Sea

In debut novelist Kling's somewhat implausible and exotic tale of summer romance, 15-year-old Sienna travels from California with her psychiatrist father and his colleagues to Indonesia to work with children orphaned by the 2004 tsunami. Sienna's mother died years earlier during a similar goodwill trip, and Sienna has yet to come to terms with her loss. She identifies with the orphans, particularly with the nightmares experienced by the handsome Deni, who has lost his family to the tsunami. To her, he is both a kindred spirit and, with his "[w]hite T-shirt sticking to his chest, water dripping from his hair... HOT." Their unlikely dalliance—he is Muslim and there are strict rules about dating—takes her to his hometown after they sneak away from the orphanage, using her father's credit card to fund the excursion (for which there are few repercussions). While the book should appeal to fans of the teen romance genre, the parallels Sienna draws between her mother's (admittedly tragic) death and the catastrophic losses the orphans suffered in the tsunami feel uncomfortable at best. Ages 12–up. (June)