Words Composed of Sea and Sky is the story of Michaela Dunn, a 17-year old, living in present day Cape Cod and of Leta Townsend, a young woman, living in 1860s Cape Cod. Both protagonists are writers. They are poets. Leta desperately wants her poetry to be published, and Mack wants to attend a writing program at Winslow College. Both make choices for their craft. They are protagonists that jump off the page and feel like real people. Erica George has a knack for character.

In the pages of the novel are the poems that both Mack and Leta composed. That is expected based on the description of the book. What is so unexpected is how poetic the prose in this novel is. The imagery that is evident in this novel takes the form of three clear categories: 1) the ocean, 2) people, and 3) natural events.

This novel was a joy to read. It sucked me in and made me feel like I was on Cape Cod--both in the present and the past. This was a one-sitting read--it was that good!

I didn't connect with any of the characters, but I liked where the story went and how it all developed.

Words Composed of Sea and Sky wove together the stories of two strong young women trying to find their voice and their place in the world. Set in Cape Cod, the reader is immersed in the landscape, culture, and locale of the seaside peninsula known for its whales and whaling. Despite existing over 150 years apart, Michaela and Leta each push against those who try to hold them back, and their strength and perseverance make them inspiring dual protagonists. The novel's captivating storylines, picturesque setting, and relatable characters are tied together with poetry, and it is the perfect book to read on the beach surrounded by sand and the salty sea air!

I loved reading thus summer YA romance. This is the perfect beach-read for teens who want something fun to read.

I loved the dual timelines of this book. This was a great read! The story is one that you cannot put down but that also deserves to be savored. Very beautiful and enjoyable!

Thank you NetGalley and Perseus Books, Running Press for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Michaela is dreaming of going to art school, as a poet, that school would be a great fit for her and it's the school her father went to. Their a workshop that she wants to attend, but her stepfather refuses to pay for it. Their relationship is very tense at best.

So she enters a local contest searching for a poet to write the dedication plaque for a statue honoring Captain Benjamin Churchill. local whaler and poet. While searching for clues she finds a diary of Leta Townsend, who portraits a very different picture of what happened then.



Part of the story is set in the present and past in the past, follows Leta.

It's a very interesting story, I enjoyed it very much, it was a bit slow in the middle, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Running Press Kids for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions expressed are entirely my own. This book is all about a girI named Michela who must learn more about her town's historical figure Captain Churchill and write a poem about him to get into a poetry workshop. I really enjoyed this book! I liked how it had two different povs from different time periods and how the stories went together. I also liked how poetry was an important element of the story. I feel like there are not enough YA books with a poetry storyline. I loved how this book had a little bit of history and romance. It felt like a really fun and summery read. My only complaint is that it felt a little boring and slow-paced at times. Still, I would highly recommend this book and give it 4/5 stars.

What a lovely debut from Erica George! Words Composed of Sea and Sky follows two timelines--one present day and one during the Civil War era--and the way the two timelines were woven together was masterful. What begins as two separate stories taking place in the same beach town evolves into something much more nuanced and beautiful. The characters are flawed in the best ways, genuinely relatable, and effortlessly funny on occasion. And the setting is beautiful! Be ready to wish you were relaxing next to a lighthouse instead of in your very messy bedroom.

Erica George so perfectly captures both contemporary Cape Cod and a historical, 1800s whaling village in this YA romance with parallel timelines. In the present day, Michaela is trying to navigate her senior year of high school with a stepfather who is both demanding and plays favorites with her younger sister, who is his biological daughter. Michaela is a poet and wants nothing more than to attend a summer poetry workshop, but her stepfather won't pay for it. She decides to enter a poetry contest in order to win a scholarship to the workshop, but becomes distracted by two boys: one an enigmatic poet at a prestigious college, the other a handsome popular athlete from her own high school.

In the past, Leta yearns to break free of the rigid rules of conduct imposed on girls and women in 19th-century New England. Everyone expects her to marry her best friend Elijah, but she doesn't love him that way. Instead, Leta focuses on publishing poetry under the name of a long-lost sea captain (because women have a tough time getting published). When the sea captain proves to be very much alive, it throws a wrench into Leta's plans, both professional and personal.

In a beautiful blend of prose, poetry, and journal entries, Michaela and Leta's lives intersect across time. As Michaela delves deeper into Leta's life, she learns how people can communicate and miscommunicate, trust and mistrust, stay and leave. Ultimately, she (and Leta) discover the different ways love can manifest and how to stand up for and be true to themselves.

I loved this book. I found it lush and evocative, while also representing both time periods realistically. The romances were compelling and the boys' characters had depth and complexity. Definitely buying a hardbound copy for myself to read again!

Thanks to Netgalley and Running Press Kids for an e-ARC of this book.

