Title: THE
GLASS BUTTERFLY (Haunted Hearts Legacy #3)
Author: A.G. Howard
Pub. Date: August
15, 2018
Publisher: Golden Orb
Press
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
Pages: 278
All other
formats and vendors will be available on the official launch date: August 15,
2018
For close
to a decade, twenty-five-year-old Felicity Lonsdale has masqueraded as a
dowager almost twice her age—selling caterpillars to butterfly
consortiums—enabling her to hide an ill-fated past while raising her late
brother’s daughters. Together, the three live on an isolated Irish estate
bequeathed by a dying earl. When the earl’s estranged son arrives to claim his
inheritance by threatening to expose Felicity’s true identity, she longs to
pack up her nieces and run. But a ghostly secret within the castle’s turret
holds her captive.
Nick Thornton—a Roma viscount’s heir—is also captive. After a tryst with an investor’s wife nearly destroyed his family’s holiday resort, Nick forsook everything to elope with her. However, a tragic mistake at his hand led to her and his baby’s deaths. Refusing to turn to the family he shamed, Nick travels to seek the countess who once co-wrote a romance with his sister. There’s rumor of a special butterfly in her keep—a transparent-winged species with ties to the afterlife. Nick hopes to contact his dead wife and child, for only their forgiveness can free him.
Upon his arrival to Felicity’s estate, Nick offers to help her defeat the earl’s son, on the condition she allow Nick to investigate her glass butterflies. Felicity agrees, though fears the closer he gets to the ghosts of his past, the closer he’ll come to uncovering her own. As Nick spends time with Felicity and her nieces, he realizes the mystery enshrouding this fragile countess and her castle is more intriguing than the ghosts he originally came to find. And perhaps putting his dead to rest and helping her do the same will be his true path to redemption.
My review:
Rating: A-
My thoughts on the book:
When I saw that The Glass Butterfly was a book by A.G. Howard, I jumped at the chance to review it. Howard is a fantastic author, and I love her Splintered series. When I requested this book for review, I wasn't aware it was the third in a series. It read as a standalone, so I actually didn't know it was a part of a series until I started working on this review. I want to read the other two books, now that I know that there are more novels in this series, and I'm confident that they will read like standalone novels as well.
This novel was very different from Howard's Splintered series in most ways, but one thing was very similar. The obsession with butterflies throughout the book reminded me of Splintered and Alyssa's hangup with bugs. However, that is where the similarities end. The main characters in this novel are adults, and they have very different goals and personalities than anyone in the Splintered series. The story and world are extremely well-developed, especially with this being the third book in the series. I didn't feel lost at all. The plot was extremely intriguing and kept me reading into the early morning.
The two main characters, Nick and Felicity, are well-developed and extremely complex. I love how their stories unraveled throughout the narrative instead of just having one major info dump at the beginning. Their secrets were slowly revealed to each other and to the reader, and that seemed much more organic. Neither character is perfect, and while they have a past connection, neither character has a "good" past. They are both broken in many ways, and I really appreciated that about them. The secondary characters were also well-developed, and I really loved Felicity's two nieces.
The writing for this book was beautiful, of course. I've come to expect nothing less from Howard. The world-building was fantastic, and the descriptions were wonderful. The pacing of the story was perfect, and there was enough mystery to keep me guessing throughout the entire novel. The characters' growth throughout the book was also really great to watch. The romance between Nick and Felicity is natural and progresses at a normal speed. They have a great chemistry. My only problem with this book is that it felt like Howard was trying to use Jane Austen's free indirect discourse, where the third person limited narrator skips between characters to allow for a range of thoughts to be shown to the reader, but it didn't work out. There was no separation between Felicity and Nick, as far as narrative voice went, and it got confusing from time to time. I couldn't figure out whose thoughts I was privy to, which pulled me out of the story. Aside from that, the book was amazing, and the ending was lovely.
Other books in the series:
Title: THE
HUMMINGBIRD HEART
Author: A.G. Howard
Pub. Date: August 15,
2017
Publisher: Golden Orb
Press
Pages: 339
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
Set 19
years after The Architect of Song:
Shortly
after escaping a circus tragedy, young Italian orphan, Willow Antoniette, seeks
refuge at The Manor of Diversions—a holiday resort in England born of a ghost
story. For eleven years, she’s raised alongside the children of the resort’s
owners: Julian, his twin brother, Nick, and their younger sister Emilia. Now
that Willow is of marriable age, she's determined to escape finishing school
along with everyone's efforts to make her a proper lady. The only man she wants
to spend her life with is Julian, after all. Yet how can she tell him, when he
thinks of her as nothing but a friend?
As a
machinist and engineer, Julian Thornton prefers a governable life. He can't
allow his ever-deepening attraction for Willow to distract from his amusement
park plans to lure a younger, wealthier clientele to their family's resort. In
hopes to escape Willow and find investors, Julian sets off on a transatlantic
ocean liner headed for the St. Louis World’s Fair, unaware Willow has secretly
stowed away on the same ship.
A tiny,
mute orphan named Newton and a pair of haunted Italian shoes bring Willow and
Julian face to face on deck. Forced to work together to solve the mystery of
Newton and his vindictive, ghostly companion, Julian and Willow can no longer
fight their untapped passions. However, time to admit their true feelings is
running out, for the ghost and her murderer have enlisted them as unsuspecting
pawns in a karmic game of cat-and-mouse that could cost all of them their
lives.
Title: THE
ARCHITECT OF SONG
Author: A.G.
Howard
Pub. Date: August
15, 2016
Publisher: Golden
Orb Press
Pages: 425
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
A lady
imprisoned by deafness, an architect imprisoned by his past, and a ghost imprisoned
within the petals of a flower - intertwine in this love story that transcends
life and death.
For most of her life, nineteen-year-old Juliet Emerline has subsisted – isolated by deafness – making hats in the solitude of her home. Now, she’s at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a twenty-seven-year-old mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name “Hawk” on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton.
To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton’s secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches … or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton’s interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it’s too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever.
International and NYT bestselling author, A.G. Howard, brings her darkly magical and visual/visceral storytelling to Victorian England. The Architect of Song is the first installment in her lush and romantic Haunted Hearts Legacy series, a four book gothic saga following the generations of one family as - haunted by both literal and figurative ghosts - they search for self-acceptance, love, and happiness.
New Adult: Recommended for ages 17+.
About the Author:
About A.G. Howard
A.G. Howard
was inspired to write SPLINTERED while working at a school library. She always
wondered what would've happened had the subtle creepiness of Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland taken center stage, and she hopes her darker and funkier tribute
to Carroll will inspire readers to seek out the stories that won her heart as a
child.
When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.
When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.
Giveaway!!
Giveaway Details: All International
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four prize packs up for grabs. The image below shows what each one contains.
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Tour Schedule:
Week One:
8/6/2018- A Dream
Within A Dream- Review
8/7/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review
8/8/2018- YA SH3LF- Review
8/9/2018- Book-Keeping- Review
8/10/2018- Omg Books
and More Books- Review
Week Two:
8/13/2018- Literary
Dust- Review
8/14/2018- History from
a Woman’s Perspective- Review
8/15/2018- Lisa Loves
Literature- Review
8/16/2018- Pandora's
Books- Review
8/17/2018- BookHounds YA- Review
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