Flock

I went into this not really knowing what to expect, and it completely pulled me in. It has this mysterious, almost secret society feel that makes you question everything from the start. The romance is intense (and yeah, a little messy in the best way), and the emotional build-up had me flipping pages to figure out what was really going on.

The characters are layered and complicated—especially Sean and Dom—and even when I wasn’t sure I liked what was happening, I was totally invested. There’s a lot of tension, both romantic and emotional, and the writing keeps you just on the edge of understanding. It’s one of those books where you know something big is coming, but you’re not quite sure what or who to trust.

It ended in a way show more that makes me so excited to dive into the second book. I have a feeling things are only going to get crazier, and I’m here for it. Definitely a unique and gripping start to the series! show less

"The only love I've ever known or craved is the kind that keeps me sick, sick with longing, sick with lust, sick with need, sick with grief. The distorted kind that leaves scars and jaded hearts."

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 naive. 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 show more 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.
This book starts off with a bang with Cecilia fleeing her old life and returning to the town that managed to destroy her in one summer. We are then transported back into that summer when Cecilia is a young, naive, 19 year old girl. She's gone to live with her estranged father to inherit her fortune and take care of her mother. Yet, she decides early on this is the summer she truly lives and experiences things. Which is how she becomes involved with Sean and Dominic, two men who are very good at keeping secrets. Sean is determined to prove that Cecilia is strong enough to be part of their world, and little by little they introduce her to it, always giving her the choice to walk away. The book is full of so much tension, and the secrets really make everything so much more intense. Cecilia is thrown into the action of their world, while also being kept in the dark, all while they teach her to see the world the way they do.
Cecilia becomes enchanted with Sean and Dominic and loves them both deeply and fiercely, it's actually a beautiful and moving dynamic. Though she is younger, she finds two souls who each compliment some part of her, and she them. Sean, Dominic and Cecilia form a bond that seems extremely solid. Dominic, who doesn't let anyone in, let's her into his world and is happy that she's with Sean also because of the things Sean can give her. Ultimately, as with all great love stories, they encounter an obstacle that is bigger than all of them, and that bond is tested. The fallout of this situation was emotional and yes, the book ends on a cliffhanger. This is one of those books, where you just know you are going to be ruined but you don't even care because it's so good. show less

HELLO??? WHAT DID I JUST READ??

I had so many opinions, but they're all completely lost on me with THAT ENDING, HELLO?!?!

It HAD TO HAVE BEEN DOMINIC RIGHT??? RIGHT?? Okay, I will calm down and start the second book, and when I finish THAT one I will sit down and sort through my feelings totally.

Right off the bat though, ignoring THIS NEW MYSTERY MAN, my feelings are thus:

1) WHO is she in love with, that she waited six years to come back for? (Mentioned in the prologue)
2) I'm not exactly sure what is happening. SO much of the writing in this book is flowery and overly descriptive whilst not telling me anything whatsoever. Maybe that's just me, but literally from just the prologue I was confused. And anytime anything of importance was show more going down, rather than getting the lowdown on what was happening, I'd get a rundown of all of Cecilia's emotions and shit. Example - when she shows up to the garage at the end and she totally crumbles because?? Sean and Dom won't look her in the eyes... and Cecilia by Simon and Garfunkel is playing?? Like what was I supposed to understand from this scene?? That they've somehow betrayed her?? I had to reread this scene a couple of times, just to make sure I wasn't missing something.
3) From the get-go, I knew there HAD to have been some sort of plan involving her father. I mean, new girl comes to town, announces her father is CEO of a massive company, and then immediately becomes best friends with a group of guys who clearly are doing some sort of gang shit? C'mon girl, use your brain. But THEN since her dad was mentioned so little, I let my guard down on that front after a while, which I now totally see was a bit of a misdirection lol
4) I kind of feel like her relationship with Dom is undersold? Like she had so much time to get to know Sean and she spends soooo much time with him, that I'm just not very attached to Dom. I definitely find him more interesting than Sean, but again I'm not all-in with him yet.
5) OH, and yeah I should mention that I'm honestly not the biggest Cecelia fan. I'm not convinced of /who/ she is yet, if that makes any sense. Throughout this whole book, it's like the author couldn't settle on a personality for her. Is she a shy wallflower? Is she a wild child? Is she someone who is afraid of being vulnerable? I don't even know what she LOOKS like, except I think it's mentioned that she's on the taller side. Not to mention she's so over the top emotional. Ultimately, I just don't find myself very connected to her, or very empathetic towards her issues, because she doesn't feel like a fully fleshed out person to me.
6) ANYWAYS. we'll see where this goes. I definitely see the Credence (PDoug) comparisons though. show less

