Book Tour: Soldier's Joy by M F Jones

Book Details:

Book Title: Soldier's Joy: Book II of The Sentinel Heart Trilogy by M.F. Jones
Category: Adult Fiction (18 yrs +)
Genre: Romance: historical, supernatural, military​
Publisher: Fieldwood Books
Release date: Sep 28, 2026
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: Soldier's Joy contains wartime violence, the suicide of a minor character, two slightly explicit sex scenes though without gratuitous detail, and profanities like s**t, a**hole, and God damn it, though no f-words.

Book Description:

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 he’s just met, can help him escape the guilt of the mission that killed three of his friends and maimed another.

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

Jessie and Avery begin a relationship, but his anger, recklessness, and self-doubt threaten to tear them apart. When the ghost saves him from a deadly motorcycle crash, Avery hides the truth about his spectral guardian, afraid Jessie will see him as broken beyond repair.

But Jessie is hiding 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 nonetheless stands alone as a haunting, emotionally charged story about how the past refuses to stay buried, how healing demands facing it, and how love gives the courage to do so.
Buy the Book:
Amazon
B&N ~ BAM ~ Bookshop.org
add to Goodreads


Meet the author:

M. F. JONES is a former editor for Viking Press book publishers, and Redbook, Family Circle, and Reader’s Digest magazines. When not writing, she can be found reading, knitting (while listening to audiobooks), singing in a choir, or hiking in the beautiful Tennessee woods near the home she shares with her husband, composer Douglas Hedwig. ​

Connect with the author: Website ~ facebook ~ goodreads

Guest Post:

Now Hear This! 

By M. F. Jones 

I’m a huge fan of audiobooks, and as an avid knitter I always have a book playing as I wield my needles (unless I’m working on a pattern that demands complete concentration). So it was natural for me to want to have audio versions of my two books (so far) in The Sentinel Heart Trilogy.  But the cost of producing an audiobook is exorbitant -- $2500 and up.  And I knew I wouldn’t be happy with the more economical option of an AI-voiced reading. 

Thankfully my local library has a state-of-the-art recording studio and allows patrons to use it for free, with the help of an engineer, for 6 hours a month. I began recording the first book in the trilogy, Stones River, in September of 2025, and released the finished book on Audible.com in February of this year. 

In the studio, doing my best to channel my

favorite audiobook narrators

It was an amazing experience and incredibly labor-intensive, first with doing the approximately 40 hours of recording, and then learning how to edit, splice in corrections, adjust volume, and add music, using the GarageBand program. The only thing I had to pay for was the final mastering. (To hear a sample of the finished product, click here https://a.co/d/098RWgoV and choose “Preview Audio” under the cover image.)  

Now I’m recording Soldier’s Joy. I hope to have it finished, mastered, and available by Christmas, but that’s going to be a push. Out of the 34 chapters, plus intro, acknowledgments, and author’s note, I’ve completed 17 chapters, with much editing still to be done. 

To add to the excitement, I’m working on my next book, Bright Canaan, the third book in the trilogy, which I hope to publish in September 2027. It’s presently in first draft form, a solid base to build on but requiring much cutting, editing, and revision. On a retreat in January with my writers’ group I hope to get it into shape. Then will come the final editing by a developmental editor, a copy editor, and a proofreader, and the extended process of production into book form. And I’ll start a new recording. 

As I think all the foregoing makes clear, the independent publishing path is one of constant work, considerable expense that there’s little assurance of earning back (true for most authors, whether self- or traditionally- published), and a steep learning curve to master the different technologies required. For most writers it has to be a labor of love. And I do love it. It gives me joy to be doing what I feel I was born to do. 

Not the least of the expense—of money, time, and emotional energy—comes in the marketing. For many of us introverted writers, promoting ourselves and our books requires a major venture out of our comfort zone. That’s why I’m so grateful to reviewers like you who spend your own resources reading my and other writers’ offerings and letting readers know about them. Thank you!

My Review:

Stones River: A Civil War Story of Courage, Sacrifice, and an Otherworldly Love was among one of my favorite books I had read in 2025. I was excited to find out that it was start of a series called, The Sentinel Heart Trilogy. As soon as I had the chance to read the second installment, Soldier's Joy, I jumped for that opportunity. I was far from being disappointed. M F Jones really knows how to craft a believable paranormal story that collides the past and present. I loved catching up with Lem and Jessie again, being introduced to Avery. I loved how characters living century and a half apart can bring healing and how to deal with horrific traumas they had faced in their lives. I adored Stones River, but surprisingly I believe I adored this one even more. I loved it so much.

I am going to give Soldier's Joy a very well deserved five plus stars. I highly recommend it for readers who love to read romance with a paranormal and historical twist. I can not wait to get my hands on the third and final book from The Sentinel Heart Trilogy to see what happens next, as well as, how it all ends. I am definitely a fan of M F Jones and their books. 

I received a paperback copy of M F Jones' Soldier's Joy from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.