New Military Romance!
Hallowed Ground by Rebecca Yarros is
Now Available!
Blurb
There are some debts you can’t repay.
Josh Walker is loyal, reckless, and every girl’s dream. But he only has eyes for December Howard, the girl he's craved since his high school hockey days. Together they have survived grief, the military, distance, and time as they’ve fought for stolen weekends between his post at Ft. Rucker and her college at Vanderbilt. Now that Josh is a medevac pilot and Ember is headed toward graduation, they’re moving on—and in—together.
Ember never wanted the Army life, but loving Josh means accepting whatever the army dictates—even when that means saying goodbye as Josh heads to Afghanistan, a country that nearly killed him once before and that took her father. But filling their last days together with love, passion, and plans for their future doesn’t temper Ember’s fear, and if there’s one thing she’s learned from her father’s death, it’s that there are some obstacles even love can’t conquer.
Flight school is over.
This is war.
EXCERPT #1
I pushed my chair out and reached for her, lifting her tiny, curved frame into my lap. Her head tucked beneath my chin, and she curled into me, fitting right where she was always meant to be. My arms closed around her. “We have a month.”
“It’s not long enough.” Her fingers gripped my shirt like she could keep me here if she just held on tight enough. God, what I wouldn’t have given to stay with her.
“Forever isn’t long enough for us, December, but that’s what we’re going to have. You and I have never chosen the easy path. This is just another hurdle.” I rubbed my chin over her soft hair and tried to soak in every detail of holding her—the sweet way she smelled, the smooth texture of her skin beneath my hands.
She leaned back in my arms and cupped my face. “I can’t lose you.” Her voice broke, and tears pooled in her eyes.
I’d never hated myself more than I did in that moment. She’d made it through a nightmare no one should have to face, and I was about to ask her to chance that fire again. My breath hitched, barely passing the lump in my throat. “You won’t. It would take something a hell of a lot stronger than a war to keep me from you.”
I sealed that promise with a kiss, tasting her fear and desperation as she responded. She opened underneath me, and I fused my mouth to hers, surrendering to the heat between us to pull us through this moment. There was nothing hotter or sweeter in this world than kissing December, feeling her go soft and pliant.
We’d fought so fucking hard to get here, to be together. This wasn’t fair, and we both knew it. But we also both knew it didn’t matter. Fair wasn’t exactly in the U.S. Army vocabulary.
I retreated just enough to whisper against her lips, “I’ll come home. I swear it.”
About the Author
Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and lover of all things chocolate, coffee, and Paleo. In addition to being a mom, military wife, and blogger, she can never choose between Young Adult and New Adult fiction, so she writes both. She's a graduate of Troy University, where she studied European history and English, but still holds out hope for an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Her blog, The Only Girl Among Boys, has been voted the Top Military Mom Blog the last two years, and celebrates the complex issues surrounding the military life she adores.
When she's not writing, she's tying on hockey skates for her kids, or sneaking in some guitar time. She is madly in love with her army-aviator husband of eleven years. They finally can call Colorado home along with their gaggle of rambunctious kiddos and snoring English Bulldog.
Stalk Rebecca here:
GIVEAWAY
Source: eARC for Honest Review Courtesy of Entangled Embrace via NetGalley
Genre: NA Military Romance
Part 4 of 4
My Hallowed Ground Review . . .
First lets start with a big round of applause for Rebecca Yarros and this amazing series.
Two and a half years, and we were back here, our headboards separated by a wall and our hearts separated by something a little less tangible.
I thought for sure the fourth book was going to be about the last of the friends, but when I saw the synopsis I was excited to see it was more of Ember and Josh. Of course I was assuming it was going to be a pretty easy going HEA for these two but NOPE instead I was nearly gutted reading this book.
"Good, then I did my job, You gather those papers up; you stick them in a binder and lock it away in your safe. Then you get a grip and you spend the next week and a half with the man you love. Don't you dare let the fear rob you these last few days, December Howard. They're too precious, so you fight like hell for every second with him."
You have to, because I've built my world around you, our future, and I don't know if I could survive losing you, Josh.
"No. Never be sorry for what you bring to my life, Josh. The good,
the bad, the amazing . . . the tragic. It's all worth it for you. For
us."
OMG! My heart still hurts after reading this beautiful story. As we know in real life it's not always flowers and rainbows when it comes to relationships as there is so many ups and downs. Here we get to see how Ember and Josh have to fight tooth and nail to get a sliver of happiness that they both deserve.
"No, you're choosing to go. Make no mistake about that."
"Because even the pieces of me that know I'm in no shape to love you, can't stop loving you. I don't exist without you. You're in every fucking beat of my heart. You are my first thought when I open my eyes. You were my last thought as we crashed. I almost ruined you. I . . . I could still ruin you."
"And when you realize that those parts of me might be too broken to
fix?" She smiled, so beautiful and accepting. "Then I'll fall in love
with the broken pieces. You just have to trust me."
In Full Measures, it was Ember who need Josh but this time around it was Ember who was the rock who had enough love and support for the both of them. This was a gut wrenching story about love, loss, hope, guilt and happiness. It's not an easy journey for these two but along with them we get to see their struggles and triumphs to find their joy.
This is the right thing to do, and you and I both know that what's right and what's easy are never the same thing. We've always chosen the hard road, but, baby, we've always come out on top."
Was there a possibility that she'd accept this? God knows I
wouldn't have. Had it been Ember, I'd have tied her to a fucking chair
to keep her safe, and I was the worst kind of hypocrite for expecting
her to let me go.
"It's better to have tried, right? How can we ever know just how
beautiful something was, how important, how epic, if we don't at least
try to put it back together when it breaks? Even if some of the pieces
are in the wrong place, at least it's standing."
In Hallowed Ground it starts where we think Ember and Josh are going to begin their HEA with them finally living together but then the dread deployment rears its ugly head at these two, and now they have to learn to cope with this new development in their relationship.
"You're a damn fine woman, Ember. I hope he realizes it." The corners of my mouth lifted. "I have the love of a damn fine man. I hope he realizes that."
"Then stop making these asinine decisions. Stop ripping me apart.
Stop making these choices pretending like they're all about me when
they're really about you! . . . "
Fear, pain, heartbreak, it all coursed through my veins, but anger trumped it all. He'd made another fucking decision for us.
It takes two to sacrifice in any relationship but being a partner to someone in the military seems to take on so much more. How to make a relationship work when you both have careers and dreams is hard enough now add your partner constantly leaving with the chance of no return makes it so much harder. And for Ember this is not her first kick at the can which is even more difficult for her to take when bad news once again comes knocking at her door.
"Damn, Josh. I know you're used to being her rock. You're used to swooping in and saving her like you did when her dad died. But Ember is a hell of a lot stronger now. She doesn't need you to save her-she needs you to save yourself. Sort your fucking head out before you lose her. You'll never find another woman that loves you like she does."
"But because I love you, I will kick your fucking ass if you don't loosen your sphincter to let your head out."
Even though a part of my heart is gone with the loss of a beloved friend and brother, this couldn't be any more of a perfect end to this series. This book was beautifully written and your were encaptured from beginning to the end. Once I started it I couldn't put the book down. This book embodies the pain of deployment and the hope and struggles to find love with the aftermath of war. My heart goes out to any military partner and my respect and support goes out to every man and woman who fights for their country.
Beautiful Book! Amazing Series! Highly Recommend this series.
5 Gut Wrenching Thumbs up!
Lauren
