Review: A NA romance that goes in a different direction and one that I won't forget anytime soon.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 12, 2013
I have heard nothing but great things about Mila's books, so when I saw this tour opportunity arise, I couldn't resist signing up to see what all the buzz was about. And boy am I glad I did! (I'm even more excited because I have Spiral, another NA of hers sitting on my Kindle and I will be picking up Only Between Us very soon!) I am such a huge NA fan as most of you know and I have read quite a few, so I am especially appreciative of those who really go in a different direction and make their story unique for me. Everything Between Us does just that. It definitely won't be one I will be forgetting any time soon.The story is told from both Daniel and Stella's POV's, which I of course, loved. I don't know that I would have been able to reconcile what Daniel did had we not gotten his point of view. Through his eyes we get to see his reasons behind the choices he made, but most importantly we get to see his struggle with his choices after meeting Stella. I really loved Daniel. At first I was afraid I wouldn't because I was a little disturbed by the fact that he was rather engaged with the future love interest's mother. Daniel is an artist, but he ends up making most of his money by keeping wealthy housewives entertained. This is actually how he meets Stella. She is the daughter of one of the women he is having entanglements with and when he first meets her by accident while leaving, his curiosity has been piqued. I felt for Daniel. He does not let people see the real him and yet the more time he spends with Stella, as her mother has hired him to give her art lessons, the more she seems to see right through his faade and see him for who he really is. And that scares the shit out of him. He's so afraid of not being good enough and fears that he won't be good enough for Stella. Daniel is also a good person through and through. He loves his family and would do anything for them and I'm glad we got to see some of that interaction, especially with his mother. He wants to be there for Stella and help her fight through her anxiety, yet every time she pushes him away he takes it so personally and it really wounds him. He doesn't understand that it's not him, but that she wants to get better on her own and not use him as crutch. She wants to be strong with him, not because of him.Oh, Stella. I cannot even fathom what she went through. She has hidden herself from the world- not by choice. She desperately longs to go out and have a normal life, yet her panic attacks stop her from venturing out and living her life like she should. She is miserable at home, but too afraid to go out. She is tired of her parents lecturing her about going back to school, as well as of her mother's threats to hospitalize her. She does not think very highly of Daniel when she first meets him. She knows what he's been doing with her mother and when he shows up for art lessons, she is quite resentful that he's there. However, Daniel keeps showing up and bit by bit she finds herself letting him in. The two certainly go back and forth in the beginning. Daniel showing up at her house while her parents are out of town and in the middle of a big storm is the turning point for them. They are forced to acknowledge their attraction for one another, but both are so ruled by their own insecurities that things get misconstrued and it's the things left unsaid that really threaten to shatter their newfound camaraderie apart. I am really proud of the decisions Stella made however when it came to her own recovery. It wasn't an easy road to take, but it was one she knew she had to travel if she wanted any kind of normal life or future with Daniel. That first initial step to stake her claim on him was absolutely awesome and I was so glad that he got the message of what she was trying to do despite what happened afterwards. Stella is inexperienced with men and Daniel sees that and his patience with her is really sweet. He knows he has to take things slow with her because he doesn't want to risk sending her into a panic attack. He is attentive, caring, and I seriously melted reading their scenes together.Daniel and Stella are both come to a crossroads. Stella has to take control of her own recovery and no one can do it but her. She wants to be independent and not have anyone to fall back on. She is determined to fight through so she can obtain the end results she wants. It's not just her own recovery she's fighting to take control of- but her life. She can let her parents also continue to dictate her life or she can take a stand. Daniel must decide if pursuing a relationship with Stella is the best course of action. Yet before he can, he has to acknowledge his own self-worth and decide if Stella is worth waiting for and if he can continue with just working as an artist and not pimping himself out to desperate housewives.I really loved reading about Caleb and Romy and I can't wait to read their story in Only Between Us. They were great friends to both Daniel and Stella and I'm glad Ferrera included them in this book. I couldn't stand Stella's mother, Liza, for obvious reasons. She was controlling and manipulative of both Daniel and Stella and I was ready for both of them to say the hell with her.This book was so much more than I thought it would be. We see two people's journeys to finding themselves as well as their own inner strength to fight for what they want and make their future their own.