3.8 stars, if we are being exact.

Tessa and Jax's story was giving college version of Gossip Girl to me. It was full of complications, traumas, and of course, a deep yearning for one another.
I don't love a relationship that starts with cheating, so that left me feeling a little icky but I certainly can appreciate the meaningful way in which Jax and Tessa connected.
The will they/ won't they did seem to drag on for a little bit, but that cliff hanger definitely has me wanting to read more.

Thank you NetGalley and Platinum Rose Publishing for the audiobook.

If you love drama, lust and scandal, this book is for you. Think Beverly Hills 90210, One Tree Hill, and Saved by The Bell (yes l'm a millennial) college edition! He's a rockstar with an entitled, bratty girlfriend. She's the mysterious new girl that he can't stay away from. They both have tragic pasts that bring them closer together.

What?!?!?!



First off, this audio book was amazing. Both voice actors did an amazing job! I laughed, I cried and I cursed. This was my first audio book and it blew me away! I listened while I took care of my kids and drove to and from work. It made me look forward to driving and I often sat a little longer just so I could listen. Jaxon and Tessa were so frustrating, but I loved and understood where they both were coming from. Our girl Tessa, you deserve the best! I even felt compassion for Brooke. And we all need a best friend like Tina! I really enjoyed Tessa and Jaxon POV
and typically am a 1st pov type of reader. Overall, I really enjoyed this audio, the pacing, and the emotional parts were well done! That ending though!!!!! How long will I have to wait?!?! I loved this book so much! Thank you to Netgalley ans publishers for allowing me to listen to this audio book as an ARC!

B. Evans delivers a beautifully written drama/romance in My Butterflies, a story that explores the undeniable pull between two people who meet by chance but find themselves unable to ignore the deeper connection growing between them. While they attempt to remain just friends, the chemistry between them is palpable, and those around them can see what they refuse to admit.

Evans’ storytelling shines in the way details are revealed—gradually and purposefully—allowing readers to immerse themselves in the emotional depth of the characters. The pacing is well-executed, with each moment adding to the bigger picture, keeping readers engaged as they piece together the unfolding romance. The novel successfully balances heartfelt moments, tension, and character development, making it a compelling read.

With a strong foundation set in My Butterflies, anticipation for the next book is high. Evans has crafted a story that lingers in the mind, making readers eager to see what’s next for these captivating characters.

Verdict: A beautifully layered romance filled with tension, emotion, and a connection that refuses to be ignored. A must-read for fans of heartfelt love stories.

Thank you NetGalley and Audible Audio for the ARC.

3 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

This wasn’t my favorite book. The audio tho which is what I was reviewing was good. I enjoyed that. But I didn’t like the characters they frustrated me. The whole story did honestly.

Thank you Platinum Rose Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced audio in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this, I will definitely read to find out what happens. I wasn’t a huge fan of how it ended, felt a little long to end so abruptly. The main characters were likeable, annoyed with their decisions at times- but that just means I was invested in their story.

I LOVED the narrators, what a solid choice to help this novel come alive. Such passion and they truly made the story.

My Butterflies
Butterflies, Book 1
by B. Evans
Narrated by Laura Horowitz & Gregory Salinas

The narrators were great.

I received an ARC of this audiobook through Netgalley.

This book was not a typical happily-ever-after romance. It wasn’t really a regular novel either. It was more like a V.C. Andrews book.

There was a bunch of emotions, love, fighting, studying, dancing, drinking, yearning for someone else, rocky relationship stuff, sex, angst, need, longing, lust, and fury.

The two main characters are Tess and Jax. Both have tragic pasts and big hopes for their futures. They are both college seniors.

Tess is a hard core athlete. She’s on the soccer team and runs 3-5 times a week. She’s smart, loyal, a talented athlete and passionate.

Jax is a very talented musician - he’s a singer in a rock band that plays every Friday night at a highly popular local club. He’s a tutor for Tess in statistics. His girlfriend is a needy, jealous brat, but due to his past he is loyal to her.

I enjoyed the book, but the ending gutted me. There will be a sequel.

This felt like I just watched the first season of One Tree Hill, but make it a college setting instead of high school. And it’s not just because there’s a Brooke. After that ending, I need to see the season 2 premiere, there’s so much more story to tell.

I listened to the audiobook and round of applause for the narrators! This was done dual narration style, both Laura and George did great jobs not only with their characters but anyone during their chapters.

Butterflies... that fluttery feeling inside when you know you've found the one!
They may appear when that person looks at you, is near you, touches you, kisses you. In your lifetime, there could more than one person who gives you that feeling, especially if you've lost a love before. The ones who don't give it to you just don't compare to that feeling of the person who gives you Butterflies.

