atmospheric, beautiful books I’ve ever come across.
Favorite Love Story – Pride & Prejudice
This is a tough one so I’m going to take the easy road and go with Elizabeth and Darcy. You can’t go wrong with Elizabeth and Darcy.
Thanks so much for having me on Fic Fare! Happy Holidays!
Thank you Katja!! I’m pretty sure I’ll be rereading the Fever series ASAP after your reminder … I mean Jericho Barrons!!
ABOUT KATJA
Katja Millay grew up in Florida and graduated with a degree in film & television production from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has worked as a television producer and a film studies and screenwriting teacher.We have a signed copy of The Sea of Tranquility and a bookmark for one winner (US ONLY) and some additional signed bookmarks to giveaway~ Get your entries in!!
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