Read Our Lips! Book Review Blog: Review: Butterfly (The Butterfly Trilogy) by Kathryn Harvey

BOOK ONE OF THE BUTTERFLY TRILOGY
From New York Times bestselling author Kathryn Harvey comes an arousing, passionate story of three women’s hidden desires and the place called Butterfly, where dreams are kept and where fantasies come to life.

Above an exclusive men’s store on Rodeo Drive there is a private club called Butterfly, where women are free to act out their secret erotic fantasies. Only the most beautiful and powerful women in Beverly Hills are invited to join: Jessica, a lawyer who longs for the days when men were men, and women dressed to please them; Trudie, a builder who wants a man who will challenge her—all of her—with no holds barred; and Linda, a surgeon, who uses masks to unmask the desires she hides even from herself.

But the most mysterious of them all is the woman who created Butterfly. She has changed her name, her accent, even her face to hide her true identity. And now she is about to reveal everything to realize the dream that has driven her since childhood—the secret obsession that will carry her beyond ecstasy, or destroy her and everyone around her.

My Review:

Butterfly begins as a woman is being accosted by a thief who has entered her home – but we are not witnessing a robbery, it’s all part of fantasy role play that takes part in a secret, exclusive club frequented by only the richest women in Beverly Hills.

Once you’re accepted as a member, you get a gold bracelet with a butterfly charm, and access to the man of your fantasies – but everything comes with a price. As three women indulge in Butterfly’s most hedonistic pleasures, they all ask themselves who could be behind the club that has made their fantasies a reality.

Personal Thoughts:

As I started to read Butterfly, the story sounded so familiar I didn’t know what to make of it. I did a little research and found out it had originally been published in 1986. Imagine my surprise when I realized I actually read this book back when I was a teenager!

It was one of my fave books back then, and in reading it again, I instantly remembered why I loved this book so. If you ever saw the movie, What’s Love Got To Do With It and you cheered in the scene where Tina (after years of abuse) fights back and decides to take control of her life, then this is the book for you!

Butterfly showcases the lives of three women: Jessica, Trudie, and Linda. They are all customers of Butterfly – a classy, high-end Bordello whose clients are the most distinguished and rich women in Beverly Hills. (How incredible would having your fantasy man available any time of day – ready and willing to do whatever ~~kinky~~ fantasy you can think of? *fans self* Sign me up for lifetime membership! LOL)

My favorite of these three ladies was Linda, who is a doctor. Due to an accident which left her emotionally and physically scarred when she was a child, she can’t open up to anyone and has trouble in her relationships, not to mention she has never had an orgasm! *faints* She comes to Butterfly to see if she can be ‘cured’, though her encounters are all masked. Her storyline resonated with me as it made me realize you have to love yourself before you can let others love you. It’s a powerful message. Smile

Then there’s Jessica, who is a lawyer. Her husband is a major jerk who belittles her and controls every aspect of her life. She turns to Butterfly to ‘find herself’’ and gather the courage to divorce her husband with some naked cowboy therapy.

Finally there’s Trudie – who I just couldn’t relate to in any form/shape/fashion. Trudie is a business owner who runs a pool installation company. Trudie couldn’t get serious with a man unless he was her intellectual equal. In other words, she wanted her man candy to talk to her via a debate as this was the only way she found a man exciting. I don’t know, but when I’m around man candy, the last thing my brain is thinking about is ‘let’s talk’ LOL

But as these three storylines are occurring, the true heart of Butterfly unfolds in the story’s background. The harrowing and tragic story of the founder of the Butterfly club: Beverly Highland.

Beverly Highland was born Rachel Dwyer, and when she was 14 years old (in 1952), her drunken father sexually abuses her, and her mother sends her across country where she thinks her daughter will be safe. But as Rachel arrives at her destination, she faces an even bigger danger – Danny Mackay. In awe of the handsome stranger, Rachel quickly finds herself enamored with who she thinks is her knight in shining armor.

Alone in the world and with only Danny to turn to, it’s not long before Danny starts telling Rachel to ‘show’ him how much she really loves him. Succumbing to his pressure, Rachel soon finds there’s nothing she won’t do for Danny – even selling herself to strangers to make him money. But through it all, in the back of Rachel’s young and naïve mind, every situation Danny exposes her to is just a temporary setback to when they’ll be married and living out their happily ever after. When she turns sixteen, Danny bursts (in the most cruel way)her bubble of illusion she’s formed to keep her sane, and when he shows his true colors, Rachel is devastated.

