Ends of the Earth

De: Keira Andrews

Narrado por: Greg Boudreaux

Jason Kellerman's life revolves around his eight-year-old daughter. Teenage curiosity with his best friend led to Maggie's birth, and her mother tragically died soon after. Only 25 and a single dad, Jason hasn't had time to even think about romance. Disowned by his wealthy family, he's scrimped and saved to bring Maggie west for a camping vacation. The last thing Jason expects is to question his sexuality after meeting a sexy, older park ranger.

Ben Hettler's stuck. He loves working in the wild under Montana's big sky, but at 41, his love life is non-existent, his ex-boyfriend just married and adopted, and Ben's own dream of fatherhood feels impossibly out of reach. He's attracted to Jason, but what's the point? Besides the age difference and Jason's lack of experience, they live thousands of miles apart. Ben wants more than a meaningless fling.

Then a hunted criminal on the run takes Jason's daughter hostage, throwing Jason and Ben together in a dangerous search through endless miles of mountain forest. They'll go to the ends of the earth to rescue Maggie - but what comes next? Can they build a new family together and find a place to call home?

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Keira Andrews (P)2020 Tantor

Very touching

This story was wonderful. I was so drawn in and on edge. Heart in my throat waiting for the rescue. Keira Andrews is a great writer and Greg Boudreaux does a fabulous job narrating

Heartwarming story with a dash of suspense

Loved this one! Once again, Greg Boudreaux did an amazing job with the narration and the story itself drew me right in. It was sweet and heartwarming but also suspenseful and nerve-wracking. I thought the aftermath of the trauma was handled very well and realistically. And the ending was beyond sweet!

Great narration and interesting story!

Single father Jason takes his nature loving 8 year old, Maggie, on a camping trip in Montana where they meet park ranger Ben ... and where Maggie is kidnapped by a killer on the run.

I loved everything about Ends of the Earth. I mean, how cute is it to put together a park ranger and the father of a nature-loving daughter? A good chunk of the book is the father/daughter time and them getting to know Ben as he joins them on different activities, including white water rafting and hiking. I absolutely adored Jason and Maggie's relationship and how supportive he was of her love for nature. Keira is really great at writing kids and Maggie felt authentic for a curious and inquisitive 8 year old. The kidnapping plot line takes this story up a notch and I actually loved how it played out and how it impacted the characters. I thought the kidnapping would be a majority of the story, but it's the father/daughter relationship and romance that take on the spotlight.

Jason and Ben are SUPER cute together, and Ben is the man that makes Jason question it all. Not only does Jason have a (well written) s*xual awakening, but he takes the time to consider where he's at in life, whether or not he's truly happy, and the kind of future he wants to help Maggie build. Despite all of that inner turmoil, the guys have a great connection that makes it feel like they've known each other forever rather than a few days. This was such a cozy, comforting, and fun read!

I listened to the audiobook and Greg Boudreaux does a fantastic job, so I definitely suggest checking out the audio. I can't recommend this book enough; it's easily one of my favorites from Keira.

Really amazing.

As a gay man who was a ranger in Montana I REALLY enjoyed this book. My favorite by this author so far. Definitely looking forward to more in store by Keira Andrews.

Sweet story

Definitely a story for when you want a little faith in humanity restored. Ben is the ultimate wish list husband find and the story of how he and Jason came together is sugar sweet. The story starts off harrowing but only about half the book is about Jason's daughter having been kidnapped. The true meat and potatoes is about Jason working through his mental hang ups and struggles. It's a pretty straightforward romance story, but it's well executed. The narration is very well done too. This book makes for a great afternoon read. Absolutely a pallet cleanser.

A thrilling adventure, not sure I'd reread though

Ends of the Earth is one of those books that's exceedingly difficult for me to review because I'm conflicted about it. On one hand, I had an enormously good time listening to it, thanks in great part to the stellar narration from the always-reliable Greg Boudreaux. On the other hand, I had a couple minor but nagging issues with it that will probably prevent me from ever deciding to listen to it a second time.

In the plus column, aside from the narration, the writing is fantastic. This is something I've come to expect from Keira Andrews, who is really one of my favorites. Not just the writing, but the pacing and plotting as well; the kidnapping plot goes on JUST long enough to be thrilling, but not so long that it becomes tedious or stressful. I also loved the character of Ben, somewhat beaten down but still optimistic, capable, self-sacrificing, basically embodying everything positive about masculinity. I liked his relationship with his ex-boyfriend, who is a jerk but wisely never made out to be an actual villain. For that matter, I also like Jason's relationship with his parents, of which the same could be said.

Jason, unfortunately, I had some issues with. In fact, for me, he was one of the least likable of Andrews's protagonists (the rapist title character from Kidnapped By a Pirate notwithstanding, since both the title of that book as well as the book itself are beneath her, so I don't really count it). Jason seems great on paper, but something about him bothered me and I never really got over it. Maybe it's the sort of high-pitched, nasal voice Boudreaux gave him, or maybe it's just the character himself, but he just seems incredibly whiny. And that's true even taking into consideration the trauma he goes through here. Maybe it's the fact that he constantly prattles on in his inner monologue about how everyone thinks he's too immature to be a father, while simultaneously going out of his way to prove them all right. Maybe it's the fact that he's self-sacrificing, like Ben, but unlike Ben he's very, very vocal about it. He's constantly making himself into a martyr unnecessarily. Whatever it is, the character sort of bugged me. And yes, the character grows, but it's very late in the novel when he does, and by that point I wasn't particularly invested in him.

Another character that I feel like I should have enjoyed more than I did was Jason's daughter Maggie, who is supposed to be 8 years old. I say "supposed to be" because Maggie suffers from a terrible case of the unfortunately common disease "fictionalchilditis," which is when a fictional child acts in a manner that is very, very unsuited to their given age. In Maggie's case it's recurring, and she has a particularly bad bout of it in the first half of the book. Precocious to the point of absurdity, she manages to show up all the adults around her for the first few chapters. Soon after, she is kidnapped, and good lord above, her actions when she is kidnapped are just incredible. Unfortunately I mean that in the original sense of the word: not credible. Dana Scully herself never acted with such grace and aplomb when she was abducted, and that happened at least once every few episodes. Fortunately her fictionalchilditis goes into remission a bit after the kidnapping, and she settles in for a long bout of saying just the right thing at the right time to make the dumb adults around her see the light, which is annoying but at least pretty typical. And to be entirely fair, I LIKED Maggie, and I don't usually like kids in fiction, so she's well written enough that I was able to overlook it, but it really is irritating.

Anyway, I just went on for two paragraphs about negative things, but I'm still giving the book four stars because it's really quite good. Everything is resolved nicely, though to be honest I'm mainly happy that Ben was happy. If Ben had found his happiness with someone else, and several years later Jason grew up and realized he had been an idiot letting him go, but by that point it was too late, I would also have enjoyed the ending.

Fantastic

Andrews knocks it out of the park once more. Great match up with the MCs. They had great chemistry. Superb plot and narration.

Great story

The story is great, the narrator is amazing as usual. I'll be checking out her other audiobooks.

Author doesnt know Montana

my biggest gripe is the road isn't 'to the sun' it's 'Going to the sun'. either I heard it wrong every single time or it's wrong. I live there so it irritated me that it wasn't being said right.

So so good!

4.5

Oh my gods. Idk what I was expecting but it wasn’t the emotional roller coaster that happened. I cried for multiple reasons, almost had a freaking panic attack and grinned like a loon.