The Cinderella Hour

This book takes place somewhere other than the East or West Coasts wehre a lot of Katherine Stone books do. I loved this one because although I am familiar with the area I was taken in with the characters. I love Katherine Stone books and this one didn't disapoint me.

In Quail Ridge, Illinois, eight year old Snow Ashley Gable meets ten years old Lucas Kilcannon. The two lonely outsiders forge a bond to include e sneaking him food as his father, a local hero as a successful swimming coach fails to feed him. When his father decides to kill him, Lucas jumps out his window to escape the fire his dad lit and died in. However, he lands in the glass and nails that his father placed in the dried out swimming pool. Most people blame Lucas who is considered a bad seed. In High school he and Snow begin seeing one another. However he leaves for the West Coast to go to college with plans to come back and marry his pregnant beloved Snow. When she miscarries, she tells him good bye and vanishes. Years later successful Atlanta radio host Snow Gable takes her show The Cinderella Hour to Chicago not knowing that the past that started in Massachusetts before she was born will come back to haunt her. Also Lucas demands to know why she left him. She knows she owes him the truth, but how to make the man she still loves understand that she suffered from post partum depression. Though at first there seems as if there are too many subplots, all tie brilliantly together inside a strong romantic suspense thriller. The story line is character driven, but not just by the second chance at love between Snow and Lucas. The major ensemble support cast plays critical roles with each having their secondary segment fit into the bigger picture. Katherine Stone writes a complex but winning tale. Harriet Klausner