The Secret of Ella & Micha Blog Tour: excerpt & review

Welcome to our stop on The Secret of Ella & Micha Blog Tour hosted by SupaGurl Blog Tours. Come discover this incredible New Adult novel.

The Secret of Ella & Micha (The Secret #1) by Jessica Sorenson

New Adult contemporary*Paperback/ebook, 316 pages

Published October 4th 2012 (first published October 2nd 2012)

Purchase: Amazon

Ella and Micha have been best friends since they were kids. But one tragic night shatters their friendship andtheir lives forever.

Ella used to be a rule-breaker with fiery attitude who wore her heart on her sleeve. But she left everything behind when she went to college and transformed into someone that follows the rules, keeps everything together, and hides all her problems. 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. If Micha tries to tempt the old her back, she knows that it will be hard to resist.

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 bring his best friend, and the girl he loves back, no matter what it takes. 

Excerpt:

There’s a dare in the air, teasing the real me to come out tonight.  I want to give in, just for a few hours, and let my inner ropes untie.  I want to allow myself to breathe again, but I fear the loss of control—I fear I’ll have to feel everything, including my guilt.

“Micha, I think we should go back.” I put my seat belt back on. “This isn’t my thing anymore.”

He presses his lips together firmly. “Please can we have a night? Just you and I. I really need this right now.”

I pick up on his strange vibe and the sorrow in his eyes. “Okay, what’s wrong? You’ve seemed a little out of it. Was it bad news on that text you got?”

He traces the figure eight tattoo on his forearm. “Do you remember when I got this?”

I absentmindedly touch my lower back. “How could I forget, since I have the same one on my back?”

“Do you remember why we got them?”

“I can’t remember anything about that night.”

“Exactly, yet you’ll remember it forever. No matter what happens, which is completely ironic.” He lets his finger linger on the tattoo that represents eternity.

“There’s something bugging you.” I tug the bottom of my shirt down to cover up my tattoo. “Do you want to talk about it?”

He shakes his head, still focused on the tattoo. “Nah, I’m good.”

Author bio:

Jessica Sorenson

Goodreads | Blog | Facebook | Twitter 

I live in Wyoming with my husband and three kids, where I spend most of my time writing, reading, and hanging out with my family. I’m the author of the Fallen Star Series, the Darkness Falls Series, and the Death Collectors. I also just branched out to the New Adult Contemporary genre with my book, The Secret of Ella and Micha.

There have been a ton of New Adult titles cropping up on my reading radar lately and I'm liking it. Jessica Sorenson has five series out (5!) and The Secret of Ella & Micha is the first contemporary (of her sixth series) I've had the privilege to read. One word describes how I felt reading The Secret of Ella & Micha: infatuated. From the prologue's terribly moving scene on the bridge, I knew I was in for an intense story and the author delivered. 

"I need to go before he gets to me, and all my self-control evaporates." Intense. Moving. Sexy. Melancholy. Ella tries to run away and make herself into someone new to escape the suicide of her bipolar mom and life with an alcoholic dad. When she escapes, she takes the heart of her next door neighbor, Micha, along with her. These two have grown up together and have experienced the ups and downs life has thrown at them, but they never gave up on each other or separated. Until now. After disappearing for eight months, Ella heads home accompanied by her college roommate Lila for summer break to deal with her problems and soon spots Micha. 

"My feelings for Micha have been freed and now they consume me, own me, bind me to him." Old feelings which never died spark back to life full-force. Ella and Micha's incredible friendship borders on something more if Ella would only let go of her insecurities and trust issues. I really connected with this couple. Having them both narrate in first person gave their story an intense immediacy and I felt for them. Both have deep parental issues and a past incident to work through before they can really give themselves completely to each other. Witnessing their journey was tumultuous. At times I wanted to cry, to smack one, to push one to the other, and yet I kept on smiling. Through the smoldering teasing sessions to their simple hanging out and gazing at the night sky, it was obvious these two were soulmates. 

There were times when the construction of a sentence would read awkwardly, but the fast pace, realistic dialogue and lovable characters kept me reading. Romantic, sexy, heartbreaking, yet ultimately gripping, the secret is out about The Secret of Ella & Micha: fans of New Adult contemporary HAVE to read this and fall in love with this couple. Did I mention there's music and Micha writes love songs for Ella? Infatuated? Yep, I'm still swooning over these two.

Rating: 5

Cover comment: I like it. Fun and flirty.

Book source: Netgalley and I received a copy from the author in return for my honest review during a tour.