This was a really sweet story. It was an enemies to lovers troupe. I wish the tension was longer and the build up ie enemies for longer. It was sweet he was raising his sisters kids but it seemed like her relationship with the girls was a tiny bit rushed. Overall I still enjoyed it.
3.75 stars for me.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 - Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC!

As a science girly myself I was hooked by the premise of this book! I thought the idea of two museum employees falling in love sounded very wholesome and sweet, and there was indeed a lot of wholesome moments in this story. I loved the addition of Finn’s nieces and their storyline throughout; I thought they added to a lot of the scenes. It also was nice to see Finn’s true personality brought out more by them, as well as some of Millie’s confidence.

Speaking of Millie’s confidence, I thought the author did a good job of creating a wide range of emotions in our FMC. We saw a lot of what Millie thought and felt and I felt like I got to know her very well throughout (and definitely would want to be her friend in real life). I also didn’t expect the twist about how her abusive ex was going to come back into her life, so it was cool to be surprised by that.

Something I wasn’t personally a massive fan of was how *horny* the MMC was. It kinda felt like all he really thought about upon seeing Millie was doing her, and it got a bit old after a while. It would’ve been nice to see him with a broader range of thoughts and feelings and emotions like Millie had, especially pertaining to his relationship with his parents and with his own inner turmoil about the loss of his sister/the responsibility of the girls. The sex scenes in the book as well kind of cheapened the story for me. Some of the wording choices were a bit much for my personal taste, as well as how many scenes were detailed out (this is coming from someone who usually enjoys closed-door romances, so others will probably enjoy these more than I did).

All in all I enjoyed getting to watch Millie and Finn’s little family flesh out throughout the story, and do recommend it as a cute, quick read!

The setup for this book is such an interesting one. I have never read a book about butterfly scientists and that alone made this a really interesting read!

This is such a sweet and endearing romance! The relationship that Millie and Finn create together is one that is truly enviable with a foundation of trust and mutual respect. One thing that I also appreciated was the fact that Finn was a bit more complex than just a typical grump character. Once Millie got to know him, she learned that it was a cover for how lonely and full of grief he is after losing his sister. I think it's crucial that we talk about these more serious topics in romance and not just rely on the fluffy and smutty bits to carry a whole story.

The story was crafted beautifully and I am looking forward to my next Jillian Meadows read!

I really enjoyed reading this! Millie and Finn were just the cutest couple. I absolutely loved the banter and eventual development into love. I am also a sucker for a good enemies to lovers and this was everything! Also the fact that this is a grumpy X sunshine, where he’s not actually all that grumpy with Millie was too cute!

Finn was a great mmc and counterpart for Millie. His ability to support her in her career aspirations and how he lets her see him struggle with raising his nieces. Not to mention the protective nature he has ( and also his jealous streak), though in real life that would be a red flag!

Millie is a strong independent woman in STEM who is seeking to procure a promotion. She is currently working on herself and the trauma from her last relationship. Her ability to work through her anxiety and show empathy towards Finn was so refreshing to see. Also Millie was so great with Finn’s girls! She fit right in with their little family.

Loved this book! Characters were both kind but real. Left with feelings I'll remember. Will read others by Jillian Meadows.

OMG Finn and Millie were utter perfection.
If you love a muscular, hot, nerdy guy who wears glasses, who pays attention, is considerate, and will make you swoon, but also has guardianship of his two cute nieces, look no further. Finn will blow your mind.
While they get off on the wrong foot, Finn and Millie quickly begin to
each others missing pieces. Their love story is beautiful and emotional. So real and raw it will make you question how are they not real.
If you are a fan of Hannah-Bonam Young, you need to try Jillian Meadows!

This book is a re-release, a sweet story about co-workers who shouldn't fall in love and all the baggage they bring to the relationship. The drama element was controlled and the characters were lovable. Overall, it was a sweet story but one that ultimately seems forgettable. Redeeming quality? - no third act breakup. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read!

