3.5 stars

As the sequel to 2017’s The Child Finder, Rene Denfeld’s latest work, The Butterfly Girl, sees the return of Naomi Cottle, an independent investigator whose knack for finding missing children stems from a childhood tragedy, a kidnapping that she was able to escape from, but sadly her sister did not. Unable to let go of the guilt of leaving her sister behind, Naomi has made it her life’s mission to find her sister, despite barely having any information to go off of. This time around, Naomi’s search for her sister brings her to Portland, Oregon, where she discovers a growing number of homeless children disappearing off the streets, only to be found murdered days later, their bodies tossed in the dirty waters of the local river. Despite her best efforts not to get involved due to a vow she made to locate her sister before taking on any more cases, Naomi is eventually pulled into the case after meeting Celia, a twelve-year-old girl who chooses a life on the streets rather than returning home to an abusive stepfather and an oblivious, drug addict mother. Seeing Celia reminds Naomi of her own past and instills in her an urgent need to try her best to protect her, while Celia’s own desire to protect her younger sister Alyssa from the abuse she herself suffered draws parallels to Naomi’s relationship with the sister she is desperately trying to find.

This was one of those books that I struggle with rating, as there were enough things I appreciated about the story, but there were also things that didn’t work tremendously well for me. Perhaps because I never read the first book in this series, I found Naomi’s storyline about searching for her sister and the way it eventually unfolds a bit unrealistic and maybe even a tad forced — I didn’t connect with her story as much emotionally and at times, even felt frustrated with the way Naomi’s search becomes an obsession to the point that it takes over her life. Celia’s story, on the other hand, was heartbreaking — drawing from her own personal experience of living on the streets as a kid, the way that Denfeld depicted the harsh realities of street living was both heartfelt and emotionally gut-wrenching. Her story ran the emotional spectrum for me – there was sadness and anger, but yet there was also an underlying element of hopefulness interspersed throughout the story. I think for me, I preferred more focus on Celia’s story rather than Naomi’s, as I found myself skimming some of the sections that dove too much into Naomi’s backstory, which I felt were a bit repetitive and, in a way, dragged down the rest of the story. With all that said, one of the things that set this book apart for me was the atmospheric writing, especially in the chapters involving Celia and her friends and what their lives were like out on the streets. There was also the brilliant use of imagery in a seamless yet metaphoric way – in this instance, the imagery of butterflies and their importance to Celia’s story.

Overall, I feel this was a good story that had a lot of potential and while I agree with other reviewers that this can definitely be read as a standalone, I think for me personally, I would’ve appreciated the story more if I had read the first one prior. I do intend on going back to read The Child Finder at some point, preferably before Denfeld’s next book comes out, especially if it will be a continuation of Naomi’s story.

Received ARC from Harper via NetGalley.

"...the stories we tell ourselves have more meaning than the facts. That doesn't make them lies. Seeded with every myth was the emotional truth."

What a beautiful, lyrical and sad story that focuses on the plight of abused , murdered, and missing children. Naomi, now married to Jerome, is a child finder. She's made it her life's mission because she's really searching for her sister. They'd both been abducted from an orphanage when very young, Naomi had escaped, but had left her sister behind. Without specific memories of where, when or how, Naomi managed to find a loving adoptive mother who nurtured and believed in her. Now, Naomi has decided that it time for her to return to the place where she was found in order to finally track down her long-lost sister. In Oregon, she meets a 12-year-old street child named Celia and is inexplicably drawn to her. Celia dreams of butterflies and being free having run away from home due to childhood sexual abuse. Can the two of them help each other? NO SPOILERS.

Although this was fairly short and easy to read in a single sitting, the prose is captivating and held me in thrall. The personalities of the two main characters, Naomi and Celia, are so fleshed out that you want to know them, to comfort them, to love them. Childhood horrors are so difficult to escape and their story is fraught with the sordid truth of life on the streets. Believe me, this book is not one that any reader will be able to forget after reading. I hope to see another that features Naomi and wish for her to continue to do what she does best -- lay the tormented souls to rest and find the missing children.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this e-book ARC to read and review.

Love love love the character Naomi Cottle, and was so excited to read another book, as The Child Finder was excellent.
Once again, Naomi is embattled in her search for missing girls, this time her sister. She meets Celia, an eleven year old living in the streets.
What happens next is a brutal look into the foster care system, homeless and missing children, and the bond of sisters.

