Ravenhood’s Reckoning

What does it take to turn control into trust—and fear into a future? We take Ravenhood’s finale, The Finish Line, apart and put it back together, tracing how Cecilia stops being an emblem and becomes an equal, and how Tobias learns that secrecy isn’t love, it’s a stall. From age gap debates to timeline jumps, our conversation follows the fault lines that make their relationship volatile and, finally, viable.

We dig into the origin story that the earlier books only hinted at: Delphine’s liquor-soaked revenge, poverty that carved Tobias’s instincts, and a detour through France that tied him to debts he couldn’t outrun. Those flashbacks matter, because they reset the myth. Tobias isn’t a pristine mastermind; he’s a survivor who mistakes control for care. The journal—his bridge to honesty—becomes a quiet, brilliant device, letting him confess without theater and giving Cecilia space to respond with clarity instead of reflex.

Cecilia’s ascent is the hinge. She reads the room, builds a covert network, and flips the board on Antoine without asking Tobias for cover. That move doesn’t crown her; it levels the field. Power shifts from possession to partnership, and the love story finally stops orbiting pain. Layered through the action is a harder truth: Tobias’s fear of inheriting his father’s schizophrenia. The seven-year jump reframes that dread with earned steadiness—the Brotherhood goes public-facing, the team hunts real threats with eyes open, and Tobias crosses the age he feared most, choosing life over superstition.

We close on the image that holds the book together: a sand dollar carried for years, whole and waiting, cracked open when the heart is ready. On the beach, grief gets a voice, and love gets permission to exist without guarantees. If you care about character growth, morally gray choices, and the thin line between protection and control, this one is for you. Listen, share with a friend who loves a messy redemption arc, and leave a review to tell us the moment that broke you open.

Check out our Bookshop.com book store where you can get your own copy of the books we are covering!  https://bookshop.org/shop/wreckedbyfiction

Transcript

Banter, Hump Day, And Setup

Emma 0:01

Welcome to the Racked by Fiction podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Did I read it on my lunch break? Yeah. I made I made no because I didn't know there was gonna be a quiz.

Emma 0:13

Hey, everything's for a great while I was watching a movie with my six-year-old. Yeah. I didn't know I could be both right and so fucking wrong. Racked by fiction, where we read, cry, and question our emotional stability. Hi. Hi. There's a hair on your microphone.

Amanda 0:37

There's there's a lot of fuzz.

Emma 0:39

It might be a Roshi hair.

Amanda 0:40

There's a lot of fuzz on the microphone.

Emma 0:42

I know, but it was up against your face and I could see. Oh. Like, bring it back to your face, I'll tell you if it's gone. I think it's gone.

unknown 0:50

Okay.

Emma 0:50

I don't know. Maybe it was attached to your head and it was just stuck.

Amanda 0:53

That might have been it looked like one of mine because it looked like it fell when I moved the mic. So long hair problems.

Emma 1:01

Yeah, well. So my hair is stuck in my headphones.

Amanda 1:11

Happy hump day.

Emma 1:14

Hump day.

Amanda 1:16

I need a little camel. When they had like a camel hump day meme that went around.

Emma 1:21

Like a million years ago. Yeah.

Amanda 1:23

Yeah, when memes weren't memes. Just showing my age, that's all.

unknown 1:30

Hump day.

Emma 1:31

I don't think they call it that anymore.

Amanda 1:33

Are we technically an age gap relationship?

Emma 1:36

You and me? Yes. No. No, I don't think 10 years is considered.

Amanda 1:43

10 years isn't enough. I'm almost 11 years, technically.

Emma 1:48

No, you will turn a week. You will turn in a week you will turn 43. And in April, I will turn 32. Nope. Yes. Yeah, no, in April I will turn 32.

unknown 2:08

I'm so old.

Emma 2:09

You're not fucking old. No, the last age gap I read was he was 46 and she was 27. Maybe he was 43 and she was 27. But something along those lines.

Amanda 2:29

I mean, so we're close.

Emma 2:30

Relatively. But I think the like I don't think I've usually it's over the 10-year. It's like 12 to 20 is like an age gap, usually, I think. So technically, I mean, I guess. In the actual definition of the word, yeah, we are an age gap relationship.

Amanda 2:52

I was just trying to stay on topic.

Defining The Age Gap Trope

Emma 2:55

Um, I mean, we you could talk since we're talking the finish line, you could talk Tobias and Cecilia age gap because that's something else.

