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A review by dinohakari
Exception by Cora Rose
4.0
This story, part of the Unlucky 13 series, brings a lightness to the series after reading the previous books, like Damaged or Broken, for example, which deal with heavier and more complex themes.
Here we have Chase, the new employee, who comes from a small town who after feeling that he was suffocating back at home, decided to look for new horizons in order to spread his wings and breathe a little more freely. And (finally!) we have Holden, who we met in Unfortunate and who we wanted to read his own story about (well, at least I did). He was your typical playboy of the island, always ready to have fun with no strings attached. But behind that facade, a vulnerable man was hiding, who had been hurt in the past and therefore was afraid to let himself be carried away by feelings, so he denied them.
We can say that it was a case of instalust. They hardly exchanged glances and in the first meeting they let themselves be carried away by said lust, despite the fact that Chase insisted that he was not gay for a good part of the story. But Chase did know that he had to have Holden in his life, and he did everything in his power to show him that he could be trusted, that he was safe. And Holden, for the first time in his life, decided to risk it, after several futile attempts to resist.
I only have two complaints, but it's my own issue and doesn't affect this review. 1- I found that first sexual encounter a bit too rush, especially because Chase was someone quite naive, and although he wanted to experiment and was instantly attracted to Holden, I think it should have happened in a second or third encounter. And 2- and this seems more important to me, I wish there was more Holden. His POV appears when we have already read almost half of the book, and we don't really get to know him. We don't see much of his background, just some comments that he makes, and I think he is quite a special character and deserves more extensive development of his story.
And I want to mention the third MC of this book. Bob the Monkey. Omg, he was just hilarious. His antics were really funny and he deserved a special mention. He really added to the story!
An entertaining story that flows smoothly, with great hot moments between two people with great chemistry, and who manage to connect on a deeper level despite their differences.
I was given an advanced copy and voluntarily wrote a review.
Here we have Chase, the new employee, who comes from a small town who after feeling that he was suffocating back at home, decided to look for new horizons in order to spread his wings and breathe a little more freely. And (finally!) we have Holden, who we met in Unfortunate and who we wanted to read his own story about (well, at least I did). He was your typical playboy of the island, always ready to have fun with no strings attached. But behind that facade, a vulnerable man was hiding, who had been hurt in the past and therefore was afraid to let himself be carried away by feelings, so he denied them.
We can say that it was a case of instalust. They hardly exchanged glances and in the first meeting they let themselves be carried away by said lust, despite the fact that Chase insisted that he was not gay for a good part of the story. But Chase did know that he had to have Holden in his life, and he did everything in his power to show him that he could be trusted, that he was safe. And Holden, for the first time in his life, decided to risk it, after several futile attempts to resist.
I only have two complaints, but it's my own issue and doesn't affect this review. 1- I found that first sexual encounter a bit too rush, especially because Chase was someone quite naive, and although he wanted to experiment and was instantly attracted to Holden, I think it should have happened in a second or third encounter. And 2- and this seems more important to me, I wish there was more Holden. His POV appears when we have already read almost half of the book, and we don't really get to know him. We don't see much of his background, just some comments that he makes, and I think he is quite a special character and deserves more extensive development of his story.
And I want to mention the third MC of this book. Bob the Monkey. Omg, he was just hilarious. His antics were really funny and he deserved a special mention. He really added to the story!
An entertaining story that flows smoothly, with great hot moments between two people with great chemistry, and who manage to connect on a deeper level despite their differences.
I was given an advanced copy and voluntarily wrote a review.