Flock

Mind. Blown. Kate Stewart brought a totally different kind of read with Flock and I loved it! This review is going to be short and vague because this is a book you want to go into blind.

Cecelia meets Sean at her first day at work. She’s working at a place her father owns to earn her spot there. She and her father are estranged, but she’s living with him and working for him for reasons bigger than herself. She’s expecting to just survive this year of working for her dad, but with Sean and his group of friends, everything changes.

I love books that make me think, make me feel, and keep me guessing. This one did all three. I’m so glad I had no idea what this was about. I’m glad I went in blind and was surprised with each twist and turn. No one crafts a story quite like Kate Stewart, and I was blown away by this one. It was on my mind for days. I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened, what’s happening, and what will happen next. I have so many theories!

If you have the chance to listen to the audiobook, it's a MUST LISTEN! The two narrators, Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden, do an INCREDIBLE job voicing these characters! So good.

This story is unique, it’s twisty, and it’s insanely sexy. After finishing book one, all I have to say is to buckle up, ya’ll. You’re in for a ride! I’m so glad these books are releasing so close together because you’re not going to want to wait long for the next one! If you’re looking for an epic romantic suspense, pick up Flock!

Flock is about a girl, Cecilia, spending the summer with her estranged father. She is working at one of his company’s plants and begins a relationship with her supervisor. After meeting his gang of friends, she realizes they keep many secrets and she will always be at a distance. Without giving anything away, you don’t know who the main love interest is (or if there is one) and there are many spicy scenes. This is not for the faint of heart! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced audiobook and I hope I can get my hands on the next two in the series after that cliffhanger!

Ok, this is not my usual trope to read. I admit I'm still reeling from that ending. The pacing was a little slow but the story was interesting enough that it didn't bother me to much. There are plenty of twists and turns. And if you like dark erotica with a mystery thrown in you will enjoy this book. Take my word when I say go in to it blind.

WHOA!! What did I just read?!! To say I was thrown for a loop several times in this book is an understatement. At one point I’m heading north and then the next moment I’m heading Northeast and then BAM I’m driving past a train wreck and I can’t look away. Then as I think we’re back on track I start to veer to the south and finally, I’m going west towards the ocean where I get slammed by a tsunami of more mystery.
FLOCK:
● CHAPTER 25 – iykyk
● steamy
● angsty
● secrets
● cliffhanger

Chapter 25 had me pulling the car over to message my friend, Christy, to ask her what she had gotten me into. *lol* I mean, I did see the foreshadowing happening early on in the story but to actually see it come to fruition was on a whole another level.

I’ll admit at times I questioned what I was reading and tried to make sense of it. As I’ve heard that is pretty common and as you get further in the book more stuff starts to come together. I have to admit it is fun reading and not knowing where the story is going to take you. That is something that becomes harder to do for a reader who has read a lot of books. Well done to the author! I enjoyed the wild ride.

The Ravehood series is a continuing story!

The audio was well done! Both narrators were excellent and added flavor to the story.

**Complimentary audio copy in exchange for an honest review.**

"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."

Talk about a wild ride! This book was released last year, but with the audiobook publishing soon, I couldn't pass up the chance to hear how the narrators bring Cecelia, Sean, and Dominic to life. Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden were the perfect choices for the story, and I found myself being able to get lost in the book so much easier than when I tried reading it via my kindle. Obviously that is personal preference and could be for numerous reasons, but I truly feel that this format brings a special something to the story, an engaging quality that let me feel I was in that small town just outside of Charlotte, NC with them.

There are so many cryptic reviews surrounding this title, mainly because it's chocked full of spoilers, in just about every aspect of the plot and characters. What you need to know going in is that Cecelia is the heir to her father, Roman's, business empire, even though he was absent for nearly all of her existence. She's going to live with him for at least 1 year, working on the line with the other factory employees, before she is eligible to inherit it all. Along the way, she meets fellow employee Sean, who introduces her to his friends Dominic and Tyler and the rest of the crew, and thus a suspenseful force of nature is put into play that cannot be stopped. If you enjoy slow burning romance and have an open mind (trust me, it is HOT 🔥🔥🔥) definitely give this one a try. Don't be scared by the massive cliffy; the next book is already available to read for free in KU!

Ummm WOW! My mind & my heart are blown away! I am totally in love with Flock🤯 Cecelia, Sean😍 & Dom🖤 have hit me counting the days until Exodus audio is out!!

Joe & Maxine are rockstars!!