Amanda 3:07

Right. I haven't done the math on that, but it did dawn on me when I was re-listening to it. I was like, he's much older.

Emma 3:13

In the beginning of the story, Cecilia is 19 and Tobias is well, Sean is 25, which means Dom is also roughly 25. Which makes Tobias almost 30. Older than that.

Amanda 3:34

I couldn't remember his and Sean's or his and Dom's age difference.

Emma 3:38

I wonder if it's canon or if it's like I don't know if it says or not. But either way, I would I would consider them an age gap. That would be a trope for sure. Probably. Settled. I'm kind of settled already. So when Dom dies, he's twenty six, and Tobias is six years older than him. So when Dom dies at twenty-six, Cecilia is nineteen and he's thirty two. So when we come back, we're sitting at what is it, six years? Right? That first the first timeline jump is six years. So in that first timeline jump in Exodus is six years. So Cecilia would now be twenty five. And Tobias would be the almost forty.

unknown 5:06

Damn.

Emma 5:09

Yeah. And then there's a and then there's another jump at the end of the finish line, which is seven years. The end of finish line is a seven year jump.

Amanda 5:21

Yeah.

Emma 5:22

So they're well she would be considered um what is it?

Amanda 5:31

When you have a baby when you're advanced maternal age. Yes. Mm-hmm. That was me. But there's like I was 36.

Emma 5:40

Um, yeah. Advanced maternal age, but then it's like a there's another word. Speci la blank pregnancy. I don't remember. I don't know.

Amanda 5:50

Anyway. I should remember because every time I went to the doctor, it was because they told you. Yeah.

Emma 5:55

Did you have to have high risk? I did. Because you were of an advanced maternal age. Mm-hmm.

Amanda 6:01

All of that. Loads of fun.

Timeline Jumps And Stakes Rise

Emma 6:05

All the extra tests and scans and yeah, my mom had all of those when because she didn't have start having kids until well into her 30s. Yeah. But yeah. So fun times. We're finishing out the finish line. The brotherhood is coming to a close. And when we left off with Cecilia and Tobias, um Dom was dead, Dawn is married, and Tyler is convincing Tobias to go find Cecilia. And I want to say kind of right off the bat is that this book I have mentioned before, but that the finish line, so many things happen, whether that's between the timeline jumps and not, that I feel it could have easily been twice as long, if not its own like spin-off. You good?

unknown 7:30

Yeah.

Emma 7:32

Um Roshi has joined the chat. Come on. He has feelings about this book to share with us. And I have some notes, but I wanted to hear um without going super spoily right off the bat, like I know you have been rereading to make sure that you, you know, remembered every little bit and everything. So I just didn't know if there was anything specific that um kind of sticks out to you.

Amanda 8:08

There was a lot that happened in this book that I had forgotten about. Um I will say that Dom kind of wins me over a little bit in this book by coming back, and the way that he's trying to show. It's it's been a Monday on a Wednesday, so yeah. Um, Tobias. Tobias kind of wins me over the way that he's come back, the way that he's being more open, finally. Um not with everything, but he's trying, right? And uh after being somebody who has been so closed off and so secretive, they're not gonna just open up immediately, right? It's gonna take time. I do like how they do the journal where he writes things that he wants to confess to her. I think that that's a genius idea.

Emma 9:15

It allows it gives him a essentially like a safe space where he doesn't have to look at her while he's saying things and um can share as he remembers or as he needs to. Yeah. I would agree with that, that that is a it's a nice touch for Tobias when he has felt so broken for so long.

Amanda 9:43

Right. Yeah. And unsure of what her reaction is gonna be. So it gives her a chance to kind of have an initial reaction and then chill out for a second and then be like, okay, let's talk about it, right? Like it's a good opportunity. I think I think it was a healthy alternative for them in their particular relationship.

Journal As Bridge For Trust

Emma 10:08

Well, and because when we know that from the end of Exodus, he is on his way to her, right? And so considering that, you know, non-spoiler content right now is you know he's going back, and um, you know that the last time they saw each other, it wasn't pretty. Right. Um, and they are that journal being utilized, they f are fighting all the time. Every like face-to-face interaction they're having ends in an argument of some kind. Right. And so I would agree with you that it is it is a nice touch for both of them to have a kind of open form of communication, even if they're not actually talking to each other. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 11:02

For sure.

