Title: The Only Exception
(Love In The Comptons #2)
Author: Claire Huston
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: June 7th 2022
Publisher: Independent
Finished reading: June 13th 2022
Pages: 374

“Life is short: a lesson he’d learned at an early age.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

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I’ve enjoyed fellow book blogger and author Claire Huston‘s writing in the past, so of course I couldn’t say no to the opportunity to read her newest book The Only Exception. There was just something about the blurb that caught my attention immediately, and I really liked the sound of the characters and Lucinda’s angle of being sceptical about love. I’ve been looking forward to read this story ever since I received a copy, and now that I’ve finally done so I can say that The Only Exception is without a doubt her best book to date. It’s an uplifting, fun and charming dose of romance I simply couldn’t get enough of!

This story is, like her debut Art And Soul, set in the Comptons and can be considered a sequel because you will see a familiar character popping up again. That said, The Only Exception focuses on a completely new set of main characters, so you can easily read this newest story as a stand-alone as well without missing out on any background information. Her debut is well worth the read though! The Only Exception uses a dual POV structure, where we slowly get to know our main characters Lucinda and Alex and their background better. There was just something about both characters that made me warm up to them immediately, and the secondary cast is brilliant as well. And who doesn’t like the appearance of a dog in the plot?!

I do love stories with a more slowburn romance; add a dose of bickering and an enemy-to-lover vibe and I’m all in. The changing dynamics between Lucinda and Alex have been really well done and while I never like a love triangle angle, as a whole the story made up for this element. The banter was great and the scenes set at Carol’s mansion were particular hilarious. The focus on food, acting and family added extra dimention to the plot and turned this story into so much more than just a simple romance-focused plot… And like I said before, the secondary characters also helped taking this story to the next level for me.

All in all The Only Exception ended up being such an enjoyable experience and exactly the type of slowburn and charming romance that is a perfect fit for me. The characters are extremely easy to warm up to, and you will love spending time with them! This story is perfect for anyone who likes their romance to be uplifting, on the sweet side and with a healthy dose of banter.

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