Ok, so I went into this book blind. I did not expect the MMF storyline. It came out of left field but I will admit that I did not mind it. In fact, I could not get enough and need to get books two and three to see how this story continues and ends. Plus, I need to see how the twist of Robin Hood plays out as I admit that I could not see any slight connection towards Robin Hood.

The dynamics between Cecelia, Sean and Dominic is hot....very hot. Although, I have to admit that I am more Team Sean then Dominic. Part of this reason is because Dominic was not as prominent in the story and two I was a bit turned off by his "coldish" personality.

I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrators are great. They really had clear voices show more and ones that I wanted to listen to. In fact, I want to do the audio versions of books two and three. show less

I was one of the people who liked this story but wasn't gaga over it like everyone else. Don't get me wrong, it was a good book. However, it wasn't until halfway through Exodus and then finally The Finish Line that I was swept away. I loved these characters so much that I bought the trilogy after I initially read them on Kindle Unlimited. I thought that would be enough to sate my addiction to this amazing cast of characters. I was wrong because, recently, my entire For You Page on TikTok has been inundated with videos of Cee and these crazy bird boys. Hearing their voices from the audio clips from the book prompted me to buy them all, even though I never read audiobooks.

I am glad that I changed my stance on audiobooks because this made show more it even better. I am surprised that I can even say that because I struggle with the voices not living up to how I hear them in my head. The narrators made these characters come alive on the page. Every nuance from a sigh to sarcasm or even emotions was felt. It made this book even better. I am not sure how I will handle the emotions in the second or final book because this one stung. I am not sure if that is just because I know what is coming or because I am just invested in hearing these characters come to life.

I would recommend this audiobook 1000%. It truly is an experience. show less

Bad boys meet good girl. This was a book that was full of tension and had you rooting for one, then the other and hoping the best for the girl. Emotions! Nothing but emotions and then more emotions. Good Lord! Half the time I felt like I was reliving my youth and then the other half I was screaming at Cecelia to hold back, go for it! I couldn’t wait to get to book 2!

Unfortunately, my overwhelming feeling while reading this was boredom. I had tried to read [b:The Guy on the Right|45859105|The Guy on the Right (The Underdogs, #1)|Kate Stewart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1561983502l/45859105._SX50_.jpg|70669567] by this author before and ended up DNFing that. It might be the case that this authors writing is just not for me but I'm sad I didn't like this more.

I knew this book series was a sort of take on Robin Hood, though to be honest, we do not get a lot of that in this book. That was my main issue with this story. There was so little plot. Nothing happens in the story until the very end. All we get is the two male leads dropping hints and talking in show more riddles in a way that annoyed me and the heroine. I just needed a little bit more to get me hooked. So much of this book is just the male leads going on philosophical and moral diatribes that had me rolling my eyes a bit. This paired with the fact that the heroes would get annoyed anytime the heroine asked them for any clarification just left me feeling bored and frustrated.

It may have been fine for their to be only a little plot if I cared about the relationship but I didn't really. The lack of communication I mentioned above left me disliking the heroes and that meant I couldn't really get invested in the relationships. The guys ask for so much trust from our heroine but I never felt like they gave that back to her in return. There were moments I like, which is why this gets three stars. There were some moments at the end that didn't make sense to me at all but also some moments I really liked. This isn't a bad book, just not one that really blows me away.

The characters were fine. Again the guys really annoyed me by the end because of the way they treated the heroine but they had moments I liked as well and I was still intrigued by some of what they were up to. The heroine is fine, though I don't feel like I ever got a good sense of who she was prior to moving to this small town, especially since the relationship started so quickly. The characters themselves were definitely the thing I had the least issue with, despite my problems with the heroes.

I honestly don't know if I'll continue this series. I am curious but honestly not dying to know what happens next. This book wasn't as exciting as I wanted it to be and I don't really know if I'm going to be satisfied by the next two books. I definitely won't be reading the second book right away but I might come back to it if this first book sticks with me. show less