Amanda 11:03

Hi, Roshi. Kitty purse. Um and Cecilia does um she does get better. She's not as timid, and she is, you know, putting up those boundaries and not allowing him to just run amok. Right. So that does it does help. It gives her um a little bit more maturity, I guess, in this book, which I would hope would come with 13 years, right?

Emma 11:45

Like by the end of it. Right. Well, so I think too, one of the things that I want to hello. Hi. Uh touch on with that, like Cecilia's growth is so huge. Um, and while we're watching Cecilia grow, we're watching Tobias decline. Right. He is essentially descending into madness um with you know, with very little direction and his not knowing what happens now kind of vibe. Yeah. Um, I think is being able to witness Cecilia not become, you know, grow out of that 19-year-old naive girl she was is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and one of the things that I have in my notes about this book is Tobias' need for control. And seeing his that's one of the biggest things that they fight over is that even he still, even after everything, he still doesn't really trust her. Right. And he he says he's gonna stop working and he says he's gonna let things go, but he cannot actually walk away from having, you know, a hand in every pot.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

Right.

Emma 13:34

Um and even though he promises Cecilia that he's going to chill out, um, that he can't, he can't do it. Right.

Amanda 13:47

So I would say I don't think it's necessarily that he does I think she feels like he doesn't trust her, but I think he doesn't trust himself because he feels like he failed her in some of the decisions that he made. And so he's not trusting his decisions anymore.

Cecilia’s Boundaries And Growth

Emma 14:08

Okay. See, and I don't I mean, yes, I I agree that that is probably true, but I do think that there's still such a large piece of Tobias's past that as a reader, you don't know. You get, I mean, until you get through the I mean, pretty much all of this book is you they they're either it's flashbacks of Tobias's past or them arguing, them arguing. It's pretty much it. Right. Um, and occasionally you'll get bits and pieces of Cecilia and what her life looks like outside of Tobias and what she's doing outside of them trying to fix each other. Right. Um, but the Tobias is, you know, we're finding out um all of the pieces from his childhood and everything. Roshi, that's rude. To go in a little bit deeper with his past is after his parents died, um, and Delphine was left to take care of them, Tobias had become a man really, really quick. Right. He didn't have a choice. Um, or so he believed he didn't have a choice, right?

unknown 15:44

Yeah.

Emma 15:44

And I am not uh a um, I'm not gonna stand here and preach Delphine's parenting um or mentorship or whatever, because she was fueled by liquor and revenge. Right.

Amanda 16:09

And she didn't have to take them on.

Tobias’s Control And Decline

Emma 16:11

No. Right. So I get it. And being having this deep need, Delphine is uh leading them or Tobias um to become a man once she realizes, like, oh, I I can't raise them right as a parent, but her need for revenge, for revenge still fuels um her relationship with Tobias. So Tobias tells her, leave Dom alone, don't go anywhere near him. I will feed him, I will clothe him, I will do whatever I need to do. Right. And so there's um a huge portion of his um childhood and young adult life where he is flat broke. Yeah. They're living in s extreme, severe poverty. Um, and I think that that is such an important piece because you don't get that in any of the other books. You don't know that. Right. Um, and I mean you can probably kind of tell based off of the way that Delphine lives. Yeah. But I think knowing that Tobias wasn't always a rich, put together, you know, pristine suit. Right. Um is is is a nice touch to to see that part side of his childhood because you didn't know, you know, there was no way to know that before this. Right. Um and then I think too, the uh piece where Tobias is we're reliving his past, and you get past all of the Delphine stuff, and he um, you know, he leaves the this blossoming brotherhood and he goes to school. Right.

Amanda 18:20

In another country by himself.

Emma 18:23

Yeah. And then Tobias is basically on on the you know, he he has um Delphine's like connections, like he knows like there's other things in France because of their family and stuff, right? Um, and so he's he is not going in completely blind, but he is in his own way naive to what exists outside of their own little bubble. So I think that Tobias's uh little in induction into the essentially French mafia is um, you know, you don't I didn't see it coming, I don't think. Um, and maybe, I mean, maybe a little, but like not to the extent where he was so wrapped up in everything going on over there, and it makes sense because he couldn't be with the boys, right? Right. So Cecilia is kind of making moves on her own, right? And she has her own like league of ravens, yep. Um under her tutelage, if you will. Right. Um and I think this is where to me that piece of Tobias not truly trusting her comes in, in the way that I read it.

