Book Review: The Redemption of Callie and Kayden (The Coincidence #2) by Jessica Sorensen

Summary: 

The dark secret Kayden has kept hidden for years is out. Worse, he's facing charges for battery. The only way he stands a chance against the charges is if Callie speaks up, something he'll never ask her to do.

Callie knows Kayden is going back to his dark place and desperately wants to save him. But saving him means admitting her secrets aloud. Callie and Kayden are stronger than they think, especially when they're together. Together they move forward, face their demons, and finally start to heal from their traumatic pasts.

Release Date: July 30, 2013

Age Group: New Adult

Source: Purchased

Review:

I liked The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden and anxiously awaited the sequel.  I could not believe the way Jessica Sorensen left us hanging at the end of book one!  

I am happy that I got to read about the resolution to Callie and Kayden's problems.  I liked the book on the whole, but I did have some issues with it.  First, my copy (I bought the Kindle version on Amazon) had quite a few grammatical errors.  There were instances of the wrong word used (example: "passed" instead of "past"), lack or misuse of punctuation, and other times where a word was left out of a sentence.  All of these mistakes really distracted from the content of the book for me.

I usually love alternating points of view.  I like knowing how each character views events.  But, in this case, the story would backtrack from chapter to chapter, retelling events from either Callie or Kayden's point of view.  This slowed the book down and made it feel a little cumbersome.  Kayden was too hot-and-cold with Callie for my tastes.  I hate it when characters stupidly push each other away, and there was a lot of that going on in this book.

The Coincidence series is not an easy series to read.  Sorensen deals with heavy subjects: rape, suicide, physical abuse and addiction.  I like books that have some weight to them, but this series has felt pretty emotionally heavy at times.  It is definitely not a light-hearted, feel-good read.  Just take that into consideration before starting the series.

I was pleased with how the love story ended, although the ending felt abrupt to me.  I kept wishing for a little bit more happiness to end things on a really high note.  But, that would have probably felt inauthentic.  

I know I have a lot of complaints, but I did like The Redemption of Callie and Kayden.  It was not a personal favorite of mine, but I would still recommend it to fans of contemporary NA fiction.