Title: The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden
Author: Jessica Sorensen
Summary:
There are those who don’t get luck handed to them on a shiny
platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.
Luck was not on Callie’s side the day of her twelfth
birthday when everything was stolen from her. After it’s all over, she locks up
her feelings and vows never to tell anyone what happened. Six years later her
painful past consumes her life and most days it’s a struggle just to breathe.
For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence was
the only way to survive life. As long as he did what he was told, everything
was okay. One night, after making a terrible mistake, it seems like his life
might be over. Luck was on his side, though, when Callie coincidentally is in
the right place at the right time and saves him.
Now he can’t stop thinking about the girl he saw at school,
but never really knew. When he ends up at the same college as Callie, he does
everything he can to try to get to know her. But Callie is reserved and closed
off. The more he tries to be part of her life, the more he realizes Callie
might need to be saved.
Review:
So, I want to start out by saying that Ive read a lot of
Jessica Soresens books, but most recently I read the Secret of Ella and Micha,
which I was not overly impressed with. I suppose my expectations were just too
high bec of how much I liked her other books. So I held off on this one for a
while.
Until a wonderful bloggy friend told me that I should SO
read this, and MAN am I glad I did!
The story is about 2 people (with 2 other supporting people)
Callie is a broken girl. She has been broken since she was only 12, when
someone took advantage of her in the worst way imaginable. This is not
something I take lightly or read about often, especially when she was so young
when it happened. Rape is an inexcusable crime! But since that day in Sixth
grade, Callie had been different. She was anti-social, feared any person of the
opposite sex, and tried to make herself appear heavier and uglier than she was
because she wanted no attention on herself.
This attitude stayed with her even when she finally got out
of that town and went to college. Except, she was trying hard to get over it. To
heal herself. And to be stronger. In this book, you get to witness a lot of growing
on her part.
Then you have Kayden who is also broken. He has been
verbally, emotionally and physically abused his whole life. His father is a drunk,
but he would best him even when he was sober. And things only got worse for
Kayden when his two older brother grew up and moved out, leaving him alone to
bear the wrath of his father.
When he went to college, he was basically dead. He didn’t feel
anything anymore because it was easier to turn all his feelings off. (His
mother was also nonexistent, as she drowned her sorrows in pharmaceuticals and
wine-offering him no safety from his father)
