Monday, January 25, 2016

Release Day Review, Excerpt & Giveaway:Hallowed Ground by Rebecca Yarros

  New Military Romance! 
Hallowed Ground by Rebecca Yarros is
Now Available!


Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1NeMPn1

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 #2

I pulled her onto my lap, gently squeezing the sweet curves of her hips.

“Behave,” she whispered into my ear, but ran her tongue along the edge.

My fingers flexed, teasing under the edges of the black skirt that had slid higher on her thighs as she sat. I couldn’t help it—her skin was a magnet for my hands. “You like it better when I don’t,” I answered.

She locked those blue eyes on mine, and for that second, I wanted everyone to go the fuck away so I could get my remarkable girlfriend out of her clothes. Not a girlfriend for long. Not if I found the perfect moment for that little velvet box hidden upstairs.

Mrs. Walker. December-fucking-Walker. Sounded perfect to me.

“Earth to Josh and Ember,” Jagger called, waving his hand like he’d been at it a while.

“Yeah, yeah, a toast,” Ember said, wiggling against my now-hard lap. I locked her down with my hands, and she threw me a smug grin, well aware of what she’d done.

Jagger raised his beer. “To friends. Hell, that doesn’t even cut it. You guys, all of you...I wouldn’t be here”—he looked over to Paisley—“or even the man I am, without you. So more than friends...to family.”

We glanced around the fire at the family we’d made, and I felt it—one of those moments you can’t forget, the kind that stay with you when it’s long past, so you try to memorize everything. It was a deep peace, a contentment laced with the silent knowledge that we wouldn’t be together again for far too long.
“To family,” we all said in scattered rhythm, and I kissed the underside of Ember’s jaw.


What I thought about Hallowed Ground


Rebecca Yarros finishes the Fight & Glory series in much the same manner in which this series started -- with an emotional ode to the men and women who serve our country and the loved ones they leave behind. I had a pretty good idea  what was going to happen in this story just from the touching dedication that left me a bit teary eyed.
 
Josh and Jagger get their orders to go to Afghanistan shortly after Josh, Ember, Jagger and Paisley have moved into adjoining condos. Told in alternating point of view, the precious days before Josh leaves are played out in aching detail, with Ember doing her best to keep her fears to herself, and Josh encouraging Ember to follow her own dreams and opportunities while he is gone.

A mission gone wrong has terrible consequences for the flyboys and their women. Josh and Ember's relationship is tested in a major way. Josh's sense of responsibility after the mission that changes all of their lives goes a bit haywire, and Ember's attempts to get through to him fail, highlighting a serious communication problem in a relationship that they may not be able to salvage.

There are a ton of feels in this book, so first of all, you might want to have a few tissues handy.  There were times I wanted to knock Josh and Ember's heads together (especially Josh's).  The tensions surrounding Josh's deployments are realistic and well done, illustrating that love doesn't solve all the conflicts or problems in a relationship but it can be the glue that holds things together while figuring it out. 

I started this book late one evening and didn't put it down until the wee hours of the morning.  I adored the final chapters of Hallowed Ground (really the entire book, but the first 30% and last 30% are just wonderful) and especially how Josh's best friend manages to put a big spotlight on everything Josh is in danger of losing.  Go Jagger! 

Hallowed Ground is a terrific end to this series and is a lovely tribute to our servicemen and their significant others. It highlights their sorrows and sacrifices along with the tremendous character and heart it takes to have this career. Knowing the author has personal experience in this life makes this story that much more rich and satisfying.  Although I'm sad to see this series come to an end, the ending is just perfect and the decisions Ember and Josh make to get their HEA warmed my heart.  

This series is definitely recommended. 

ARC provided for review.



**VIEW THE Hallowed Ground TRAILER HERE: https://vimeo.com/148520997 **
 

About the Author

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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.



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Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Yarros/e/B00HYKBU1W/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1449029619&sr=8-2-ent


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