REVIEW: The Redemption of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

 Title & Author: The Redemption of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

 SYNOPSIS: (According to my husband, who has NOT read the book —  see how well he listens to my bookish ramblings)

They tell each other their secrets and now they are working to move on.  They have sex… lots of it and I’m pretty sure my wife blushed a few times while reading this.  Callie and Kayden really REALLY like each other.     

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•  THE KISSING –  I think the publisher screwed up the title… The book should probably be called “The SEXUAL ADVENTURES of Callie and Kayden”.
• THE SWOONING -  I wanted to hold Kayden multiple times throughout this book!  He made my heart ache.  He has so much to deal with and can’t handle it, yet he still feels so drawn to Callie and wants to do right by her.  I wanted to jump into the book and rescue him!
• THE SWAGGER –   Hmm.. to be honest I was a little bored.  I love these characters and was so anxious to fall in love with this one just like the last, but it didn’t happen.  There was a ton of down time… Kayden going back and forth with whether or not he should be with Callie…. Callie moping around because Kayden is giving her the cold shoulder and then BAM, lots and lots of sex– everywhere– the beach house, the hotel, the bathtub, almost even the beach, but well.. Kadyen finds that to be quite messy!  Talk about overkill.  What happened to the amazing dialogue and humor?!  Ughhhh….  *rubs eyes*
• THE OH SNAP! –  1.  Therapy  2.  Road Trip  3.  Hot & Heavy Making Out  4.  Shopping on the boardwalk!  5.  The L word!  6.  Redemption  7.  Jaw Dropper Ending
• THE UMMMM WHAT?? –  1.  Callie leaves Kayden a ridiculously long voicemail.  I’m talking like 2 handwritten pages worth of words.  That would not work…. the silly operator would cut her off to let her know that the message was too long.  2.  Kayden uses way too much tongue.  I don’t know how Callie can stand it!  3.  Holy typos!  There was a typo every 10 pages.  WHYYY??
• THE ROCK - Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne  

ENCORE:

This book just didn’t impress me.  I fell in love with these characters in book 1, so I pressed on like a trooper even when I caught myself skimming over pages to get through it.  The beginning was great… it picked up right where it left of in the first book, but then it got stagnant.  50% of the book involved Kayden resisting Callie, and Callie sitting around worrying.  Finally they are on the same page– but instead of the relationship, or at least the non-physical part of the relationship building, the book just started spewing pages and pages of sex.  Believe me, I don’t hate sex.  I love steamy books, but this was too much.  This was a good example of why people complain about New Adult simply being sexed up YA.  The fact that I fell asleep during a sex scene is a red flag!  It really didn’t bring anything more to the story than 1 or 2 scenes would have.  With that said, the book was just okay for me.  If there wasn’t so much time devoted to sex, maybe the ending would have been better.  I would rather have seen more time spent with Kayden’s therapist or Callie talking to her parents.  It ended abruptly and left me questioning if that was really the end of the book?  I feel let down.  Regardless, I will probably still end up reading book 3 because it focuses on Luke and I do want see where his story goes.

RATING: