Release Blitz and Reviews: The Exception: Vi Keeland
He lives by a set of rules. She might be his one exception.
I just wanted a distraction, something to take the edge off before facing a wedding I was dreading. So on the flight back to New York, I signed up for a dating app. Harmless enough, right?
Wrong.
Turns out, it wasn’t just any app—it catered to people with very specific tastes. By the time I realized it, I was already on my date.
Tall, confident, and sinfully handsome, Jagger Langston seemed like the full package. The chemistry between us was instant—electric enough to burn the whole city down. Though things took a turn when we figured out I’d misunderstood who should join the app. We laughed it off, said goodbye, and went our separate ways.
Or so I thought.
Until I walked into my new internship Monday morning, ready to put the weekend behind me, and there he was—my boss.
Now I’m caught between the rules he lives by—and the temptation to make him break every single one of them.
Sutton is just a girl trying to lose her V card, but her new dating app plan doesn’t go so well when they figure out that they both have different expectations and needs. But the guy she meets on the app keeps popping up in her life, including at her new workplace. But that spark of attraction that they had that first night doesn’t seem to go away. So now, they have a forbidden workplace, boss-intern situation going on, in addition to the reason they didn’t hook up in the first place was because of their apparently opposite bedroom needs.
But Jagger is fascinated by this woman who challenges him and isn’t intimidated by him. They have good banter, and the attraction just sizzles between them. He’s always been driven and focused, but she’s a distraction and a temptation. And Sutton is also trying to focus on work, but she also still wants to solve her other little personal problem. So it’s complicated and messy, but eventually the temptation will be too much to ignore.
But Jagger is fascinated by this woman who challenges him and isn’t intimidated by him. They have good banter, and the attraction just sizzles between them. He’s always been driven and focused, but she’s a distraction and a temptation. And Sutton is also trying to focus on work, but she also still wants to solve her other little personal problem. So it’s complicated and messy, but eventually the temptation will be too much to ignore.
I actually really liked these too. She was honest and not intimidated by him and wasn’t afraid to push back. And I loved how she had them all bothered and distracted, and had him acting in ways that he didn’t normally act. They really got under each other's skin.
I liked Sutton and that even though she was the least experienced, she knew what she wanted and was not afraid to ask for it. And she also didn’t try to change him, even if she did have to encourage him a little bit. And I did like slowly uncovering why Jagger was the way he was. He had a strong need for control, but he also wasn’t someone who just took his own needs and didn’t give back. He also had this thoughtful, protective side, as well as the possessive and in-control side. But he also has some struggles and he never thought he could find someone that he’d be willing to lose control for or to let affect him in this way.
And then there’s also all the layers of their work lives and personal lives that make it more complicated. And despite all of their differences that seemed so impossible at the beginning, they also find commonalities, and they kind of just work. But they definitely have their own struggles, fears, insecurities, and everything’s not easy. But it was sweet, spicy, emotional, and witty. I love to see a guy who does not think he will ever fall, start to figure out he is powerless against it.
And then there’s also all the layers of their work lives and personal lives that make it more complicated. And despite all of their differences that seemed so impossible at the beginning, they also find commonalities, and they kind of just work. But they definitely have their own struggles, fears, insecurities, and everything’s not easy. But it was sweet, spicy, emotional, and witty. I love to see a guy who does not think he will ever fall, start to figure out he is powerless against it.
Sutton is moving back to New York to start a new internship. On her first night back, she downloads an app to find a date and unknowingly matches on an app that is more than she expected. After one uncomfortable conversation with a super-hottie in a bar, she finds herself facing the hottie in her on-boarding meeting the next morning. He is the owner of the company she is interning at, and is matched as her mentor for the term of the internship.
Jagger is the boss and keeps a tight control in the office. He doesn’t socialize often with his employees, but he takes care of them in ways that keep him in the background. He feels he can’t love anyone and keeps most people at arms length as a result. As he gets to know Sutton, he finds himself conflicted as he still believes he can’t love another, but he might want to try this time.
I enjoyed watching these two circle each other and try to get a feel for what the other was about. The secretive nature of their relationship allowed them to explore the possibility without outside judgment about their balance of power.
I had the opportunity to listen to an early copy of the audio and love the way Sebastian York and Andi Arndt voiced these two characters.
This was a workplace, boss/intern, forbidden romance with plenty of steam but also some underlying trauma that gave the story enough heart that it kept me engrossed.
Vi Keeland
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel, and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
AUTHOR LINKS
0 comments