Review: The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

Goodreads Summary:

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

(New Adult Contemporary)
*Mature Content** Recommended for ages 17+ due to sexual situations and language.
Publication Date: October 4, 2012

This is my first book by the author and I was very impressed with how much she made me fall in love with her characters! Ella and Micha had wonderful chemistry together and I kept reading in hopes they would get through their emotional baggage in order to end up together.

This is definitely a character driven novel. There’s a lot of history between Ella and Micha. Ella has run off after an intense night where they finally started blurring the line between friends and lovers. Although it’s been months with no word from Ella, Micha is still hoping the girl next door will return and they can pick up where they left off.

Ella and Micha’s emotions jump right off the page as you read. Although there’s not a lot of action in the plot, I couldn’t stop reading. I loved the simplicity of the story and how it’s basically about two damaged characters that find refuge with one another. The couple had so many great scenes together. In particular, there’s a shower scene that I couldn’t’ t stop fanning myself after reading.

I loved how Ella returns home to her roots. I was expecting her interactions with the residents of her rundown town to come off as clichéd, but that wasn’t the case. I liked her roommate Lila and I’m hoping to read more about Lila and Micha’s friend Ethan in future books.

Ella has a constant inner battle between her good girl/bad girl sides. I loved when she let her attitude come out! The racing scenes were fun and her trash talk was hysterical. She’s complex and you can’t help but feel for her as she tries to deal with her emotions over her bipolar mother’s death.

Micha drives a hot muscle car and plays in a band. Need I say more? Although he could’ve come off as a one note bad boy, he certainly doesn’t. The novel is told in alternating POVs between him and Ella and I liked seeing inside both of their heads.

Amazing book! I’m so excited that this is a series and I can’t wait until the rest of the novels come out.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book for review!

Note: I prefer the old cover to the new version. I think it fits the edgy nature of the book better than the updated cover.

Old Cover: