Sustained in Stone — Rebecca A. Engel

Decades after Joyce Manning Stern had all the gargoyles removed from the estate she had inherited, she learns the truth: while the gargoyles had been removed from her home, a few remained in the caves on the property.

This was not good news. When she'd first arrived to take possession of the house, there had been people in the nearby town who had a cult-like devotion to the statuary, believing the gargoyles were alive within their stone. And certain people were willing to go to any lengths to bring them back to life.

Joyce had felt safe knowing the gargoyles were gone, the entrance to the caves sealed, and the cult disbanded. Her home went from a nightmare to the pleasant country manor where she lived what she'd believed was a nearly perfect life with her doctor husband and twin son and daughter. Learning she had been lied to and that gargoyles remained in the caves led to unwanted memories of the seminal event she'd lived through in those caves. Further complicating matters was the evidence Joyce found that her husband had not been the ideal man she'd thought he was. The façade of her perfect life begins to crumble as Joyce realizes she had been sleepwalking through her days rather than living them since that event in the caves.

Determined to face the fears that haunt her and reclaim her life, Joyce discovers the cult was not as off base as she had believed. Instead of restoring her life and peace of mind, her actions could destroy not only her own life but the lives of everyone â€" and everything around her.

Sustained in Stone is Book 3 of The In Stone Trilogy, and picks up the story twenty-plus years after Secrets in Stone ended. The complete trilogy consists of:

Secrets in Stone, Book 1
Sorrows in Stone (A Prequel to Secrets in Stone), Book 2
Sustained in Stone, Book 3