Review: Great debut!!!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 2, 2013
3.5/5After getting over the idea that How To Catch Butterflies (HTCB) was not what I originally thought it was about (I thought it was going to be a much heavier, darker read), I found myself enjoying it more. This is one of the reasons why I tend not to read teasers or excerpts from any book. It can skew your perception or thinking of a book and not always for the better. Once I stopped pouting and really began to read the story for what it was, I really did enjoy it. This is a debut novel for British author Samantha Fontien. As with most debut novels, there are things I loved and things I see the author will mature and evolve with more experience.What made this book a beautiful Monarch Butterfly: Well first off the men. I know it isn't always about the men but in HTCB, the men aside from David (who is ugly and evil) are all sorts of beautiful and not just physically. You just might find yourself not being able to pick one over the other. I know I said it wasn't just the physical but goodness knows these men know how to take care of a woman in all things flirty and oh so dirty.Jason--knows of Rebecca's past and present. He has always been in the shadows and now has an opportunity. He is attractive, successful and makes Rebecca feel safe. Will she let him protect her heart?Jackson--well this man is all sorts of beautiful. He is sexy, driven, assertive and arrogant but when it comes to Rebecca, he can be brought to his knees and just might open his heart to more than just a one night stand. He brings out a fire in Rebecca that she never knew could be present. Will he open her up to a whole new world of love and trust or is he just a scam?George--has managed to get Lucy to focus on things other than work and her career. He is persistent and great between the sheets. But he just might have one too many secrets.Chris Harper--he is the epitome of a man. Absolutely gorgeous, bides his time, confident and will make you quiver with want and need. Will he be the one to open Lucy's heart for good?Something else I do love about the book is that it is set in England. I don't know what it is about England but it draws me in. This very thing I loved about the book also prevented me from giving it more stars and was like the ugly gray moth. While I appreciated, the authenticity of the book being English, there were times that the slang and some of the jargon was too British--in that I had no idea what the word or phrase meant. There were some I could decipher form the context of the word/phrase. But others that I just glossed over. When I had to take time to try and figure out the definition, it distracted me from the story itself. I feel that if you are going to have a book open to a diverse audience, the slang should either be universal or somehow explained within the context of the story. I would even take having a glossary at the back of the book since I am not opposed to having the distinct cultural slang present in the book. But I do want to understand what I am reading.Slang aside, Samantha Fontien's writing style is unique in some ways. She is very descriptive in her telling of the setting or atmosphere of a scene. The physical details of rooms or buildings and other things are very detailed. There were times I loved this and other times found it superfluous.Another aspect of the story I found Samantha did quite well was the inter relationships of the characters. There were quite a few of them but you never had the stories mixed up or felt like you were being tossed around like a salad. I felt like she did well with character development and felt on more than one occasion like hurling my iPad at the wall with the stupidity of Rebecca and Lucy. These were two very strong willed and independent women. I love that they weren't pushover, submissive types. Although, I wanted them to cave just a little bit when it came to the gorgeous men that these ladies ruined for all others.I do have to mention that Samantha Fontien does leave us with a pretty big cliffhanger. I really hope she gets book two done soon because I need some answers!Overall a good debut. Good story, good characters. I'm looking forward to the next book. D 3.5/5