Flock (The Ravenhood, Book 1)
Rating: 4 Stars
"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 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.
