Grace Greene. How is this the first book I have read by her? The Memories of Butterflies was an amazingly written book. The written is seamless. What I mean by that is it is not too wordy, not too showy, but smooth and vivid. . I was at 55% on my Kindle in a blink of an eye it seemed.

Hannah is single Mom who is getting ready to rebuild the old homestead she grew up on after it had all gone up in flames. The books takes us back to Hannah as a young girl living on the property and being raised by her Grandparents. Her parents died when she was a baby. As we go back and forth to past to present we learn a lot about this family and the heart wrenching decision they have had to make. Some out of grief some out of survival. I literally cried at the end and the whole way through I was rooting for each and everyone of them.

My advice, buy this book. Buy it now and then let's talk about it!

Really enjoyed this book. This is a story about family. Sometimes lies and secrets are necessary to protect the ones you love. Unfortunately they usually come to light over time and the consequences are not always good. Well written book with great characters.

A must read. An emotional journey of loss, secrets and the love and devotion of a mother and daughter. Hannah, is getting her daughter ready for college and rebuilding and moving back to her childhood area. When Ellen has questions about her deceased father, soon the truth comes out of Ellen's true parents. Will Ellen forgive Hannah for the secrets and can Hannah live with herself on the secrets she kept?

This is a book that I could not put down, A heart wrenching story of true love and devotion that a mother gives to her daughter. Plenty of secrets from past generations. Grace Greene's story telling, makes you feel like you are right there. I highly recommend this story!!

First of all, isn't this cover just so captivating? I love it and it definitely caught my eye. But then the author and her other books also appeal to me. I have loved every Grace Greene book I've read to this point so I was excited to start this one.

The Memory of Butterflies was a story that grabbed me from the first page. This line early in the book caught my attention and my curiosity—"the memory of how I lost my Ellen seventeen years ago, then found her again." I just had to find out what that meant. Little did I know that line was just the beginning of a journey of such ups and downs.

So many lies, so many secrets, for so many years. This is a story of lies, secrets, isolation, happiness, sadness, love, anger, hurt, forgiveness and just about every other emotion you can imagine. And I loved every minute of it. I became emotionally wrapped up in Hannah and Ellen's lives and if that means that tears were shed, then so be it. I'll admit it and I love it when that happens to me when I am engrossed in a wonderful story. I highly recommend The Memory of Butterflies; it is am amazing, beautiful story of love and perseverance.

The Memories of Butterflies is the first novel by Grace Greene that I have read and it most certainly won't be the last. I don't want to spoil anything and the synopsis is perfect so I am going to make this short and sweet.

Hannah has been through so much during her life and now it's time for her daughter to leave for college. It's not only a time for Ellen to start something new. It's also time for Hannah to make a change. To go back to their home at Cooper's Hollow. The home that has been in the family for generations. A home that needs to be rebuilt. And during this time of rebuilding, Hannah has to confront the past. A past that affects the present. A secret that she has held onto for a long time. A secret to protect her family. To protect herself.

Ok. That's all I can say about that. I will say that this is a story about love, family, forgiveness, heartbreak, loss, and secrets. It's not like any book I usually read. It's not sexy, hilarious, or dark. And you know what. I loved that. I need different once in awhile. I wasn't sure if I would get into it at the beginning but I was addicted soon after it started. I read it in one day and just had to know what was going to happen next. It really is a beautiful story.


Overall...The writing is fantastic. The characters are well-developed. The story is magnificent. It's a different kind story about love and what you would do to protect it. I am not sure if Grace plans on turning it into a series but I would love that.

Quotes:

“It’s not an ending. It’s a beginning.”

“I need to pick up some clothing for Ellen. She’s growing like a weed.” I reached across and tickled her as I said, “Like a weed, but one with the prettiest, sweetest flowers.”

“There’s no pleasing you, Hannah Cooper,” he joked.

The Memory of Butterflies was just okay read for me. It is worth a read though.

The Memory of Butterflies is the newest book from Grace Greene. It is a beautiful story that is filled with family, love, secrets and lies, and forgiveness. I will be very vague in my description of much of what goes on in the story, as I really don't want to give away any spoilers.

Hannah Cooper is such a strong character. She is repeatedly place in situations that have her making tough decisions. She is responsible for caring for her grandmother and young daughter at a very young age. I honestly feel like Hannah was put into an unwinnable situation with one of her choices. I honestly don't know if I were put into her situation for at least one of her choices I would have made a different choice. Honestly more than once, my heart broke for Hannah and I won't lie, I cried multiple times while I read this book from both happy tears and sad tears.

