Showing posts with label The Secret. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Secret. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Unraveling You - Review

Unraveling You (Unraveling You, # 1)

By: Jessica Sorensen

Published: November 25th 2014 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

252 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library (currently free on Amazon)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Lyric Scott has always had a good life. Outgoing, spunky, and musically talented, she’s constantly surrounded by family and friends, yet she still feels there’s something missing.

Then she meets her new next-door neighbor Ayden Gregory. Mysterious, sweet, and sad, Ayden is the exact opposite of Lyric and exactly what she needs to fill the void in her life.

Ayden has been through more than most people and believes his life is always going to be rocky, so when he’s suddenly adopted by the Gregorys, he’s thrown for a turn. But even with a new, loving family, he still finds himself haunted by the memories of his old life. The only true breath of fresh air is when he’s with his best friend, Lyric Scott.

As Lyric and Ayden grow closer, the lines of their friendship start to blur. But when Ayden's past unexpectedly pushes its way into his new life, their friendship and newfound attraction will be tested.

**A novel about Ella and Micha's daughter and Lila and Ethan's son from The Secret Series. However, this series can be read on its own.**

I wasn’t sure about Unraveling You based off the initial cover releases. I think most bloggers/avid readers would admit that they don’t follow the whole "never judge a book by its cover" thing. But seriously, all those covers said to me was “sex.” So I put off even looking into the books. Well…then they did a cover redesign and I didn’t even realize that I was looking at the description for the same book. This time, I was drawn in by the fact that Unraveling You is a story about Lyric, the daughter of Ella and Micha, and Ayden, the newly adopted son of Lila and Ethan from The Secret of Ella and Micha. That was totally intriguing. And so I got Unraveling You when it was on sale as a freebie. Randomly I got the vibe that now was the right time for me to read this specific book, and so I picked it up.

Lyric is….verbal. She takes after her dad, Micha, in the music department. She plays guitar, violin, and drums. Plus she sings—although she has major performance anxiety. Lyric’s favorite aspect of music is songwriting, but she finds that her lyrics tend toward happy and popish because she feels like she just hasn’t had the life experiences necessary to write really heartfelt and moving songs. She’s typically upbeat and tends to be friends with everyone. Because her parents are so close with the next door neighbors, Lyric takes on the task of befriending the newest addition to the Gregory family.

The description makes it seem like Ayden’s been next door all along, but he is only recently moving in. Ayden is the complete opposite of Lyric. He’s quiet, shy, and doesn’t necessarily make friends easily. He’s been through so much in his past that making friends is a desire deep in his heart, but it’s one that he’s too afraid to hope for. So when Lyric announces that she’ll be his friend and she’s got his back he doesn’t really know what to think or how to feel. He quickly learns that Lyric gives him reason to hope and makes life a bit more bearable.

Even though she doesn’t know him well, Lyric can see the obvious pain and sadness in Ayden’s life and she makes it her personal mission to make him smile more often. The two grow closer and become very dependent upon one another. Their relationship isn’t completely unlike her parents’, Ella and Micha. Eventually, Lyric and Ayden become best friends. But a few moments between them show them both that attraction complicates all good friendships. And this is exactly why I find the initial covers for this series so bizarre. Not only is there no sex between Lyric and Ayden, but things barely get heated at all. They have tension, sure, but the action just isn’t there. Now, I do expect that to change somewhere in the future of the series, but at this point the initial cover for Unraveling You doesn’t fit the story at all.

One thing that complicates matters, specifically Lyric and Ayden’s mutual attraction, is that Ayden has some missing memories from his past that he’s terrified to remember. He fears that remembering will break him. But one thing’s certain: when Lyric touches him in any kind of intimate way, it strikes a memory and the feeling of touch being unwanted leading Ayden to believe that he’s potentially been sexually assaulted in the past. He knows that he’s going to have to deal with his past eventually, especially if he wants to move forward with Lyric, but he also doesn’t know if he can.

Unraveling You really felt like it ended at such an awkward point to me. There was no resolution at all, yet I can’t even say that it ended on a cliffhanger exactly either. It was kind of odd truthfully. But I will say that the ending of Unraveling You being where it was sparked me to go ahead and pick up book 2, Raveling You, up immediately.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Unraveling You. The things I was initially worried about weren’t even an issue at all. The redesigned covers make much more sense for the actual story. Lyric and Ayden were both likeable characters, easy to connect with. And I’m still so curious about what’s happened to Ayden in his past and whether he can move forward or not. Unraveling You gets 4 Stars. Have you read Unraveling You? What did you think? Let me know!

