Exodus (The Ravenhood #2) – Kate Stewart

Genre: Romance
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 450
Release Date: July 31, 202

Haven’t read the first novel, Flock? Check out my review HERE!

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.

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Exodus is an entirely different book from its predecessor, Flock. Readers are thrust back into the heart of the story as Exodus picked up right where Flock left off, however it became quickly apparently that Stewart was taking Exodus in a different direction.

What I disliked most about Exodus was how it essentially undid everything that happened in the previous novel. The two novels couldn’t be more different; however, they both managed to keep its preachy philosophical bullshit. Readers are introduced to a new character who dominated the story and replaced Sean and Dominic. Stewart spent almost half the novel trying to convince me that this new character is Cecilia’s endgame despite how violent and toxic their encounters were. I’m certainly in the minority when it comes to my feelings regarding the new love interest, but I just don’t understand how some see him as more than both Sean and Dominic.

I almost DNF’d the novel around the 41% mark, but decided to give it a few more chapters. I’m glad I did since Sean and Dominic finally made an appearance. Unfortunately, I wish they hadn’t. Though, kudos to Stewart for the decision she made.

Cecelia was naive from the beginning of the story until the end. There were so many moments that I was embarrassed for her. She poured out her heart and soul for the new love interest only for him to reject her over and over. Then, only when it was convenient for him did he decide to fight for her. Unfortunately, Cecelia, the door mat that she is, allows him back into her life as if the heartbreak and torture she went through for most of the novel didn’t break her.

Overall, Exodus is one of those novels I disliked immensely for personal reasons. I commend Stewart for taking a bold risk with the direction of her novel and, apparently, it paid off since my rating of this novel is not the majority consensus. 

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Have you read Exodus? What did you think?