I just don't know how many stars to give this book. I read the author's first book, The Girl She Used To Be, and it is one of my very favorites, and this one was, I thought, going to be a continuation of the story. It was. In a way. But then again it wasn't. At least MOST of it wasn't. Let me explain...

First off I was very unhappy to find that the book started back at the BEGINNING of the story already told in The Girl She Used To Be. In fact, other than a couple of minor pieces of new information, The Exceptions is the EXACT SAME STORY told from Jonathan's point of view rather than Melody's, as it was told in The Girl She Used To Be. Not a new story, a rehash. Not only that, The Girl She Used To Be was told "in the moment" so the reader is right there with the character, experiencing everything. It was gripping. With The Exceptions, a huge part of the story is narrative as Jonathan tells about previous events. Not so gripping. Finally I skimmed ahead, until I got to the place in The Exceptions where The Girl She Used To Be left off. That was page 345 of this book! I then read the rest of the book which ended on page 465.

Some advice to readers:
#1 Read The Girl She Used To Be.
#2 Next, get The Exceptions from the library and turn to page 345.
#3 Adjust to a shift from Melody's perspective to Jonathan's.
#4 Enjoy reading the rest of the story.

There is nothing new here except those last 120 pages. In my opinion either:
#1 The last 120 pages of this book should've been included with The Girl She Used To Be, and the book divided into two parts, Part One (Melody's point of view), then Part Two (Jonathan's point of view continuing the story to its completion), or:
#2 This book really should've been labeled as a sequel on the cover with the story starting right from where The Girl She Used To Be left off. Of course, if all the author had to add to the story was 120 pages (and apparently that's all he had for us) then I would've waited for more inspiration before even attempting to write a sequel. If there had been more of a new story to tell, the author could've filled in some background info a little at a time as the action continued instead of doing a huge info dump for more than half the book! After all, what is the point of writing the exact same story from another point of view. I've noticed a few authors doing this lately. To me it's just boring and a cop out. Your loyal readers already know what's going to happen. Write something new. If you don't have anything new to write then wait until you do, then give the readers that sequel they've been so anxiously awaiting.

Okay, so I've put in my two cents. I've decided to give this book only 2 stars. It was okay. I'd rather read The Girl She Used To Be and then do as I advised above, than to read this book again. Maybe if I'd never read The Girl She Used To Be I might've liked this one better, but then again...one book told in the moment, the other with an information dump...nah, I still like Girl much better. Of course now I'm going to be forced to eventually buy Exceptions if I want to own the complete story. Grrrr. I feel ripped off.