Review: The Exception by Adriana Locke

The Exception by Adriana Locke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an audible code via the author, all opinions are my own.

This was more of a romantic suspense which is a bit different than what the author typically writes and I'm here for it. I'm used to her more rom-com style of writing with the Mason Family series and now the Carmichaels so this was a bit of a surprise. This is Adriana's first book, and it has recently received a new cover and the audio has been re-recorded, and it now includes The Connection as a bonus epilogue. The narrators both did a great job with their chapters, I very much enjoyed the narration.

This follows Jada, who has recently divorced her abusive husband and has moved home to Arizona to start over. The last thing she wants in her life is an alpha male playboy like Cane Alexander to barge into her life and complicate things. Cane is a one night stand kind of guy, but there is something about Jada. His best friend and co-worker, Max is seeing Jada's sister, so they are often at the same place at the same time, so Cane is determine to get Jada to spend time with him. She isn't interested, but eventually he wears her down. They fall into easy banter and their attraction and chemistry overshadow their desire to not enter into a relationship.

This follows some pretty standard romance tropes. Cane does some really stupid things in an effort to deny his feelings for Jada, and Jada forgives him a little too easily. Jada naturally has trust issues after dealing with her jerk of an ex, and Cane has some relationship baggage as well so it takes them some time to figure out trust and communication. Their road to happiness isn't an easy one, especially as Cane's family has made some enemies along the way and Jada has gotten caught in the crossfire of their family feud. Cane being the overprotective alpha that he is does what he thinks is best to protect her, which of course isn't necessarily the best thing for their relationship.

This is fairly steamy, so I would say it is definitely NSFW. If you are listening to the audio, I'd recommend listening to this with headphones on if you are concerned with little ones, co-workers, or anyone else overhearing anything you wouldn't want them to hear if you know what I mean.

Overall this is a fun, fast paced romance. It was a quick listen, and I was totally invested in the story. I'm really looking forward to reading Max and Kari's story, I loved them as side characters. There is obviously something holding them both back from taking the next step and I'm anxious to find out what that is.

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