2010 June

Sea
By: Heidi R. Kling
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (June 10, 2010)

SUMMARY
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.

MY REVIEW
Sea was a fascinating little adventure/romance that I very much enjoyed. I applaud Heidi for writing it, and wanting to give the Young Adult world a different taste of literature, as its definitely unique. It was not my typical genre that I read, so for me to like it as much as I did was quite brilliant. I’m not much into reading adventure and journey’s or that kind of thing but this book still kept me going. Most of the fun in the book took place in the beginning in preparation and the first encounter of Sea’s journey to Indonesia. I laughed so much at everything that happened. Heidi did an awesome job telling this story of Sea’s experience in Indonesia, and it was inspired by Heidi’s husband’s real life experience, and I feel that it was something that, to her, was a very important realistic story to be told. Heidi wrote this book in a breezy little way from the perspective of a fifteen year old girl and her first experience and journey overseas to help and aid people affected by the real and tragic tsunami event that did occur and that’s where the fun ends actually; but yes to hold the interest of romantic souls like me, she added young love drama as well. Heidi tugs at those emotional strings as well, probably more so for everyone else because Im not a huge crier in books. But in this book, there’s one line that as a huge romantic, just tore me to pieces and it was something like”You have to forget about me.” There was something about that one self-sacrificing quote that I couldn’t bare.
Characters: I freaking loved Heidi’s main character, Sienna (Sea). My favorite part of the entire book is the relationship between Vera and Sea, who views Vera as stepping in on her dad. Sea doesn’t like this and she feels that Vera’s taking over her moms turf more or less, and their relationship was just so dang fun and enjoyable to read about in the book. Technically, I’m pretty sure there was a whole other story that could have been told there (perhaps in a companion novel, hint hint Heidi.) I liked Sienna so much because I was totally in sync with the girl’s mind, in her thoughts and humor. I didn’t care for Deni so much, but mainly because I struggled and didn’t quite buy into the whole love at first sight thing with the Sea-Deni relationship, so I just wasn’t a Deni fan, plus I was rooting for Spider all the way..lol.
Writing: Heidi’s writing was very up front in your face kind of thing. She seemed to have a lot of story to tell, so she kept her writing short and sweet and to the point. She was still sophicated and elegant but she didn’t adventure or stray into any complex writing, which with this kind of novel was probably the best thing. As that might have pushed the novel into a text booky boring kind, so overall, the fun way Heidi told the story was perfect for what she was having to tell.

Rating 4 out 5 Stars