Sunday, October 18, 2020

FLOCK and EXODUS by Kate Stewart (The Ravenhood Duet)





Can you keep a secret?

⁣I grew up sick.⁣

⁣Let me clarify.⁣

⁣I grew up believing that real love stories include a martyr or demand great sacrifice to be worthy.⁣

⁣Because of that, I believed it, because I made myself believe it, and I bred the most masochistic of romantic hearts, which resulted in my illness.⁣

⁣When I lived this story, my own twisted fairy tale, it was unbeknownst to me at the time because I was young and naïve. I gave into temptation and fed the beating beast, which grew thirstier with every slash, every strike, every blow.⁣

⁣Triple Falls wasn’t at all what it seemed, nor were the men that swept me under their wing. But in order to keep them, I had to be in on their secrets.⁣

⁣Secrets that cost us everything to keep.⁣

⁣That’s the novelty of fiction versus reality. You can’t re-live your own love story, because by the time you’ve realized you’re living it, it’s over. At least that was the case for me and the men I trusted my foolish heart to.⁣

⁣Looking back, I’m convinced I willed my story into existence due to my illness.⁣

⁣And all were punished.




Can you live a lie?

It’s a ghost town, this place that haunts me, the one that made me.
It’s clear to me that I’ll never outgrow Triple Falls or outlive the time I spent here.
I can still feel them all, my boys of summer.
Even when I’d sensed the danger, I gave in.
I didn’t heed a single warning. I let my sickness, my love, both rule and ruin me. I played my part, eyes wide open, tempting fate until it delivered.
There was never going to be an escape.
All of us are to blame for what happened. All of us serving our own sentences. We were careless and reckless, thinking our youth made us indestructible, exempt from our sins, and it cost us all.
I’m done pretending I didn’t leave the largest part of me between these hills and valleys, between the sea of trees that hold my secrets.
It’s the reason I’m back. To make peace with my fate.
And if I can’t grieve enough to cure myself in my time here, I’ll remain sick.
That will be my curse.
But it’s time to confess, to myself more so than any other, that I’d hindered my chances because of the way I was built, and because of the men who built me.
At this point, I just want to make peace with who I am, no matter what ending I get.
Because I can no longer live a lie.




REVIEW:

What do you do when you are in love with three men, who all came into your life at different moments and possibly for different reasons. With each turn of the page, I could not wait to discover how Ceceila would handle the cards that she was dealt with.

When I sat down to read Flock, I had no idea what I was in for. This book is AMAZING. I could not wait to see what happened next, and I finished the book in one sitting and didn't fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning. I was thrilled that Exodus was already available and I could pick up right where I left off. The opening scene in Exodus had me craving for more, forcing me to pull another long day and night of reading, so I can finish the book in one sitting. 

Ceceila is brazing and stubborn and for those reasons alone, I LOVED her. I routed for her, I craved to be here at some moments. Throughout this book, I laughed out loud and at times I cried for the pain she endured as I felt them deep in my own heart. Ceceila's journey packs a punch and will leave a hole in your heart when you are done. You will crave more yet love how the story wraps up. I tip my hat to Kate Stewart, as her words left me with raw emotions, and stories like these are what drives my desire to read. 

This series is one everyone must-read. It's epic and mind-blowing and I will be reading them again in the future.  This duet definitely has a place in my TOP 10 reads of 2020.

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