The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder - Review and Book Giveaway (Closed)

From the publisher:

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the sweet, sexy, funny journey of Calla Lily's life set in [author Rebecca] Wells's expanding fictional Louisiana landscape. In the small river town of La Luna, Calla bursts into being, a force of nature as luminous as the flower she is named for. Under the loving light of the Moon Lady, the feminine force that will guide and protect her throughout her life, Calla enjoys a blissful childhood—until it is cut short. Her mother, M'Dear, a woman of rapture and love, teaches Calla compassion, and passes on to her the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair." At her mother's side, Calla further learns that this same touch of hands on the human body can quiet her own soul. It is also on the banks of the La Luna River that Calla encounters sweet, succulent first love, with a boy named Tuck.

But when Tuck leaves Calla with a broken heart, she transforms hurt into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans to study at L'Académie de Beauté de Crescent. In that extravagant big river city, she finds her destiny—and comes to understand fully the power of her "healing hands" to change lives and soothe pain, including her own. When Tuck reappears years later, he presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love. But who knows how Calla Lily, a "daughter of the Moon Lady," will respond?

I enjoyed reading Calla Lily's story: how she handled the challenges that she faced, how she grew and changed over the course of the book. Although I didn't really identify with her, I wanted to keep reading to see what happened next!

This book contains a few incidences of language that might be considered offensive, a few intimate moments (not described in detail), and a subplot that some might find uncomfortable. If this was a movie, I'd say--and this is purely my own assessment--that it would be rated PG-13.

HarperCollins has generously offered a set of five new fiction books to one lucky reader! These are the titles in the prize pack:

The Lace Makers of Glenmara ~ Heather Barbieri

The Fixer Upper ~ Mary Kay Andrews

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder ~ Rebecca Wells

Mortal Friends ~ Jane Stanton Hitchcock

Sleepness Nights ~ Sarah Biltson

Want to win? Here's how to enter:

This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to Nancye!

Just leave me a comment to let me know your favorite type of books. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you. Limit 1 entry by this method. This must be done in order to qualify for extra entries.

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More details: Open to residents of USA, age 18 or older. Giveaway ends 8/25/09 at noon (Eastern time). Winner will be chosen by the random number generator at Random.org. Winner will be contacted by email and must claim the prize within 72 hours, or another winner will be chosen. Void where prohibited.

Good luck, and thanks for reading!