Alone in the world again, Rachel finds herself in Hollywood, CA, where she reinvents and transforms herself into Beverly Highland. The only thing fueling her existence is getting revenge on Danny Mackay for what he did to her. Along with a close knit group of friends who have also been victims of Danny’s greed in his attempt to rise to the top, Beverly sets the ultimate plan of revenge in motion.

After everything Beverly endures, I found myself cheering for her and for all the women featured in the book to find their Happily Ever Afters – and Kathryn Harvey does not disappoint. Butterfly is a great read I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys a hot sexxy read with a side of revenge.

The door swung slightly at first, as if he were testing it. Then it swung all the way open, and his black silhouette stood against the softly lighted bedroom.

He looked down at the gun, then at her face. Although his features were masked, Linda sensed uncertainty about him, thought she detected indeci-sion flicker in his dark eyes.
He took another step toward her, coming into the dressing room. Then another step, and another.

“No closer,” she said.

“I’m unarmed,” he said. His voice was surprisingly gentle and refined, the distinguished voice of a stage actor. He had spoken only two words and yet in them she had heard a trace of vulnerability.

“Get out,” she said.

He continued to stare at her. There were only a few feet between them now; Linda could see the curve of biceps beneath the tight sweater, the calm rise and fall of his chest.

“I mean it,” she said, aiming. “I’ll shoot if you don’t get out.”

Black eyes in a hidden face studied her. When he spoke again there was a trace of incredulousness in his tone, as if he had just discovered some-thing. “You’re beautiful,” he said.

“Please—”

He took another step closer. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I had no idea I was intruding into a lady’s house.”

Her voice came out in a whisper: “Stop.”

He looked down at the necklace in his hand, the thing he had just taken out of the wall safe. It was a long rope of pearls, knotted at the end.

“I have no right to take this,” the intruder said, lifting it up. “It belongs to you. It belongs on you.”

Unable to move, Dr. Markus stared up into dark eyes as black-gloved hands lifted the necklace over her head, slipped it under her hair, and brought it to rest on her bare chest, just above the lace of her camisole.

The night silence seemed to intensify as the thief slowly removed his gloves, keeping his eyes locked on hers, then took the pearl-knot in his hands and adjusted it so that it lay between her breasts.

At his touch, Linda caught her breath.

“I hadn’t meant to frighten you,” he said in a quiet, intimate tone. His masked face was inches from hers. Black eyes were framed by black lashes and the black knit of his mask. She could see his mouth, the thin straight lips and white teeth. He bent his head and said more quietly, “I had no right
to frighten you.”

“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t—”

He raised a hand and touched her shoulder. She felt the strap of her camisole start to slide down. “If you truly want me to go,” he said, “I will.”

Linda stared up into his gaze. As the two straps of her camisole fell from her shoulders, her arms lowered and the gun dropped to the thick carpet.

His hands moved as slowly and expertly as when they had opened the wall safe, feeling her feverish skin, seeming to savor the way she trembled. When lace and satin came away from her breasts, Linda closed her eyes.

“I have never met a woman as beautiful as you,” he said. His hands gen-tly explored her. He knew where to touch, where to pause, where to hold her. “Tell me to leave,” he said again, bending his head so that his mouth was nearly upon hers. “Tell me,” he said.

“No,” she breathed. “Don’t go . . . ”

When his lips touched hers, Linda felt a shock go through her body. Suddenly she wanted this man, desperately. Here and now.

He drew her into his arms. She felt the coarse knit of his sweater against her naked breasts. His hands stroked her back, then went lower, sliding un-der the elastic waistband of her slip. Linda could hardly breathe. His kisses smothered her. His tongue filled her mouth. Her thighs pressed urgently
against him; she felt his hardness.

Is it possible? she wondered in desperation. Is it possible that, after all these years, finally, with this stranger I could—

And then a sound broke the silence. It was a rude, insistent bleat, com-ing from the bedroom.

He brought his head up. “What’s that?”

“My beeper. Damn!”

Linda pushed past him, ran to her purse, grabbed the little box and silenced it. “I have to make a phone call. Is that telephone real?”