I read this as an indie published book so I knew I had to read this one too. I don’t remember the differences but this book is so special to me. Not only do we get Millie Oaks, entomology extraordinaire, and her adorable family. I’m really hoping for Theo and Fable’s book. We also have an adorable grumpy astronomy nerd who is tall, gorgeous, and did I already say nerd? Finn Ashford is literally the cutest character ever and him being a single guardian to his twin nieces is literally ovary exploding. I adore the connection Millie and Finn have. It’s my favorite thing tbh,

I cannot wait for more to come from Ms Jillian Meadows. What a stunning writer in the midst.

This book is so so sweet. It’s a girl who’s only learning now how to trust herself and guy who’s just looking for support. Their banter is quick witted and funny which fuels incredible chemistry. It feels honest and refreshing and honestly just lovely to read. No third act breakup, great steamy romance, not annoyingly written kids. It’s a perfectly mixed book!

𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞. 𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐥𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞. 𝐢’𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞.

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬
❥ grumpy x sunshine
❥ heroine in stem
❥ slow burn
❥ found family
❥ nerdy banter

𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
beautiful, compassionate and selfless love is the first thing that comes to mind when i think of finn & millie. two people who are closed off due to their emotional traumas, that find solace and healing in one another.

i absolutely loved the respect and the selflessness they both had for each others boundaries - exemplifying peak emotional maturity and knowing just what type of love your partner needs. and the spice? so much depth behind it… just fantastic.
 
thank you to avon and harper voyager, @netgalley & jillian meadows for sharing an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Read for:
- Stem romance (they both are in this field)
- Opposites attracts
- Grumpy/sunshine
- Guardian mmc
- mature characters
- initial dislike vibes

Give Me Butterflies is a sweet and wholesome workplace romance which felt like a breathe of fresh air to me because the storyline, the characters, the kids, the plotline and the underlying message in the book was perfect without any unwanted complications and twist in the story.

Millie is like a walking sunshine and her love and passion for her job is very evident from the very beginning. The way she was suffering because of her past broke my heart a bit but I knew she would come out strong on the other side. I loved watching her growth and learning to truly love herself. 🦋

Finn was such a perfect mmc for me remining me why I love reading soft romances more than the dark or morally grey ones!! He might have been a grump in the story early one but when his character was fully shown, you could easily see the problems he was going through and how it affected him. He was caring and mature caring and so mature and honest and transparent and it's impossible not to fall in love with him. He's the guardian of the two most adorable little girls and to see their relationships was so good.

I loved how mature both characters were in terms of their feelings and how easily they could express it to each other!! I loved how Finn stood up for Millie and all the cute moments between then were amazing!! HE GOT HER BOOKS so that is that!! The nicknames & terms of endearment, oh I was a puddle!!

Oh, Millie. I don't want what friends do. I want much more than that with you

"I love when you say my name."
"I love when you moan mine."

The book was perfect amount of sweet and spicy for me and I enjoyed the character growth of both the mcs in this book!!

I was also in awe of the relationship Millie had built with the girls, it was so endearing to experience that.

Unfortunately I will not be able to finish this and I will provide feedback for what I did read because I have a feedback ratio percentage to uphold.

I was initially drawn to this book for the grumpy/sunshine and dislike to love tropes. However those tropes are non-existent they last for less that 10% of the book. We start out with a fender bender which ultimately results in our MMC admitting to having a liking towards our FMC and suddenly we just lose the grumpy/sunshine hate to love thing. There is no build up to the relationship it just suddenly turns into them having internal monologues where they think about how much they like the other and what they want to do them (mostly the mmc) not to mention it just feels rushed and unfortunately some of the writing, dialogue and even the monologue is cringey. I have had an off and on again relationship with this book. I will not be leaving this feedback or review on goodreads or instagram out of respect for the author. this book may not be for me, but it may very well be for others.

