Once In A blue Moon Book Review - A must read!

About the book:

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.

I agreed to do a review on this book called: "Once In A Blue Moon" because I can identify so much with the characters.
You see I grew up in various orphanages and foster homes too and still struggle with so much now as an adult. So to me "Once In A Blue Moon" is unique because of how real the author made the characters and the emotions.

I did not run away from home. I was taken from my mother and given away, unbeknownst to her, while she worked. I was barely three. I've spent most of my life in tears wondering why my parents didn't want me (that was before I ...my mother found me and gave me her side of what really happened) and yearning for a family...any family, to love me. However I was one of the unlucky. I retreated into myself and fought my battles alone while the years passed.

In Chapter one of "Once In A Blue Moon", I, like Kerrie Ann have a sister who I met when I met my mother. She was instrumental in pushing my mother to continue her search for me, as for many years, my mother had hit dead ends and was starting to give up thinking she'd died of a broken heart. And while my sister and I have alot in common, since we met in 2004, we have not succeeded in developing any sort of relationship.
My mother and I however, talk and have developed a relationship that is ongoing.

Like Kerrie Ann, it is not easy to develop and stick with relationships as people in our circumstances tend to not want to be a burden to the other person.

The chapter where Kerrie Ann's daughter is taken from her, haunts me. Especially of her flashback of seeing herself being taken from her sister Lindsay and her dear Miss Honi Love at that very same young age as her daughter was being taken from her.
I still have terrifying moments that I think I will lose my children, like how my mother lost me. I don't know how to deal with them.

Eileen Goudge pegged the emotions perfectly. It's as if she is writing about my life in many ways. I felt the very same way Kerrie Ann felt, in the first few weeks when she met her sister Lindsay.
When I met my mother and sister. I had only three months to spend with my new family before I left for another country for good. I quit work and went to live with my mother so I could get into the dynamics of the relationship. And while I knew it was my mother, I still felt like the outsider and I thought that time would change this feeling, but it's been over five years now and I still feel this way. Maybe it's because we are living oeans apart and not together sharing the daily grind.

So by now you can tell that I identify more with Kerrie Ann, than any of the other characters in the book. Like Kerrie Ann I withdraw myself before I can be rejected or I don't approach at all. I'm also a hot tempered woman and I'm trying desperately to cool this. Maybe I too need anger management huh :)

There is also a scene in the book where The family: Miss Honi Love, Lindsay, Grant, and Ollie celebrated Kerrie Ann's 30th birthday. She said no one has ever made her a cake before. It was spot on with what happened to me at age 21. Some school friends from my Spanish class and their friends surprised me with a birthday cake at the park! I was shocked. I thought they were there to celebrate one of the little children birthday. I can never forget this.

Kerrie Ann is very vulnerable and use various ways to cover her emotions. I admire how Ollie took the time to patiently love her and in doing so taught her to see herself positively as an individual. I want someone to believe me in this way. I can only imagine what it would do for my soul.

But many times I identify with Lindsay in how I see my sister and how I look at life. I believe my sister has a lot of growing up to do and that includes earning my trust in a way, because of so many things that have occurred in the short time I got to know her. I would love to have a better relationship with my sister.I think for us making a relationship work long distance is so much harder because we have not grown up together and don't have that sort of foundation that siblings usually get to have. If I was living closer to her, I'd definitely try to be in her company so that we could bond somehow. I've always wanted a sister and it's really hard knowing that I do have one, but we don't speak, if rarely.

Miss Honi acts as a loving mother to Lindsay and Kerrie Ann. She loves them unconditionally. It is very impacting and it makes me yearn for such a mother - daughter relationship.

Eileen is a gifted writer and has written this book which really make you go through all the emotions. The book made me look at myself in each situation and wonder what I'd do or say. I noticed that all too often I would have made a rash decision. The book ends in a way where you know that relationships are healing and growing and that these lives will continue stronger come what may.

I promise you'll need kleenex with this read. The moment I began reading, I couldn't put this down! I wanted to know what would happen next and next. I would be cooking and had "Once In A Blue Moon" in one hand and the pot in the other! It is a very good read and for me it's more than just a book...it's like a look inside my life.

With four-time New York Times bestsellers in her bag, Eileen’s newest project Once In A Blue Moon is definitely worth a read. Grab some me-time and indulge. Trust the book worm, if you read Jodi Picoult and LuAnn Rice, you will definitely love Eileen Goudge.

Eileen has many more books and I can't wait to read them! Look out Amazon!

The Diary

Domestic Affairs

Woman In Red

Once In A Blue Moon" will be released on October 6, 2009

Visit Eileen's website to check out her other novels and to learn more about her.
Eileen's facebook: HERE
Eileen's Twitter: HERE



Thank you One2One Network for providing this review opportunity. I enjoyed it and cried and laughed.
 








Click to enter the
CSN Stores: Anatex - Magnetic Travel USA Map Giveaway - 10/25