Amanda 19:58

Yeah.

Poverty, Delphine, And Origins

Emma 19:58

Because he doesn't she doesn't tell him that she has figured out all of the shit that happened in France. And even if she doesn't know absolutely everything, she knows that they're in trouble. Right. Um, and he didn't tell her that. No, he wanted to fix it. And so it comes down to Cecilia figuring out that not only is she being spied on in her little restaurant, um, but that ouch by um that that person is reporting back to oh my god, back to Antoine. Yeah, back to Antoine and you know, the mafia Don essentially in France. I'm covered in cat hair. Uh co-host Roshi is currently shedding. God. And yeah, and so she uses this spy to get Antoine to come right to the States with all without Tobias knowing. And in that, to me, she becomes exactly what those boys always hoped that she would become. Um, it's what I believe that Sean saw her becoming um, or hoped that she would become, where she is their equal in every single way. Yeah. If not, their superior in every single way. And, you know, final battle. Well, not really final battle, but like. Where they realize that they can actually move forward from Tobias's past is crazy. And Tobias not knowing anything about it is wild to me. But I think that something else that I had noted down with I mean, we have Cecilia's kind of final stand situation and her doing this all on her own. Right. Well, you know, with Tyler and Sean and all of her secret birds and everything. But something that we noted when we talked about Exodus in their initial meeting was that Tobias was, you know, the king. And like she was not, she was standing her ground at that point, but it didn't last long. Right. Because, you know, in the end, Tobias wins. And I think that in the finish line, we really get to see Cecilia shift the power balance. And not necessarily shift the scales to the point where she is coming out on top, but to the fact that she has never in the Ravenhood, in the Brotherhood as a whole, been seen as an equal by any of these men. Right. And by executing this plan to bring down Anton and um utilizing her own secret fleet, she has shifted that in her favor so that she is not seen as a pawn or merely a player in this anymore. Right.

Amanda 23:50

She shows that she can be at least an equal.

Emma 23:53

Yeah.

Amanda 23:54

And I think that that was necessary to make it better. I think if she had just continued to play the princess, that that the series would not have been as enjoyable.

Emma 24:12

Well, you needed that, you know, kind of badassery from the FMC in something like this. Because sure these men are fighting and killing each other all over the place. Yeah. Um, but you get a damsel and she stays a damsel the whole time. You need something more than that.

Amanda 24:35

Yeah.

Emma 24:35

For her for sure.

Amanda 24:36

Yeah. I do kind of wish that it had come just a little sooner.

Emma 24:40

Yeah.

Amanda 24:41

And then we had a little bit of a play out of them being partners together and like taking somebody down.

France, Antoine, And Hidden Enemies

Emma 24:47

But well, and that was, you know, Kate Stewart and her freaking time jumps because that where she we get that kind of final stand situation, and they realize that they are uh they have kind of fulfilled this like the the major players in their current crises situation, um, and people are not coming after them now in their present um to kill them. Like they they have succeeded in defeating the players currently on the board, right? But then you get that seven-year time jump and you get like a synopsis where they've been chasing down terrorists and Exodus, which is the Brotherhood, has gone public sphere, and um they're now working with uh the Secret Service and the president who uh well the president isn't marked, right? Preston, who Tobias met in school in France, isn't marked, but many of the Secret Service is, and they are all in on it. They are they have like uh immunity when taking out domestic terrorists and things like that. Right. And I think for me, the most emotional piece in this book is uh Tobias's uh need for answers about his father. I can see that. Um and his father's mental health because he number one, he never really knew what was wrong with his dad. He always just he got the like, oh, he was sick, basically. They always just told him that you know his mother always just said your your father was crazy or whatever. And in his escapades in France, when he couldn't be with the boys in the States while they were executing the plan years before then, uh, he was essentially chasing a ghost. He was trying to find his father. Right. And he finds out, right, that his dad has schizophrenia and has been so mentally unwell for so long that he doesn't know who he is, he doesn't know who Tobias is, he doesn't know who anybody is. Right. And Tobias carries this fear that he's going to get sick. Yes. And I think for me, that is I mean, it's on the same kind of level in this book as his guilt over Dom because he he doesn't want to start a family, he doesn't want to get married, he doesn't want to do any of that because he doesn't know if he's gonna get sick. Right. And he this fear rules his life the same way that the guilt over Dom rules his life. So I thought it was interesting. There's a piece in the finish line where Cecilia says that she talks to Dom all the time. Yeah. She's like doing laundry or washing the dishes or, you know, opening the restaurant. Yeah. And she just talks to him. And Tobias is like, I have literally never done that. I have never talked to him.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Yeah.

