Butterfly by Kathryn Harvey (Review)

Title: Butterfly
Series: The Butterfly Trilogy
Author: Kathryn Harvey
Publisher: Avon Books
Release Date: September 1989
Pages: 511
Buy Link: Amazon (Kindle)
Source: Sent by Publisher for Review

Blurb:

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--The lawyer, who longs for the days when men were men, and women dressed to please them

Trudie--The builder, who wants a man who will challenge her-all of her-with no holds barred

Linda--The 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!

As mentioned above, this book was sent to me, claiming it was the "Next 50 Shades of Gray." Now, I have not read any of the famous E.L. James's 50 Shades books, but I heard that it had very graphic sexual scenes. I went into reading Butterfly expecting the same. Unfortunately, I was disappointed...

I've read a considerable amount of erotica books and Butterfly is not what I would consider one of them. It had sex scenes, yes, but they were not graphic or vulgar enough for me to agree it was erotica. The story telling itself was another discussion.

The story was well-written. Very few editing errors that could be easily overlooked. One thing I didn't quite enjoy was the character switches in every chapter. There were so many characters, sometimes it was hard to keep track of them. This book would definitely keep the readers on their toes. It was like a guessing game half the time. It was interesting in that way.

The story itself was sad, bordering depressing. I don't know what it was, though, but I kept on reading. Something about it captivated me that I can't put into words. I did enjoy the main character's drive for revenge. Her story was that of a successful journey, no matter how long it took. My favorite chapter was definitely chapter 36.

Chapter 36 reminded me of the reason why I wanted fame in my personal life. Fame came with power and money. Money meant I could help people. The protagonist of the story worked her way up to the top and had unlimited wealth, and it was truly inspiring how she gave back. Chapter 36 had me choked up with tears in my eyes and a smile on my lips.

Finally, I admired the author's ability to inspire annoyance, even anger from me. The way she wrote the character of Jessica really infuriated me, how she let her husband walk all over her and degrade her countless times. When she finally found her courage, I was very happy.

Overall, I don't believe this book is for everyone. One thing is that it is a very long book. However, if you want to read something controversial, I would recommend this book. Just be warned, if you are a reader of erotica, don't expect this to be. In my opinion, this is only offensive to those who doesn't like sex scenes to begin with.