The Butterfly Girl was one of my most anticipated books of the year. I absolutely loved the first book in this series, The Child Finder, so I was anxious to get my hands on book two. After a lot of shameless begging, @harpercollinsus sent this sailing into my inbox and I immediately dropped everything to dive in. I absolutely DEVOURED this book and flew through it in one night. ⁣
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Make no mistake, this series tackles some difficult topics. Reading about children, particularly child abuse, can be a very difficult topic to imagine and maneuver. However, Rene Denfeld approaches these topics with an inside view and delicately gives a voice to the voiceless. ⁣
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The Butterfly Girl lived up to every expectation I had. It’s suspenseful, and beautiful, and harrowing, and was spectacularly written. It answered so many questions I had from book one and left me anxious for Naomi’s story to continue.⁣
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The Butterfly Girl gets all of the stars from me. Thank you @harpercollinsus for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this book! I couldn't put it down. The author makes the world of homeless children so real and so vivid and so heartbreakingly poignant. Rene Denfeld is an author that you should have on your radar.

“The Butterfly Girl” By Rene Denfeld, Harper, 272 pages, Oct. 1, 2019.

This is the second in a series. In the first one, “The Child Finder,” Naomi Cottle is an investigator who has the ability to find missing children. She herself had been kidnapped as a child. She escaped when she was 9.

After her least search, she made a vow that she would not take on another case until she finds her younger sister. They were held captive in a bunker in rural Oregon. Naomi doesn’t even remember her sister’s name. All she has is a vague memory of black dirt under her bare feet as she ran for her life.

This is set in Portland, Oregon, where street girls are disappearing. Some have been murdered. Naomi meets Celia, a 12-year-old homeless girl fleeing from her stepfather’s abuse. He was acquitted and moved back into the house. Her mother is a drug addict.

Celia is fascinated by butterflies and is feeling guilty for leaving her sister, Alyssa, 6, behind.

Denfeld again focuses on the disadvantaged and abused. It is a slower-moving story and at times it can be bleak and troubling. But we can’t pretend that these things don’t exist. You don’t need to read “The Child Finder” first, but you may enjoy it more if you do.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

As much as I tried to get into this book, as well as The Child Finder (which was a DNF for me), I just couldn't. This one I finished, but I'm not 100% sure I would keep reading the series. For whatever reason, the characters seemed lackluster and the story just didn't have the pull I needed. Though I did finish it, because that's who I am. It just wasn't the right book for me at the right time.

2/5 Stars

This relatively short book is packed with storylines but they do eventually all come together. Naomi is a continuing character from the previous book and is known as the child finder. She is looking for her sister who was left behind when Naomi escaped from a hostage situation. She had promised her sister she would return for her. Now, as an adult she is ready to devote herself to that promise and make every attempt to find her sister.

Celia is a 12 yr old girl who lives on the street with a couple of boys who are her friends and who look out for her as best they can. She finds solace in reading about, drawing, and imagining butterflies that comfort her.

Jerome is a Kalapuya, a veteran, a childhood friend to Naomi and now her husband.

When they meet Celia and Naomi are drawn to one another but both have other priorities. Soon they begin to seek out one another despite their mutual skepticism.

this book covers some really tough subject matter and may be too much for some readers. I’m not sure I have sorted through all of my feelings yet but I’m grateful that in the end there is a satisfactory outcome.

It is my understanding that author Rene Denfield is informed by her own personal experiences and I think her writing is beautiful. There are many memorable passages in this story.

Naomi Cottle is known as the "child finder" for her skills at tracking down missing and abducted children. In this second book in the series, Naomi focuses all of her power on finding out what happened to her sister. When the siblings were very young, Naomi only remembers escaping from a bunker where horrible things happened. Only, she left her sister behind and has felt the weight of this mistake ever since. As Naomi pieces together both her own childhood and clues to her sister's whereabouts, her path continually intersects with that of local homeless children, living alone on the street and barely surviving. But someone is murdering girls from skid row, and Naomi begins to form a special bond with one of the street children, Celia. Suspense builds as readers begin to see connections between Naomi and Celia's stories, racing toward a heart pounding conclusion. Another well-written novel from the author, blending the genres of literary fiction and suspense, but ultimately offering a hopeful and satisfying read.

One of my favorite discoveries of the 2017 new releases was "The Child Finder," so I picked up the sequel and felt like I was sitting down to coffee with an old friend. In her Acknowledgements, Denfeld says, "Life is a story we tell ourselves and each other--we can make the story full of justice, kindness, and redemption. It's up to us." One cannot read one of both of the Naomi Cottle books and still have a lack of empathy for the plight of children who have become victims of the adults in their lives. Sometimes it is their own family; for others it is a stranger. Nevertheless, Naomi Cottle has a gift for finding and help these children. Visiting her world through the lyrical narrative spun by Denfeld is like watching butterflies. Her writing reminds me of Emma Donoghue and Marilynne Robinson.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

loved The child finder so I was super excited about this one. I’m not sure if my expectations were so high that I felt a bit let down. I enjoyed Celia’s story, I was drawn into the kids street life. There a few books out there that depicts the crude life homeless kids go through. I think my only issue was that I wanted to see more of Naomi and Sarah. The ending felt a bit rushed in thy matter. 3.5

