I felt the wounds myself as it were happening to me. But like all good love stories, the truth eventually comes out and it isn't what it seems. This is my cryptic way of telling how much I enjoyed the twists and turns without sharing them in this review. I stayed up late many nights reading this book.
I highly recommend it. Nov 20, Dana Delamar rated it it was amazing. I thought Cristofano did a brilliant job of retelling the strange story of how Melody and Jonathan came together and still keeping it fresh for the reader. I very much enjoyed his characterizations of Jonathan's family and of mob life, though I felt it stretched credulity a bit that they let Jonathan give excuse after excuse for not killing Melody for that 4.
I very much enjoyed his characterizations of Jonathan's family and of mob life, though I felt it stretched credulity a bit that they let Jonathan give excuse after excuse for not killing Melody for that many years. Then again, there wouldn't be a story if they hadn't, so I was willing to play along. I look forward to whatever Cristofano decides to write next! Aug 12, Nicole rated it it was amazing. This book was from the perspective of Jonathan - the boy who indirectly put her there. A story that includes organized crime and the FBI - but was really about love and finding out who you are really supposed to be.
I don't think there will be a third book - although I can hope! Nov 14, Amy rated it it was amazing Shelves: I was reluctant to read this second one for fear that it would taint the first for me, but nothing could be further from the truth. As with 'The Girl,' my immediate reaction upon turning that last page is to start again at the beginning, to look more closely at how it was crafted, to experience it again. This book is phenomenal, and I loved it. Mar 20, Maddux rated it really liked it Shelves: The conclusion of Cristofano's two-part series is not a verbatim copy of the first book, rehashing the same events from a differing point of view.
We do get the complement of the heroine's story with the hero's, but with so much more. When the first book ended as it did, I was content. When the second book went farther, and found its culmination in future years, I was very satisfied. Be swept up in this drama that takes you from a youth in a mafia crime family to a man with no past and no future The conclusion of Cristofano's two-part series is not a verbatim copy of the first book, rehashing the same events from a differing point of view.
Be swept up in this drama that takes you from a youth in a mafia crime family to a man with no past and no future but with one consistent dream. Oct 12, Book Sp l ot rated it really liked it. After numerous relocations she's in for yet another one, all becoming standard to Melody. What wasn't standard was the kidnapping.
Or the man perpetrating the kidnapping: The man whose family was responsible for her family's placement in Witness Protection and her loss of a normal life. And the man The Exceptions centers on. It gives readers the other side to the story. In a family taught to leave no loose ends, the McCartney's are loose ends. It being Jonathon's fault those loose ends exist, it's up to him to sever them.
Only he can't bring himself to do it. He vows to protect her, all the while being the one his family has tasked with killing her. The more Jonathon watches Melody, the more he knows he can't kill her, forget her, or stay away. He knows he's going to be forced to choose between his family and the girl who has his heart. We see him before his later run-in with Melody, from that day at the restaurant that changed both of their lives so greatly forward.
Cristofano does a really good job presenting the dichotomy of Jonathon's character: We see his dark and his light. His struggle between evil and good. It is easy to feel bogged down while reading the beginning. While the setup makes sense and the establishment of the characters who were either not in The Girl She Used to Be or just ideas Melody had is necessary, it can be slow reading. The second half of the book picks up, though. Things are different, we know the characters there's more action and some familiar characters are back.
While I had trouble with Used to Be feeling like it didn't really know what genre it wanted to be, The Exceptions worked much better for me. While it wasn't a mystery, there was the right amount of tension when outcomes or motives were left unclear, at least temporarily. I didn't remember much more than the basics of Used to Be when I started The Exceptions, some of it came back to me as I read, but a fair amount of it didn't. So, I don't think that reading the first book is required for reading this second one and following it. I did suggest the books to someone, though, and they've just read both books and loved them so if you haven't read, either, I would suggest attempting to read both, together.
Jul 25, Christy rated it really liked it. I won this book through a goodreads giveaway. My first goodreads prize was a beautiful hardback book. Thank you, whoever you are that made this possible! I very much enjoyed this book. In fact, by the end I has enjoyed it more than i expected in the beginning. I had difficulty staying on the side of Jonathan and Melody in the beginning. In fact by the end of part one, I was so ready for Jonathan to stop whining and just kill the girl and get it over with.
