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Sea (Sea #1)

Heidi R. Kling

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Aug 18, 2011 Allison rated it really liked it

Shelves: realistic-fiction, death-dying-loss, 2012-13-gateway

When I originally read the summary of this book, I was very curious by the topic of charity work. Was the book going to be preachy and make me hate the book? But after finishing it, I feel in love with it. This book was refreshing because I can't think of a single YA book that has come out over the last couple years that has ever gone off of the topic of charity but also focus on the themes of death/dying/loss all in one book.

Characters:
Dad- I liked most of the characters in the book but at the When I originally read the summary of this book, I was very curious by the topic of charity work. Was the book going to be preachy and make me hate the book? But after finishing it, I feel in love with it. This book was refreshing because I can't think of a single YA book that has come out over the last couple years that has ever gone off of the topic of charity but also focus on the themes of death/dying/loss all in one book.

Characters:
Dad- I liked most of the characters in the book but at the beginning of the story, I didn't like Sienna's dad because I was like you are really buying her a plane ticket for her to travel half way around the world to a country she has never been to after her mother has "disappeared" after traveling in a plane herself! Heck no, man. After finding out more about the work that her dad does and the story of her mother, I was like duh, he was just being a protective father like every dad should be especially with teens. I know I have wrote this before but good parental figures are hard to find in YA literature and even though you might not like them in the beginning of the story, I love when you find out more and really enjoy them.

Sienna- great protagonist! With her mother missing, Sienna is really depressed in the beginning of the story. Then she is literally brought back to life after she has been to the orphanage in Indonesia for 2 days with interacting with the children and learning their stories. After seeing Deni on the first day to the very last day she sees him before leaving to go back to California, her relationship is real with him and I think many girls have the feeling when they meet their first "crush". This brought me back to my first crush and the feelings you feel and what you end up doing which might not be the correct thing to do. I think this trip was almost like a live saver for her because she really did change like Spider said in the ending.

Deni- I'm really not to sure still after finishing the book about Deni. I felt like he was kind of sneaky throughout the book and wish he would have been more truthful to Sienna. I hated how he kind of ditched her twice in the story and she still went back to him like nothing happened. I know she did that because of her big time crush on him but I was like still, come on now!

Spider- awww, so cute!

I have never been to Indonesia (and will probably never go) but I love how the author pretty much painted a clear picture of how life is there. When she described the mandi, I felt like puking (not literally but yuck and so descriptive). I can't believe after so many years after the tsunami, how the country is still picking up after the destruction.

Overall, I still felt like I had 2 questions that were left unanswered at the end of the story: Does Sienna ever meet up or talk with Dien again? What really happened to her mom (I WANT TO KNOW!)?

I think people that have read Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler (she was quoted on the cover of the book) will really like this one. ...more

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