The Secrets of Lost Stones
By
Melissa Payne
This is a book that took me into a story that was intriguing, emotional and mysterious. The characters have a common thread but that thread has all kinds of loose ends that need to be tied together. I felt compelled to read the pages and to discover the reason and how those ends would be tied. How, what seemed like coincidental meetings, were really meant to happen and why.

What kind of secrets can a stone hold? Or is it the secrets that are held in a person's mind and heart that the stones help to reveal? The character of Lucy, the "witch of Pine Lake", holds the secrets to the answers. "I'm Lucy", she said, winking, "and I know things." She's a little, old lady who owns an old house in Pine Lake where the characters find themselves. "It was hard not to like the old woman, even if she was an odd mix of fairy godmother and witch." Her home feels like the place where the characters of Jess and Star belong and it holds them there by some mysterious force.

Jess and Star are two characters whose lives are broken. Each for different reasons. Lucy knew something. Each chapter in the book is told from the POV of Jess and Star. The threads start to connect as each of the character's pasts start to be revealed. There's a cast of characters that blend into the present to help Jess and Star begin to discover what has torn their lives apart for so many years. How are they connected? It's Lucy's mission, through crossword puzzles and questions, to tie it all together. "Lucy knew something; otherwise, Star and Jess and Chance wouldn't all be here together, and it was only a matter of time before it would all come out."

I enjoyed this book and the unusual ways the author intertwined the characters together. It's a tragic and emotional story. My heart ached for Jess and Star. How would they help to heal each other when there was so much pain carried within each one? I bonded with Lucy and her mysteriousness. Her heart for the people's loose ends that need tied together makes me love her so much.

"It takes time for all the loose ends to be in one place, but once they are, things tend to move quickly."

This is a very good debut novel for Melissa Payne. I enjoyed it very much. Her writing is very descriptive and I was taken to my home state of Colorado. I also experienced the paranormal events with a quickening heart, the suspenseful scenes with anxiousness, and the tragedies with heart wrenching sadness. There were things that happened I never expected. I loved the emotions that were pulled out of me by this story. This is a good read and I'm looking forward to reading the next book by Ms. Payne.

I want to thank Netgalley, Lake Union and Melissa Payne for the opportunity to read this book!