#16 The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

I have wanted this book for SO long, literally craved it but i couldn't find it for a decent price anywhere! I eventually caved and paid the extortionate price for it from Ebay, so i had a lot riding on this one. 

First off... What is up with that cover, it is so cringe, i wouldn't be able to read this on public transport, people would laugh. I had a look at some of Jessica Sorensen's books on goodreads, these covers appear to be a theme. Lets hope her writing can help me overlook these covers!

Putting all that aside the writing was surprisingly good. Im a new comer to this NA/new adult genre and ive only read a few so far (mainly Colleen Hoover and she set the bar pretty high) I have discovered that NA books follow the same kind of themes, girl or boy or both have issues and try to start over in college then romance occurs, this was exactly what happened in this story too.

Ok so Kayden is a troubled very attractive quarterback who goes to college to escape his abusive father, Callie also has an array of issues and goes to college to escape her old life, then they fall in love. That is a very very brief overview as i hate giving too much away and spoilers are the worst! 

The characters are somewhat exaggerated in specific scenarios and im in no way talking down trauma and past experiences but it came across as a little too much at times. At other times i found the characters really likable, i really felt for Callie and i rooted for her throughout. 

The story flows well and there are a few twists and turns along the way which keeps the reader from getting bored. Im guilty of skimming when i get even the slightest bit bored but i didnt need to skim at all on this one.

The ending is a cliffhanger so i would suggest if you are enjoying it from about the halfway mark then you should pick up the second book as you will want to know what comes next, i havent picked it up yet but will ASAP!

Ive just started read Sorensen's 'The Secret of Ella and Micha' so watch out for the review of that soon!

#15 The testing

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Well this was basically The Hunger Games regurgitated. Usually when i hear that two books are similar i will always give it a chance to prove me wrong but this was pretty much the same story. This story follows Cia and Tomas, two really annoying characters with very little redeemable qualities. 

The testing involves a dystopian society that only picks certain individuals from each colony to take part in a contest known as 'The Testing. They must complete several tasks. The last task is to trek through the wilderness to find the base camp whilst the other contestants try to kill you in order to narrow down the competition. Sound familiar?

At first i really enjoyed it, the first 150 pages were interesting but after that it was just like re-reading a crap version of The Hunger Games. The romance in this book was so similar to Katniss and Peta that it made me roll my eyes constantly. There was the same element if survival that brought them together and the same she saves him then he saves her bullshit. I had to skim the last 100 pages as i was at risk of not finishing.

I really wanted to enjoy this as it has been on my TBR for ages but there are just so many other books that have similar feels to The Hunger Games but they dont outright copy the exact same story like this did. Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott is a perfect example, it has the same elements but the story is separate and unique. Read that instead of this. trust me! Im about 99% sure that i wont be picking up the sequel to this or the 3rd book either for that matter, it just doesnt interest me at all.

2 Stars :/