I felt sorry for his mafia don father. Clearly this was not the reaction envisioned by the author. But I got over it. The story picks up after part 1. There are several twists that I did not see coming. That for me is a wonderful thing. So often in recent years a book is billed as having a surprising twist that is obvious from the start. So I basically enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the writing style. But I never really liked the main characters. Jonathan's sensitive side came off as whining and weak.
And his tough guy mafia side was not believable. He is too much of a modern day metrosexual to be believed as a mafioso. With respect to Melody, I assume if I had read 'the girl she uses to be', I may have had more of an appreciation for her character. We don't get to know her very well in this book. I can see this book making a good movie. Overall, this is a good read. View all 8 comments. Jul 18, Melody rated it liked it. My husband loves the Dollar Tree; or The Tree as he affectionately calls it. He loves a good bargain and he loves a good book. This was one of his bargain book finds at The Tree.
He is not content to have found a good book at a bargain price at his beloved Tree.
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He wants me to agree that shopping at the Tree is good so he declared this book to be the best he had read all year. He really built it up. I had to read it, there was never a doubt. It takes a while to rev up - but once it does I say it My husband loves the Dollar Tree; or The Tree as he affectionately calls it. It takes a while to rev up - but once it does I say it deserves 4 stars.
There were two big issues. The biggest was the main female character is named Melody and my name is just rare enough that it is disconcerting to read about someone with my name.
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I really have been able to live my life without having to share it with many people I come in contact with. I know that is silly - but it is the truth. The slowness to get through the predictable to the interesting stuff was my other issue. I had a couple of other things too - but I won't mention them because I'd have to tag it as a spoiler. But definitely a worthwhile read. If your name is not Melody you might rate it higher. View all 3 comments.
“with the exception of” or “with the exceptions of”
Jul 27, Anna Berendzen rated it it was amazing Shelves: I was lucky to receive this book through Goodreads first-reads! I'm rating it separately from The Girl She Used to Be because by itself it is an amazing book and unlike many other series this book will not leave you confused if you don't start on the first book. Both of the books in the series are great but a portion of this book is the same conversations and plot, just from Jonathon's point of view this time which was mostly amazing but sometimes a bit repetitive.
The Exceptions has a lot m I was lucky to receive this book through Goodreads first-reads! The Exceptions has a lot more material to it especially at the end than The Girl She Used to Be The plot of this book is great but what really makes it come to life is Cristofano's style of writing. It was great to read a book in the perspective of a mobster that was PG, no actual swearing or gory violence, but seemed to realistically display his life. Jonathon would give anything to not be who he is destined to be and Melody would give anything to be who she is destined to but they were destined for each other Nov 10, Elaine rated it it was amazing.
The Exceptions is told from Jonathan's point of view. A majority of the book is a retelling of The Girl She Used to Be which to most might be redundant but I thoroughly loved reading it through Jonathan's eyes. You start to understand more deeply why he did the things he did and the story becomes full circle. You can read this book as a stand alone but I highly recommend reading The Girl She Use to Be prior to get a better understanding of the characters and how the story unfolds Love this book!
You can read this book as a stand alone but I highly recommend reading The Girl She Use to Be prior to get a better understanding of the characters and how the story unfolds. Aug 30, Shannon rated it it was amazing. What a great follow-up to his first novel! Love this local author!!! Nov 22, Karen McIntosh rated it it was amazing.
What an amazing read. This book kept me entranced to the very end. Read both books, trust me, they are engaging and wonderful and feel oh so real. Sep 01, Wendy-ayn Coy rated it it was amazing Shelves: I started listening to this as an audiobook and I went and purchased it because I couldn't wait to ride in the car again to listen to it.
What Is an Exception? (The Java™ Tutorials > Essential Classes > Exceptions)
This is wonderfully well written with an engaging story. It kept me interested until the very end. Feb 19, Jodi Malec rated it liked it.
This would be a great book on it's own. Jul 13, Megan rated it did not like it. There were so many things about this book I disliked, it's hard to begin. First, a huge stylistic problem was that the majority of this novel was told in backstory, a straightforward and dry recounting of the actions the main character, Johnny Bovaro, takes over the course of about twenty years.
