Once in a Blue Moon: Book review and giveaway

**Winner announced below**

Two sisters. Two extreme personalities, separated by 27 years, come together to moderate each other.

Those are the Cliff Notes.

** Upfront disclaimer: Through the One2One Network, I received a copy of Once in a Blue Moon ($17 value) for purposes of sharing my honest opinion.**

A detailed plot synopsis of this just-released book? Twelve year-old Lindsay and 3 year-old Kerrie Ann went to different foster homes when their drug-addicted mother was arrested years ago. Lindsay was eventually adopted by loving, providing parents, and continues to live her life with caution in all things -- a by-product of being responsible for her baby sister all those years ago. Kerrie Ann moves through a series of foster homes and succumbs to the same fate as her mother: her 6 year-old daughter is taken from her due to a drug addiction.

Kerrie Ann finds Lindsay as she tries to amass the resources to get her daughter back. Predictably, the reunion between the staid, controlling Lindsay and the wild child Kerrie Ann does not go smoothly. They abrade each other's nerves from the get go. Yet they each need a dose of what the other has.

Side dramas include relationships with men. Two each. Both Lindsay and Kerrie Ann get one Mr Seems-Right-But-Not-Right and one Mr Sizzle-But-Risky. And there's a David & Goliath fight about eminent domain regarding Lindsay's family home on Blue Moon Bay.

Another storyline involves Kerrie Ann's quest to get her daughter back from foster care. Kerrie Ann has been clean for 6 months but lashes out angrily toward Bella's foster parents during a supervised visit, which is witnessed by the caseworker.More bad decisions on Kerrie Ann's part follow, and it looks like she may lose Bella permanently.

The author has inserted issues of race and class in the battle for Bella. Kerrie Ann -- white, bereft of life skills, broke (although the author gives her quite a wardrobe) goes up against the Bartholds -- black, professional, well-off -- for custody of the biracial girl. "What if the judge decided that what was best for Bella was to be with her own people, not some flaky white chick?"

Umm...doesn't "biracial" mean that BOTH groups are "her own people"? If it doesn't, it should.

Author Eileen Goudge has 16 other novels under her belt. This is the only one I have read, and apparently she has come up with a formula for success.

If you like formula books, this one may engage you.

Check out the review of the same book by LJ (a/k/a Lindsay, not to be confused with the protagonist) here.

I'm giving away my copy to someone who is willing to pay $5 for shipping it. If you're amenable to that, please enter by commenting before October 18. At that time, I'll randomly select a winner.

Gain more entries by tweeting or blogging a link to this post.

Good luck and happy reading.

**Andy wins!**

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