For introvert college senior Tessa Givens, she once had her butterflies and tragically lost them, until Jaxon Smith the local campus rockstar appears on stage and stirs something within her! He's also her neighbors bestfriend! Jaxon also feels drawn to Tessa!! Only one problem! Jaxon has been in a rocky long term relationship with Brooke!

My Butterflies dives into conflicting feelings, responsibilities and regrets that young adults are just learning to navigate through. This book is full of emotions and character building and glimpses into each back story, but it was really well done to give an all around well thought out read. Their friends were also great additions to the story, even Brooke (who is hard to like) was well done!

This is book 1 in the series so here's a warning: this does not end on a HEA. And reading this now and waiting for book 2 is going to be hard.. but I cant wait to get it and see how this ends!.

If you are a fan of College, Friends to Lovers, Sports Romance, Rockstar Romance, Dual POV, Forbidden Love.. this is for you!

I originally received this as an ALC audiobook from the author and NetGalley but also read along with the story and enjoyed this immersive experience! This is told through a Dual POV from Tessa and Jaxon and both narrators did an amazing job! I kept thinking I recognize Tessa's voice and couldn't immediately place it, I was so absorbed in the book.. Well several chapters in.. it dawned on me I've been following Laura Horowitz on IG for a while and listen to her Reels LOL.. I'm definitely going to look at more books from both her and Gregory Salinas!

Complete personal opinion does not take away from the story at all... the only thing that could've made it better for me is if it was done in Duet! Something about the 2 different voices interacting makes it so much better for me and I think Laura and Gregory would've sounded great together!

Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hmmm where do I start jax and Tessa are a complicated pairing both with tragic pasts the connection of loss brings them together.
Only problem is jax has a girlfriend.

I don’t like the cheating trope I never have and this solidifies that however jax was in an abusive relationship and this is such a good example of men can be abused to.

Tessa was also just as bad as jax because she should have respected herself and females and left well alone.

I don’t like the ending feel like it was poorly executed and was predicted.

I would read the 2nd one out of curiosity to what happened but I defo won’t rush to it.

It’s slow and a bit boring nothing really happened until the end it was just growth of friendship.

I didn’t like Tina although she is meant to be Tessa’s best friend she almost acts like she dosent like her by constantly getting angry at Tessa over everything.

Was a wierd read.

I give 3 stars for the narrators because Laura is just amazing always
⭐️⭐️⭐️

ARC Review
2.5/5 ⭐️
🌶️🌶️

Tropes:
-College romance
-Rockstar
-Friends to lovers
-Slow burn
-Forbidden love
-Dual POV

This book takes you into the lives of 21-year-old college students named Tess and Jax. When they first meet Tess instantly knows that she wants to know Jax and comes out of her shell for the first time in 4 years, following a family death. She quickly learns that Jax has a girlfriend, and steps back. What Tess doesn’t know is that Jax’s relationship is on the rocks and he is instantly taken by Tess as well, despite having a girlfriend.

Their relationship turns into something more when Jax begins tutoring Tess in statistics. Everyone on the outside can tell that the friendship they have is evolving into something more significant, but neither Tess nor Jax will admit that they have feelings for one another. Both claim that they became close because of mutual suffering, heartache, and hardships. Overall, the story is about learning how to love again, accepting the past, and learning to be yourself again. We see this in their relationship and how the characters develop in the story.

In the beginning of the book the author had me hooked, I loved it and could not put it down but less than halfway through it began to get very repetitive, toxic, and irritating. It made me feel like I was listening to a drama from high school, it was just one thing after the other but the worst part is that you could guess everything that was going to happen. It seemed like a majority of the book was filled with sexual tension from two individuals that were both in different relationships. IF their other relationships would have ended sooner and not been the entire filler of the book, I believe that I would have a higher rating. The ending could be guessed from a mile away. Off the basis of knowing how the first book ends by maybe 30% of the way through, I’m fairly positive I know how the second book ends and will not be reading it. With all of this being said the audiobook does not list any trigger warnings; cheating and domestic abuse/violence is a major trigger warning for a LOT of romance readers.

However, I will say that having previously been in an abusive marriage, a lot of the mannerisms, actions, and feelings that the author (B., Evans) portrays within the abusive relationship written about are accurate and I commend her for that.

The book ended up being a solid 2.5 stars for me.

I received this ARC (audiobook version) from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review, all of my thoughts are my own. The publication date is 3-10-2025. Happy reading! 📚

My Butterflies- B. Evans
Narrated by Laura Horowitz and Gregory Salinas

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Narration 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

Omgosh this book was wild. I’m not usually into love triangles, let alone double love triangles and definitely not if it’s not in the sexy why choose type of way, but this one was done so well. It pulled all of the emotions out in me. It had me crying, screaming, laughing, and kicking my feet like a giddy little school girl. I have so many questions and theories after that cliffy, and I need book 2 like yesterday!

Laura and Greg did SO GOOD on this narration. I’ve been following Laura on social media for years and I don’t think I’ve actually listened to a full book before. She did fantastic, especially with her masc voice, there were times where I was like “wait is this duet?” Nope, it’s dual. Greg was so good at being both vulnerable and sexy as Jaxon’s character calls for and he honestly was the best Jax.

2.25 stars | I’m not gonna lie, this book and these characters frustrated me to no end. The whole time I was just a bit confused and constantly irritated with them. First of all this book is heavily lust-focused. This was something that I did not enjoy. Lust-filled books can be well done and enjoyable, but this just wasn’t it.

Then onto Tessa’s character, she just pissed me off. The whole book she’s so focused on Jaxon’s character and constantly wants to fuck him. She constantly talks about how hot he is and is instantly obsessed with him from the beginning. And she kept on waiting for Jaxon and Brooke to break up. While their situation is toxic, I did not like how her inner thoughts and actions were written.

Jaxon’s character was interesting. I feel very mixed on how I feel about his character overall. While I did like learning about his past, a lot of his actions and thought processes pissed me off. For most of this book he couldn’t get his head out of his own ass. He couldn’t figure out how he felt.

For so much of this book, both of the two main characters are in different relationships. While it’s probably meant to give a yearning type of feel, to me it just felt so dragged out. Not to mention there was a ton of miscommunication throughout.

I did like that these characters had past trauma and that gave them some depth (because for a while they felt incredibly surface level). But I really could not connect with these characters. From the decisions they were making to when bad things were happening, I just didn’t feel much for these characters. They really weren’t that likable to me personally.

When Tessa and Jaxon finally got together in the book it felt so unsatisfying. The entire book they’re in opposing relationships and it just feels so messy. To me it borders on emotional cheating. While they don’t really do anything it still puts me on edge. While I typically like messy books this one really didn’t do it for me. I like a bit of organized chaos but this just started out a mess and then got messier the more you read. While the relationship itself isn’t toxic the characters by themselves definitely do.

There were some parts I found myself enjoying but for the most part this book and these characters just annoyed and frustrated me.

This book was filled with drama but the ending doesn’t even make sense. I get that it’s filled with drama but the ending felt like it’s just meant to shock the reader. The story itself wasn’t even written badly but just the situations that happened throughout the story irked me so much.

I’m not sure if I would’ve liked this better if I would’ve physically read it but I listened to the audiobook. I did not enjoy the female narrators performance unfortunately. She made the fmc and the surrounding characters sound very whiny and off putting. Everytime we had a chapter in Tessa’s pov I found myself getting annoyed. Due to how much I didn’t enjoy the female narration. I don’t have much to say about the male narrator (neither good nor bad). But when we did get chapters in Jaxon’s pov I found myself enjoying them much more than Tessa’s chapters. Sadly I will not be continuing this series.

This book definitely gives Episode and After vibes. If you’re missing those kinds of vibes I would pick this up. Other than that I would probably skip this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an audiobook arc to review! As always, all thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.

A instant 5 ⭐️ read for me!



My mind is spinning that this was a debut novel! It was beautifully written and perfectly paced. The characters were very realistic and you truly got into their thoughts and feelings.

If you are a fan of the slow burn in Mariana Zapata, the rockstar romances like those written by Ashley Jade or Lesley Jones, the angst of Elizabeth O’Roark or Kandi Steiner and the emotional impact of Meagan Brady or Emma Scott- you will truly love this story!

I found myself not being able to stop listening, and staying up way past my bedtime to finish the story…. Only to find out this ends in a cliffhanger 😭 I absolutely loved Jax and Tess’s relationship and how it slowly unfolded. The supporting characters were also wonderful and I am hoping to possibly get some spinoff stories!

Bonus was that the audiobook is read in duet!
The narrators were great and I am definitely interested in looking at some more work by Gregory Salinas!


Tropes:
Rockstar Romance
Friends to Lovers
Forbidden Love
Forced Proximity
Love at First Sight
Unrequited Love
Sports Romance- Soccer


Thank You to the publisher and NetGalley for the ALC of this novel in exchange for my honest review!

Let's just start with if you aren't okay with cheating, emotionally and then physically, then don't read this book. I started it knowing they were both in other relationships but expecting the other relationships to fizzle out pretty quickly. That did not happen. For more than 70% of this book the two main characters are involved in a lust filled emotional relationship. Realizing that I did not connect with the book as much as I would have liked. I'm sorry I read it and I'm sorry I'm now invested in book 2 to know the outcome. The author says there is a HEA at the end of the second book but if you're not okay with the cheating does that make up for it?

Anyway, I'd love to say I like Tessa and Jaxon but I have zero respect for them. This book wasn't something I'd have read if I knew about the cheating.