Fifty pages of summary is excessive, but more than ? It was plain torturous. Second, the supposedly infamous Bovaro clan. At least then we might have seen some character growth, some development. Johnny and Melody more on her in a moment were as static and predictable as static and predictable can be. Our beautiful, innocent damsel in distress.
I expect that to be — gag me — the exception, not the rule. After less than a week of knowing him? Excuse me while I vom. I mean, why the hell not? I slogged through this novel on two six-hour train rides, but a word of advice for anyone thinking about picking it up at the library or — God forbid — buying it: As an avid reader, this book was at best a chore.
As a woman, it was downright insulting. Jul 19, Lexie rated it really liked it Shelves: She made a somewhat unreliable narrator at times, as prone as she was to being oblivious to some realities of her situation, but her story drew me in and intrigued me. We see their first meeting long before Melody thinks it was , as he struggles to find a place within his family and witho Prelim Review: We see their first meeting long before Melody thinks it was , as he struggles to find a place within his family and without his family, and tries to find a way to bury those emotions which only dragged him down.
Melody raised Jonathan to an unreasonable level of idolizing, spurred on partly by her lack of acknowledgement in his role in uprooting her life. Jonathan has no such illusions about himself and is at pains to point this out. Cristofano paints us a picture of a guy who wants to hate what his family does, what he does, but can't. He knows what they do is wrong, but its his family, its how he was raised and all that he's known. He wants to hate the violent person he is, but he also doesn't believe he can ever be more then that and to a certain extent takes pride in it.
Honestly his and Melody's relationship is not by any means healthy. Separate the two of them are pretty screwed up, together they're even more screwed up, but they kind of work. Melody at one point says that he's the only one she doesn't have to pretend with.
He knows everything about her and that means everything to her. Jonathan doesn't understand how he deserves her, how she can know everything about him and not run away screaming. As much as this book is based around the one absolute truth Jonathan loves Melody , this is really about Jonathan's struggle to reconcile who he is, who he wants to be and who he thinks he should be.
Some of the hardest parts to read were when he'd discuss his family. Coming from a fairly close Italian-American family on my dad's side myself, it can be hard to lose that sense of community so I can only imagine what its like for him since he betrayed his family. Not that Melody ignored the reality of who he was exactly, but she placed him in a position where as a reader it was hard to judge him fairly.
Jonathan is brutally honest about what he does and the fact he thinks Melody was fooling herself. Its important to see both sides of the equation, so the ending has a full effect. Jul 18, Gem rated it really liked it. This book follows the lives of two main characters: But is that enough protection? Johnny has felt the need to protect Melody ever since, despite the contradicting wishes of his family.
Essentially, this is a love story with a happy ending, but it also has a dark side with a lot of unexpected twists and turns. It is always based on love, the kind of love that makes your heart ache, your eyes stream and your lips smile. When I knew the story was coming to a close, I was disappointed that there was never physical intimacy between Jonathan and Melody despite a few kisses. Hopefully, they have now found some sort of balance. Warsaw Will Ah the good old days!
Lochgelly was home to the manufacturer of the fiendish instruments. It is a contradiction of terms. One might commit an "error in grammar. Do you have a question? Submit your question here. Email will not be published. Please enter your comment here. Comments Sort by Oldest Latest Rating. Here are two examples from MWDEU, which says 'with the exception of' is commonly used as a synonym for 'except for ': Yes, perfectly fine and in fairly common use.
If you have never encountered "with the exceptions of" , you have not read widely. That a silly mistake is common does not make it less silly, nor less easily avoided.
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There is no reason to intentionally introduce disagreement in number. If you can avoid doing so, you should. Use exceptions when there are more than one, and exception when there is one only. Dant Jul 17 '17 at 5: I checked Google Books, which initially claimed "about 2, results" for the sequence with the exception of john and , compared to just 7 for the explicitly pluralised with the exceptions of john and. On scrolling through the results, I discover there are actually only 19 hits for the former. So it's not exactly a slam dunk, but clearly most of us see with the exception of as a fixed phrase not to be messed about with.