A review by angieinbooks
Exclusive by Melissa Brayden

3.0

I had some trepidation heading into this novel after the disappointment of Marry Me, but I'm happy to report this is more in line with the Brayden I've come to know and love. And if you like the Brayden formula, then you're likely to really enjoy this novel. The characters have great chemistry, the tension makes sense (even with the predictable 80% marker when everything turns to sh!t), and the side characters are wonderful and, in some cases, familiar.

Skyler Ruiz lands a role as a TV reporter for a popular San Diego news show where the lead female anchor is her news reporter hero, Caroline McNamara, who Skyler also has a little celebrity-style crush on. Only Caroline isn't very nice to Skyler when she first starts at the TV station and Skyler can't figure out why.

Melissa Brayden is very good at writing sapphic romance, but this is her 20th(?) book and she hasn't really changed up her formula that much. And as someone who has read all of her books, I'm getting a little tired of that formula, and that's reflected in my rating. Did I enjoy the novel? Yes. Mostly. But I never got to that delicious moment where you just can't put the novel down. I was even able to take a long break with only one chapter and the epilogue to go and if that's not telling, I don't know what is.

One small but significant thing for me to note: Skyler is described as being Guatemalan. Brayden tells us that she was born in Guatemala and moved to San Diego when she was a kid. This is wonderful. I'm happy to see Brayden branching away (two novels in a row!) from an all white cast of characters, but this detail makes no sense within the Braydenverse

Spoiler

because she's also Sarah Matamoros' first cousin (from Heart Block) and Sarah is originally from Mexico. Brayden tells us that Sarah's mom and Skyler's mom are sisters, but there is nothing to indicate that Sarah is Guatemalan. And this irks me because Guatemalans and Mexicans are not interchangeable. I suppose there's some super convoluted way this could work, but I don't see how, realistically. And if you're going to include this detail, you have to make it work. I just think this is a massive oversight.

. So as much as I love the Latine representation, I'm a little disappointed with this mistake. An editor should have caught this.