After slogging through Beyond What is Given, I wasn’t entirely expecting to be hooked into Hallowed Ground, and – damn it, Rebecca – you got me again. The tears came full force, and I have no idea how to recover. Again.
Fair warning: this will not be a spoiler-free review and it will probably be my longest.
Hallowed Ground brings us full circle back to Josh and Ember’s story. They’ve dealt through schooling, they’ve done the whole long distance thing, and finally – finally – they’re able to start their lives together in person. They’ve got their own home, conveniently right next to Jagger and Paisley, and everything seems to be working out the way they’d hoped.
Hahahahaha. I keep acting as if I’ve never read one of Rebecca’s books.
Because of course that would be too much happiness, and of course Rebecca wouldn’t give us the opportunity to just have sweet domestic bliss. NOPE. Everything has go to absolutely bonkers and drive us all mental as we have to wade through probably one of the more intense books of this entire series. The book opens with one of the worst possible moments, but it doesn’t start there. No, it rewinds just enough to lull you into that false sense of security that you wish you could desperately cling to before your heart gets broken all over again.
At this point, Josh and Ember have been together for a while. Things are going great and they’re happy. Ember’s working on finishing her degree and realizes that she might want to continue going to school for her master’s degree – perhaps even a doctorate. One of her classmates, Luke, insists that she needs to head out on an archaeological dig to get herself a boost up in her academics. The problem? It’s in Turkey. She isn’t ready to leave Josh just yet, not so soon after moving in together.
She tells Josh about the dig, telling him that she won’t be going. But he’s very insistent. Why? He’s on deployment orders and at first Ember tries to rationalize that it could maybe be okay since he could be sent anywhere, but we know better. Josh is being sent to Afghanistan for nine months, one short month after they thought they would have their happily ever after.
Josh won’t be going alone, though. Jagger leaves at the same time as Josh, with Will Carter following a few months later.
But the entire time Ember worries – Afghanistan already almost killed Josh once and already killed her father. What would happen this time?
Ember isn’t the only one with something to lose this time around – it turns out Paisley and Jagger are having a baby. How about that for terrible timing?
Worried about Ember and realizing what’s coming, Josh proposes to Ember and it falls flat because she realizes that he’s just trying to check off boxes before he leaves. He wants to make sure Ember is protected, but the way he goes about things isn’t the way that she wants or feels that she deserves. They try to push things aside and work on making their limited time together as great as it should be. It’s a difficult situation all around and before we all know it, it’s deployment day.
For the most part, the first few months are fine. Josh and Jagger are saving lives and while the situation isn’t the best, they’re making it through. Ember still waffles on whether or not she should go to Turkey and works on finishing up her education while finding time to talk to Josh whenever he has available time. Eventually Will finds his way to Afghanistan, and this is where the trouble begins.
On what was meant to be a routine orientation trip for Will turns into a sudden rescue mission as Jagger’s helicopter is shot down. With no questions asked, Will and the rest of Josh’s crew make the decision to try and rescue Jagger and his crew, but it’s an active fight zone, making things complicated. In the middle of trying to rescue Jagger, Josh’s helicopter is also shot down and with one crew member dead, and the rest injured to some degree, they have to make their way to Jagger on foot.
The good news is that they make it to Jagger who is still alive. Beat up and bruised from the crash, but still living. The bad news? Will doesn’t make it. Knowing what is at stake, when they come under fire, Will places himself between Josh and Jagger, effectively saving their lives, but ultimately ending his.
By this point, I really should know better when it comes to a Rebecca Yarros book. While Will wasn’t my favorite character, he was flawed, but he was growing and he was starting to grow on me as a person. But of course someone had to die, and I suppose it makes sense that out of everyone it would have to be Will, despite his situationship with Morgan.
The rest of the book is a rollercoaster, and I found myself growing frustrated with both Josh and Ember. Ember for sacrificing such major parts of herself and trying to do things right by Josh, and Josh for being stubborn and hard-headed, ignoring the fact he clearly has PTSD and going to extremes to fight it. It was all very real and very well written and shows just how complicated grief and trauma can be while trying to be supportive. It’s difficult for all parties involved and isn’t easy to overcome. There are a lot of emotions involved, and after already being invested in Josh and Ember’s story, being brought to this point made us feel like we were right there with them. Trying to navigate the stresses of both parties trying to do the right things for themselves and as a couple all while trying to heal is challenging.
But in the end, despite the hardships and everything involved, we’re shown that it is possible to move forward. We see that it’s possible to heal. And I think that is what made me love this one so much.
We are given a beautiful ending where Josh and Ember finally get married. Josh is still working with helicopters, but saving people much closer to home. They have two children, Ember is teaching while also writing about archaeology, and they are the perfect hockey parents.
This book is a solid five stars for me, and it’s one that I’ll probably read again. Not sure what kind of mood I’ll be in when I return to it, but it’s worth revisiting later on.
Until next time.
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