The Christmas He Loved Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake)
The second installment of Stone's Bad Boys series (after The Summer He Came Home) is a heartwarming and intense tale of two lost souls. Raine feels like a mere shell of herself, still mourning her husband, Jesse, a year after his death on the battlefield. She only feels alive when she's with Jake, Jesse's twin brother, with whom she has always had a tumultuous relationship. Tough and handsome, with dark terrors from his own wartime experience, Jake has been quietly in love with Raine for years. Now Raine and Jake are pulled to one another, but they must battle their internal demons and intertwined secrets before love can overcome their shared grief. Readers will enjoy the passionate interludes, feisty protagonists, and smalltown charm. (Oct.)