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡, 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨.“
Oh my gosh, I need a minute or 10 years to fully sift through my emotions and thoughts for this one. If you’ve ever read anything by Stewart before this, you know that she has this way of sucking you in and then leaving you gasping. That’s where I am right now. This might even slide Drive out of its top position in my favorites, and that’s hard to do. These characters are unlike anything else I’ve come across, the topics relevant, and honestly, I don’t know how long I can wait for a conclusion.
Read this. Listen to this. If you read nothing else all year, all of your life, put this on your tbr and then dive in immediately.

These narrators were an absolute perfect fit for these characters, bringing them to life even larger than before.

When this book came out last summer, I saw it everywhere. EVERY romance reader was talking about it and raving about it. Sometimes, that just turns me off because what if the book doesn't live up to the hype? I was kind of nervous to go in. But, All I have to say is it lived up to the hype. It was unique, sexy and filled with a suspense that left me with a few questions and I can't wait to read/listen to the rest of the trilogy.

I'm so glad I didn't really read what the book was about nor did I read any spoilers. Do you know how hard that was?! Well, I did it and I am so happy I got to go in blindly and experience book one in The Ravenhood trilogy by audio. The performances were amazing and it was the first audiobook I've listened to with a duet narration. And it was fanfrickintastic! It was so nice to get the female POVs with a female voice and the male POVs with a male voice. It was like listening to a movie and putting my own (very naughty) visuals to this all consuming story.
Maxine Mitchell captured Cecelia and her young, questioning ways of adulthood and sexuality with a finesse that was utter perfection. And her French accent for another character was spot on. She made me feel who Cecelia was and everything she was grappling with. From her parents to her life in Triple Falls with a group of men, I got to experience everything through her eyes and it was HAWT!!

And then there was Joe Arden's performance. While this story is told all from Cecelia's POV, we still get the male characters from him. Damn damn damn! He did Sean and Dom and the others so well. You could distinguish between the characters and he nailed the sexy and fun Sean just as much as the dark and broody Dom. And his use of our favorite F word? Just perfect! These were the perfect narrators for this ultra sexy romantic suspense set in a small town.

While the narration brought this story alive, the book itself was unique, sexy, well written, hot as sin, with a bit of mystery suspense thrown in. I felt at times I was concentrating on relationships and growth of our main character, but there was so much more going on behind the scenes that I didn't even really put together until the end and it was like "WOW".

With all that said, I'm not going to say much about the details of this book. It's a book best left to go in blind. But know that Kate Stewart knows how to bring it. She may take you out of your comfort zone and it will make you question a lot of things that happen around you on the daily. It is well written and filled with intrigue, angst, secrets, lies and chemistry between characters that is scorching. This unconventional story was perfectly paced from beginning to end. I'm invested in these complex characters and where the story is going to go next. And if you get a chance to listen to the audio, I can't recommend it enough.

If there was any story in the world that you should go into blind not knowing anything about it.....Flock would be it! I finished last night and I'm still in awe of this masterpiece from Kate Stewart. The characters.......the story......the mystery.....the suspense. EVERYTHING about this story will consume you like no other. I honestly don't want to say anything else, because even one little tidbit will spoil it for you. But this is one of those stories you need in your life! So thankful I have Exodus waiting for me, because I need more of Sean, Domenic and Cecelia right now!!

And the audio narration of this story - ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!! Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden nailed their performances. I cannot think of anyone better than this pairing to bring these characters to life. And when they spoke the little bit of French - they were incredible! Both of them just made this story even more enjoyable and even though I love when Maxine voices the male characters, there was just something about hearing Joe voice Sean's character that had me melting. Cannot wait to listen to the rest in this series!!

I didn’t know a ton about Flock before I read it, and I think that’s the way to go into it. It was full of emotion, adventure, and a ton of steam.
I’ve seen it said that the book starts out a little slow, and I agree. It takes time for the characters to be introduced before the action can really start. I didn’t mind waiting because I found the characters and the mystery around some of them to be very interesting. And once the action got going, it got going…
Celcia was a good character. I definitely saw her 19 years, but I also appreciated that she seemed to learn from her mistakes and by the end of the book she was stronger and in my opinion a more likable character. Sean was
The audiobook was good. I did feel like most of the men in the book sounded similar, but I really can’t complain about Joe Arden’s voice at all. I really enjoyed that this was done in duet narration because I don’t think it would have been the same at all with just one female narrator. I did think perhaps Maxine Mitchell sounded a bit too old for the character, but I enjoyed her performance and it wasn’t anything couldn’t get past.

(This was an audiobook, so I will be reviewing it as such.)
W-O-W! The book and storyline by itself was spicy and addicting, but the narrators on this audiobook I think are my new favorites! I thought since it was two narrator's it would be two POV's but it was actually only one POV, with Joe Arden performing the male dialogue. I could honestly listen to him all day, his voice was like the Johnny Depp of audiobooks. I have heard Maxine Mitchell on audiobooks before, and I am a fan! Both narrator's delivered the lines beautifully and brought another layer of intensity. Absolutely loved it! I already have the other books in the series sitting on my Kindle waiting to be read.

Wow. Just wow. I loved how vague the synopsis of this is because you don't wanna know what you're getting into when you crack this bad boy open. What you do need to know is this is SO different to anything I've ever read by this author and it might be her best work yet. It's go angst and suspense by the bucketlload and all the steam you can ask for. I implore you to pick this up. You won't regret it.

***3.5 Stars***
This book came highly recommended and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review an advanced listening copy through Netgalley. I went in blind. This book has a lot of hype on social media, but I knew nothing about the story and had very few expectations of what it would be about. The story had lots of mystery and intrigue and was narrated by the very talented Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden in Duet, with Joe narrating all the male dialogue. Joe's narration of Sean reminded me a bit of Matthew McConaughey in Fast Times at Ridgmont high. A bit of a hippie stoner who takes life as it comes. Dom, was much more dark serious and brooding in his lower register. Cecilia gets twisted up in the business of these townies and begins to fall hard, for two men who are very different but similar.

The story definitely kept me intrigued and the bedroom scenes were extremely spicy. Once scene where Cecilia was reading in bed was a particular favorite. There were some issues I had with the book primarily that for large sections of the story I didn't like the characters. I found Sean and Dom to be selfish and manipulative at times and got angry with them for how they acted towards Cecilia more than once. For her part Cecilia made some silly choices as well, ones that might be expected of an 18 year old and showed her immaturity.

I very much enjoyed Flock and will probably read the ebook for book 2 because I don't know if i will be able to wait for the audio for book 2.

I received an ALC of this book and voluntarily give my review.

First I’ll start off with the narration since it’s one of my favorite styles. The book is narrated in duet style meaning the male speaks all male parts and female speaks all female parts regardless of what POV the chapter is in. This really adds to the story in my opinion. Both narrators did a fantastic job.

As for the story be ready! This is the type of book that will give you a lot of highs and lows. You’ll love and hate characters and you’ll be itching to get to the end. It does end in a cliffhanger so be ready. This story definitely is unexpected and full of secrets so if you like that I recommend giving it a try. I can’t say more as I don’t want to spoil the story.

WOW. WOW. WOW.

I don't even think I can write a normal review for this one. Because I’m simply at a loss for words. I went into this book completely blind. And I’m so glad that I did. This is my second book by Kate Stewart and it reminded me why I love her writing. It’s absolutely impeccable. Everything about this book was amazing. The relationship between Cecelia, Sean and Dominic was great and they had such a great dynamic. The emotions and feels this book gave me are just too much to describe. I also had the pleasure of listening to this on audio, Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden did such a great job with this book. I don't want to, but I’ll be waiting very impatiently for the audio for book two.

This is a must read/listen!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to listen to this audiobook because so many people were "raving" about it (hehehe). I enjoyed the narration of Joe Arden but Maxine Mitchell's voice didn't aid my connection with Cecilia, the heroine.

Cecilia starts off seeming independent and more confident than she turns out to be. She came to live with her absentee father who owns a bunch of businesses while leaving Cecilia and her mother to struggle to live. She meets Sean at her father's factory and they connect. I hated her dialogue with Sean. He couldn't answer simple questions without trying to sound like some old philosopher. A simple conversation felt like pulling teeth. In between meeting Sean's friends, and Cecilia's dad, I surmised that Cecilia is attracted to people who don't seem to care about her. It is almost like she feels challenged to make them see she is worth loving and she will get their affection if it's the last thing she does. That's the only reason I can see her giving Dominic and/or Sean the time of day. It's like the daddy rejection, part deux.

The author tries to portray Sean, Dominic and the Ravenhood crew as good people who may do unsavory things to help the downtrodden. But I don't connect with them anyway because of their attitudes. I liked the narrator because this voice gave range of emotions with the guys in contrast of the girl narration that made Cecilia feel pathetic.

This audiobook ended on a cliffhanger and the next audiobook isn't out on yet. I can't say that I am waiting on pins and needles but Im curious to see if Cecilia has some personal growth in the next book.

Wow! I went into this book without knowing what it was about and it had a little bit of everything; parental abandonment, mysterious secret brotherhood, drugs, an amazing love story, and lots of steam!! I thought it was well-written, the plot was engrossing, the characters engaging and despite their flaws they captured my heart. It ended with a suspenseful question mark and I can't wait for the next book in the trilogy. I can only imagine that it will also be 🔥🔥🔥
I listened to the audiobook on my @sudio Fem earphones all in one day and I really enjoyed the narration. Hopefully I will get to listen to the next two books in the series too!