Are you looking for something engrossing but also really calming to read in these chaotic times? This is your book! I loved the melding of historical and present-day timelines. Usually with this kind of dual narrative, I'm anxious to get back to one of the two POVs, but with this book I was equally invested in both, which is really hard to pull off! I also loved that this is a story about a girl learning to stand up for herself, which is something I desperately needed as a teenager. This is such an important message, handled in a way that's powerful without being pedantic. As for the prose, it was just gorgeous! The settings were deeply atmospheric, and the characters were all incredibly well realized. Can't wait for everyone to get to read this beautiful book!

Wow. What a stunning debut. The cover and synopsis of Words Composed of Sea and Sky immediately drew me in because I knew I'd be in for lovely scenery, poetry, and romance. The way George skillfully wove together two stories--one present and one past--as one novel about love, loss, and the beauty of words was simply beautiful. The story is slower-paced, reminiscent of the ebb and flow of the sea, but it held my interest. I was rooting for both Michaela and Leta the entire time. I look forward to reading more work by Erica George!

A truly lovely dual narrative about two young poets, one in the modern day, one in the 1860s, with a feminist mystery befitting its seaside setting. Plus a marvelous romantic dynamic!

Words Composed of Sea & Sky is a tale of two girls; one from the present and one from the past connected through poetry and Captain Benjamin Churchill (the man, the myth, the legend).

In the present, Michaela is trying to find the man underneath the legend, so that she can write a poem for a contest that will help pave the way for her acceptance into her dream college, She finds her inspiration in a forgotten diary of a poet form the past: Leta Townsend.

In the past, Leta is falling for the man she made up: Captain Benjamin Townsend. Leta went to school with him, and once he was presumed dead, decided to use his name to get her poems published. However, he returns and Leta finds herself confused at the man she's starting to fall for: is it the man she created from words composed of sea and sky or the sea captain behind her poetry.

I loved how interconnected the author made Leta's past with Michaela's present and the role Pearce boys play in their lives. (Finn from the present and Elijah from the past stole the show)

All in all, this was a lovely tale of two girls finding their place through poetry and words composed of sea and sky, I am extremely thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I cannot sing the praises of this book enough. This has managed to land itself in the top three books I have read all year at the very last minute. It is gorgeous in writing, beautiful in story, and just simply amazing. I loved getting to hear from two different time periods at the same time. I thought it was so interesting how they almost mirrored each other. Getting to know more about Leta lead to more information on Mack, and the same vice versa. I'm typically not a fan of historical fiction, and I'm not sure that this counts as that, but I certainly did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I also really enjoyed the poems that were included in the book. Each poem gave us more insight into the main characters and their personality, which is something so unique. I was constantly surprised by this book. Really the only word I can use to adequately describe it is beautiful. It is beautiful. I recommend it to anyone and everyone there is.

Thank you Net Galley for providing me a digital arc of this book!

I know a three star rating doesn’t look that great but I was actually really pleasantly surprised by this.

I really really really enjoyed it.

This did a lot of things well. The characters that were created in this story were amazing. I really connected with them even though I could not relate to them personally and usually that is hard for an author to accomplish in my personal experience. I really thought that Erica created a great group of main characters that kept me entertained throughout the novel.

The concept of this book was strange. I did not think that it was going to work for me because I don’t like contemporary or historical fiction but something about this story just clicked. The dual timeline was done so well, both of our protagonists’ voices were very distinct and the two stories wove together very nicely.

idk... this just was a fun time, that’s all i can say

The problems that I had with this were all pretty mediocre. It was very clear that this was a debut novel, some of the writing I felt was subpar at times and I wish that the ending packed a bit more of an emotional punch than it ended up having. However, I think that there is a lot of potential here and I am excited to read more of Erica George’s work in the future.

I also felt like the tropes in this book were maybe one too many. They weren’t as obnoxious and in your face as I have seen in other books but two love triangles... cmon... ANY trope but that one. I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES. Another one that showed up a bit too often for my liking was the damsel in distress... but again it wasn’t too obnoxious I just think that Michaela could have handled some of her situations by herself. :)

The last issue that I had with this book and it is the biggest turn off for me was that Ben Churchill was SO toxic and it was never addressed. (minor spoilers) He was idolized straight up until the last page and he was not a good person. He was very stuck up and snobby and bullied an 8 year old as a 19ish year old man. Never mind the fact that he treated Leta like shit and was very possessive. (also, Elijah is too good for her) It did not sit right with me at all. We did have Caleb on the other hand whose situation I thought was handled extremely well and I thought spread a very important message about toxic and abusive human beings and how we can deal with them appropriately.

That’s all I really gotta say, I feel like I talked about a lot of negatives but I really did enjoy this and I encourage people to pick it up. This is such a pleasant read and I am so happy that I got the chance to experience this story.

