Soldier's Joy (Book II of The Sentinel Heart Trilogy)

Avery Gowan is barely home from Iraq when a ghost appears to him—one that looks disturbingly like him. The apparition says that Jessie Gibbs, a woman Avery just met, can help him overcome the guilt of a mission that killed three of his friends and maimed another.

Days earlier, at a service honoring his family’s Civil War relative, Lemuel Sanders, Avery was drawn to Jessie’s quiet strength. While camping with her Civil War-style band the previous year, Jessie, a musician, had discovered Lemuel’s unmarked woodland grave, leading to his identification and proper burial after 145 years.

Jessie and Avery begin a relationship, but his emotional volatility threatens their bond. While Avery hides the truth about his spectral visitor, Jessie hides something too—a secret about her true connection to Lemuel Sanders that may cost her Avery’s love.

The sequel to the award-winning Stones River, Soldier’s Joy stands alone as a haunting story about how the past refuses to stay buried, how healing demands facing it, and how love gives the courage to do so.