I wouldn’t wanna have the FTC all up in my business, so to put it out there, I was given a copy of the new Five For Fighting album, as well as the book Once in a Blue Moon, for free to review.
Fall is a great time of year, maybe even my favorite season, aside from the awful fact that it is followed by winter, my least favorite season. It’s also the time of year that a great deal of artists release new books and albums in time for holiday sales. After seeing all the fun of BlogHer and the stuff people get, I was lucky enough to finally get in on reviewing some items.
First, I received a copy of Once in a Blue Moon by Eileen Goudge. Now, having watched Mel go through her book cover pocess, I know how little input the author has on the cover art. I tried to keep that in mind as I opened this tale of two sisters, separated by the foster-care system, but brought together by life events. I mean, come on, look at the tight dress and ample bosom. Yeah, it’s not a heaving and fainting kinda novel.
Here’s the nitty gritty on it:
Sisters Lindsay and Kerrie Ann have known hardship from an early age. Without guidance from their neglectful mother, their only aid came from an unlikely source, a retired exotic dancer by the name of Miss Honi Love. When the girls’ mother was sent to prison, Miss Honi tried unsuccessfully to save them from being separated and sent into foster care.
Thirty years later, Lindsay is still trying to reconnect with her sister. The owner of a bookstore in the sleepy California seaside town of Blue Moon Bay, she was lucky enough to have been adopted by a loving couple. Unbeknownst to her, Kerrie Ann has suffered a very different life. Bounced from one foster home to the next, she ran away as a teenager before becoming a drug-addicted single mother. Now, newly sober, Kerrie Ann is fighting to regain custody of the little girl who was taken from her.
Neither sister’s expectations are met when they’re finally reunited. But as the two sisters engage in the fiercest battles of their lives, they are at last drawn together despite their differences, restoring belief in the unshakable bond of family.
What I really liked about the book was it’s simplicity. Having a very active baby around, it was easy to pick up during his naptime, get sucked in for a few chapters, and then put it down until his next snooze. The characters were all flawed in a very human way, without becoming caricatures.
It was also interesting for me to read as an adoptive parent. Without giving too much away, there’s a huge focus on exactly what makes a family. Lindsay, one of the sisters, gives a lot of leeway to her newly found sister because of their blood relation. However, you can see that she only says that at first because she thinks she is supposed to. She speaks about her adoptive parents, who had passed away, as her parents. She is closest now with a woman who had no children of her own, but watched Lindsay and Keri Ann in their apartment complex when her addict mother wasn’t around. Lindsay may say one thing, but her actions speak louder. Her physical community and the safety she has created there allow her to have a rich family, none of whom were blood relatives until Keri Ann finds her.
There is a sub-story about Keri Ann and her daughter, whom she may lose due to following in her mother’s footsteps with drugs. The couple that foster her daughter petition for adoption, and watching that story unfold definitely highlighted the difficulty that she experiences with the system as a birth parent.
Is it Tolstoy? Absolutely not. Then again, I am not a big fan of the classics. I like fluff, I won’t lie. This is a quick read that is perfect for the beach, a vacation, or just sitting on the couch as the weather turns colder. It’s fun, fast, and is a perfect way to escape for a few hours. Plus, there’s a guy who bakes the most miraculous pastries in the book, and he is too sweet for words. I just want his recipes.
For more information check out the following links:
How funny! I am reviewing this book, too (up on Sunday), and the whole time I was reading it I thought of you, due to the protagonist’s name.
Yeah, this book is good if you’ve got a lot of interruptions.