I loved the relationships that were explored in The Memory of Butterflies. We had the relationship of grandmother and granddaughter, mother and daughter, and even great-grandmother and great-granddaughter. The different family dynamics that were explored across generations at times made me think of how close I was to both of my grandmothers before they passed away. I love when relationships in a book can seem real world to me, and Ms. Greene did a great job exploring the family dynamics in The Memory of Butterflies.

The Memory of Butterflies truly is a beautiful story that will tug on your heartstrings over and over again. Highly recommended to all readers who love an emotional story about family and all the dynamics it includes.

Rating: 4 Stars (B)

This was a well written story. I will have a full review up quickly and will post links !

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the copy of THE MEMORY OF BUTTERFLIES in exchange for an honest review.

A 5 star book for me! This book was a solid 4 star until the last 20%, when my mental rating went out the window and I couldn't deny it deserved all five stars. When I shed a tear while reading, it has to be a good book. There are only a handful of books that have moved me to tears, and this is now added to my list. This book made me smile, it made me cry, and most of all, it made me think. If you enjoyed The Light Between Oceans, grab this one up and read it. So many feels and emotions in this story. This one left me with a book hangover for sure!

This book was very satisfying. As the story progressed I found myself getting worried for Hannah & how the consequences of her decisions could come back to burn her in a horrible way. The ending was excellent and tied up the story well but left enough open for the reader to imagine how the story might continue. There were lessons of forgiveness, family loyalty, mental illness & its effects, and many others. Gran, Hannah, Ellen, Liam & Roger made this a wonderful story that I'm so glad I had the chance to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this great book.

This book is a tapestry of events that cause it to become undone, showing all the wrong stitches the characters have done and needing major mending. The threads have become deeply ingrained as years pass until one becomes broken and the rest swiftly follow.

Lies of protection have been prevalent in the home hidden away in Cooper's Hollow. Gran and Grand had created one to protect Hannah and themselves from the outside world of criticism and gossip. Hannah and Gran's secret is to protect Ellen. They all know that there will be repercussions if and when the secrets are uncovered and revealed. They live in the hope that it will never happen because the reverberations will be too strong to withstand.

The Memory of Butterflies is written in such an engaging, captivating manner, capturing a sense of the Southern way of protecting family whatever the ultimate cost.

July 23, 2017 – Started Reading
Review Grace Greene is a new author for me and after reading The Memory of Butterflies, I have just ordered her previous books. I loved her writing style and am not sure how I missed reading her earlier. It's a book that grabs you at the beginning and quickly has you emotionally involved with the characters. It's a story about family and secrets that can destroy a family.

Hannah is a single mom who has totally built her life around her daughter Ellen. As the novel begins, Ellen is excited to be going away to college and Hannah has decided to re-build a house on the land that she grew up on with her grandparents. As Hannah spends more time at the remains of her grandparents house, she reflects on the secrets that they kept from her about her parents and how she accepted the secret and went on with her life. She knows that she has kept a major secret from her daughter and that if her daughter finds out, their life together many be destroyed but fate intervenes and Hannah finds out the results of keeping secrets within a family.

This is a beautifully written novel about the love of a parent for a child and the sacrifices that a mother will make to bring happiness and well being to their child. It's a wonderful, emotional story that will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

WOW The Memory Of Butterflies Grace Greene she has done it again! I have a book hangover from reading this book, one of the best I have read this year! I highly recommend this book you will not be sorry! How far will a mom go to protect her child? This book will make you ask yourself that very question. How long can you keep a lie going? This is really good stuff a must read

I really appreciated this ARC of The Memory of Butterflies. A great beach read but especially would be a great snuggle with a cup of tea. Grace Greene has such warm characters that can’t help but pull you into their lives. As each layer is added you are following with anticipation of the next action. I loved this book, it totally made sense.

I so enjoyed this book. I know it's a good one when I go to bed early 'to read just one more chapter' and I'm still there two hours later finishing a novel, as I just could't put it down until then. The Memory of Butterflies was one of those for me. I loved it.
Set in rural Virginia, we meet Hannah, her daughter Ellen and Hannah's Gran, Clara. The three are completely enmeshed in each other's lives, living in the isolated family homestead. The house is a part of Hannah and her Grandmother but there has been tragedy there, and there are secrets in the walls. These only increase as Hannah leaves High School and gives birth to Ellen.
There are two narrative lines in the book, the present day where Hannah has moved away from Coopers Hollow but is continuously drawn back there, and the early years of little Ellen. Both are compelling but it's the latter which really grabbed me. The later part of the book, when the stories come together is beautifully written and 'real, there aren't any magic wands waved, just people trying to find their way back to each other after devastating revelations.
Greene writes extremely well. Her descriptions of Coopers Hollow and Hannah's pottery, and the importance of both to her are key and well realised. When tragedy hits Hannah, I found the heart wrenching sadness of the words almost hard to read.
Ostensibly this is another mum/daughter conflict novel but the secrets and the realisation of them set it apart. I would really recommend it.

