ARC Review and Tour: The Temptation of Lila and Ethan by Jessica Sorensen

[Sorensen] is able to write about complex emotions in an easy, but realistic manner raising her above her peers. ~ Under the Covers

I have been waiting on pins and needles for this book. So when I got it, I literally dropped everything and began to read. I promised myself just one chapter, but suddenly it was 1 AM in the morning and I had finished that last page.

THE TEMPTATION OF LILA AND ETHAN took a road that I wasn’t expecting. Lila Summers’ life has always been shiny on the outside. She is rich. She is beautiful and she is smart. But inside, she is broken. She doesn’t know who she is and most importantly, she doesn’t know what it’s like to feel love. Her parents are controlling, manipulative and downright mean. When they force her to attend boarding school at the age of fourteen, that’s really where the downslide for Lila begins.

There she gets involved with the wrong people and makes poor decisions. I learned that Lila is a person who craves touch and comfort. She needs it just as she needs air to breathe. Being devoid of it for such a long time, it pushes her to do things she wouldn’t normally allow or do. As a result, it breaks her when those people take advantage of her trust.

There is only one person who cherishes the gift she has given him. Ethan Gregory is the polar opposite of Lila. He is poor, doesn’t care about being liked by society and likes to keep to himself. But there is a draw between Ethan and Lila that makes them friends in the first place. They understand each other and whenever Lila gets into trouble, she turns to Ethan.

Jessica Sorensen is a writer with many talents. Not only is she excellent at getting into the minds of troubled teens, but is she also able to give her characters a myriad of problems that would normally put readers off, but make them so that feel sympathy instead of disgust. She is able to write about complex emotions in an easy, but realistic manner raising her above her peers.

You love them more because they are flawed and broken. And you want them to get better.

Despite the pink, fluffy looking cover, this book is dark. Lila has an addiction that she needs to kick, but before she can get better, she falls. And she falls hard. Ethan is the only one willing to pick up the pieces because he knows just how much she is worth. The cover is so at odds with what’s inside. But I like it. I think people will be surprised by its potency.

Sorensen also reveals what truly happened during that candy cane and red lacy bras scene. I was grinning from ear to ear as I read it, knowing that something naughty was to come. This book felt sexy, but not simply because of the sex between these two, although that’s a big part of it. It’s also the sexual tension between that laces this book. This book is a friends to lovers story with a darker edge to it.

Speaking of friends Ella and Micha make a few appearances in this book. Sorensen gives us updates on their lives. Cue the happy dancing because what happens in this book is exciting for me to read! It does end, however, with a couple of loose ends that will be tied up and wrapped in a bow in THE EVER AFTER OF ELLA AND MICHA, a short story featuring the couple that started it all. I cannot wait!

I have discovered a new brand of addiction. Jessica Sorensen has me pining for my next hit every time I finish one of her books. I devoured this and am now feeling some withdrawals. It’s like a drug. You want more and more and more.

Favorite Quotes:

“I want to let you know that I understand how you’re feeling and that sometimes things do feel all crazy, but it’ll fade.”

 

 

“The way he watches me every time I gasp in pleasure makes me feel beautiful, not filthy; wanted, not used.”

*ARC provided by publisher

FUN FACTS ABOUT THIS BOOK/AUTHOR

1. Music, as always in Jessica’s books, plays a HUGE role in TEMPTATION OF LILA AND ETHAN
2. Jessica’s fans ask for teasers from her new books as soon as she announces they will be coming out!
3. Many of Jessica’s books locations are modeled after her small town growing up. Can you spot which ones?

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   [about-author author=”Jessica Sorensen”]

   

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