The Butterfly Whisperer by Lisa MoreauThe Butterfly Whisperer by Lisa Moreau is a lovely romance with a bunch of my favourite themes all in one book. It has friends becoming lovers, an ice queen gets thawed, and it’s a second chance love story. It even has the right amount of delicious angst to keep the pages turning.

Jordan Lee is a successful matchmaker, running the business with her friend Doug in Beverly Hills. Life is very good as they’re looking to expand the business, and the last thing Jordan wants is to settle down with any one woman. It’s not like any of them can hold a candle to her memories of Sophie, her best friend from high school, unknowing soul mate, and love of her life, who Jordan ran away from 10 years prior.

When Jordan’s grandmother dies, she leaves her a butterfly sanctuary in Monarch, California, the one place Jordan swore she would never set foot in again. The land is valuable and its sale would give Jordan and Doug more than enough money to open another office, but there’s a catch. Jordan has to meet with her estranged father twice and try to make amends, and she has to work at the sanctuary for two months. It’s only when she gets to the sanctuary that she learns that she’ll be working alongside Sophie, who clearly hasn’t forgiven her for disappearing without a trace. Is their soul mate connection real? And can things possibly work between two people with such different priorities?

The Characters

Jordan and Sophie are so different from each other, and yet it’s easy to see how they were drawn to each other first as friends and later as lovers. Jordan is career driven, emotionally isolated and kind of high-strung, while Sophie is all love and spirituality, with a dash of whimsy. I particularly like how Lisa Moreau handled the ice queen thing, making Jordan detached and guarded because of how she’d been in love with Sophie when she was young and how that led to her leaving Monarch. It makes it all the sweeter as she slowly thaws and grows, and I so enjoyed seeing her and Sophie negotiate their feelings, first with themselves and then with each other.

The Writing Style

The Butterfly Whisperer has a very easy style to it, and I found the pages turned quickly as I was reading it. My first inclination is to call it a gentle book, but that angst is so good and really does add a tension that wouldn’t be there otherwise. There’s the question of the feelings that Sophie and Jordan have for each other and whether they can finally have the conversation that they should have had ten years prior. Running alongside that is the will-she-or-won’t-she of what Jordan will do with the butterfly sanctuary. The two bubble along until the inevitable crisis, all resolving in a way that left me smiling.

The Pros

This book has a lot of good going for it. The characters are great, the story is well written, it has a matchmaker and the only lepidopterist I’ve ever seen in lesfic. The quirky people in Monarch are wonderful and I even liked Doug. He’s a great sidekick and friend to Jordan.

The Cons

I don’t have any.

The Conclusion

If you’re looking for a solid contemporary romance, The Butterfly Whisperer is a great choice. I had a great time reading it and I’m looking forward to seeing what Lisa Moreau has in store for us next.

Excerpt from The Butterfly Whisperer by Lisa Moreau

“Why didn’t you have contact with me? We were best friends. How could you leave so abruptly and stay away for ten years?” Sophie’s voice was strained and she looked near tears.

Jordan wanted to puke. She knew this conversation would happen sooner or later, but she’d hoped it’d be later. “I’m so, so sorry. I was young and stupid. I felt hurt and abandoned by my father. I wanted to get away from everything.”

“From me, too? I don’t understand.”

I was so in love with you I couldn’t see straight. I thought you’d be disgusted. I couldn’t bear the thought of you hating me. And I couldn’t be near you one more moment without kissing you. You weren’t just a friend to me. 

But Jordan didn’t say any of that. She couldn’t.

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Bits and Bobs

  • ISBN number: 978-1626397910
  • Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Lisa Moreau Online 

Note: I received a free review copy of The Butterfly Whisperer by Lisa Moreau. No money was exchanged for this review. I will always review books as honestly as possible and on occasion I refuse to review books.