After reading The Child Finder, I was so excited to learn that a sequel/follow-up story was coming out. The Butterfly Girl followed a very similar format to The Child Finder, where chapters alternate between Naomi (the child finder/investigator herself) and in this book, Celia, a lost girl. Celia is a "street girl" with a really sad past (Trigger Warning: child abuse, rape, pedophilia, etc.) Her chapters were heartbreaking to read, but the way Denfeld writes is a credit to her ability to introduce prose and poetry to a sad, sad story.
The Butterfly Girl was a book that I flew through, but I want to go back and re-read to catch the little details I missed. Naomi is on a quest to find her sister (readers of The Child Finder will know this backstory much better, although this book could be read as a standalone). This quest brings her to the streets of Portland, Oregon, where her story intersects with Celia's.
Without giving anything away, this comes to a satisfying conclusion, and I'm sad to have the story end. I loved Naomi as a character and I loved Denfeld's writing. It is haunting, beautiful and yet thrilling at the same time.

4.5 ⭐ rounded up

I absolutely loved The Child Finder so I was super excited when I found out the sequel was coming out this fall and it did not disappoint. This book was a nail biting mystery/thriller that I couldn't put down and read in one sitting. I highly reccomend this book along with The Child Finder.

What I loved about this book:

Naomi has been and will always be one of my favorite characters. She uses what others may have considered a weakness to build a career around saving children that have been abducted or bring closure to the parents of the children that were murdered. I wish there were more people like her in this world and less that have dealt with the abuse she suffered.

I love how this book brings awareness to the issue of street kids. They are kids/teens trying survive on the street and often have to do things to survive that breaks my heart. While I myself do not have a great solution to this problem, I agree that we can no longer ignore it. Most of these children are running from abusive situations with no where else to go and are forced to deal with things that no child should have to. Our children are our future and they are all important, nobody is a throw away. The author's own experiences as a street kid really brings to life the struggles and hopefully encourages more people to do something about it.

I loved the tiny bit of information you learn about the Kalapuya indigenous people and how the fact they had their land stolen was mentioned. This happened all over the US and the only true Americans were abuse and murdered by the Immigrants who settled here (all of the white people). I think our current history books are so white washed that I find it refreshing when an author finds a way to slip a little historical awareness into their book. I am a melting pot of nationalities, but I am proud that it includes Native American ancestors.

The writing in this book is something that makes reading about the atrocities happening to these children somewhat bearable. Her poetic writing makes it easy to imagine the characters and I found it very easy to connect with so many of them. Her words are thought provoking and her acknowledgements are definitely worth reading because she talks about her own experiences as a homeless teen and how important the public libraries were to her. This book is one I highly recommend you read and I'll be thinking about this one long after I've finished.

I want to thank Netgalley and Harper Collins for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This beautiful and sad story, in The Butterfly Girl by Rene Denfeld, bring to light the lost girls, the taken girls, and the girl who have been horribly hurt. The story centers on Naomi and a young girl named Celia. Naomi work finding missing children, especially for her, her missing sister who she really doesn't remember but by a feeling. In her quest she finds Celia, living on the streets having had to flee her own home who at this very young age is trying to save her own younger sister. This a a beautifully written story, sometimes hard to read and take in, but also with determination, grit and self respect these young girls have. Thank you #NetGalley #TheButterflyGirl #HarperCollins

The Butterfly Girl


Can you still be lost even when you are found?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY
A year ago, Naomi a private investigator specializing in missing children, made a promise that she would not take another case until she found her younger sister who has been missing for years. Naomi has no picture, not even a name. All she has is a vague memory of trapdoor, a strawberry field at night, and black dirt under her bare feet as she ran for her life. Naomi was nine when she was found. She had been missing for five years.

Naomi’s continuing search for her sister takes her to Portland Oregon, where scores of homeless children wander the streets, searching for money, and food. Though she does not want to get involved, Naomi is unable to resist the pull of the children in need and the fear she sees in the eyes of a 12-year-old girl name Celia, who is running from her abusive step-father and an addict mother.

REVIEW
THE BUTTERFLY GIRL is captivating and impossible to put down. It’s a perfect blend of characters, setting and story. The twenty-five year-old Naomi is my favorite character of the year, perhaps even a character for the ages. She is someone you will be thinking of long after the the cover is closed. Her strength, resolve and intensity to find her sister are brought to life of the pages. Naomi’s connection with Celia is also poignant and the author effortlessly blends Naomi and Celia’s story, adding both depth and emotion to the novel.