🦋ARC Review🦋

Give Me Butterflies by @jillianmeadowswrites
@avonbooks Release 1/21/25

I read Wreck My Plans last Christmas and kept wanting to dive into Millie and Finn’s story and I’m so glad that I finally did!

Millie and Finn work in the same museum, where she is an entomologist and he is an astronomer. When Finn brings his nieces, that he is now the guardian of, to their museum’s science camp, Millie gets a chance to see more than the grumpy scientist he’s always appeared to be. Through cooking lessons and breakfast over almond croissants, the two develop a friendship which soon develops to more. But Finn is still learning to balance his time as a new guardian and Millie isn’t looking to date months after a bad relationship; do they ignore the butterflies they’re feeling or let them soar?

Millie was a great FMC. I loved the passion that she has for her career and the determination that she had to succeed on her own. Her family was so fun and I liked seeing the strong support system that she had behind her.

Finn was so much more than a grumpy scientist. After his sister passed away, he’s become the guardian to his twin nieces and the care that he put into being their person was so sweet. He was so intentional with his words and actions and working hard to give the girls the life their mother would have wanted for them.

With the girls being so important to Finn, I absolutely loved the connection that Millie developed with them! While she and Finn were still becoming friends, you could see the love building between the girls as well. After some struggles to adjust to his new life, it was so special for Finn to find someone that cared for Avery and Eloise just as much. Millie stood by him in this area of his life and Finn continusosly did the same for her as she was learning to trust, building her career, and battling her own insecuruties.

All the little details throughout the book were so fun and sweet and I loved the glimpses we got throughout the end of their story 🤍

Thank you for the ARC opportunity @jillianmeadowswrites @avonbooks @netgalley

I can’t wait to read about more Oaks sisters! I feel a Fable and Theo story coming and it is a neeeed 😍

**𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘** 𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑱𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒔

Release Date: January 21, 2025

5⭐️5🌶

I absolutely loved this Rom Com with all the feel goods and heart warming characters. Millie works at a Natural History Museum in the "Butterfly House" essentially and she's applying to become a Director within the Museum. The Director position has been her dream job for a while now, and she's doing everything in her power to do well with the interview process.

Finn also works at the Natural History museum, but in the Astronomy department. Millie accidentally runs into his car in the parking lot on the morning of her first interview. She sees him and this his a brooding dark lord straight out of the Star Wars franchise. She has a minor panic attack when she goes inside and realizes he's on the panel of people that are interviewing her for her dream job.

Millie meets the Kylo Ren double again when she finds out he has twin 5 year old girls in her Summer Camp program, Avery and Eloise. They're absolutely adorable, and she finds out that their mother died due to cancer and Finn is actually their uncle who adopted them.

Millie finds herself going to Finn's house every Friday to hang out with his girls to bake cooks, make pizza, and general teach Finn how to not burn the kitchen down. There friendship turns from grumpy and sunshine to sunshine and sunshine. But she doesn't want their relationship to be anything more than friends, so it doesn't put her dream job in jeopardy. They just can't seem to stay away from each other.

This is definitely in my top 5 rom coms ever! I'm going to be recommending this to every rom com reader I know!

Themes/Tropes:
🍁Nerd-nerd couple
🍁Enemies-to-lovers
🍁Boss-sub-employee relationship
🍁Grumpy-sunshine

TW:
✨Verbal abuse and gaslighting (past)
✨Loss of a parent
✨Loss of a sibling via cancer
✨Emotionally distant and manipulative parents
✨Anxiety symptoms and attacks

A cute girl meets grump love story. I love the nerdiness of the whole science museum (Ross Gellar from Friends vibes). I loved this read, definitely recommend!

I was so pleasantly surprised by this STEM novel! I have not had the pleasure to read Jillian Meadows' other book, but will be adding it to my list immediately.

