Review: Sea by Heidi R. Kling

Title: Sea
Author: Heidi R. Kling
Page Count: 323 pages
Summary: (from Goodreads) "Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother’s disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year old California girl Sienna Jones reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father’s volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphaned boy, Deni, who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met.

She knows they can’t be together, so why can’t she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And why won’t her dad tell her the truth about her mother’s plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to finding answers.

And Sea’s real adventure begins."

Review: It's funny, I find it really hard to write reviews of books that I enjoyed. In books that were just so-so, it's a lot easier because I can focus on both the good and the bad things, but books I like? I get a little fan-girly about them.

Sea was definitely one of those books. I read it in practically one sitting, only stopping to eat dinner and maybe Tweet just a little bit. My reading spot is really uncomfortable, actually - knees up on my bedpost, which always digs into my skin - so it's pretty rare that I sit and read for really long periods. I did, though.

My favorite thing about this book, was, first of all, the main character. She was kind of a brat in the beginning and I rolled my eyes at it at first, but then I realized - Wow, she acts like a real 15-year-old! She isn't wise beyond her years or has a huge vocabulary, which I'm so used to in books nowadays. The narrators I write are too mature for their peers because I've always felt a little more serious and motivated than mine. But Sienna, she was so relatable. And she totally grew on me. Her character development was spot-on, but also so gradual that the reader didn't really notice (at least I didn't), until she pointed out that she was getting a lot more fearless.

Deni and Sienna's scenes were awesome. There's this kind of thing that happens to me, when there's a good first kiss in a book - I get butterflies if it's good enough. I definitely got butterflies with this one and most of the ones that followed!

I really loved this book. I love juxtaposition of the backdrop - the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami - with something so innocent as first love. It made Sienna see that her problems and fears weren't really anything compared to the children orphaned by the tsunami, when all she's lost was her mother.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this! I'd say maybe for 13-15yr-old range, if only because Sienna may be a little too immature for older readers.

Romance: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5