I received a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Flock is a spicy modern day Robin Hood re-telling and I loved every second of it. This book had me staying up all night because I simply could not stop listening to this audiobook. Even when I wasn’t listening to it, I was constantly thinking about it.. Flock is a tension-filled, atmospheric, ride that keeps you on your toes. I can’t wait to dive into the second book. The narration for this audiobook was incredible and I highly recommend.

Cecelia has more responsibility on her shoulders than anyone her age should have to bear so when she finds herself not only living with the father she doesn’t know but working at his corporation she is willing to agree knowing that in one year she will be able to live the future she wants.

She has always done what was expected of her and been the daughter that most parents would wish they had. When she meets a co-worker, she is drawn into a world she doesn’t know or understand and is conflicted between her mind telling her to run in the opposite direction and her heart telling her to stay.

So many secrets, so much intrigue and heat that radiates off the pages all lead up to an epic cliffhanger that leaves us needing to know what the future holds for Cecilia. The narrators were a perfect choice for the characters and the story.

I don’t even know who I am anymore! Kate loved a steamy romance? What!? ⁣
⁣
This isn’t my typical genre - not because I don’t like it - I’m just always drawn to thrillers, contemporary fiction, or even rom-coms first. But I decided to give it a shot and …. I LIKED IT. I mean, I really, really liked it!⁣
⁣
I’m not sure I’ve ever read romantic suspense before, and this one has so much mystery, dark, secret society vibes, lots of steam - and it hooks you right in and doesn’t stop. Oh, and there is book sex.⁣
⁣
Yes, you read that right - book sex. ⁣You’ll just have to read it to find out! ⁣😆
⁣
I immediately downloaded the second and third books on audio in The Ravenhood Series and I have even been recommending it to my seasoned romance reading friends!
⁣
So yep, that’s me now - you’re new go-to for romance recs. OK, OK I wouldn’t go that far… but THIS is definitely one I’d recommend!⁣

Genre: Romance
Trope: Love Triangle
Pub Date: 7.27.20
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Steam Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

“My greatest hope is to be in an all-consuming love. My biggest fear is to be in an all-consuming love.”

Well, this was an unexpected read for me. I started listening to the audiobook through @netgalley courtesy of BookSparks and thought I was in store for a story about a girl coming to terms with the demons of her past. Nope, I was wrong. This is the story about a girl falling for two men in the classic love triangle trope.

🔥 Holy steamy moments (lots of them)
🔺 Love triangle
😰 Suspenseful
🤔 Some parts were a little confusing
😬 Unhealthy relationship vibes
🔥 Did I mention the steam?

For those of you who read Twilight, Hunger Games, or any story featuring a love triangle and always hoped the author throws a little steam into the storyline.. yeah, this is the book for you. There are two more books after Flock in the series and I plan to read them.

🎧 Whew...headphones on for this one friends! 🎧

Thank you BookSparks & Podium Audio for choosing me to be a part of their #src2021 Audiobook Track! Kate Stewart you knocked this one out of the park! ⚾️

🤫 The synopsis of “Flock” is a bit vague, much like the story itself, full of secrets! So, I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into when I pushed play.

🔥 What I experienced was fire. I think I was blushing the entire time, even with my earbuds in.

“I never told him how I allowed myself to be used, ravaged and at times debased to the point of depravity...and that I loved every second of it.”

🫁Not only can Kate write narrative from a sexy ass man’s perspective but I have to give a nod to the narrators Maxine Mitchell & Joe Arden that provided explosive chemistry & true emotional talent. I felt what the characters did, when Cecilia’s heart raced, mine did. When she licked her lips. I licked mine.

“Flock” follows 19-year old Cecelia “C” who moved in with her father in Triple Falls for a year in order to work at his business because her mother’s well- being is at risk.

She’s barely there but a moment when she meets Sean who invites her to a party back at his place. She automatically says no, she’s not the type to hang out with people she doesn’t know in an unfamiliar place. But, she’s easily persuaded by his charm.. It’s then & there that she decides that this is going to be her summer to shine. No holds barred.

“Free time will take on a whole new meaning for this wall flower.”

But she has NO idea what she’s getting herself into! A world full of private “meetings;” brief answers & a group full of men who are equally as hot as Sean. Especially, the head bad boy Dominic. Suddenly she can’t make up her mind which man she wants to pursue. But, does she have to?

“I love it... the draw...the sizzle..”

“I look good on you.”

“... It can be a LOT of fun to be an animal.”

But as amazing as this feeling is, all good things must come to an end. Can Cecelia survive it?

“Since day one I’ve done nothing but walk directly into the line of fire.”

An explosive MMF romance that I devoured. I can’t wait to continue on in this series.

5 ⭐️.