The Redemption of Callie & Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Title: The Redemption of Callie & Kayden (The Coincidence #2)

Author: Jessica Sorensen

Publisher: Forever

Release Date: February 11, 2014 (Paperback)

Source: Purchased eBook

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden comes an emotional new story about two troubled souls sharing one all-encompassing love…

The dark secret Kayden has kept hidden for years is finally out. Worse, he's facing charges for battery. The only way to clear his name is for Callie to speak up--something he'll never ask her to do. Instead, he'll do whatever he must to protect her…even if it means letting go of the only girl he's ever loved.

Callie knows Kayden is going back to his dark place and desperately wants to save him. But that means facing her greatest fear and admitting her own painful secrets aloud. The thought of breaking her silence terrifies her--but not as much as the thought of losing Kayden forever.

Deep in her heart, Callie knows the time has come for her and Kayden to forget the pain of the past. With the help of her friends Seth and Luke she makes a plan to show Kayden the life they could have. But can she convince him they can make a fresh start together--or is she already too late?

It looks like I am continuing on with my newfound, mild obsession with New Adult, and so far I'm loving everything I've been reading. Jessica Sorensen's The Redemption of Callie & Kayden was what I hoped it would be, and I loved continuing on with the characters I'd gotten to know in the previous book.

His whole life, Kayden Owens has worked to keep his secret hidden. To everyone else, Kayden was the popular football player, but at home things weren't the same. But now people know what his father has been doing all these years. Except not everyone has the right story. Now the only way for Kayden to make things right is with Callie's help. But the last thing he wants is to ask Callie to do the one thing he was never able to do, speak up. Callie knows she has to help Kayden, but she doesn't know how. THe last thing she wants is to lose Kayden, but it seems like everything she does only ends up pushing him away. With Luke and Seth's help, Callie sets out to show Kayden the life he could have, but will he be willing to do what it takes to live that life?

The first book in this series, The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden, ended on a cliffhanger that left me pretty desperate to know what would happen next. Unfortunately for me, I was on a plan at the time and had no way of getting The Redemption of Callie & Kayden. As soon as I got off the plane, though, I dug my Kindle out of my bad and got myself the next book. Where the first book was more focused on what happened to Callie, this one focused more on Kayden. My heart broke multiple times while reading. There were many times where it hurt to see Kayden struggle with his father's absue and his own self-harm as a result of that abuse. For me, that struggle kept off the page, and once again, the way Jessica Sorensen presented these subjects felt disturbingly real. But more than the pain and struggle present throughout the story, there's also hope and love. In The Redemption of Callie & Kayden, the two titular characters' romance shone through everything else. It was their story and no one else's. Callie and Kayden just needed to realize that their best chance of survival was together, not apart.

Because of the way Jessica Sorensen wrote their story, Callie and Kayden have felt like real people from the start. Once again, my heart broke while reading Callie's story, not just because of what had happened to her but also because of everything that was happening with her and Kayden. This time though, I grew a little frustrated with Kayden at times. I understood where he was coming from, but I just wanted him to stop pushing Callie away and get the help he needed and deserved. But beyond that, seeing Callie and Kayden together warmed my heart and gave me hope. These were two people who had suffered so much and but managed to find each other and start to build something new that would be good for them. And I was happy to see their story get as happy an ending as possible given their circumstances. I'll also say that I was happy to see more of Seth and Luke, but I'm still waiting for them to get their own stories.

Jessica Sorensen's The Redemption of Callie and Kayden was a nice conclusion to Callie and Kayden's story. If you aren't sure if New Adult is for you, Callie and Kayden's story is a good place to start. With these books, you'll get a story filled with pain and struggled, but that also has shining moments of hope throughout it all.

The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Title: The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden (The Coincidence #1)

Author: Jessica Sorensen

Publisher: Forever

Release Date: August 6, 2013

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

For Kayden, suffering in silence was the only way to survive. If he was lucky, he could keep his head down, do as he was told, and make it through the day. But one night it seemed like his luck--and his life--might finally end…until an angel named Callie appeared just in time to rescue him.

Callie has never believed in luck. Not since her twelfth birthday when everything was taken from her. After the worst was over, she locked up her feelings and vowed never to tell anyone what happened. Now, six years later, she continues to struggle with the painful secret that threatens to consume her.

When fate lands Kayden and Callie at the same college, Kayden is determined to get to know the beautiful girl who changed his destiny. Quiet and reserved, Callie still fears letting anyone else into her world. But Kayden is certain that Callie has come back into his life for a reason. And the more he tries to be a part of her life, the more he realizes that, this time, it's Callie who needs to be saved...

If you've been reading my posts for the past month or so then you'll know I've been devouring any and all New Adult books I've been able to get my hands on. It was no different with Jessica Sorensen's The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden. I was hooked right from page one and just tore through the book.

Callie Lawrence has wanted to be invisible since everything was taken from her on her twelfth birthday. And she's succeeded to do it all the way through high school. But as she's about to leave doe college, Callie witnesses something, and for once she can't just be invisible. Stepping in to save Kayden's life, Callie couldn't have predicted that she would be saving herself in the process. Letting Kayden into her life goes against everything Callie believes in, but it might be just what she needs. Because no one can understand her desire to be invisible better than Kayden. 

Maybe it's because New Adult is typically contemporary romance and that's my favourite genre, but it just can't seem to get enough of these stories. Jessica Sorensen's The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden just fuelled that hunger more. I got hooked right from the start. I wanted to know more about what had happened to both Kayden and Callie. I wanted to see if they would be able to come out on the other side. This wasn't a happy story and some parts of it were downright painful to read but that's where some of the story's power ultimately comes from. In this story, Jessica Sorensen tackles some tough subjects in a way that feels disturbingly realistic.  The abuse Kayden suffers and how it affects me completely broke my heart. There were times while I was reading where I just wanted to hurt his father for what he was doing and knock some sense into his mother. The way Callie dealt with her own trauma felt just as realistic and, like with Kayden's pain, Callie's pain just made my heart break at times. 

But it wasn't just a dark story about abuse. The romance between Callie and Kayden was, to sound completely cheesy, beautiful. These were two people who understood each other on a level other people wouldn't be able to understand them. I loved seeing them work together to overcome their past, even if at times they struggled. But their struggle is what added that realistic quality to the story. I was rooting for them the whole way. Even though they sometimes didn't see it, I could see that they were good for each other and they made each other better I more than one way. 

It wasn't just Callie and Kayden's story that felt real, it was the characters themselves. I figured what happened to Callie pretty much ten pages into the books that only made me appreciate her character more. Because I knew what had happened to her, I was able to better understand why she was acting the way she was acting. With Kayden, the reader is told in the first chapter that his father is physically abusive, but as I read, I realized that there was a whole lot more going on with him. And that just broke my heart. But what I appreciated the most about Kayden is that the chapters that were written from his perspective really and truly felt like I was I the mind of an 18 year old guy. That just made Kayden feel that much more real to me. My only wish as far as characters are concerned is that I could see more of Seth and Luke. They both have their own story to tell and while I've been able to get bits and pieces from here and there, it has only served to make me want more. 

I love nothing more than a good contemporary romance with characters that are completely broken. I've said it before and I'll say it again, broken characters make for some of the best and most touching stories. This is exactly what Jessica Sorensen's The Coincidence of Callie & Kaden was. If you choose to read this story, be prepared to be hooked and want the sequel immediately after you finish. At least, that's what happened to me.