Review: The Only Exception by Magan Vernon

The Only Exception by Magan Vernon


Monica is a transfer student at Central College hoping to blend in and get through these next three years of college life. But she has a relentless next door neighbor, Trey, who is anything but willing to let her slip by college against the wall. Throw in the fact that Trey is the Governor's son that is every bit his conservative dad, and Monica...well, she's far from any conservative standpoints...and you get a political showdown between two very stick-to-their-cause people.

I enjoyed reading The Only Exception. How many books have you read that mix a pretty balanced amount of politics with passionate romance? Not many I'm assuming. Yet, that is exactly what Magan Vernon did.

From the beginning, I knew where the story was going with Monica. Her background is hinted at throughout The Only Exception and her viewpoints on hot topic debates further support that. The most striking characteristic about Monica is that she is extremely well versed in politics for a nineteen year old. However, while strong with her viewpoints, I sometimes wondered if she'd always been that politically involved or if it had happened within the last four months of her transferring colleges. Her stance on certain topics is, from what I can tell, completely based on a personal experience that (in her mind) forced her to switch colleges. And Monica states several times that while at her previous college she was more concerned with her Kappa affiliation than much else.

Maybe she became well read in that short amount of time. It's certainly believable given her circumstance and passionate stand - but her background was unclear and I would have really liked to have known how much her viewpoints changed (or didn't) from that point in her life.

And Trey...Trey, Trey, Trey. I'll be honest and say that I really disliked him with a passion for about 50% of the book. He's arrogant, haughty, cocky, borderline manipulative...the list could go on and on. I know that the author meant to use these characteristics about him to build the tension in  the beginning of the book and provide fuel for political flames. But, it was almost too much. Yes, Trey is very intelligent having grown up in the political scene. But he's almost too forceful with his "preachyness" and was shoving his views down Monica's throat within the first five seconds he knew her. Heck, she had just arrived at this new place tired, stressed, and worried about school when this guy starts throwing a political agenda at her!  

I give Monica credit because had that been me I would have backhanded him and likely ended up arrested for assaulting the Governor's son...but...back on topic...

Could his behavior simply be considered a passionate stance? Sure. After all, he has a lifetime of personal political experiences with his dad to back up his thoughts. But to me it just rubbed me the wrong way. And I think the major reason is because I'm not completely sure Trey believed in what he was saying. There were a few times Monica had asked him why he believed what he did, and his answer were because that was how he had grown up. Or when she asks how his relationship with his father is and Trey leaves it at "strained" because he chose a community college over the private Dartmouth. Further, when Monica asks him if he even wants to go into politics like his dad, he completely dodges the question! Really?! For a Political Science major who lives this "stuff"and who so impetuously backs his stances, I'd expect a little more of an explanation on all of these! Why didn't he choose the prestigious college where I'm sure the Poly Sci program is a lot better than this run of the mill Central College? What does he really want to do in life? What does he really believe in life??

While Trey's attitude in the beginning really pissed me off, the author certainly was able to create the tension needed in this political stand-off. That tension boils into a heated romance and I have to say that the relationship between Trey and Monica eventually turned into something wonderful. I really like that they both are able to keep their true stances on various subjects while listening and understanding the reasoning behind each others' views.

Whether Conservative, Liberal, or anything in between (or further out?) I'd recommend this book as a heated read. The standpoints aren't too biased and the main topic is a great one that I'm very passionate about as well. If anything, it will get you thinking about your personal values.

Ratings:


Romance: **** (some sexual scenes, a lot of sexual tension)
Character development:  ****
Writing quality: *****
Plot progression: ****

My rating:








Amazon: 4.4
Good Reads: 3.7



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