The Memory of Butterflies: A Novel

This is a stand alone novel with a HEA. It is not really a romance but it is a story about love. It is hard to write this review because there is just so much to this novel but to write it all would spoil the story. So, that being said, the story is set in a small town but the heroine lives with her grandmother is a very small backwoods cabin in a remote country area. The grandmother is very old and sick and the young heroine is a teen in high school. They very much keep to themselves and have very little of material wealth but they are very close and devoted to one another. The young girl gets invited to a cook-out with a very popular boy. Of course she is excited that he has shown her attention and she has no experience with young boys or their intentions and immature thoughts and ways. He encourages her to drink and she does and she soon discovers she is pregnant. Her grandmother looks on the child as a gift from God but feels she should tell the young boy. She tries but his family wants nothing to do with "her" problem and he leaves town for college. They live in a remote area with the only visitors being a visiting nurse and the young man that delivers their groceries. She manages to have the child with no one really knowing. The visiting nurse records the birth with the mother listed and the father unknown. She refuses to name the father. The story gets very interesting from this point. As I said, there is too much to write without spoiling the story. Your heart goes out to this 18 year old mother, no experience with life, etc. except what her grandparents taught her. They do not go into town and do not mix socially, so it is just the three of them until the grandfather dies and then the grandmother's health starts to decline. I kept thinking of the story NELL while reading this one. The young girl did go to high school and she is not literate by any means but there is no TV, cell phones, etc. in their life. They live a very simple lifestyle so she is shielded from most modern things and thinking. This is a story that holds you spellbound. it is hard to put the book down. Secrets are slowly revealed and you can see life repeating itself through the generations. The heroine is the main character and she tells her story. Life, death, sadness, joy, it is all here. It is a very good story and I definitely recommend it. It is appropriate for any age. On the sexy scale it is a zero. There are no sexy scenes, it is referred to, etc. but you get no details. It is a good lesson in what happens when What a web of lies we weave when first we practice to deceive!!! Good read. SPOILER--I really liked the heroine and felt empathy for her until she seemed to have no remorse about robbing a young man of his daughter. In the end it tried to show it was for her best interest but I'm sorry. She loved the child beyond reason and yet she didn't think he would have felt the same? She had no compassion for him. Her "I'm sorry" didn't cut it for me. Her reasons for keeping quiet were selfish and self-serving. I felt bad for Ellen, her mother wanted her to go out and live her life - as long as she lived it the way she wanted her to - she was definitely a "smother-mother". That got a little annoying!! I was not paid for this review. I am not an author nor do I know one. I am not kin to this writer. I am a reader and this is my opinion, nothing more, nothing less. 9/6/17

The Memory of Butterflies by Grace Greene was a great book. Secrets can dig you into a hole you can’t get out of. Hannah has covered up secrets for too long and these secrets are revealed as you learn her history. You wonder if put in the same position, would you have handled it differently? And how can she tell her daughter the truth? This was an emotional book and I enjoyed the characters and how the story unfolded.

I was intrigued from the moment I first read the following on page 1: "...including the memory of how I lost my Ellen seventeen years ago, then found her again." In The Memory of Butterflies, Greene explores several themes, the strongest of which is love, specifically a mother's love. In Hannah's story, it is clear that this is a love that is boundless and not reserved solely for those grown inside our womb. The story alternates between present day and flashing back to the past from Hannah's teenage years and moving forward to the present. The story is not a new one (young girl unexpectedly pregnant and left to raise a baby without help from the father) but it is engrossing. Hannah is such a strong and independent female character that one can't hardly believe she fell for the dashing and manipulative teen boy while also knowing that without a doubt she will be a wonderful and dedicated mother who will rise to the struggles of motherhood (single or not). In short, Hannah's story is so engrossing that I couldn't put the book down. I had to finally concede defeat with about 80% left as I was bleary eyed and knew that I didn't want to miss any of the conclusion. I was awake before dawn and reaching for the book to find out what happens and what consequences Hannah will face for the decisions she made as a young mother. And oh my - those decisions.....I can so easily see how Hannah chose what she did and I do not fault one bit. Not one. And it's a good thing the really important people in her life don't fault her either. It's summed up so beautifully here: "We all make mistakes, right? Some we can take back. Some we can’t.” Or wouldn’t even if we could, I added silently." (pg 172) Oh Hannah, what you did - loving a child, wholly and completely and unselfishly - could never be a mistake. I am so thankful to Amazon Publishing for offering this as a giveaway and grateful to have been a winner! This book is a treasure.