Monday, March 3, 2014

Lila and Ethan: Always and Forever - Review

Lila & Ethan: Always & Forever (The Secret, # 4.5)

By: Jessica Sorensen

Published: December 24th 2013 by Forever Yours (Hachette)

87 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate link. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ella and Micha series comes a story of love, risks, and rewards . . .

Lila Summers just wants to know one thing for certain: that Ethan Gregory will be with her always. Once her friend, he's become so much more, melting the pain of her past away with each kiss. Now Lila is on a road trip with Ethan, in the wilderness under the stars, and she can't imagine her life without him. But when she talks about the future, something in Ethan changes . . .

Ethan has no doubts about his feelings for Lila. His life with her gets better every day-and that's the scary part. How can he walk into a future where he has everything to lose? With Lila, his whole heart is on the line for the very first time. But if Ethan can't give her the promise she needs, his greatest fear might come true: he'll lose Lila for good.

This was a really short novella so I’m not sure how much I’m going to have to say about it. The Temptation of Lila and Ethan has been probably my favorite Jessica Sorensen book to date. And so since I’ve enjoyed Lila and Ethan so much, I really wanted to read this to see how their relationship in the wilderness progresses. Overall, I enjoyed this read during the process. It was quick and easy to get through. But looking back on it, I don’t feel as if it has as much substance as I’d like.

I really related to Lila’s insecurities about her relationship with Ethan. She’s almost afraid that she feels more for him than he feels for her. When you feel that intensely for someone there’s always a lingering fear of getting hurt. The power of your emotions hurt already—you know the saying “I love you so much it hurts.” So if you feel that way already, you know that if you lose it your pain will be so much more. Lila isn’t asking for Ethan to propose like Micha did to Ella, but she does want to know that Ethan sees a future for them. That when he pictures the future, he sees them together. I’ve totally been there. I know what it feels like to have each moment colored with worry. You know you should be enjoying yourself in the moment, but you can’t seem to fully let go until you have some reassurances.

Ethan goes from cold to hot and back again. His part is the confusing part for me looking back on this novella. While he seems at first so unable to commit to a future with Lila, the switch flips so abruptly. His solution is in some ways common, yet almost feels entirely too intimate for him to have been having the hang ups he was having just before. It’s almost too extreme.

It felt to me like the pacing wasn’t quite right for a novella. That maybe Jessica Sorensen was in full-fledge novel mode so that Ethan’s resistance to the ideas Lila presents him would need time to wear him down and give him time to think through his own thoughts. Instead because of the length of this story, it’s like a switch is flipped, and all of a sudden, instead of the build-up and climax, we’ve skipped to the resolution entirely too quickly.

At the same time, I was reading an e-galley version of this novella, which means that while this story was 87 pages, I was at exactly the 50% mark whenever I finished the story. That means there was approximately 87ish pages of extra stuff after the story. You know what I mean. “Read the 1st chapter of X book” and then another “Read the first chapter of Y book” and then “You might also enjoy these other 97 novels” type of thing. While I definitely appreciate the marketing strategy behind this, it was a bit annoying to find that 50% of the ebook was advertisement for other books. I don’t mind some of that, as a matter of fact, often I find other books to add to my TBR list this way—which is why publishers do it for—but at the same time, because of the size of the novella, it was more annoying than anything. One or two “you might also like”s would have been fine, but again, too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. Plus I don’t like to be too far off on how much to expect left in my book. So if you read the ebook version of this novella, you might want to keep this in mind.

All in all, Lila and Ethan: Always and Forever gets 3 Stars from me. Have you read it? What did you think? Let me know!

Monday, February 24, 2014

The Ever After of Ella and Micha - Review

The Ever After of Ella and Micha (The Secret, # 3.5)

By: Jessica Sorsensen

Published: December 3rd 2013 by Forever

272 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Borrowed from my Holly @ Words Fueled by Love

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Temptation of Lila and Ethan comes a story of change, hope, and unbreakable vows.

The day Ella has waited for is just around the corner. It's the day she'll marry Micha, the love of her life, the light that guided her out of the darkness. It looks like it will be the perfect Christmas-until an unexpected package arrives with a harsh reminder of Ella's past. Suddenly Ella doesn't feel as confident about her future. Can she really have a "happily-ever-after" if she's never even seen one?

Micha will stand by Ella no matter what she's going through-though he worries that she might leave him standing at the altar again. When he's offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour with his favorite bands for three months, Micha knows he can't leave Ella behind. But can he ask her to uproot her life to join him on the road?

Now Ella and Micha must find a way to balance their fears, their dreams, and their love . . . if they ever want to hear wedding bells.

I’m starting to kind of feel like too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. Thankfully I believe Jessica Sorensen is done with this series, but I was beginning to feel like it was being drawn out for no real reason. It really caught me off guard when reading The Temptation of Lila and Ethan that Ella pulls a no-show for the wedding. Obviously that was really just set up for this book, but it felt completely out of the blue to me.

Truthfully, Ella has been an increasing struggle for me with each book that I've read in this series. I totally enjoyed reading about her in The Secret of Ella and Micha, but since then she’s slowly been building up to annoying. I get that her past experience has always been to run, but I just felt more and more like she was overreacting. Micha in contrast has become more and more stable. In his own way, he’s pretty much always been the rock in their relationship. He’s had his own demons to conquer, sure, but mostly, he’s just there for Ella. Always. He’s careful not to spook her into running for the hills, especially since standing him up at the alter.

It almost felt like there was no real conflict to this book. Even though Ella constantly battles her fears, her desire to run isn’t away from Micha for the most part. She’s confident in her feelings for him and her desire to marry him. But other things are always in her periphery that spook her. I guess the true battle for Ella, and this book, still involves dealing with her mother’s life and death. Sure that’s kind of a real life thing. Unlike books, resolution doesn’t always come swiftly and finally. Real life bangs us over the head time and time again, and our pasts continually haunt us. However, it felt to me that this should have mostly been resolved in The Forever of Ella and Micha.

In some ways, I feel like my review is coming off more negative than I intend. I did enjoy The Ever After of Ella and Micha, and I’m thankful that they have their happy ending once and for all. But at the same time, I had minor frustrations with this one. Ultimately, it was a good ending to the series, and I’m thankful that I can put it to rest as resolved and be satisfied with the ending. The Ever After of Ella and Micha gets 3.5 Stars from me. Have you read The Ever After of Ella and Micha? What did you think? Let me know!

Friday, February 21, 2014

The Temptation of Lila & Ethan - Review

The Temptation of Lila and Ethan (The Secret, # 3)

By: Jessica Sorensen

Published: October 22nd 2013 by Forever

336 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ella and Micha series comes a gripping story of passion, pain, and the courage to love . . .

THE TEMPTATION OF LILA AND ETHAN

On the surface, Lila Summers is flawless: good looks, expensive clothes, and a big, beautiful smile. But a dark past and even darker secrets are threatening to bubble over her perfect façade. She'll do anything to keep the emptiness inside hidden-which leads her into situations that always end badly. Whenever she hits bottom, there's only one person who's there to pull her out: Ethan Gregory.

Ethan set the rules a long time ago: he and Lila are just friends. He doesn't do relationships. Although his tattooed, bad boy exterior is a far cry from Lila's pretty princess image, Ethan can't deny they have a deeper connection than he's used to. If he's not careful, he could be in serious danger of becoming attached-and he's learned the hard way that attachment only leads to heartbreak.

When Lila falls farther than she ever has before, can Ethan continue to help as a friend? Or is he also getting close to falling . . . for her?

I’ve read 8 books by Jessica Sorensen (The Secret of Ella & Micha, The Forever of Ella & Micha, The Tempation of Lila & Ethan, The Ever After of Ella & Micha, The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden, The Redemption of Callie & Kayden, The Destiny of Violet & Luke, and Breaking Nova) at the time of writing this review. So far I’ve seen a lot of repetitive themes with Jessica Sorsensen’s writing. And that’s been probably my biggest complaint to-date. However, The Temptation of Lila & Ethan might be my favorite one so far. It’s possible that’s because this one was a little different. But it’s possible that it was just better than the others. I’m not 100% sure.

The main difference that I noticed between The Temptation of Lila & Ethan and all of the other books that I’ve read by Jessica Sorensen was that while Ethan definitely has kind of a troubled past (her characters usually do), he’s basically worked past most of them by the time we get to The Temptation of Lila & Ethan (or so it seems anyway). Normally both of the leading characters in Jessica Sorsensen’s books have major problems. And expanding past that is the pattern of one character making decent progress with their issues in the first book, and the second book in the series focusing more on the healing of the other main character. By the end of the 2nd book both characters are in a much better place than when we started. And while The Temptation of Lila & Ethan is the 3rd book in The Secret series, this is really the first book of Lila and Ethan’s story so I expected the story to follow Jessica Sorsensen’s previously established pattern. But that really wasn’t the case. Ethan has his struggles that influence him because of his past, but he isn’t really weighed down by them and he’s in a much healthier place than most of Jessica Sorsensen’s other characters.

As I’ve said, Ethan has his troubled past, and he still has struggles to deal with because of that past, but he isn’t weighed down by them. Ethan is a great character. Probably my favorite male lead of all of this author’s books. He’s a good guy through and through even though he would debate that very fact. Ethan repeatedly makes good decisions. And the times when he makes a bad one, he’s able to make a course correction before he actually does any damage and goes through with his bad choices. Ethan is a rock. And he’s used his troubled past to make himself stronger and to be more willing to help others—specifically Lila.

Speaking of Lila, I was a fan. I mean she does have more of a victim mentality than Ethan does, but I can completely see how she got to the place where she is. Her story and her emotions are completely believable if only a little extreme. While it does take help from Lila to dig out of the hole she finds herself in, who among us all can say they’ve never needed help from someone else? Lila borrows Ethan’s strength until she has some of her own, and I loved seeing her work through her darker issues and work her way into the light.

I do wish that Ella and Micha were a bit more present in this story. The appearances they do make really felt to me like the only real purpose was for establishing an interest and creating intrigue for the reader to keep pressing forward in the series and pick up The Ever After of Ella and Micha which released in December 2013. While I have no problems with this, it was just something that I noted, wrinkled my nose at, and then moved on. By the time this review goes live, I will have already read The Ever After of Ella and Micha. And the novella concerning Lila and Ethan, (Lila and Ethan: Always and Forever) I’m all over it as well.

The Temptation of Lila & Ethan gets 4.5 Stars from me. Have you read The Temptation of Lila & Ethan? If so, what did you think? Let me know!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Waiting on The Ever After of Ella & Micha

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Ever After of Ella and Micha (The Secret, # 3.5)

By: Jessica Sorsensen

Expected Publication: December 3rd 2013

272 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Temptation of Lila and Ethan comes a story of change, hope, and unbreakable vows.

The day Ella has waited for is just around the corner. It's the day she'll marry Micha, the love of her life, the light that guided her out of the darkness. It looks like it will be the perfect Christmas-until an unexpected package arrives with a harsh reminder of Ella's past. Suddenly Ella doesn't feel as confident about her future. Can she really have a "happily-ever-after" if she's never even seen one?

Micha will stand by Ella no matter what she's going through-though he worries that she might leave him standing at the altar again. When he's offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour with his favorite bands for three months, Micha knows he can't leave Ella behind. But can he ask her to uproot her life to join him on the road?

Now Ella and Micha must find a way to balance their fears, their dreams, and their love . . . if they ever want to hear wedding bells.

What are you waiting on this week? Let me know!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Waiting on The Temptation of Lila and Ethan

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Temptation of Lila and Ethan (The Secret, # 3)

By: Jessica Sorensen

Expected Publication: October 22nd 2013 by Forever

336 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ella and Micha series comes a gripping story of passion, pain, and the courage to love . . .

THE TEMPTATION OF LILA AND ETHAN

On the surface, Lila Summers is flawless: good looks, expensive clothes, and a big, beautiful smile. But a dark past and even darker secrets are threatening to bubble over her perfect façade. She'll do anything to keep the emptiness inside hidden-which leads her into situations that always end badly. Whenever she hits bottom, there's only one person who's there to pull her out: Ethan Gregory.

Ethan set the rules a long time ago: he and Lila are just friends. He doesn't do relationships. Although his tattooed, bad boy exterior is a far cry from Lila's pretty princess image, Ethan can't deny they have a deeper connection than he's used to. If he's not careful, he could be in serious danger of becoming attached-and he's learned the hard way that attachment only leads to heartbreak.

When Lila falls farther than she ever has before, can Ethan continue to help as a friend? Or is he also getting close to falling . . . for her?

What are you waiting on this week? Let me know!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Top Ten Fall 2013 TBR List

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Fall 2013 TBR List.

I could have sworn I had this typed up and prepared already, but since I can't find it anywhere...here's my second list which may be entirely different from the first list that I did. Who knows? (In no particular order...)

    1) The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines, # 4) by Richelle Mead
    2) These Broken Stars (Starbound, # 1) by Amie Kaufman
    3) This is How I Find Her by Sara Polsky
    4) Witchstruck (The Tudor Witch Trilogy, # 1) by Victoria Lamb
    5) Countdown by Michelle Rowen
    6) The Temptation of Lila and Ethan (The Secret, # 3) by Jessica Sorensen
    7) Allegiant (Divergent, # 3) by Veronica Roth
    8) Passion (Fallen, # 3) by Lauren Kate
    9) Zombie Fallout (Zombie Fallout, # 1) by Mark Tufo
    10) A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R R Martin
    11) Origin (Lux, # 4) by Jennifer L Armentrout
    12) Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits, # 3) by Katie McGarry

What's on your fall TBR list? Let me know!