Her Exception. B. Love. 2023. 188 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.]
Shalom and Mecca thought that at 18, they were ready to take on the world and its obstacles together. But when reality dropped into their laps, they ended up on separate paths, each nursing their own confusion and anger at losing the version of forever they’d imagined. Fifteen years later, they’re thrust together when Shalom’s specialized experience is key to Mecca winning the largest court case he’s faced in his career. Too bad they can’t stand each other, and have an explosively volatile rapport to figure out before they can even consider working together.
From its description, Her Exception has all the makings of a great enemies-to-lovers story – high school sweethearts, abrupt and unexplained heartbreak, and forced proximity when they haven’t been able to process the demise of their relationship. Add in the drama of their current partners along with family and friends with their own opinions, and I was certain that this would be a juicy, emotional, and passionate story I couldn’t put down. While I had high hopes for the premise, its execution fell short for me in terms of the overall plot, character development, and dialogue. While it’s still a 3-star read, I was looking for something that simply didn’t come through.
Shalom and Mecca’s initial responses to one another were almost shocking to me given where both were in their careers after more than a decade had passed. Their reintroduction was as if no time had passed and neither had attempted to do any measure of self-work or healing in the preceding years. On the flip side, their speed at exploring a renewed connection also felt quick and forced. For that reason, it felt a step past plausible.
Her Exception is a shorter read, at 188 pages. I suspect that with another 50-100 pages, the author could have fleshed out the characters more. Both Shalom and Mecca came across as underdeveloped both in depth and maturity, particularly given that both were nearly 40 when the story takes place. I never felt that I had a sense of who they were beyond their lingering hurt and how they functioned in romantic relationships, and their devotion to their career. And even those were still one-dimensional. Despite how much these characters bared their hearts on the page, I couldn’t really connect with them. I saw this same limited depth with secondary characters, but it’s less noticeable since they’re not the focus. Nonetheless, more fleshing out could have really brought this cast to life.
Part of what made it harder to connect with Shalom and Mecca was their dialogue. It didn’t feel natural, almost as if there was an agenda for what needed to be said but not the same attention to how that was conveyed. The resulting conversations between these two and others felt stilted and contrived; they didn’t have a sense of flow that would’ve made these really important conversations emotionally compelling.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that Her Exception comes with a content warning about an off-page abortion that factors heavily into the plot. This was an opportunity for the author to explore the immediate and long-term mental and emotional impacts of this on the characters more comprehensively. It’s obvious that the impacts are still being felt, but the observations around this and current behaviors felt surface-level.
Her Exception has a great premise for fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope. While it didn’t hit all the marks for me, it’s still an interesting plot that is worth the read.
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