Everything Between Us by Mila Ferrera

Published by Mila Ferrera Books on November 5th 2013
ARC from Blog Tour
Purchase on Amazon

Synopsis

Daniel’s got everything figured out. He makes a good living as an artist … mostly through offering “private shows” to the wives of local wealthy businessmen. He never stops playing the game and never lets anyone touch his heart. But when his current fling offers him a few hundred an hour for art lessons for her reclusive, college-dropout daughter, Daniel finds himself forgetting his own rules. The girl is rude. Insulting. Incredible.

And she sees straight through him.

Stella is hiding from the world, not because she wants to, but because crippling panic attacks await her every time she tries to live a normal life. She’s determined to push everyone–including her handsome new art teacher—away. But Daniel makes it utterly impossible. The guy is irritating. Mocking. Magnetic.

And makes her want things she knows she can never have.

What starts as a battle of wills turns into passion, where giving in means facing the things that scare them most.

There are things we never expect to happen. For Stella and Daniel, it was seeing through each other. Daniel saw past the antisocial girl who held back from the world and Stella saw what was underneath the artist who slept around with rich women. But the rich woman Daniel was currently having an affair with was Stella’s mom, who is incidentally the one paying for Stella’s art lessons with Daniel. Talk about complicated.

Weirdly enough, this troublesome plot line was what prompted me to want to read this. I was curious to how things would happen and fall in to place. The story sounded scandalous and I wanted to know more. At the same time, I was scared that this would be too steamy and too climactic, a stereotype of the New Adult genre. Fortunately, it wasn’t. Although it had some elements of the stereotype, I feel that Everything Between Us offers a story unlike others.

“I love the feel of the pages between my fingers, of slipping into a world different from mine. Of sliding into the skin of someone different from me. Anyone different from me.”

The reasons why I liked this book had to do much with the characters. Stella was a strong female lead, in my opinion. Strong in the sense that her personality really developed throughout the story. I liked how we get to see her weaknesses through her thoughts and yet we see how she is much braver than she thinks she is through Daniel’s eyes. Stella’s struggle was portrayed quite realistically. Not that I’ve ever experienced or seen panic attacks first hand but Stella’s voice then felt completely raw and genuine. I felt her fears and I felt the pain that they inflicted on her.

“You’re saying that because you’ve tried really hard, and you’ve felt defeated every time, and that’s exhausting.” Tears start in my eyes before I can stop them.
“That’s exactly what it is. I’m so tired.”

Daniel was also great as a male lead. He had his own issues and while I sometimes couldn’t understand why he always kept people at arm’s length or why he kept putting a mask on, I did understand why he was anxious about people seeing through him. Aside from this, I liked Daniel’s family and friends. I believe the author really did a good job building her characters.

Of course, I won’t forget to mention the romance between Stella and Daniel, which was lovely to watch. I loved how the walls between them were broken down and how their “falling in love” stage unraveled. I honestly didn’t know what to think about Daniel’s relationship with Stella’s mother at first and I still cringe inwardly as I think of it more, but in the end, it felt more like an afterthought because I was already invested in Daniel and Stella’s relationship.

“I’ve never been around anyone who saw me as clearly as you do, who pushed back as hard as you do. You feel whole to me. And I feel whole when I’m with you.”

I really liked Everything Between Us. It was my first time reading anything by Mila Ferrera and she has left a good impression. If you want a heartwarming NA read, give this one a go.