The Finish Line

This series is by far one of my favorite that I’ve ever read. Every chapter, every page, every word I have clung on to. I felt like I was with the characters in the books. I’ve felt every emotion while reading and I fell in love with this story. I laughed, I cried (a lot) and now I’m genuinely sad that it’s over. This series deserves so much more hype than it gets. I wish I could read it again “for the first time”. So, so, so, good!

After Exodus broke me into a million tiny pieces, this book put some of them back together and healed them. While I do feel like it was a bit different from its two predecessors-- slower in pace, less action-- the way it brought all the characters' stories together and the way it ended had me bawling through the last 100 pages, as Kate's stories so often do; except this time, they were tears of happiness rather than devastation.This book gives us a lot of context about Tobias' story, and admittedly, while reading Exodus, I didn't exactly *love* the Frenchman. I've been a Dom girlie through and through since the first time we met him. This book changed how I felt about Tobias though. Learning about his past and everything that happened to him before Cecilia came along allowed me to love him more and more. I also loved that Dom and Sean and Tyler were part of many of the memories, and so this gave more insight into their childhoods and pasts as well. I would say the context was really necessary for me because, like so many of us, Exodus left me shattered.There are some slight grammatical and formatting errors here and there, I will say, and some of the time skips and flashbacks made it a little difficult for me to keep track of at times, especially when some of them didn't clearly indicate what time period we were in. But it was easily remedied.The twist ending was a complete shock, and it gave me so much appreciation for the growth of Cecilia's character. I'll never stop loving Dom, but I can appreciate how she and Tobias are meant for each other in this life after reading this installment. The Finish Line is the "happily ever after" all of us needed.

This book is EVERYTHING! This entire series will honestly always hold a special place in my heart. It made that much of a lasting impression on me. The Ravenhood trilogy is most definitely my top series of 2021 no doubt in my mind! I loved this so much I started to listen to it again after I finished! Kate got me really good in the previous book, Exodus, where I felt like my heart would never mend with all the tragedy and heartbreak. I’m so glad, but also knew Kate would put my heart back together again. Which she did and more!As soon as “The Frenchman” arrived I was team Tobias right from the start. I knew there was more to this Devilishly, Dark, and dominating man.I love that this book is called the Finish Line, because it’s true. Tobias is going to do everything he can to regain the love and trust of Cecilia, his Queen. I was in awe of how Kates writing was so detailed, and how everything tied together, and was brought full circle. All of the secrets that were kept for so many years was just unbelievable, warming my heart with every revelation. We get Tobias’ story from a child to present day and everything in between, I loved getting to know the true man behind the expensive Armani suits. How everything he did was for his family, for everyone but himself. Why he did the things he did. It was very exciting and tragic at the same time. This made me just love this character so much more. The layers on this man runs deep, very deep. Several times I just couldn’t believe this was the same man from the previous books. You see Tobias in a completely different way! He carries such hard and heavy emotional weight.Tobias comes to claim his queen, Cecelia, protect her, but she most definitely does not make it easy on him at all. Her hurt from him runs so deep. There were so many twists and surprises, I was captivated. It made the story come together in a way I didn’t know I needed and craved. This brought the steam too, very slow burn. But so sexy! ….STROKE…She makes him work so hard to prove himself, to show her that he is the man for her, and will never leave or let anyone ever hurt her again. Unfortunately, Ce is tough as nails, and is guarding her heart from him. Will not let him in so easily. She’s making him work for it and prove himself. There is always that electricity between the two of them. That never changed in the months they were apart. Tobias is not going to give up fighting for her, even trying to domesticate himself to her normal life.Joe Arden and Maxine Mitchell BOTH did Audie winning performances in this book, actually all 3 books! Preformed in dual POV, which was fantastic. I am still in awe and speechless in both of their performances! They are most definitely my ride or die narration team, the best!Joe Arden did most of the dialogue in this one, and WOW! Not only was his French accent perfect throughout the whole book, but he brought Tobias personality out so beautifully for us to hear. This book time jumps a lot, and you hear various other male characters, but Joe did such an amazing job keeping each characters unique tone and personality. Speaking of personality… my goodness.. he created such depth and so many layers, so much vulnerability to Tobias. We are getting to know who he really is. His inner dialogue has such humor, I loved that. He’s so domineering, but funny and witty. There is a chapter in particular that got me real good, like hold my breath good. He can convey such raw emotion, sadness,desperation, that I felt it tingling down my spine! I will say it’s the most emotional I’ve ever heard from him. It brought me to tears just hearing the pure agony in his voice. Gah… such a phenomenal performance!Maxine Mitchell did it to me again. In the last book she took me on the wildest, mostheart wrenching journey. She is such an amazing performer. Her character has come such a very long way from being that naive 19 year old we met in the first book. Maxine masters Ce’s emotional evolution that had me hanging on her every word. The dual POV when they were in arguments made me feel like I was right there with her. She can convey such vulnerability to a bad A woman who is a MF Queen. Magnificent job! 💋I definitely did not want to say goodbye and this story to end. It’s truly one of those books that I will listen to again and again. “They loved with a love that was more than love” - EA Poe . Best book series of 2021. END OF!

This was my second read through of this book. I listened to the audiobook this time around and OH MY LANTA! I think I want all my male leads to have a French accent now 🥵.The Finish Line is everything I could have hoped for — raw, intense, and the perfect, emotional payoff for the story Kate Stewart has been building. The growth, the redemption, the heartbreak, it all felt so real. I cried just as much in this book as I did in Exodus. This book completely wrecked me in the best possible way.If you’ve read the earlier books, you need this one. It’s not just a wrap-up; it’s a full-circle journey that made every high and low feel worth it. I’m honestly still not over it — and probably won’t be for a while. This series will probably be a yearly read for me.