The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

The Secret of Ella and Micha
Series: The Secret of Ella and Micha #1
Publisher: Sphere
Publication Date: April 11th 2013
Source: Bought

"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. And he's determined to win back the girl he lost, no matter what it takes.

I've been a massive fan of new adult novels since the start of the year, and this was one that I kept seeing around. I'd picked it up in Tesco ages ago and since I was on a contemporary kick I just decided to pick this one up. I have to say, while it wasn't my favourite new adult book ever, it was still an enjoyable read. I did have some problems with the characters and the writing style, but overall, I enjoyed it.

The story follows our characters Ella and Micha who were childhood best friends until something happens one night and Ella escapes to start college and leaves everything behind. But it's summer bow so Ella is heading home. She has to go back and face everything she left and try to keep her walls up. But Micha is making it his mission to get back the Ella that he knows and loves.

Ella was an interesting character. She's built up walls to protect herself from everything that happened in her past and led to the events of one night that changed her life. I was very intrigued to find out about that night and everything else about Ella's life that's caused her so much pain. She struggled with her feelings and tried to keep everything buried and pretend to be someone else. She was a very likable character and as the book went on, I started liking her more and more.

I adored Micha. He was so sweet and caring. He'd been so worried about Ella that he'd been trying to track her down since she left (which is kind of stalkery, but he loves her so it's alright). He knows how to read Ella and get under her skin. Micha is determined to bring back the old Ella, the one he fell in love with. Micha could be a bit overbearing and determined sometimes, and there were times that I wished he could have just backed off and let Elle rediscover herself in her own time.

I really enjoyed the storyline. I was intrigued to learn about Ella's life so when we discovered everything she'd been through and what her family was like I was pretty shocked. It such a short space of time Ella has been through so much and Micha was always there with her. It helped me understand how close they were. Ella was scared of her feelings for Micha and refused to admit them for quite some time. 
I also really enjoyed learning about Micha's life. He's had a hard life because his father walked out and started a brand new family and wanted nothing to do with Micha or his mother. So Micha holds a lot of resentment for his father. 

Micha and Ella are both thrill junkies and they ended up doing a bit of racing in this book. It was enjoyable to read about but also quite scary because they were going so fast that they could have been killed at any point.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It wasn't my favourite new adult novel, but it wasn't the worst. It was just missing the spark for me, but I still enjoyed it.