Consecrated Ground

by Virginia Black

February 7, 2023 · Bywater Books

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Joan Matthews is headed to her hometown because her father Trevon died. Like him, she is a witch. However, their relationship broke many years ago when she chose to become a war witch and kick ass wherever she’s needed, rather than take up their family’s traditional role as a binder witch who casts protection spells on their town.

Joan plans to stay just long enough for the ceremony that will lay him to rest, but she can’t ignore the local vampire lord’s regular attacks on the town. On top of all of that, she’s also forced to face her long-buried feelings for Leigh Phan, the former best friend and love of her life who chose someone else over Joan a decade ago.

Consecrated Ground opens with an action scene so gripping, I felt like the book was holding my face and staring me down. Its opening chapter made me say out loud “Okay, this book is NOT fucking around,” which I’ve never done before.

Check out the first two paragraphs:

The gnarled oak greeted Joan like an old friend. Half a mile from the Calvert town limits, its lowest thickest limb marked the curve in the road just as she remembered, but she ignored the sign to slow down.

If she did, the three men blocking her side of the two-lane road would probably try to stab her tires.

Joan doesn’t simply drive to Calvert. She fights some dudes on her way into town and it’s written so cinematically, I could actually see it in my mind. I typically only get flashes of imagery when I read, so I was pleasantly surprised to be able to imagine it like I was watching a film.

Joan is a badass, butch-ish Black woman. If competence porn is your thing, you are going to love Joan, because she can cast protective and combative magic, and she’s just as good at hand-to-hand combat. The only thing she’s not as great at, of course, is dealing with her emotions.

When she travelled across America, vanquishing bad guys and learning new fighting skills, Joan could easily avoid her memories and feelings related to growing up in and leaving Calvert. But by returning to her hometown and staying in Trevon’s house, she can’t run from them anymore. Joan’s feelings about Trevon’s passing are complicated, because she remembers two versions of her dad: the one she was close to when she was growing up, and the one who was left behind after her mother died and who didn’t approve of Joan becoming a war witch. Now that he’s gone, Joan knows she’ll never have a chance to reconcile these two versions.

Staying in Trevon’s house also means spending more time with Leigh than Joan would care to, since that’s where Leigh is currently living. They have a lot of history because they were best friends who became romantically involved as teenagers, only for Leigh to break Joan’s heart. I love second chance romances, so I was invested in their build from Joan’s distrust and Leigh’s regretful longing for her to a believable HEA.

That said, I wish this was an urban fantasy romance rather than an urban fantasy with romantic elements. Obviously, I’m being greedy, because it’s absolutely successful for what it is, with incredible worldbuilding, excellent character arcs, and a plot that kept me guessing, but I wanted to see more of Leigh and Joan together, because their tender moments are so beautiful. I would have happily read another hundred pages of them spending time together. I recognize this is coming from the part of me that still isn’t over how many books it took for Kate Daniels and Curran to finally bang, so I should probably just be grateful that I didn’t have to wait for a sequel for Joan and Leigh to properly reunite as a romantic couple.

Although Consecrated Ground is told mostly from Joan’s perspective, we sometimes get Leigh’s too. I especially liked learning what motivated her to choose someone over Joan and what’s happened with her in the years since.

However, I expected to get more equal insight into both of them, because of the way the blurb is written:

Like her father before her, Joan Matthews is a witch. For generations, their family of binder witches has protected Calvert, Oregon from vampires by strengthening the land with spellcraft. Pushing back against tradition, Joan defied her father and left town to become a war witch, one who fights the monsters hand-to-hand. But when her father dies, Joan returns to find her hometown assailed by a vampire lord’s endless attacks—and the answers lie with the one woman who chose a rival over Joan.

Leigh Phan once believed her heart was safe and her future was set. When Joan left town, Leigh’s choices led to ruin and unintended consequences. Now Leigh harbors a dark secret forcing her to live a moment-to-moment existence. Her only hope of survival lies in trusting the war witch who left her behind.

Now it’s up to Joan to fight for a town she left behind, while Leigh faces a destiny she never imagined was possible. With Calvert on the brink of total destruction, Joan and Leigh join forces and face inconvenient truths in order to save their town—and each other.

Overall, I’m so glad I read Consecrated Ground. It’s been many years since I’ve read an urban fantasy and I forgot how much damn fun they can be. I was sucked in immediately and it was very hard to put it down. The vibe felt very Wynonna Earp meets the Kate Daniels series, and I was into it. I hope this story is adapted into a film or TV series, because I would love to experience it in more mediums. In the meantime, I’ll be sitting over here, trying to wait patiently for the sequel.