The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

The book I am currently reading by Jessica Sorenson is, "The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden". In the book, Callie is a social outcast. Ever since one of her birthday parties, she hasn't had any friends. She cut her hair and made herself look as unattractive as possible. The author has yet to reveal what happened that one night, but I can only assume it was horrific. Now in the present, she goes to a party to pick up her brother. She was forced to go into the house and retrieve her brother. As she's looking around for him she sees two figures fighting in the backyard. She recognizes them as one of her father’s football players, and the players dad. The dad starts yelling and punching the son. The kid falls onto the ground bruised badly. Callie runs over and asks if everything is alright. The dad says "Yeah, just a misunderstanding", and goes into the house to get even drunker than he already is. Callie runs over to Kayden and bandages him up. He won't tell her anything about what happened so she leaves him. It's the first day of college and Kayden sees her: Callie. The girl who saved his life and she didn't even know. I predict that Kayden will go up to her and try to befriend her. She most likely will ignore him and say anyone would have saved him. She hasn't liked attention since that night at her party. She probably hates that one of the most popular kids has taken an interest in her. I also predict that her father or brother had done something abusive to her at her party. They refer to the person as "him". She probably tries to look ugly so they won't want to do it to her again. This relates to the world because, "More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator in some way." This is why it could be someone in her family. This also relates to the book "Lovely Bones", because in that the girl is sexually abused by her neighbor and then killed. I am lucky that I haven't had to deal with any of these experiences. I have read lots of books where the main character is trying to move on and forget about it. I think that's what Callie is trying to do.

http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics

Book Recommendations

I recomommend a book by Jennifer Smith, The Statistics of Love at First Sight. It was a 7/10. This book is for anyone who likes shortand sappy books about love and romance. It's very short in length so it's considered a short story. It won't take you longer than a couple hours or less to read. I like it because the girl in the book, Hadley, was described as a strong girl who didn't like her dad for leaving the family. So when her mom forces her on a plane to London to atttend his wedding she gets angry; furious even. This man doesn't deserve her love or any part in her life. But once she's at the airport a kind young gentlmen around her age is there. He helps carry her bags and sits next to her on the plane. Through this time they get to know one another, and almost kiss; but still only strangers. Will Hadley forgive her dad before she returns home? Will the wedding go okay? Is the young gentlemen named Oliver going to fall in love with her or forget her? Read this book to find out more in The Statistics of Love at First Sight.

Book Recommendations

I would rate the book Safe Haven by Nicolas Sparks a 9/10. This book is so unpredictable you're on the edge of your seat. Take the journey of a married woman trying to escape her abusive husband. It wouldn't be that hard for some, but since he is a cop, he's all the more determined to find her. Once she finds a safe place to live she meets a single dad with 2 little kids. Will this family accept her? Or leave her to hide in misery and fear all of her life? Will the husband find his ungrateful wife? Or will he give up the search? Read this book to find out what happens to Katie and if she survives the fight or not. The theme of this book is, "Giving up or giving in to another person may ruin oneself's confidence."

Characters

     "Tripping Me Up" has a girl named Hadley who is what she calls "invisible". She used to be popular until her friend used her and dumped her to climb the social ladder. She only has one friend and she is outspoken and doesn't take insults from anyone. Hadley wishes she could stand up for herself like her friend but she doesn't want to be bullied by them anymore. When Tripp starts to find interest in her she is surprised and skeptical. He was the perfect friend for her until at school he totally ignores her around his friends and treats her the same as everyone else. She stands up for herself to him and tells him how she feels. He decides he shouldn't be like that with her anymore and loses his friends. He begins to date her and go against his dad. Hadley has changed. She isn't the loser anymore she has him and other friends that make her feel much better about herself. She starts to feel accepted and now just ignores the bullies. She's changed for the better.

Book Recommendations

     The book Tripping Me Up is a 7/10. It's kind of cliché because it has to do with the nerdy girl liking the jock and the jock ends up liking her. In this book it's different because in the past she used to be popular until her friends ditched her and made her invisible. She has one friend and they are both what you would call the outcasts in high school. Since forever, she's always had a crush on a kid named Tripp. He was the popular guy who was good at football and had tons of friends. But what people didn't know was that he is abused by his father. People may think that his dad is just extremely strict and rude but they don't see the scars peeking out from behind Tripp's clothes. They don't know that he fears coming home every day because then he will have to face his father. They don't know that his dad makes the decisions for him including who he dates, what sports he does, and that he isn't pursing his artistic career. But Hadley sees him as someone who gets whatever he wants, including popularity, money, athletic ability, etc. This book has many surprises and many twists. Read it to see if Tripp chooses to let Hadley in, or if he chooses to hide behind his dads commands.