The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren
Series: The Improbable Meet-Cute #1
Also in this series: Rosie and the Dreamboat, Drop, Cover, and Hold On, With Any Luck
Published by Amazon Original Stories on January 23, 2024
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 96
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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On February 14, an accidental email to a stranger opens the door to an unexpected relationship in a captivating short story by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?

Christina Lauren’s The Exception to the Rule is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.

Even though The Exception to the Rule is the first book in the Improbable Meet-Cute series, I chose to read it last because I knew that all the others would pale in comparison. And I was right! This was my favorite of the series, and one I’d be happy to read again.

First off, I recommend you read the Kindle copy and not the audiobook. Most of this story is told through emails back and forth between the two love interests, and I knew within 5 minutes of listening that I could not continue hearing the narrator read the email addresses, dates, times, and subject lines at the top of each email for the next 2 hours. Switching to the Kindle copy was a very good choice, and I came away loving the story! Also, fair warning: this series of novellas focuses on the meet-cute and that’s it. You get that initial spark between two people, and then the story ends. If you go into these stories knowing that you will be getting an incomplete romance (although, this one is the most complete of them all), I think you’ll be happier.

I loved watching this relationship unfold over so many years. I’m a firm believer in falling in love without ever being with someone in person. You can do it without even meeting them. So a quick burst of emails once a year for over 10 years is a very strong foundation to build a relationship on. There was so much more substance to this story than the others in this series, and I loved watching Terra and Callum reach so many milestones in their lives over the course of the story. They grow up, go to college, have multiple relationships, and get careers during this time, and they catch each other up as vaguely as possible so as not to give away identifying information. There’s so much character development for such a short book, and I was so invested in them. It’s so cute, and I know you will love going on this journey with them. Who knew a simple typo in an email address could set off such a romantic chain of events? If you only pick one book from this series to try, please make it this one. I wish it was a full-length novel so we can see how life together goes for these two. I think a sequel is in order! And seriously, Hallmark needs to pick this up for a movie. It would be so cute!