The Secrets of Lost Stones by Melissa Payne

The Secrets of Lost Stones

by Melissa Payne

A soul-stirring novel about the bonds between mother and child and the redemption that comes with facing the past and letting it go.

Thirty-two-year-old Jess Abbot has lost everything: her job, her apartment, and—most heart-wrenching—her eight-year-old son, Chance, to a tragic accident. Haunted by memories and grief, Jess packs what’s left and heads for the small mountain town of Pine Lake, where she takes a position as caregiver to an eccentric old woman.

A rumored clairvoyant, Lucy is strange but welcoming and immediately intuits Jess as a “loose end” in need of closure. But Jess isn’t the only guest in Lucy’s large Victorian home. There’s also Star, a teenage runaway with a secret too painful to share. And the little boy with heart-shaped stones, who comes with a hope for reconciliation—and a warning.

Soon Jess learns that she’s not the only lost soul running from the ghosts of the past. She and Star have been brought together for a reason: to be saved by the very thing that destroyed them.

Reviewed by Jeff Sexton on

5 of 5 stars

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Loose Threads Come Together Quickly. And Explosively. The front half of this book is very much setup for the back half, but it is intriguing in a very mysterious way in its own right. But then at around the halfway point, Payne inserts a "Holy Hell!!!" moment that explosively changes everything and sets in motion the back half of the book - with some explosive revelations of its own, up to almost literally the last page of the tale. Truly excellent book, and I'll very much be looking for future books from this new author. Very much recommended.

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  • Started reading
  • 27 August, 2019: Finished reading
  • 27 August, 2019: Reviewed