Emma 28:38

And that makes me think about, you know, in my own life, do I talk to my dead? Um, and sure, there are moments, but I think that that's that was so interesting to me because it made me realize, like, not really. You know, yeah, there are times when I do, or like specific events or moments or you know, anniversaries or whatever. But not really. Not nobody other than like the closest to me, I don't think. Yeah. Yeah. Like my dad. So I have. You talk to your mom? Mm-hmm.

unknown 29:19

Yeah.

Emma 29:21

Lots.

Amanda 29:22

Um, not as much lately. I mean, I probably should. I got a lot of things.

Emma 29:26

She's probably like Amanda. Yeah.

Amanda 29:29

Yeah. Probably. Um a lot when I was younger.

Emma 29:34

Yeah.

Amanda 29:34

Um and some through my twenties and thirties, and yeah. It's just, you know, on and off and it ebbs and flows.

Cecilia’s Secret Ravens And Power Shift

Emma 29:44

But I encourage my daughter to talk to her and grandpa and you know kind of create that relationship even if they are aren't here in a physical body to do that with. Yeah. I think that it's it's not surprising to me, but like reading about grief um makes me look at my own grief in such a different light. Right. Um because you know, because I connect on such a different level with characters on the page, I I am, I am feeling, I am experiencing their grief. Right. And so sitting side by side with my own and this characters is so it's it is like actually interesting to me to see the differences in the way that I handle my own versus the way that I process like death on page or whatever. Yeah, it makes sense. Doctoy. A brief intermission because Jax has a moose. But yeah, I don't know that his battle with trying to kind of get a grip on his fear is to me, such I mean, this book is about him. This book is about Tobias. Um and you get so much information about him and his early life, his you know, early 20s, his late 20s, and then now, and it's the book isn't long enough for me to have included all of that information about who this man is as a person. Yeah.

Amanda 31:44

I can see that. I think in a weird way, I almost relate to him a little bit more than I do Cecilia.

Emma 31:54

Do you?

Amanda 31:54

Yeah. Because um we have a very similar childhood of taking on the younger sibling and caring for them and kind of becoming their parent. And having that rush to grow up and I'd have to look, but I think we were probably around the same age too. Or when he lost his parents. Um yeah, it's you know that I can relate to that part of it and and the trauma and the long-lasting effect that that has on your life to just have to be mature so quickly.

Emma 32:48

Yeah, I can see that. Also, I have to say that uh we got her because I you were saying the last two times we talked about this book that there wasn't anything really relatable and you didn't have enough, there wasn't relatability for you, and you couldn't get into it because it didn't apply to you. And I'm not gonna say you're wrong because Cecilia is whiny in the first two books, and she is unrelatable. Like really. Yeah. Um, I you know, but I I don't I'm not surprised by that that you relate. You can, you know, you can see that with Tobias because this immediate um need to grow up um is crazy. And as someone who just like you lost a parent as young as we were when we lost a parent, that is something that it's easy to relate to because it doesn't really matter how you lose a parent. If you lose a parent around that age, I mean I was 11. I was 13. I was 11 when my dad died, and that changed the way that I developed.

SPEAKER_04 34:12

Yeah.

Emma 34:13

Immediately. Um, and I think that that's kind of a like tale as old as time situation where it doesn't really matter how it happens, losing a child in that preteen, adolescent, young adult age. Right. Losing a parent. Yeah.

unknown 34:36

Yeah.