The narrators did a FANTASTIC job.

I am torn. On one hand, I really enjoyed the heart of the story. I was a little iffy on the fact that Jaxon was in a relationship and still falling for Tess but, hey life happens, right? But that ending was very underwhelming and I am a girl who can appreciate a good cliffhanger. I was left feeling empty and that I didn’t get a resolution on multiple things at all. So, you can see my issue. I’m going to give it a 3 star but only because of how it left me confused, and honestly, disappointed. I will pick up the next one because I have to know, you know? 😂

Sparks are quite blatantly flying between the two of them, but he is so very taken … How will this play out?!

This is a story about two people who slowly, yet intensely fall in love, despite factors that dictate they ‘shouldn’t’. (While, of course, conveniently also having factors that make it ‘okay’.) It’s a sort-of addictive read, as I got lost in the lives of these young adults & watched it all play out.

Rockstar hero.
College setting.
Mentions of cheating.
Athlete FMC.
Both leads have dark pasts.
Other woman drama.
Drug use.
Stuck-up rich people.
Slow-burn romance.
SA.

Overall:
This was good, I found myself rope in pretty early in and when it ended, I realized I not only need the next book for these characters, but any others this author has written. Excuse me while I run off to stalk them.

4 stars.


🎧 Audio:
Fantastic!!! Dual-cast with allstar narrators who made the book really come alive, beautifully. There were some longer-than-average pauses in between chapters, to the point that sometimes, I thought something was wrong with my connection. Just noting, this didn’t hurt anything.
5 stars.

The audio version of this book with its narrators, they knocked it out of the park.
This book is a college romance new adult. This book was a pretty decent. Read, storyline is very interesting keeps you drawn in. There were quite a few moments of you wanting to just smash the main character’s heads together and just tell them to get over themselves.
This book does come with a list of trigger warnings, so be sure to read that before you start. There is an element of cheating in the book. That is a fairly large component.

Format: Audio 🎧
Release Date: 1 March, 2025
⭐️⭐️/5
3/5 🌶️

🩵Thank you NetGalley & the author B. Evan’s for the access to the audiobook of My Butterflies🩵

✨Dual POV
✨Rockband Singer
✨Slow Burn
✨College Romance


Synopsis:
✨ Tessa transferred to a university as a senior where she is just trying to survive until graduation. She normally keeps to herself and guarded from any men until she is drug to the local bar where a local rock band plays. She notices the lead singer Jaxon and starts to feel things she hasn’t felt in years. Quickly she finds out Jaxon is unavailable and determines to just be his friend.✨

My thoughts:
💫I’m not going to lie… I found both Tessa and Jaxon to be very annoying. They were both in relationships for most of this book yet were constantly flirting with each other. There was so much miscommunication in this book I just wanted to scream at them. There was also a surprise pregnancy which is one of my least favorite tropes. I will not be continuing with this series💫

5⭐️
Hooked from the very beginning!!

Plot

I absolutely loved this book! The story had so much depth, and even though some of the tropes aren’t usually my favorite, the author made them work so well that I was completely drawn in. Tess and Jax’s friendship was the heart of the story, and I loved watching it develop. Jax is struggling with so much in his personal life, feeling stuck and lost, but Tess becomes a source of light for him. She doesn’t try to fix him—she just wants to be there for him in any way she can. Their connection starts with tutoring, and as they spend more time together, it becomes clear that they understand each other in a way no one else does. The tension, the push and pull, and the emotional weight of their story made it impossible to put this book down.

Characters

Tess was such an easy character to love. She’s kind, resilient, and despite everything she’s been through, she’s determined to truly live her life instead of just getting by. Jax, on the other hand, is complicated. His past haunts him, and he keeps making choices that hurt both himself and the people around him. It was frustrating to watch at times, but it made his character feel so real. I just hope that in the next book, he takes real steps toward healing—because he has a lot to make up for.

The side characters added so much to the story. I adored Tess’s best friend, Tina—she was supportive but also unafraid to be honest when Tess needed it. The band members were fun and brought great energy to the book.

As for Brooke… I wasn’t a fan. I could understand her insecurities, especially after Tess came into the picture, but that didn’t excuse her actions. Some of the things she did were hard to watch, and while I did feel a little bad for her, I still couldn’t justify her behavior.

Writing Style

The writing was fantastic! It flowed effortlessly, making it easy to stay engaged from start to finish. The pacing was fast, which I loved, and the dual POV made the emotional moments hit even harder.

Overall

This book completely hooked me! I love stories where two characters clearly have a deep connection but are held back by their circumstances—it creates so much angst and tension, and this book delivered on that perfectly. Every missed moment between Tess and Jax had my heart sinking, and I felt everything right alongside them. I cannot wait to see where their story goes next!