ARC Review: Lila and Ethan Forever and Always by Jessica Sorensen

Lila & Ethan Forever and Always

(Ella & Micha #4.5)

Author: Jessica Sorensen

Publisher:

Publication Date:

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Source: eARC from publisher via NetGalley

~Synopsis~

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.

~Review~

Lila and Ethan are two of my favorite characters from Jessica and I was really happy to see a novella to put some closure to their story. They are, of course, the side characters to the main show, which is Ella & Micha, but they deserve their happy ever after too.

I feel like Lila & Ethan are finally in a good place. They have both been through a lot and they have immensely helped each other and now they are together. However, Lila still has a lot of fears and insecurities and she needs Ethan to abate them. She isn’t asking to get married or even for a proposal but she needs to know that Ethan sees her in his future. I really liked how much stronger Lila was and even though she was struggling with her fears, she was still super considerate of Ethan’s feelings and didn’t push him or discount his fears.

Ethan loves Lila, that is 100% obvious. He has never wanted to be with someone more than he wants to be with Lila but he is still scared of committing to a future and looking ahead. He is all about the here and now and avoids talking about where things are going farther down the road. Ethan knows he can’t live without Lila but he also still lets his fear of becoming his parents get in the way of making that commitment to her. I struggled to understand how Ethan could love Lila and not want to be without her but still not be able to tell her she was his forever.

I loved that Ethan took Lila on the cross country trip he had planned on doing himself. I felt like that was at least a way to show his feelings for her when he struggled with the words. He is all about independence and no attachments so bringing Lila along really says a lot. I felt like they spent that month of travel solidifying their connection and while Lila struggled with her fear that Ethan would leave her and Ethan struggled with the idea of building a future, they both realized how much they wanted and needed each other for the long haul. All Lila wanted was to know that Ethan wanted her forever and I was so glad he woke up and realized he wanted the same thing. His grand gesture melted my heart!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and found it well developed and great for a novella. Because we are already familiar with Lila and Ethan, this is really just a short extension to their story so it can be short and still pack a hefty punch.

~IPOD Pick~

“Endlessly” by The Cab

PURCHASE LINKS:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE