Thursday 11 April 2013

Review: The Secret of Ella & Micha by Jessica Sorensen

The Secret of Ella & Micha by Jessica Sorensen
Publisher: Sphere
Publication date: 11th April 2013.
My rating: 3 stars


"The girl he thinks he loves needs to disappear. I don't want tonight to be irreversible, so I pull away, breathing him in one last time."  Ella and Micha have been best friends since childhood, until one tragic night shatters their relationship and Ella decides to leave everything behind to start a new life at college, including Micha. But now it's summer break and she has nowhere else to go but home. Ella fears everything she worked so hard to bury might resurface, especially with Micha living right next door. Micha is sexy, smart, confident, and can get under Ella's skin like no one else can. He knows everything about her, including her darkest secrets. And he's determined to win back the girl he lost, no matter what it takes.

Ella and Micha are two broken halves of one another, when together they make the perfect match; they have this energy buzzing between them, it’s like they’re the only ones in the room even though they’re in a room packed with people. Despite it being clear they’re meant to be, Ella decides to up and leave one miserable night. She gives no explanation to Micha even though he’s been with her through everything. The next eight months Micha spends tracking Ella down and Ella spends in a numb shell trying to forget everything and be somebody she’s not. But then when summer arrives, Ella has nowhere else to go but home, and face what she has been avoiding all along. 

I was dying to know why Ella ran away in the first place and leave Micha torn up. When I did find out I understood the reason she did it, but at the end of the day Micha was the only one that understood her, why would she want to shut him down and put each other through months of heartache? Micha was a sweet guy, he had several of his own problems to deal with but put his life on hold for Ella, he spent months tracking her down, and stopped doing all the things he loved whilst she was away. The chemistry when Ella arrived back in town was instantly apparent between both characters, I just wished Ella could see what she had pushed away to the back of her mind and denied a lot sooner. Both Ella and Micha had family problems to deal with, I think if Ella was able to declare her feelings much earlier on they would both have one less hurdle of hurt to deal with. 

Jessica Sorensen focuses The Secret of Ella and Micha on a lot of issues; family, growth, uncertainty love and friendship. She brings these individual issues to the forefront in their own way, which I liked as I really wasn’t a fan of the romance. Fans of first loves and a sweet sizzling romances I’m sure will eat The Secret of Ella and Micha right up, I think I’ve just become a picky reader as of late. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this book, I did but I think I really needed to be in the mood for this type of read to fully appreciate it.





16 comments:

selkiereads said...

This sounds like the perfect read for me in my current state of mind. I'm craving for something that sizzles with romance, and this book seems to fit the description.

- Ellie at The Selkie Reads Stories

Book Passion for Life said...

Aw, Jas...I NEED THIS BOOK! I've heard so many amazing things about and even your review at 3 stars - doesn't put me off. And your review only makes me want it more. Lovely review lady!

Sam (Realm of Fiction) said...

Even though this didn't completely impress you, I'm glad you still liked it well enough overall. It does sound like the sort of read you'd need to be in the right frame of mind for... which I don't think I am at the moment. But maybe later. :) Great review as always!

Jenni said...

I tend to get really annoyed with characters who do the back & forth dance and are always pushing away something that is clearly really good for thick headed reasons so I think there is a good chance that this one will annoy me. I am curious about Sorenson's other novel... I can't remember the name now but I hadn't heard of this one before. Fabulous review!

Jenny said...

Hmmmm. I'm not sure about this one Jasprit! I am of course a huge fan of sizzling romance, but I have trouble when characters push the one closest to them away instead of communicating, so I'm not sure how I'll feel about Ella running from Micha. Still, I'm very curious as to her reasons for running:) Lovely review my friend!

Tanja - Tanychy said...

I'm really happy that you enjoy it over all. To me this sounds like some typical romance. I mean I have nothing against them I've read too many of them. So I might as well skip this one. Great review Jasprit :)

brandileigh2003 said...

Glad you enjoyed overall despite the issues. Ella and Micha's sizzling romance sounds great, but not their lack of communication

Krazzyme(Young Readers) said...

Sometimes mood is very important especially for books that don't break away from time tested formulas. Great review :)

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

I think the problem with all these NA reads is they carry the same theme a lot of heartache and angst and it is hard to continually wade through those types of reads. I was planning on reading this but I just cant' get excited over it. I appreciate your honest revew. Thanks!

Henrietta @ Leisure Reads said...

Sounds like a great love story. I'm not really in the mood to read something like this at the moment but I think I'll add it to my wishlist. Thanks for sharing, Jas!

Dana said...

I couldn't get in to it. I think I read about half but was so bored that I set it aside. I didn't like any of the characters so I didn't really even care what happened at the beginning. Glad that I wasn't the only one that didn't find it fantastic! ;-)

Maja (The Nocturnal Library) said...

Oh, ugh, I think I would be VERY frustrated with Ella. This is not something I'd just pick up without strong recommendations, and now that I know how things are, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy it. Running up from conversations and not communicating is the very worst thing someone can do in my eyes.
Wonderful review, though, Jasprit.

Jess said...

Something was just missing for me with this book. I just didn't click with the romance and since that's what this books focus is on it really affected my love for the story. I did like it though, and agree with everything you said.

Unknown said...

I've heard great things about this one! I finished Jessica's other novel, The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden and liked it, so I hope I'd enjoy this one as well. Great review Jasprit!

Unknown said...

I read the self-pubbed version of this not long after it released at the end of last year. I actually don't remember a why Ella left or a lot of the other details. I just rennet being really frustrated w/her. I did like Micha, though, and a lot of the overall story. Glad you liked it, Jasprit, despite the bits that bothered you. Great review!

Wendy Darling said...

I was curious about this book, but based on your review I think I'm probably better off skipping it. thanks for your honest, Jasprit.

Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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