Monday, January 21, 2013

Book Review~The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Kindle Edition, 296 pages
December, 13th 2012 (Indie-Pub)
Purchased

Callie and Kayden are both teenagers who have survived terrible childhood abuse but have both grown up in drastically different ways. Callie having been assaulted as a young girl survived by withdrawing, making herself as ugly as possible and living to just to make it to the day when she could move away from her jerk brother and disappointed parents. College in her mind equals freedom, its a chance to escape what people call her: "the freak, the goth demon girl or the scary anorexic loser". Callie just wants a fresh start because most girls hate her and boys ignore her, shedding the outside skin she personifies is all shes ever wanted, but shedding the inside will not be so easy, deep down is a lost, scared girl trying to deal with the trauma her past inflicted on her.

Kayden has grown up all his life under the fists of his alcoholic father, but the community and all his friends only see the outside: a well to do family, respected pillars and the outrageously good looking quarterback all star son. While Kayden has masked himself in popularity, sports and girls, he really only wants to get out after graduation and break away from the violence that surrounds him everyday. Even with his popularity all of Kayden's pain is hidden, he won't talk to anyone and he certainly cannot share with friends or family what he does to deal with that pain.
 
One night changes everything for Kayden, and that is the night Callie stumbles upon him being beaten by his father. She interrupts the fight, helps Kayden clean up and hurry's just as fast out of his life, until weeks later when they run into each other at the same college. The encounter brings them together and undeniable sparks fly everywhere, considering Callie knows Kayden's secret, she is one of first people he's ever been able to talk to. Callie however will not open up, the memories are so fresh, her trust is so low that every time an emotion escapes her she fights the urge to throw it all up (literally) but she also can't resist Kayden and the overwhelming feelings she has towards him. There has never been a boyfriend and even though college has brought independence and an amazing best friend who helped her find confidence, Callie is afraid to take the next step with Kayden. Fear of rejection and PTSD symptoms from her assault are all working against something she never thought was possible, love. Everything is at the boiling point for our young characters, true love is really happening but Kayden along with Callie is keeping secrets and life will never be the same after the line of no going back gets crossed.

You would think by the cover, this book screams sexy, and while the sexual chemistry and romance is sexy don't let that fool you about this book. While presented in a soft manner, I thought the issues were very dramatic, sad and scary. The circumstances are laced with heavy heartbreak and stomach turning events. Issues like rape, child molestation, physical child abuse and on going issues of cutting, bulimia and self mutilation are never easy subjects to take lightly, and I would be leery of recommending this book to anyone who has suffered or is dealing with an eating or cutting disorder. Outside of the heavy, Callie and Kayden's story was a unique read, the tone was rather light in the face of tragedy, the author focuses on those terrible issues by not sugar coating and making them unimportant, but somehow manages to focus on the couples growing romance and overall personalities giving the reader a story outside of the story. Instead of just reading about a girl who is puking you read about the feelings prior to the puking. Instead of looking at these kids as losers, creeps or messed up broken beings, we see the total control these coping mechanisms have reeked on each of their individual life, without the help they needed we see how untreated trauma grew in them emotionally and mentally.

I liked the time I spent reading this book, I loved that I saw a path of healing and a coming to grips with the issues. I loved the relationships of friends, the significance of trust and watching the characters being able to move past horrific ordeals, however as sexy and lighthearted the author tried make this, its still a hard read, considering the drama was all the possible worst things that kids can go through, rape and abuse are nothing to be entertained by. With the book split between both characters you go from Callie's issues of sexual assault to Kayden's desire of wanting to push his boy parts in her, a truly conflicting experience for the reader. I guess the question to ponder is will you walk away with a unique experience or be entertained by the issues for the sake of a dramatic read?

Rating~

This book is recommended to a mature audience of 18&up and is not suitable for young readers. Contains: violence, child abuse, rape, graphic sexual scenes, strong language  alcohol/drug use, graphic detailed issues concerning cutting, bulimia and anorexia.

4/5- New Adult-Contemporary Romance
Photobucket

9 comments:

  1. Felicia the Geeky BloggerJanuary 21, 2013 at 10:32 AM

    It sounds like a very strong and emotional New Adult read. I have a friend I need to recommend this too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is certainly a strong issues book...but sexy at the same time, it was weird...:)

      Delete
  • Melissas Eclectic BookshelfJanuary 21, 2013 at 10:43 AM

    This sounds like it might be too hard of a read for me...I am such a scaredy cat lately about reading "issues" books. Glad to hear though that there were srong friendships presented and some healing achieved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah its dark issues but a good romance...hard to explain. If issue stuff scares you Id for sure hold off....

      Delete
  • Hmmmm. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book Tina. It sounds really heavy and emotionally intense, but I'm not quite sure how issues as dark as the ones you mentioned can be presented in a sexy and lighthearted way. That confuses me a little. Despite that though, it sounds like we get a lot of character growth, and that's always something I enjoy reading about:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a ton of sexy scenes and lots of growth but it is in the end heavy and the cliffhanger is an absolute killer!!

      Delete

I love comments!! Thanks for taking the time to do so. Warning: Spam and trolls will self destruct.

Currently Reading.....