Review: Mixed feelings on this one
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2014
**note: this review contains spoilers**I'm having a hard time with this one. I really like Jessica Sorensen and really liked The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden. However, I'm having issues with the fact that everyone in the Coincidence series seems to be seriously messed up - like serious crap happened to these kids while they were growing up. Everyone has their issues and problems - life wouldn't be life without it. But I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that horrible, completely awful, terrible things happened to everyone in this series. Kayden dealing with abuse. Callie dealing with sexual assault. Now we come upon Luke who has a drug addict mom and dead sister, and Violet whose parents were murdered. What are the chances that all of these horrible things would happen to everyone in the same group of friends? Does anyone in this series have a happy childhood?Then you throw in the fact that Luke's mom had a hand in the murder of Violet's parents. It's like, seriously?I will caveat this by saying that I did grow up in middle class America. But it sounds like these guys grew up in the same type of environment. I do have friends that had messed up childhoods but I also have friends that had a great childhood. And I'm just not buying it.On top of all this, the book ends on a cliffhanger. Really? To say I'm sick of authors splitting New Adult novels into two books is a massive understatement. What happened to the days when you could read one romance story in one book? It's really frustrating to me - especially when you don't realize this is book 1 of 2 when you buy the book to begin with. I saw no mention anywhere that this was the first book. It wasn't until after the book came out that we found out this was the first book in Violet and Luke's story. SighNow that I've gotten that off my chest, there were a few things I liked about this despite my complaints above. I love the way Sorensen writes. I was kept engaged the entire time and wanted to know what happened next. She did a great job with the dual POV.I also loved that it wasn't instalove between Violet and Luke. Yes, their relationship is intense, but they were not proclaiming their undying love for each other within days of hanging out. Points to Sorensen for that.Along with this, I also enjoyed Violet and Luke. Sure, they were slightly depressing and a little psychotic. But I also found them strong, likeable and unwilling to take anyone’s crap. I was rooting for them the entire time to rise above and finally find peace and happiness. While that didn’t happen in this first book, I’m looking forward to them finding their happy ending in book two. And yes, I probably will read book two even given my complaints above. At the end of the day, I am a big Jessica Sorensen fan and look forward to what book two holds in the continuation of Violet and Luke’s story.