Title: To the Ends of the Earth
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  CreateSpace Publishing 11/15/16
Length:  174 pages
Series: Stripped #5

Overview

Another rundown apartment. Another job that pays cash. Every new city it becomes harder to hide but I can’t stop running.

There are two men after me… One wants to save my soul.
The other wants to claim my body.

Part of me wants Luca to catch me, even knowing what he’s capable of. An enforcer. A fighter. The only language he speaks is violence. How far will he go to find me? What will he do once he does?

A wild glance over my shoulder. The shadows are moving. I’m about to find out.

My Thoughts

We first met Beth when she was at Harmony Hills – when Ivan went about doing his manly stuff to get retribution for what’s been done to Candy. Beth was caught in the crosshairs a bit since she took over for Candy’s position with Leader Allen (not by choice I have to say) and she was left to be abused, neglected and we can only imagine what the means for her in the long run.

We saw the interaction between her and Luca when she was first ‘re-captured’ and there is chemistry there, desire, but the question becomes who will break whom and what does that mean. We saw in Candy’s story that Luca is willing to sacrifice a lot for Beth, that’s how much she cares for him, and this next installment takes us into the future where we see how that worked out.

Some how Beth got back on her own two feet – she’s working the best jobs she can to provide food and clothing and shelter for her daughter (Leader Allen’s if you’ll remember) but she’s on the run. Both from Luca whom she wants to put distance and from her brother who was the one who was sent to Tanglewood to do harm. People put this notion in his head that Beth’s baby is a message from god and now he has all these notions about things that should be happening with the baby and none of them are good.

She had been so careful each time she’s moved from state to state, into Canada, off the grid – just for a little bit of security. Any time it seemed like someone may be getting too close, she’s picked up roots and gone on the run again, but Luca is not far behind. He’s a man on a mission and not willing to say goodbye.

So we watch how Beth is constantly looking over her shoulder. how she’s learned to forgo everything for herself because she needs to protect her daughter. She’s gotten stronger, she does what she can to keep them safe until it seems like things come to a head. She’s attacked by a bunch of drunk men, and her protector – Luca comes to her rescue.

The journey from here is one where we watch him try to do all the right things to keep her safe – to give her and her daughter the life that they deserve, and Beth fights him every step of the way. She’s afraid to let someone in, and she’s afraid of what it will mean if she gives him that amount of power over them. But what she hates more is that she wants to let him in because she’s afraid of the outcome otherwise.

The tension between them is hot, and it adds to the tension of the unknown with the story. Trying to find her brother before he finds them, and trying to get things back on track. The lengths they go to in order to do all of that – well….it’s entertaining to say the least. What I will say though is that this story resolves how we need for their installment – and now it’s onto the next.