What an amazing story, it's about loyalty, love and loss. The burden Hannah lived with for so many years, planning on taking her secret to the grave, I couldn't put it down. The story pulled me in from the very beginning and I'm still playing it over in my mind. Great book, great for a book club with so many topics for discussion. This is one of the authors best books to date, if not the best!

A emotional but touching story of Hannah and her daughter Ellen as Ellen prepares for college and Hannah adjusts to the upcoming changes in her life. I was drawn in to this book very quickly and read the whole book in one evening. The book was written in such a way that I could immediately picture the Hollow, see the pottery, and even picture the meaningful butterflies and they flitted around. The book had emotional surprises that I didn't see coming.

A beautiful, memorable, heartfelt and poignant story of a mother’s unconditional love towards her daughter. A story about family, home, discovery; and to what extent we may go to protect those we cherish most. Anyone who is a parent can relate to what Hannah, the protagonist, goes through.

Hannah Cooper, a single mother to Ellen, is feeling the emptiness that is associated with Ellen taking off for college. She decides to renovate and reinstate their original family home, which was burnt-down in a fire, many-a-years ago. In the process, she visits her past and the albeit questionable choices she has made. She has hidden the truth and closed herself off to any other relation, barring her daughter.
Ellen’s perpetual questioning regarding her father starts to bother Hannah. The truth unfolds, told through Hannah’s viewpoint of the past and the present. Hannah’s only concern – Ellen shouldn’t repeat her mistakes from the past. Can she stop Ellen from doing so? If yes, what is the price that she must pay?

Life is a series of changes, some painful, but sometimes garnering greater beauty despite the pain.
This story displays the intricacies of life and love.
The Cooper women had a way of writing their own history, either to suit themselves or to save themselves and their loved ones from pain.

The author’s writing is passionate. The language flows easily, the settings and descriptions are vivid and there’s a lot of depth in it, which makes one develop an instant empathy for the characters.

We all make mistakes. If you’re living, then mistakes are guaranteed. It makes the successes that follow, all the more sweeter.
Some of the “mistakes” are intentional – but does the original intent matter always?
Some of the mistakes made we can take back. Some we can’t. Or wouldn’t even if we could. Do you have any such?

PS – If I was in Hannah’s situation, I think I would have done exactly what she did.

"The Memory of Butterflies" by Grace Greene

A moving and emotional novel about love, loss, truth, lies, family, friendship, birth and rebirth.

Grace Greene brings us back to Cub Creek as she tells the story of Hannah and her past and present and how they have come together to affect her future. With her daughter's graduation on the rise, Hannah has begun to rebuild a house in Cooper Canyon, the area she grew up but was destroyed by fire many years ago. As events of Hannah's past intermingle with present day events, she finds that she needs to tell her daughter a secret she has been carrying for decades. What happens from there affects many immediately, as well as their immediate future.

A story of love so strong that one lie, which seems like the right thing to do at the time, and probably was, and was continued for years, may lead to devastating results once it has been told. A story of facing ones truth within oneself and toward others. A story of loss and healing and forgiveness. A story of love so strong it can feel as if where one stops the other begins. A story of accepting grief so one can truly move forward. A story of mending ones heart and removing ones walls.

With amazing characters and a heartwarming and heartrending storyline, "The Memory of Butterflies" will capture your heart and not let it go.

Rating: 4.8
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

** I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this novel. All thoughts are my own.

This was a beautiful love story of a mother's love for her daughter. Hannah is a single mom to her daughter Ellen. Nothing is more important to Hannah than her daughter. But unfortunately, Hannah has a few secrets hiding in her past. This wonderful book takes us through the present and also through Hannah's past. Hannah is raised by her Grandparents Gran and Grand. You can feel the love they have for Hannah. The descriptions of are amazing. I can see the house they lived in. I can almost smell the flowers the butterflies enjoy in the field. I can see the cabin where Hannah did her pottery. This was a beautiful book of loss, love, love of family, and secrets. I truly loved this book. Thank you very much to Grace Greene for providing me an ARC in return for an honest review.