Seven-Year Jump And Public Exodus

Emma 34:36

I say losing a child. Yeah, you did. Damn. Yeah. Losing a parent is it it changes you fundamentally. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and I think that Tobias can be, I'm I don't want to say like his the way he handles things can be explained away because I don't think that's true, but I do think that it can be reasoned with because he has had to carry everything for as long as he can remember. Um, and there was something that I wrote down um that it's uh violence in the name of protection. And I think that one of the things that is going on with Tobias, specifically in the finish line, is he is struggling with the amount, which is why he doesn't really talk to Cecilia, but the amount of violence that has gone on since he created, or you know, he believes like he is the creator of the Brotherhood, and the amount of violence that he has been involved in that he has witnessed, and the amount of death and the loss and the changes that his brothers, blood and not, have gone through, he is wrestling with whether it is worth it. Right. Um and I think we really get I mean I I think that the ending provides a beautiful wrap-up. Agreed. I do think, yeah, I don't I'm sure I could think of something that I would change or something I would add. But I think I think it was beautifully written, the way that Kate Sewart finished this book and finished this series and wrapped it. And Tobias speaking finally speaking to Dom on the beach when they make it to the finish line house after God, almost two decades, a decade and a half of you know, kind of chasing down their nightmares is just breathtaking. So I do want to ask you a question. Something that I don't I had not remembered until I did my little reread um before we started talking, was the the sand dollar. And I wanted to know what your feelings on the sand dollar. It's actually one of the notes that I highlighted. Okay, I would like to know because it starts with the sand dollar and it ends with the sand dollar.

Amanda 37:43

I think that the sand dollar is a beautiful representation. I think that the way it's not something that I knew about sand dollars, right? Um, I've always known that they're this really cool creature. And, you know, when we see them up on the beach and we've found their little skeleton or whatever, that they're very fragile and neat. Um and it's hard to find one that isn't broken already. Yes. So the whole aspect of finding one that is whole and keeping it until you're ready for that treasure is a really cool concept, and I like the way that it was integrated into the book for sure. Um, oddly enough, when we were at that metaphysical store a couple weeks ago, my daughter found one. They had little teeny tiny ones, and she wanted one, and I couldn't help but get her one because I was like, oh, it's like the finish line. Gotta have a sandal and it's gonna have a treasure in it. So I haven't told her about that part of it because I want to try to keep it whole for a little while, but yeah, I do think that's really cool that she saw one and was like, that's neat. Can I have one? And I was like, Yeah, I can't tell you no now.

Emma 39:08

Not now. I love that.

Amanda 39:10

Yeah.

Father’s Illness And Tobias’s Fear

Emma 39:11

Yeah, I the sand dollar was this piece for me that was it kind of tied like his journey with about his dad and that piece of his childhood that he has kept kind of locked away. Um and you know, he's protecting his own uh his own peace, right? Um, by keeping that whole and making sure that in through everything that he has been through, that it has not fallen apart. Yeah. Um and I think that really is like symbolic of that Tobias may have, you know, broken and bent and descended into kind of uh a pit there for a while that uh really he is he's a little boy inside he's still just a little boy who lost his parents.

Amanda 40:20

Right. He never got to fully be a little boy, no, because even even before his parents died, it was stressful because I mean his mom was leaving the the abusive relationship and all of that, and so he never got to be a kid.

Emma 40:37

Yep. So no, they were moved, and uh he had all of these moments where he really like hated his brother and the Tangelo Bob. Yeah. He hated Dom, and he, you know, there's a moment where his mother is telling him, like, he's he's your brother, he's always your brother. Right. Even even when you hate him, even when you're mad at him, even when he breaks your shit and and as an adult dies, he's your brother. Right. And the relationship that he I and I think to Tobias is he has this like protector instinct over Dom, but in the same breath, he is terrified of being so close to him to actually form a real relationship.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

Right.

Emma 41:44

And so he never did. He he thought, oh, to protect all of these boys, I have to leave and I have to go do, you know, hunt my demons, basically. And so he was never able to create this relationship with Dom. And that's all Dom really ever wanted. Um, and they were always so mad at each other. Right. Um and I, you know, I it just comes back to his mom saying, you know, he's always your brother.

unknown 42:16

Yeah.

Grief, Talking To The Dead

Emma 42:17

And Tobias carrying that and keeping that sand dollar until the very end, and then realizing that he is allowed to have a happy ending. He's allowed to have that. They've made it through all of the shit, the chaos, the killing, the dying, all of it. And here they are, you know, finally at the finish line, and they they get to do it now. Like they get to actually move on. And just be. Yeah, just exist with each other. And one of the things about his schizophrenia is that he was so terrified of his father's illness that because he, you know, he was like, I don't want to start a family, I don't want to do this, because he he wanted to hit like that landmark age, which I believe is 45. I'd have to look. They I don't remember. Um, but he hits the age where it's like the if you were going to have genetically be given schizophrenia from a parent, um, it would have manifested by that point. And at that point, that's when they cut off their terrorist hunting. And that's why that seven-year jump at the end of the finish line is so significant because he has finally crossed, crossed over that threshold into what he Essentially believes is like safety. Yeah. Um so that they can be safety's an illusion.

