The Redemption of Callie & Kayden - Jessica Sorensen

I must admit, I am slowly moving Jessica Sorensen up my list of authors I love to read.  I think I have mentioned before that I liked the Fallen Star series, and I have previously made a post about the first book in The Coincidence Series, The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden.  I was at Half Price Books last weekend and found both The Coincidence and The Redemption on sale, so I purchased them, even though I have the Kindle version of the first book.  I like the covers, so they will be nice additions to my collection.

This book begins where The Coincidence left off . . . Kayden in the hospital and Callie falling apart.  The book follows them on their heartbreaking journeys.  Kayden has to deal with the aftermath of what his father has done to him and his inability to believe that anyone could love him.  Callie faces her fears of loving someone and finally doing something about what happened to her on her twelfth birthday.

I think I liked the first book better because I was just getting used to the characters and I was interested to find out what secrets their pasts held.  By the second book, I still loved the characters, but sometimes I wanted to smack them.  I felt like Kayden was unnecessarily pushing Callie away when he knew her and knew she deeply cared about him.  On the other hand, I understood that after everything he had been through, it would be very tough to accept love.  To quote Stephen Chbosky, "we accept the love we think we deserve."  After having such an abusive and unloving home life, Kayden probably didn't think he deserved love.

With that being said, I was frustrated with Callie for pushing him too hard, yet being a hypocrite because she wouldn't face her fears either.  In the end, I decided their frustrating behavior and irrationalities were forgivable.  Who knows what I would do if I was in that situation.  I like both characters and I like Jessica Sorensen's writing style.  I am looking forward to reading the rest of Callie and Kayden's story as well as the story of Violet and Luke, both characters that I really like from this series.

I am also looking forward to Jessica Sorensen's stand alone book coming soon, The Forgotten Girl. This is a mystery-ish novel from what I understand.  After reading so many romancey novels lately, I am going back to supernatural and possibly mystery/horror for a bit.  My emotions need a short break.