“Still haunted by nightmares of her mother’s death, fifteen-year-old Sienna Jones reluctantly travels to Indonesia with her father’s relief team to help tsunami orphans with their post traumatic stress disorder—something Sienna knows a lot about. Since her mother’s plane went missing over the Indian Ocean three years before, Sienna doesn’t do anything if it involves the ocean or planes, so this trip is a big step forward.
But the last thing she expects is to fall for Deni, a brooding Indonesian boy who lives at the orphanage, and just so happens to be HOT. When Deni hears a rumor that his father may be alive, Sienna doesn’t think twice about running away with him to the epicenter of the disaster. Unfortunately, what they find there could break both their hearts.” [Publisher's Summary]
Simply put, Sea was all kinds of wonderful. I knew then that writing a review straight-away wasn’t going to work; I purposely put it off, and now days later here I am. The thing is, I wasn’t immediately prepared to look at why I enjoyed it so much. I’m still not. And so this post is going to be…personal? Yes, that’s the right word, because reading Sea turned into a highly personal reading experience.
As the summary gives away, Sienna is living in the aftermath of losing her mother to a plane crash. Her life revolves around inhibitions provoked by that one day, that one piece of world-changing news. And anyone who has a fear – whether it be paralyzing, born of a tragic event, or irrational – will empathize with Sienna’s situation. From the first page Sienna reads as an authentic character; her responses ring true, and her narrative flows easily even when she struggles with her phobias and subsequent emotions. Because of that the connection the reader forges with her is almost unconscious. One minute she’s a stranger, the next she displays shades of yourself or your best friend at that age. And so I was on-board the moment I met her.
After the reader gets a feel for her situation, Sienna is thrust into facing her fears head-on when her father asks her to accompany his international relief team on a mission to an Indonesian orphanage. In the company of children plagued by the living nightmare of outrunning or otherwise surviving a tsunami is where the heart of the story lies. And in a quiet, deceptively subdued way, it shook me up. My heart ached and my head went off to confront the fact that, yes, children were left homeless and alone after the tsunami in 2004 and so many others didn’t make it. I realized it before, of course, but…I don’t know what to say. It just struck me again, I guess. But saying that…This book isn’t sad in that way. Deni, the character Sienna falls for, is a fighter; he’s determined to rebuild his home, his life, while holding close the memories of what he lost. So this story is about hope and survival and helping where one can.
And there’s the romance. It was lovely and touching and imbued with honest feeling. It even sparked a few memories of my own.
My most basic point is that I liked Sea very, very much and I can’t wait to see what Heidi R. Kling will do next.
This sounds lovely. Which is an odd word to use, I realise, because the tsunami was anything but! But you know what I mean. I’ve had a bad run of YA lately, so I could use something fresh
The only other YA novel I’ve read where the protagonist travels to Asia is Carpe Diem – it’s not at all tragic but has great setting in Malaysia and Cambodia. Have you read it?
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I’m adding this to my wishlist, you’ve convinced me to read it.
Sounds very promising! Going to keep this one in mind when I go to the bookstore.
Shannon ~ I haven’t, but I just added it to my list! I’m a bit of an armchair traveler, so any book set outside of the States catches my interest. Thanks for mentioning it!
Chachic ~ Can’t wait to see what you think (whenever you do!)
janicu ~ It was the right time for me to read it, too, because I needed a breather from some of the fantasy stuff. And it was on my radar because I had already read a ton of positive posts/tweets on it. Love to hear what you think if you get around to it!
Thank you!