The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden (Coincidence, #1)

by Jessica Sorensen

[Leah]

Just a couple of weeks ago I read Jessica Sorensen’s fabulous novel The Secret of Ella and Micha. I LOVED it. So, so much. It was totally amazing and afterwards I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and I desperately wanted to read more from Sorensen. So when the email came through from Netgalley saying the publisher had accepted my request to read Jessica’s novel The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden I nearly died. I was so excited. I stopped the book I was reading (I was only a chapter in, to be fair) and immediately started The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden, because I knew that by hook or by crook I’d finish it before I went to sleep. I knew it with a certaintly like no other. And I did. And I nearly died again because oh my God, what an ending to a novel. For the record, that shouldn’t be allowed and there’s a massive part of me that would like to slap Jessica Sorensen for doing that to me, because it’s CRUEL.

But, first, The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden is about (believe it or not) Callie and Kayden. Callie’s life fell apart the day of her twelfth birthday and since then she’s been living a half-life, with everyone around her treating her as if she’s not normal. Kayden has suffered at the hands of someone who really shouldn’t make you suffer that way, and he knows the only way is to keep quiet, for fear of what may happen if he speaks up. Callie and Kayden’s lives collide one night when Callie does the unthinkable and steps in when she sees what’s happening to Kayden and when they end up at the same college, Kayden knows he needs to thank the girl who saved his life. Callie and Kayden both see college as redemption, as a way to forget their past and when they find themselves attracted to each other, it seems as if it’s fate… But can they outrun their demons?

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden is amazing. Utterly amazing. I have never met two such damaged characters, and Callie and Kayden are damaged, so damaged, in the worst way possible, but I really liked how they both let each other in, even though it was ridiculously hard at first, especially for Callie. Despite their pain, despite their issues (which are plentiful and there is sooooooo much left unexplored) I felt hope for them both. Hope that they could (and can) help each other get to a better place, somewhere where the people in their past can’t defeat them. The people who hurt them don’t deserve to win, and I found their attraction and their spark to help sort of beat that, and I loved it. The novel is hard to read at times, as Callie and Kayden separately remember bits of their past that are really, really bad. But the hope was what kept me reading, because I’m a big believer that love can conquer (most) evils in the world.

Let’s talk about the ending now. Which I won’t spoil, but I will say, if you’re thinking of reading The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden I suggest you wait until its sequel The Redemption of Callie and Kayden is released (in August). You’ll thank me, because if I’d have known the book ended the way it ended (leaving me open-mouthed in shock that I had indeed got to 100% on my Kindle and it wasn’t malfunctioning) I’d have waited to read the book. I hate endings like that, so much because they absolutely suck if the next book in the series isn’t out. Consider yourself warned. I’m hoping that in The Redemption of Callie and Kayden, we’ll see Callie and Kayden open up more, take their relationship further, perhaps even tell each other about their lives and what happened to them. I’d also really love to see more of Seth and Luke. Me thinks there’s more to BOTH of those characters than meets the eye, and although it’s inferred to as to why Seth was treated the way he was I think more is needed, I want to know that something happened to the people that did that to him because it made me feel sick. I also think there’s more to Luke than meets the eye, for sure. I was actually convinced of something else about Luke, but that didn’t occur. There’s a lot more to Callie and Kayden’s story, and a lot more to the characters around them, too and I can’t wait for August to continue reading about them. This was an amazing novel, and one you should definitely read (but, like I said, wait for the sequel first).