Amanda 44:09

Yeah.

Emma 44:09

Yeah, Tobias. It's not real. And so I, you know. I think now we get to we get to rate the the Ravenhood series as a whole, but I think first the finish line is solid. I yeah. Yeah, I mean I probably I mean Exodus got a five star for me just because of the emotional trauma. Um, but the the finish line is a five star because of Tobias and really his like metamorphosis as a man.

SPEAKER_03 44:56

Yeah.

Emma 44:57

So I don't know where you'd go on your because the way you rate books is differently than I do.

Amanda 45:03

Yeah, no, I mean I think out of the series, the third one doing the finish line was probably my favorite. Um because I liked getting the background and finally getting more information, and he's finally trying to communicate and stepping up, and then having Cecilia show her true colors and being able to finally grow up to and have a little bit more of a backbone and smarts and wits about her versus just you know diddly d through life or whatever. Um, so yeah, I would give it a five. I'd read it again.

Emma 45:49

Yeah.

Amanda 45:49

Yeah.

Emma 45:50

Do you think that after having read the whole series that you could read it essentially as a standalone because you have the the background information? Like would you just read the finish line or would you start over?

Amanda 46:09

It would depend. I mean, if I have the extra time, I'd probably go back and read all three. But if I don't, then yeah, probably just Exodus.

Emma 46:18

Yeah.

Amanda 46:19

So not Exodus, the finish line.

Emma 46:25

It's fine. We got there eventually.

Amanda 46:27

Yeah.

Emma 46:28

So well, I have not been able to bring myself to read any of uh Kate Stewart's other work.

Amanda 46:39

Yeah.

Emma 46:40

Um, between the Ravenhood series and the legacy series, that's all. I haven't touched any of her other catalog. Um, and I don't really know why. I I don't want to say like it's not gonna live up to you know the way that I have felt about this series, but I don't necessarily want to say like I am not the reader that's like, if I love one book by an author, I automatically love another. Right. So I don't want it sucks because because I loved it so much, I don't want it to taint the way I'm going to feel about her other books. Yeah.

Amanda 47:24

Um I would offer to read them and let you know. But it'll be like a year from now. Right, it'll be ten and a half months.

Brotherhood, Violence, And Purpose

Emma 47:34

It'll be Christmas by the time you're telling me. No, I have heard that her other there is one other series. I think the like the first book is either rewind or something. Um Swerve, maybe. I don't know. I have seen them, like the covers, yeah, you know, recommended to me through Goodreads because of these books. Um so this series changed the way I read. Okay. Um, because with contemporary, um, I had read the year that I read, I mean, it was I I could look, but it was probably almost two years ago that I actually read uh The Ravenhood for the first time. And maybe a year and a half, but I had been I had done a lot of fantasy and technically a lot of dark romance. Okay. Um, and when you look, this book is categorized as dark romance when you look on Goodreads or you look on Amazon. Um I don't agree with that statement. Negative. Um not at all. I also think it's interesting because the way that like I had been reading up until that point was a lot of fantasy. Um I still read a lot of fantasy, but I I had not kind of ventured into that contemporary romance book world. Um not a lot of real life stuff. Yeah. And so the experience um with it being a contemporary romance where it is real life and Dom's death and the guilt and the grief and the uh you know, journey to watching these characters grow, like actually grow older, like um, not just, you know, spiritually grow, uh was a very different situation for me because of the length, the amount of time that is covered.

SPEAKER_03 49:58

Okay.

Emma 49:58

Um, you know, the decade plus in years that is covered through these three books. So I don't know. I would recommend it. I I do, obviously, to everyone. Obviously, Amanda only read these books because I wanted somebody to talk to about them. But there are so many reasons to read it for me. Um and not all of them surround the fact that it wrecked me, right? Like there's there's so many different facets to this series that even if you're not an emotional reader, there is still pieces to find within them that create a um enjoyable reading experience.

Amanda 50:49

I would agree with that. So obviously, because I didn't get super emotional over.

Emma 50:55

No, but you you had I mean you were fine. Yeah. You just said you'd read it again or recommend it to other people, so for sure. Yeah. And I think, you know, Amanda and I have said it now every episode about these books. If you don't like the miscommunication trope, avoid like the play. Don't read these books. Yeah. If it's something that you know you know you don't like, but you can get over it, I say give it a shot. Uh also, again, if you started this book because somebody told you it's a love triangle, it's not. It's not, and you won't like it if you're like, oh, she didn't end up with all three of them. No, well, one of them died and the other one got married. Yep. So to someone else. Yeah. She ends up with one of them.

