Title: Tell Me To Fight
Author:  Charlotte Byrd
Publisher/Year:  Byrd Books 1/07/20
Length:  166 Pages
Series: Tell Me #5

Overview

I’m a man who takes what he wants. 
What do I want? Her. 
Olive Kernes owned me a debt and she thought that she had paid it back. 
But now I want more. 
I want more than just her time. 
I want more than just her body.
Her new life has torn us apart. 
Now, it’s up to me to make things right. 
I will make the pieces of our love fit back together if it’s the last thing I do. 
But can I do it in time? 

My Thoughts

Where it took me more than a week to read book 4, I managed to read this entire fifth installment in just one day. I think that’s because this part of the story takes us on a journey where so much happens and times are even more uncertain.

Where we left off in book four – Nicholas finds himself walking away from Olive – there are too many lies between them and too many obstacles (largely Owen) that really makes it impossible for them to be together. Nicholas leaves Olive with the stolen Monet painting and money so that they can finance their new identities and he takes the stolen jewelry to do the same.

So in this story, we find ourselves stating in Belize where Nicholas has landed. He had been there before, and knew that it was an island that he could disappear to where there was little chance of being discovered. He’s been there for a while now, just existing until one day his world crumbles – on the news is Art – the FBI agent that he did the last job for – bringing Nicholas to the top of the Most Wanted list. He needs to figure out his next move – how to get away under the radar now that his face is on the news online and TV constantly, and he plans to go to Thailand – a country where they won’t have much American News running all the time. He goes through Mexico and then. quickly learns that his accounts have been frozen, which means that someone found the person that made all his new identities and every account that was set up with a different name has also been compromised. As a result, Nicholas has to reach out to a contact in Vegas who gets him a job smuggling meth across the boarder to Cali and that gives him a bit of money to get around and plan next moves.

Then there’s the other side of the story with Olive and Owen. From the end of book four, we know that Olive’s birth mom was heading to California so that’s where they end up as well. Olive wants to meet her but doesn’t know how to make that connect. Instead, they settle into Palm Springs and try to make a life. They’ve got new identities as well since Owen is out on Parole and clearly not checking in. Being in CA gives Olive a new perspective in life. She’s on a fitness kick, she’s changed her diet and she’s got an appreciation for the world now that she never had before. On the flip side, Owen has gone down hill. He’s sullen, depressed, he drinks all the time and contributes nothing to their ‘family’. Instead, we learn that he’s still harboring these feelings towards Olive which aren’t reciprocated. It’s becoming an issue that will play out interestingly late in the book.

Throughout this fifth book, it’s fight or flight for everyone and uncertain futures. Olive wants to meet her mom and isn’t sure how that goes. When it seems to be an enlightening encounter, we hope for the best but really don’t know what that’s going to look like.

We know that Olive still has feelings for Nicholas and knowing that he’s so wanted makes her worry about him and miss him more. At the same time we know that Nicholas has never given up on how he feels about Olive and what that looks like in the future is really bleak given that they will likely never cross paths again. Or will they?

The last few chapters of this book are really riveting, we find ourselves at a point where freedom is just out of reach and yet at the same time, there are moments of happiness that eek through the clouds. There’s a real cliff hanger at the end here, we know that we have to fight but we don’t know how much fight is left. There’s an attack, a shooting, and an ambush – and now we don’t know where everyone is going to end up. I can’t wait to dive into book six. there was a moment during four when I was thinking about pausing but i’ve been sucked back in! Enjoy!