RENE DENFELD is a lyrical storyteller. She uses butterflies to bring beauty and imagination to a raw and haunting story of survival and resilience. I first fell in love with Naomi when I read The Child Finder in 2017 and honestly hope she appears in Denfeld’s future books. It’s so important to have books with strong female characters, who can take care of themselves, survive the unimaginable and serve as a role models for us all.

My favorite part of the story was how Celia finds hope and solace among the butterflies. She spends her days at the library to escape the dirty and difficult streets of skid row and she surround herself with pictures of colorful butterflies.

DENFELD is the author of The Child Finder (2017), and The Enchanted(. Her books always explore themes of survival, resiliency and redemption. She lives in Portland, Oregon where she is a happy mom of three kids adopted from foster care, as well as other foster kids.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Harper Collins
Published October 1, 2019
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

The whole thing about Naomi’s entire life revolves around finding her sister doesn’t make sense but the novel is amazing when turning to the street kids’ lives. It wraps up beautifully and well worth your time

"Hope is grief's best music." (Author Unknown)

The strain of light notes reach into Naomi Cottle's inner being. It's all she has to go on. Naomi has been on a journey for over twenty years weighed down by the harshness of reality but uplifted with the light feathery touch of hope. Naomi and her sister, Sarah, were abducted as children. Naomi was found several years later wandering within the tall grassy fields outside of Portland. No Sarah. No definitive memories.

With a resolve expanding miles outside of herself, Naomi still carries the resolve of finding her sister. Rene Denfeld introduced us to Naomi in The Child Finder showcasing Naomi as a deeply committed investigator specializing in cold cases of lost children. And she's beyond good at what she does. Naomi has a fine-tuned gift of spotting long hidden pebbles on the forgotten trails of life.

Naomi and her husband, Jerome, a wounded veteran of Native American background, have returned to stay with her friend, Diane. Diane has always been supportive of the two and opens her home to them. Naomi has set aside her professional career for the moment in order to dedicate all of her energy into finding Sarah.

Denfeld creates a new thread in this storyline with the introduction of Celia, a twelve year old homeless street kid, running from an abusive stepfather and a mother strung out on drugs most of the day. Celia worries about her younger sister, Alyssa, still living at home and in the line of fire from sickening Teddy.

It's here that Rene Denfeld presents an eye-opening view into the failing foster care program that leaves victims on the doorstep of abuse day after day. We shake our heads in disbelief as Alyssa is returned back into her abusive home once again when the officials don't believe Celia's cry for help. Denfeld, once a homeless kid herself, knows these streets and what the future holds for the kids who hide in the shadows in order to breathe in another day.

The Butterfly Girl is raw and real in its presentation. Just as a butterfly is kept in a jar by the door, it must take flight in order to survive. Both Naomi and Celia cling to hope........evasive, but perhaps within reach this time.

I received a copy of The Butterfly Girl through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Harper Collins Publishers and to the talented Rene Denfeld for the opportunity.

I always love reading books set in my home state of Oregon. I also love books that feature strong female protagonists and have a compelling storyline. The Butterfly Girl does not disappoint.

I discovered Rene Denfeld about a year ago when I read The Child Finder and loved it. It really resonated with me for the reasons listed above, but also because of the background information she provides as an expert in working with abused/neglected children. I was excited to see her newest book was a sequel to that one. Once again, she tells a story that not only enthralls, but also provides insight into a world that many of us choose to look past. Some of the information shared in this book makes me want to rail at the injustice in our society and the red tape that hinders rather then helps.

I'm hoping there is another installment of this series in the works, as I would really like to see the progression of the characters' storylines moving forward. Perhaps in the next book we'll get to spend more time with Jerome.

I was mesmerized by The Enchanted and loved The Child Finder. The Butterfly Girl casts a story of hope while once again setting the story in an utterly terrifying surrounding. The story is one built on compassion and humanity. Children in Portland who end up homeless and on the streets are then used as prostitutes. Denfeld brings awareness to controversial topics that people are rarely aware of. Denfeld once again knocks it out of the park with her consideration and thoughtfulness that invokes itself into each of her characters. Another beautiful story that will stay with me for a long time. Thank you to NetGalley and Rene Denfeld for an advance copy.

I really enjoyed "The Child Finder," so I was pretty sure I would like this sequel and it didn't disappoint. Reading about Celia's situation and what brought her to a life on the streets is heartbreaking. The development of Celia and Naomi's relationship with its ups and downs was very realistic. The author is very adept at portraying aspects of society that are often overlooked in contemporary fiction. It's for that reason I think that fans of Bryn Greenwood's novels would like this series. In addition, I appreciated Denfeld's portrayal of public libraries and the important role they play in people's lives. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy!