Stone Creek

March 3, 2008
Childless, married Lily Spencer, 46, falls for 30-something widower Danny Malloy and his five-year-old son in this would-be Whartonesque marriage tale from former book editor Lustbader (Hidden
). Lily's troubled marriage has led her to retreat to the small Catskill town of Stone Creek while husband Paul, 54, a successful Manhattan attorney, remains submerged in work. Paul and Lily have given up hope of having a child: Paul with brisk efficiency, Lily still mournful and yearning. When she and gifted, still-grieving furniture restorer Danny espy each other in the Stone Creek supermarket, sparks fly. As they come together, Lily finds in Danny the companionship Paul doesn't provide, and in Danny's son, Caleb, she finds a boy who needs a mother. As much as Lustbader tries to give Danny equal time, his struggles with a secretive, unforgiving mother-in-law never attain the resonance of Lily's search among an ex-husband, a current husband, a lover and a boy for someone with whom she can share her love and pain. Piercingly personal descriptions of love, loss and desperate attempts to plug life's gaps give Lustbader's second novel its emotional edge, while there's plenty of steam for romance readers.

June 1, 2008
Lustbader's second novel (after "Hidden") is a story of troubled lives and misunderstandings in which everyone is looking for love. Danny Malloy, father to five-year-old Caleb, misses his dead wife. Paul and Lily Spencer are a wealthy couple whose marriage suddenly hits a snag when they find they're unable to have children. Lily escapes to the couple's country home for the summer, needing someone to loveand finds herself on a collision course with Danny and Caleb. Lustbader, whose husband is thriller writer Eric Van Lustbader, shows promise with this effort, and her characters are certainly interesting. However, Lustbader tries too hard to present everyone's point of view; the narrative's third-person present tense only distances readers from the story. Additionally, there is not enough action to move the narrative along, and the combination of tension and introspection makes the writing feel cold at times. An optional purchase for large public libraries only. [Eric Van Lustbader's new thriller, "First Daughter", publishes in August.Ed.]Lesa Holstine, Glendale P.L., AZ

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2008
Still reeling from the sudden loss of his young wife, master craftsman Danny Malloy narrows his world to focuson his precocious five-year-old son, Caleb. Knowing, however, that he needs to start reconnecting with family and friends, Danny reluctantly agrees to volunteer his woodworking skills in the renovation ofa historic home for a local charity. With her domineering, work-obsessed husband increasingly away on business, this same charity fills a void in the life of Lily Spencer, whose smoldering anger over Pauls prenuptial demand that the couple remain childless fuels her increasing sense of despair and frustration. Thrown together by their shared love of children and mutual sense of rejection, Danny and Lily find much-needed solace and support. Yet they are also confronted by a palpable emotional need and physical attraction that could be the best, or worst, thing that ever happened to them. Although themes of death and mourning, abandonment, and revenge run deep through Lustbaders second novel, her characters ultimate resolutions communicate reassuringly affirmative and promising messages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)