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I've always considered myself a bookworm and am always up for reading new books. Before this review (Thank you One 2 One Network) I had never read any Eileen Goudge books. I am so glad I was introduced to her work. She has written 13 novels and has 4 New York Times bestsellers in her bag. Her most recent novel (just released Oct. 6, 2009) is called Once in a Blue Moon. This novel tackles several challenging issues such as addiction & recovery, child neglect, foster care, adoption, loss and infidelity.

Sisters Lindsay and Kerri 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 dancerby the name of Miss Honi Love. When the girls' mother was sent to prison, Miss Honi tried unsuccessfully to save them from being seperated 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, Kerri 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, Kerri 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 their belief in the unshakable bond of family.

I started reading Once in a Blue Moon the day it was delivered to my house. After reading it, I am thankful that it was given to me when it was. It couldn't have come to me at a better time. My family life had just been hit pretty hard with a couple situations that helped me relate to both Lindsay and Kerri Ann. I can see a part of me in both women. I enjoyed reading this book, I hardly put it down until I was finished (which only took me 1 day). I do have to say that the expletives were a little heavy through out the story for me. If you aren't fond of the F word then this story may not be for you. I just looked past it though and was brought in by the story itself not by a few choice words of a couple characters. Once in a Blue Moon made me laugh, cry and even blush a little *wink*. If you like love stories that aren't cheesy or trashy then this book may be just the thing for you. Not only is there romance but there is drama aplenty.

Here's a little taste of the Q&A with Eileen Goudge that was sent along with Once in a Blue Moon to let you see just what she was trying to bring to her readers with this story.

1. Q: Being loved well saves and protects each character in thsi story, whether love between parents and children, men and women, or through chosen families. In your opinion, how does love change people?

Eileen's answer: I think One's capacity to love is largely based on one's ability to forgive. If you can learn to forgive another person's faults or transgressions, it makes more room in your heart for good things to flourish. The transformative power of love is what I tried to capture in Once in a Blue Moon- the ability to grow as a result of opening one's heart.

Would you like to win your very own copy of Eileen's Once in a Blue Moon & one of her best selling novels Woman in Red?

Mandatory entry: Go to Eileen's website and read about her other books. Which of her other books would you be most likely to enjoy? I think my next read from Eileen will be Domestic Affairs.

Extra entries: Each entry must be left in separate comments, 1 comment per entry.

• be a blog follower here to Thrifty Mama B's through google friend
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• follow Eileen @eileengoudge on twitter
• tweet this giveaway and include both Eileen and myself in the tweets. (2 tweets per day)
• blog this giveaway and include a link back to this post. Leave me a link to your post.
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I will close this giveaway on November 11, 2009 at 1pm. But as I have said before as long as you can leave a comment you can enter. This giveaway is open to US & Canada residents only. You do not have to own a blog to enter, just make sure to leave me a way to contact you in each comment. I will use random.org to draw a winner. Winner will be contacted and announced here on my blog. Winner will have 24 hrs to contact me with mailing info. or I will draw another winner. Thanks for reading and good luck to all who enter!