This is the first novel by Grace Greene that I've read and I'm so glad that I bought it. I will definitely get her other books as well. Now, having gotten that out of the way, let me give my review. Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to begin. First, having lived in southern WV and then in VA for most of my life, I was very familiar with the areas she wrote about and the language she used, and that endeared me to the story from the get-go as they say. As I read, it was almost as if Mrs. Greene was writing about me and my life. I have so many things in common with the main character, Hannah. It's a beautiful tale of love, pain, hurts, and redemption. I don't want to give any spoilers here, so I'll just say that the ending was perfect and leave it there. The author weaved an intriguing story that had me right there with the characters in EACH scene throughout the book. I felt Hannah's pain, I felt Ellen's pain and ultimately the forgiveness in the end. Okay, enough of me, because I don't want to give away anything of how it ends. I do, however, want to say that I honestly think God brings you what you need in life at the time you need it, such as this book. I have deeps hurts similar to Hannahs and I too buried them in the past without properly grieving. I am not one who likes to cry because I feel as though once it's allowed, you may not stop. But I really feel that God brought this book to me to open up some wounds that I'd covered long ago that finally needed to be dealt with. Thank you, Grace Greene, for your wonderful gift to the world. I love Hannah and Ellen. I share the same depth of strength as Hannah and I think that's what caused me to feel so close to her. And I also called my granny, Gran. Awesome book!! I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking for a great story that flows well and quickly. I read it in two nights and found that I couldn't pull myself away. Five stars for this one!!

Novel is well-written and somewhat interesting. The FMC was just flat to me. No real emotion, no real depth. She was matter of fact and living day by day. She described this great love for there daughter but I didn’t feel like it was shown to the reader. And while I like happy endings, the neat little unrealistic bow was unfulfilling.

An intriguing story line woven into the lives of strong women. The twists and turns of the plot kept me interested from beginning to end. Was Hannah going to get away with keeping the secret of her daughter's parentage? Hannah was resourceful and self reliant but life has a way of getting in the way of personal goals. Her love for her daughter and her grandmother were the driving forces in her life. When Liam came back to town all the worries of the past came crashing back on her. Ms Green has created strong and believable characters. She understands that in a small town it is difficult to keep secrets. The internal conflict between personal privacy and doing what is right were the driving forces in Hannah's life. What will win out in the end? The book is well written, though clearly fiction when we see how Hannah resolves all these personal conflicts.

I hardly ever give a book five stars so one can gather that I really liked it. From the beginning I was hooked. Here is what I liked. The story is told in the first person and there is one main character with a cast of supporting characters. The book was realistic in that everything was believable and could actually happen. I liked the depth of love the characters had for each other and I am not talking about romantic love or romp in the hay type of love. There was not one sex scene and this was refreshing. The main character was a woman of strength, love and ethics who made some good choices and some bad ones. The bad ones came back to bite her but who among us has not had that happen? She experienced things that not too many young people have to experience, yet she landed on her feet every time. I truly enjoyed that there was not a duel timeline as is the genre of choice, now. Often the books I have read lately go like this... Character buys or finds an item. Character must find out more about said item. Flashback several decades and another character has the item... Flash forward. The original character uses said item to insure a happy ending. I like that this book is one character and it involves one generation. If anyone deserved the luxury of going crazy, it might have been this woman but she demonstrates the ability to adapt and make lemonade out of a life of lemons.

The Memory of Butterflies by author Grace Green is one of the best books of this year! The pages are filled with family secrets, family devotion, and the devastating fallout for all involved when certain truths becomes known. Hannah’s grandparents raised her after the deaths of her parents when she was a child. So, Hannah postpones going to college in order to care for her aging grandmother. Although Hannah is mostly isolated from friends, she is invited to attend a party with people she knew from school. This will begin a chapter in Hannah’s life for which she is unprepared. I do not want to post spoilers, so I will summarize this review by saying the events in Hannah’s life are heartbreaking and the more she tries to cope with the disappointments, the more entangled her truths are intertwined with her lies. Hannah gives her whole life as a caregiver to her grandmother and then to her child, but it is not enough to stop the coming storm of unraveling truths which could destroy her relationship with her daughter. Is it acceptable to lie if the reason is justified and seems to be the best course of action for those you love? A very good story with so many twists!

I think I enjoyed this book because it was different than the usual love story type of book. It had substance. Family love, redemption and forgiveness.

I loved this book. The story line is excellent and I was captivated the whole time through reading this book. I highly recommend reading this book.

I came across this in my library and thought I’d give it a whirl. I’m glad I did. It was different to most books I’ve read, and there were parts that didn’t really make sense as she had choices. But overall it was another one that kept me reading long after I should.

your interest is held, what will happen next & why. Unique ending, right to the last paragraph. Very well written, each emotion is felt by the reader.

i loved this book,it was a great story.