This book is beautifully written. It takes a lot for a book to bring actual tears to my eyes, but this one did. I loved both Michaela's and Leta's narratives equally. The way the author tied both timelines together through the girl's love of expressing themselves via poetry, and through the enigmatic Highland Whaler, Captain Benjamin Churchill, was skillfully done. I appreciate the depiction of the struggle Michaela and Leta shared to see and love, not the person they had created in their imaginations, but the real flesh and blood human before them. If you are going to read a YA romance, let it be this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Running Press Kids for access to this arc!

I love contemporary romance and historical fiction, and Words Composed of Sea and Sky offers the best of both. I'm sometimes reluctant to read stories filtered through journals, but the author wrote the historical narrative in a way that pulled me right in; I was every bit as invested in the historical point of view as I was in the contemporary and I love how the two narratives, written in the same location, shared the same themes and came together at the end for a satisfying read...this is the perfect story for a cold winter day or a day on the beach!

WORDS COMPOSED OF SEA AND SKY is a beautifully told love story. But it’s not only about finding true love, it’s also about the love of a place, of home, of family, and of words.
Told in dual POVs George’s debut deftly balances life on Cape Cod during two very different time periods- present day and late 19th century. The two protagonists, who share a love of words and the search for true connection, also share the driving need to know more about the town’s famed whaling captain. It’s this search that drives the intersection between Michaela and Leta’s lives.

I was immediately pulled in to the world of this book and didn’t want to leave when it was over. With an incredibly strong sense of place, beautifully wrought relationships and a mystery across time, George has given us two worlds to inhabit, to explore and leave a piece of our hearts behind in.

Thank you to Running Press and the Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this wonderful debut

Erica George’s WORDS COMPOSED OF SEA AND SKY is a book to get lost in. A book to savor. And yet, it’s also a book that you don’t want to put down, so you end up reading it straight through from beginning to end in one gloriously decadent weekend. These are the kinds of characters you cry over and yearn for. The kinds of characters you wish you knew in real life, because you’re head-over-heels for them. The parallels between the present day storyline and the historical storyline are simply perfect. I can’t say enough about this one, and I’m clicking pre-order now. Thank you to Running Press and NetGalley for the eARC.

For fans of The Paper Girl of Paris.

In the present day, Michaela Dunn dreams of attending Winslow College to pursue her passion for poetry. When she finds out about a five-day workshop they are hosting for high school students, she jumps at the chance to apply- until her stepdad tells her it's too expensive. But she's not giving up yet, and decides to enter a Cape Cod poetry contest, where the winner gets a cash prize and their poem engraved on a new statue of the town's most famous whaling ship captain, Benjamin Churchill.
Nobody really knows very much about him, just that he disappeared at sea in 1861. Even the historical lighthouse can't provide very much information. Until Michaela finds a diary that changes everything she thought she knew.
In 1862, Leta Townsend, along with the rest of her community, has accepted that Benjamin Churchill is never coming home. Leta writes poetry under his name so that she can have an easier time getting published, and she has just received an acceptance from a prominent Boston magazine. But she can't let anyone know what she's done.
So what happens when Ben shows up months later? Turns out, he's not exactly the same as how Leta described him in her poems. But that doesn't mean she's not in love with him, even though she feels pressured to marry her best friend, Elijah Pearce. (Yes, there's a love triangle. No, it actually didn't ruin the book for me this time.)
Turns out Leta's modern-day descendant, Finn Pearce, is Michaela's super-cute classmate who helps her gather information. But if Leta didn't end up with Benjamin, how exactly did the story play out?
The chapters switch between Michaela and Leta's viewpoints, so we gradually get the story of what happened when Benjamin came back. I've read so many books that try to stun you with a plot twist that I had created a whole complicated theory about what I thought had happened. I was wrong. But there is still a twist. Not that big, but it's there.
I really liked both of the narrators, but I think Leta was my favorite. She's a total badass, and she doesn't stand for unequal treatment by the men in her life. Besides the main characters, Michaela's sister Melody was probably the best. I mean, a 9-year-old who actually acts 9 and not 5 is rare in YA. And her friendship with Finn was adorable.
There were 2 main reasons I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. (Actually, more like 4.5, since these were VERY minor problems.) One: Michaela's dad being dead really wasn't relevant to the story except for its explanation on how Michaela got into poetry, which could've easily been depicted in a more original way. I feel like dead parents in books are kind of an easy way out, especially when Michaela didn't remember him at all. Two: The trope of "wait, I can explain." This only lasts a page, but it involves the love interest getting jealous of Michaela for spending time with another guy, and he doesn't let her explain, he just accuses her of "settling" for him and walks off. They didn't "break up," but I didn't think it was necessary, especially because of the later interaction between Finn and the other guy.