SPEAKER_03 51:46

Yep.

The Sand Dollar Symbol

Emma 51:47

But okay. Any final note on the finish line? No. I think we covered everything. Okay. So it will go up on Goodreads and you have a hair on your microphone. Was it attached to my face? And uh we will be back together. Um I don't know what we'll talk about next, but we'll figure it out. Probably not a book. I think we'll we might go a different direction. Okay. So that we can kind of have a break. I know that you probably need I need a little bit of time. A moment to escape this this realm.

Amanda 52:35

I need a little bit of time to read the next ones that you've recommended.

SPEAKER_04 52:38

Well. So okay.

Amanda 52:41

I did I did start the Beckhamac. Consider me? Yeah, I did start that. But then had to shift back to this to get my rereads in so that I had notes. Um, and then I started Pin Pal.

Emma 53:00

That's good.

Amanda 53:02

So we'll see. We'll see how either which one of those wins out on what I start reading when I get home tonight.

Emma 53:08

So I will say that I am I finished Pen Pal.

Amanda 53:15

I know, you text me.

Emma 53:16

And I have not started anything else, and that is really abnormal for me. So if you need a reason to finish to continue reading that book, okay, it messed me up enough that I don't know what to read next. Okay. Witchcraft for a wayward girls. It's right. Nope. It's right there. It's right there on the table. There's also um a book that Amanda got me called Potions and Perils.

Amanda 53:42

Oh yeah.

Emma 53:43

That's sitting over there. Um haven't read that either. So there's a couple over there that haven't been read. Um, and there's a couple uh on my Kindle, on my TBR. Not very many. My TBR is not long. I don't keep a I am not a you know, 200 book TBR person.

Amanda 54:02

I did one of those stuff your Kindle days, and I have like 50 books that I don't know when I'll get to. Never. Maybe you could just flip through mine and be like, that one looks good. Let me just borrow that one.

Emma 54:15

I don't know what to I am seriously, I am there. I might finally have a chance to catch up. Don't know what to read. I don't know what to read. Honestly, I I thought about going back. And if you're gonna read Beck Mac, I thought about going back because I love that series so much. And it is something that would be worth like if you actually enjoy it. I don't want to talk about it if you don't, like, if you don't get into this first book and you're like, yeah, yeah, I'll read the next one. But I enjoy that book series so much that it would be worth rereading for me. Okay. So that's what I thought I might do. Because I also don't really want to go like read the next heated rivalry book either. I'm like, I don't know. I have no idea. So I probably will do, I probably won't do something new will be will be my situation. Um, I need a moment, maybe reread a comfort, you know, a comfort read. Uh, which weirdly enough, last year uh my comfort read of the year was Denna Vipers. That's not a comfort read. Yes, it is. I reread that book last year. I read it for the first time two years ago, I think, and then I reread it last year twice, maybe three times last year, because uh Diesel and his uh Unicorn Fanny Pack um do something for me, okay?

Amanda 55:53

I don't know what to tell you. No judgment. I just would not have considered that a comfort read.

Emma 55:59

That's all. Well, haunting and hunting Adeline are comfort reads for me too. I haven't read those. I wouldn't if I was you. You I don't you you won't find any enjoyment. Okay. I would not recommend those books to you specifically. Um you're not really a a dark romance girly. I was surprised when you had told me that you had read Dena Vipers.

Ratings, Rereads, And Mislabels

Amanda 56:18

I mean, I liked that one. It just I don't know. I I am more of a nonfiction fiction kind of person. I like I like a book that could have some reality to it. Yeah. So you like real life? Yeah.

unknown 56:38

Never mind.

Amanda 56:39

I'm not gonna say what I was gonna say. That would be, yeah.

Emma 56:42

Well, you're gonna leave everybody hanging. So on that note, um, we're wrecked by fiction, and we'll see you later. Bye. Wrecked by Fiction is recorded and produced by Westhouse Productions. They handle all the audio, video, and post production so we get a clean sound, smooth edits, and zero tech headaches. Westhouse Productions aligns with podcasts, live music, and creative projects that want to sound professional without losing their edge.