The Christmas Key: A Twilight, Texas Novel

by Lori Wilde

Overview

There’s a legend in Twilight, Texas. If you sleep with a kismet cookie under your pillow on Christmas Eve, you will dream of your one true love.

She saw him in her dreams . . .

It’s impossible! Naomi Luther was standing face-to-face with the man she’d dreamed about over a year ago. Was it the magic of kismet Christmas cookies that brought him to her? Or is there an even greater force at work? All Naomi knows is she is falling, hard and fast, for the one man all good sense says she should not have.

She was his buddy’s sister . . .

Rebellious Mark Shepherd found order in the Marines but chaos on the battlefield. In a mission gone wrong, Mark is injured and one of his fellow soldiers loses his life. Haunted by guilt, he arrives in Twilight to keep a solemn promise. But when the Luthers mistake him for their handyman, he’s swept up in playing Santa to his buddy’s orphan son . . . and falling hard for Naomi’s irresistible bright spirit and sweet, sexy smile. But what will happen when she learns the truth?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062468284
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/23/2018
Series:	Twilight, Texas Series , #9
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	169,996
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Lori Wilde is the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers’ Weekly bestselling author of 87 works of romantic fiction. She’s a three-time Romance Writers’ of America RITA finalist and has four times been nominated for Romantic Times Readers’ Choice Award. She has won numerous other awards as well. Her books have been translated into 26 languages, with more than four million copies of her books sold worldwide. Her breakout novel, The First Love Cookie Club, has been optioned for a TV movie.

Lori is a registered nurse with a BSN from Texas Christian University. She holds a certificate in forensics and is also a certified yoga instructor.

A fifth-generation Texan, Lori lives with her husband, Bill, in the Cutting Horse Capital of the World; where they run Epiphany Orchards, a writing/creativity retreat for the care and enrichment of the artistic soul.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/03/2018
Wilde’s latest Twilight, Texas contemporary western romance (after Cowboy, It’s Cold Outside) is an absolute crowd-pleaser. Former Marine Mark Shepherd comes to the town of Twilight to honor the wishes of Clayton Luther, a man under his command who died in Afghanistan, and return a cherished possession to Clayton’s family. Clayton’s father, pastor Tom Luther, mistakes Mark for a handyman he has hired, and Mark can’t bring himself to tell the man the real reason for his visit. As Mark works on projects for the church, he falls under the spell of Naomi Luther, Clayton’s older sister, and Hunter, Clayton’s orphaned son. Mark tries to keep his distance from Naomi, feeling responsible for Clayton’s death, and Naomi attempts to ignore the sizzling heat she feels in Mark’s presence, as she believes that raising Hunter leaves her no time for love. The magnetism between Naomi and Mark is breathtaking and real, and the magic of Christmas enhances their romance. Readers will cheer for the wounded warrior who may just have found a place to call home. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

…An absolute crowd-pleaser…  The magnetism between Naomi and Mark is breathtaking and real, the magic of Christmas enhances their romance. Readers will cheer for the wounded warrior who may have found a place to call home.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“...Wilde explores the subject of PTSD with great empathy and insight...together with the author’s usual superbly nuanced characters, layers of emotion, and exquisite sexual tension, and you have a heart-wrenching and heartwarming tale that beautifully encapsulates all the love, hope, faith, and forgiveness of the holiday season.” — Booklist (starred review)

From the Publisher

...Wilde explores the subject of PTSD with great empathy and insight...together with the author’s usual superbly nuanced characters, layers of emotion, and exquisite sexual tension, and you have a heart-wrenching and heartwarming tale that beautifully encapsulates all the love, hope, faith, and forgiveness of the holiday season.

Booklist (starred review)

2018-10-02

A Marine who feels responsible for the death of a soldier travels to the man's hometown to make amends, but things get complicated when he falls for the soldier's sister.

After a childhood filled with uncertainty and abandonment, Mark Shepherd turned to the Marines for a sense of order and direction. However, after an attack in Iraq a year ago that left his leg permanently injured and Clayton Luther, one of his men, dead, Mark is wracked by guilt, believing he is responsible for Clayton's death. He's also questioning his purpose and his rigid belief in following rules. In his last session with a psychologist before being released from the Marines, Mark receives a mysterious skeleton key that leads him to Twilight, Texas, Clayton's hometown. Twilight has a number of legends and traditions that revolve around romance, one of which is the kismet cookie. The legend goes that sleeping with a kismet cookie under your pillow on Christmas Eve makes you dream of your one true love. Before he died, Clayton gave Mark one, and, "against all common sense, Shepherd had slipped the cookie underneath his pillow," then dreamed of a woman he'd never met before. When Mark arrives in Twilight, his dream woman turns out to be Naomi, Clayton's sister. Mark tries to tell the Luther family about his connection to Clayton, but circumstances keep getting in the way. Mark and Naomi explore an immediate, fiery attraction, then help each other work through their pain and grief and ultimately embrace forgiveness, especially once Naomi discovers Mark's connection to her brother. Wilde's studies of military service and war wounds may be light, but the town that offers shelter and love to soldiers with physical and emotional damage is always nice to visit.

Another Twilight, Texas, Christmas romance filled with warmth, spirit, and healing.

Kirkus Reviews