Finn and Millie seem like the classic Grumpy/Sunshine pairing and in some ways they are, but they are also both far more complex than that. Both of these characters have gone through hard things and are coming out the other side, where they find each other. Finn is now full time parent to his two nieces after his sister's death and Millie is still recovering from an emotionally abusive relationship. Neither of them are perfect and they struggle, but once they work through things on their own (or with a therapist!) they actually communicate and work toward a solution together. Nothing gives me greater joy than seeing characters learn and grow together!

I look forward to the rest of the Oaks Sisters books!

This book was literally everything I wanted trope-wise wrapped into one tied off with a bow of INSANELY GREAT writing. I was hooked from the start with this book. The tension between the two was real and the workplace aspect added a bit of "forbidden" tease that I was all for. The dam really broke for me however when Millie started to be around Finn's girls more. Their little family moving through grief and other emotionally healing journeys had my heart absolutely melting. The way they seamlessly fit as a family had me in ruins in the best way. This was a very real portrayal of love and how things were talked about was amazing based on communication being their priority even if it was after they f'ed up. I have not stopped thinking about these two for days, I am just completely in awe of their love that they live rent-free in my mind all the time. Excited to see this be re-released into the world and I will be encouraging EVERYONE to read it. Very excited to see where the series goes!

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕚𝕤𝕥:
Millie loves her job as an entomology curator and is excited about a potential promotion to department director. She refuses to be distracted by her grumpy coworker, Finn Ashford, who is dealing with his own struggles, including grieving his sister and caring for his nieces.

During her interview, Millie is surprised to find Finn on the committee. He could either derail her promotion or become the key to making her dreams come true.

𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕋𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕤:
☀️ 𝘎𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘺/𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦
🧑‍🧒‍🧒 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯
❤️‍🩹 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨
😍 𝘏𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵
🦋 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘔
💕 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺

𝕊𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕒𝕣 𝕍𝕚𝕓𝕖𝕤:
📚 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗞𝗶𝗻 ʙʏ ʜᴀɴɴᴀʜ ʙᴏɴᴀᴍ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ

𝕄𝕪 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤:
What a wonderfully sweet love story. Millie and Finn felt very genuine and relatable. I felt like their relationship developed in a very authentic manner, and it was beautiful to read.

Millie is sunshine in human form; she is a very positive person who longs to make sure the people around her are comfortable and happy. On the outside, Finn is a bit of a grump. However, it doin becomes apparent that he is secretly a softie on the inside for those he cares about. I 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱 watching his character grow and develop as he navigated caring for his nieces after losing his sister. Also, yay for strong communication and no third act break up 👏🏼

I highly recommend adding 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 to your TBR. It’s more than your average romance, and I would bet that Millie and Finn’s story is one that will stick with you.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆, 𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄.

𝕄𝕪 ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (𝟻/𝟻)

𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕖 ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘:
🌶️🌶️ (𝟸/𝟻)

This was such a delightful read. I pretty much consumed 50% of this book in one day, I was so sucked into the story and easily emotionally connected with the characters.

I felt that both Millie and Finn’s personalities leapt off the page. Their personal struggles and the way they handled them were so healthy. It was refreshing to finally see a romance with proper communication between the characters.

The pacing of the romance and the chemistry between Millie and Finn was *chefs kiss*. I was almost worried it was going to be an insta love kind of situation, but I am glad it did take about half of the book before anything physical happened between them. My only critique is that I do wish we saw more of those Friday dates with Finn + the girls in the beginning of the book. We kind of skipped over a bunch of them too early which would have been beneficial for showing the readers the growing friendship between Finn & Millie.

I am excited to see more stories in this world, especially Fables! I also didn’t even know Lena had her own story too, which I will be reading as soon as I possibly can!

Thank you for letting me read early!

This book was so charming and delightful. I immediately was enamored by the characters and by the sweet little girls who captured everyone’s hearts.