The Forever of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

                                                      

I really enjoyed the first installment of this series...  The Secret of Ella and Micha... and was really excited to be able to read an ARC of the second book.  For me, the second book did not have the same magic of the first so I'm giving this one a 3.5 rating. 
You know how everyone has their own little fetishes that just gives them goosebumps and makes them smile?  And then there are those "little" things that give you goosebumps for a totally different reason and make you cringe??  Well, for me it's piercings...  especially if they are in places that you might be putting your mouth.  The whole idea of it puts me into a germaphobic panic! So, that is the number one reason that I truly could not stomach the intimacy in this book.  Micha is always sucking on his lip piercing and Ella is always doing the same. If it had been mentioned only a couple of times it wouldn't have bugged me but it happens quite a lot.  I'm pointing this out mainly because if you LIKE this sort of thing then you will probably like this book more than I did. 
In book one we saw Ella and Micha kind of evolve to a point where they had decided to cross that threshold of being friends to becoming a couple.  I guess I had expected that book two would continue this evolution and we would move into a slow building passion filled romance. But what actually happened was they regressed backwards.  So, we have the same drama and the same story as book one with them trying to just be friends and Ella living in denial of her true feelings.  Ella becomes this highly annoying individual who plays around with Micha's heart and emotions.  Micha just continues to accept Ella and her roller coaster personality because he loves her.  I felt bad for Micha because it's not easy being in love with someone who is struggling with depression and he is a pretty great guy for putting up with it.  So, kudos to Micha for always being there for his girl but a big thumbs down for Ella.  It's never okay to dump on the people you love most and some of the things she did just kind of crossed that line of...  completely not okay! I get that she feels she is broken and damaged but surely we had crossed that threshold of trust for her guy by the end of book one.  I felt like it was a huge slap in his face.   
The story begins to redeem itself the last 25% and we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel...  again.  And, it ended really, really well. It actually kind of took me by surprise. I was going to give this a two rating but then there was an emotional scene at the end that made me bawl like a baby.  Touched a personal heart string...  So, because I loved how it ended I had to take the rating up a notch. 
So, great beginning...  an annoying roller coaster middle... but a pretty good ending.  So, even though I didn't love it due to my germaphobic tendencies and my dislike of Ella... I'm pretty sure most other Ella and Micha fans will probably enjoy this second installment.  I will not continue with this series if there is more to come... not unless Micha gets rid of that ding dang lip piercing! 

K~