The Exception

By: Adriana Locke

Narrated by: Tracy Marks

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

There are exceptions to every rule....

Jada Stanley is starting over - freeing herself from her past and all her mistakes. Following the rules she's given herself is easy enough, until she meets him. He's gorgeous, cocky, and everything she needs to avoid, but that's easier said than done.

Cane Alexander has his own set of rules, a plan to keep his life simple and free of complications. But Jada is a temptation he can't resist. As their lives entwine, they realize one thing about rules....

There is always an exception.

©2014 Adriana Locke (P)2015 Adriana Locke

SHE WAS THE ONE EXCEPTION THAT BROKE ALL HIS RULES

Cane was a real alpha bad boy, arrogant, handsome and very sexy and, of course, he knew it with a 'love em and leave em' mentality but when he meets Jada who actually says "no" to him.... the game is on. But Jada has been there, done that and has got the now dissolved marriage licence to prove it so she must stay away from cheating, lying, selfish bad boys... no matter how handsome, drool-worthy and charismatic they are. But chemistry, sex appeal, hope, Cane's pleading and promises finally allowed her to take that leap of faith into his arms.

Cane's personality had no good points at the start but slowly he wanted to make himself better for Jada and she tried to overcome her fears so there was some lovely character growth because they both tried to change for each other. Great banter between all the characters made the actions and reactions seem so real. The plot's got a lot of suspense, angst, drama, twists, thrills and chills provided by a bitter obsessed ex husband, a rival business acquaintance and a handful of jealous females which all led to Jada's old insecurities coming flooding back and it ended in a dangerous deadly situation. There was also a secondary love story between his best friend and her sister/roommate and these two were very supportive and entertaining secondary characters. But it was Cane's 180 degree personality turn, his determination, sensuality and touching heartfelt words that made this a beautiful, sexy and very enjoyable listen.

Worth a credit? Told from dual POV's, good narration, a sexy, loveable, huggable hero and a very addictive build-up to a roller coaster romance made this, IMHO, a must have listen.

awesome

best book I have read on a very long time!! can't wait for the next one.

Good Book, Great Narration!

I really enjoyed this book. It was a little predictable with the man-whore chasing the apprehensive girl but I fell in love with Cane in the end. Jada was pretty typical but again I still liked her. I also really like Max and can't wait for more on him!

Narration was awesome! Tracy Marks does a wonderful job at the male voices, making their voices & accents just different enough so that you know who is speaking without sounding like a girl trying to do a low male voice.

Great story, great narration

Any additional comments?

I had already read the book, but I love audiobooks, and I thought Tracy Marks did a very good narration of Cane and Jada's story. She portrayed the different characters very well, and there was no question who was speaking (especially Max). Like the book, this audiobook flowed very nicely, and I'll definitely be replaying this and recommending it.

Apparently headlines aren't really optional

Excellent story, multi-dimensional characters, excitement, terror, and a heart warming ending. It was a little mushy, but it was good.

Realistic female lead

If you could sum up The Exception in three words, what would they be?

Revenge, Secrets, Possession

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I wish the characters were a little more forthcoming with their information with each other. I felt the secrets they kept got a little repetitive. I also think the book could have been a little shorter.

Exceptional Story

What a great story! I fell in love with the characters and I loved seeing them come to life in the audio book. This is a great story about love and second chances.

I take Exception to this.

I don't remember downloading this mess. Sorry, but the narrator was constipated in her abilities to move a very predictable story line. Never narrate something you don't like or have any idea of . It came across as though read off a teleprompter making hard to even care about main characters or ...anything else. The story was a drudge. No time frame or timing to make scent of the what was going on, very disjointed . What did he do for living? Never found out until almost half way through book. How long were they doing their courting? Ugh. is the final word on this disappointment .

Typical romance--ok listen

This book was just okay for me. I know that other reviews have given it accolades beyond measure, but I found it to be your typical romance novel. Girl meets player, resists him, he pursues her, finds he loves her, saves her and they live happily ever-after. I left out the hot sex scenes. This is an okay listen for the beach or if you have nothing better to read or listen to. It is entertaining, but it is not a book that you resist putting down. I would not use a credit for this book, but would wait for a sale.

This book wasn’t the exception.

Any additional comments?

The market is over saturated with cheaper books in this genre that seem to have the same plot and something has to make a book stand out, this book wasn’t the exception.

This is the first time I am posting a review that was requested by a third party via a free audio copy. I am feeling a little guilty because I can't seem to give this book higher marks. Here's why (may contain spoilers):

The plot is predictable. Bad (promiscuous), rich, alpha male Cane meets healing, tentative female, Jada. Internal and external struggles keep them apart until the HEA. That would be okay but there was nothing special about the conflicts that elicited any visceral feelings. Both Jade and Cane's characters were developed but left me questioning some actions of the characters. For example, why would a former "nondescript" relationship prevent Cane from having healthy relationships? (This story line doesn’t improve the plot but creates a distraction.) Why wouldn't Cane divulge more information on an Antagonist to Jada, if he poses a threat to her? I think my questions stem from the fact that the antagonists were not that interesting, their characters weren't develop enough to believe they pose a threat to either Cane or Jade, or their budding relationship. The story was even-keeled and the conflicts were blase.

I think the book is too long and the inner conflicts of Jada were repetitive and unnecessary after the first time she went through them. It just made her character weak and to me, unlikable. I wanted to tell her, "Here we go again, didn't you just resolve that on page... and your friend gave you advice on page... It becomes annoying and repetitive after the first time so learn from it, move on and stick to your decision."

I can't really comment on the writing style because I only listened to the book. But, I think the short choppy descriptive sentences didn't help the narration of the book. Tracy has a good narration voice, I think she pulls male voices well. Unfortunately, she tends to have one intonation for descriptive sentences – cadence of her delivery is very staccato, and the same throughout short sentences. Her delivery of dialogues is okay and her voice is pleasant. The good thing is that she can make improvements on her delivery into more of a performance and not simply “narration.”

Net/net: I will not buy this book on a full credit. I will wait for a Whispersync sale or for the book to be listed in kindle unlimited. This is a book that I would have rated mediocre but would not have written a review. I will give both author and narrator another chance though – the next book in the series seem to be interesting. I have some investment in the characters of the next book because I have gotten to know them through this book. With over 50 books in my library I have yet to listen to – not enough time in the day – I have to invest my time wisely so a book has to be special enough for that time investment.