Book Giveaway: *The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder* by Rebecca Wells

Have you seen this eye-catching cover in bookstores?  It’s The Crowning Glory of Cally Lily Ponder, the latest work from Rebecca Wells, author of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood books.

The publisher has offered copies of the book to THREE readers of She is Too Fond of Books – thank you, HarperCollins!

Here’s a sneak peek at the novel:

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the sweet, sexy, funny journey of Calla Lily’s life set in 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?

A tale of family and friendship, tragedy and triumph, loss and love, The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder features the warmth, humor, soul, and wonder that have made Wells one of today’s most cherished writers, and gives us an unforgettable new heroine to treasure.

This book description got me thinking about how we chat with our hair stylists – they know so much about us and our families, especially if we’ve been with them for years!  My husband tells me that the barbershop guys are also chatty, but it’s generally about sports or politics.  I wonder what Calla Lily and her clients talk about as she works her “healing hands” on them.

Are you curious?  Want to get in on the giveaway?  Simple leave a comment below telling me 1. what comes to mind when you look at the cover of The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, or 2. a memory of New Orleans.  Links in a blog post or tweets about the giveaway will earn an extra entry (just add a link to your post/tweet as a separate comment below).  Entries will be open until midnight EST on Friday August 21.  Please check back for the winning names on August 22.  The giveaway is sponsored by the publisher and open to US/Canadian mailing addresses only.