The Glass Butterfly Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

The Glass Butterfly (Haunted Hearts Legacy #3) 

Author: A.G. Howard 

Release Date: August 15, 2018 

Publisher: Golden Orb Press 

Formats: Paperback, eBook 

Pages: 278 

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon 

All other formats and vendors will be available on the official launch date: August 15, 2018 

Description:

For close to a decade, twenty-five-year-old Felicity Lonsdale has masqueraded as a dowager almost twice her age—selling caterpillars to butterfly consortiums—enabling her to hide an ill-fated past while raising her late brother’s daughters. Together, the three live on an isolated Irish estate bequeathed by a dying earl. When the earl’s estranged son arrives to claim his inheritance by threatening to expose Felicity’s true identity, she longs to pack up her nieces and run. But a ghostly secret within the castle’s turret holds her captive.  

Nick Thornton—a Roma viscount’s heir—is also captive. After a tryst with an investor’s wife nearly destroyed his family’s holiday resort, Nick forsook everything to elope with her. However, a tragic mistake at his hand led to her and his baby’s deaths. Refusing to turn to the family he shamed, Nick travels to seek the countess who once co-wrote a romance with his sister. There’s rumor of a special butterfly in her keep—a transparent-winged species with ties to the afterlife. Nick hopes to contact his dead wife and child, for only their forgiveness can free him.  

Upon his arrival to Felicity’s estate, Nick offers to help her defeat the earl’s son, on the condition she allow Nick to investigate her glass butterflies. Felicity agrees, though fears the closer he gets to the ghosts of his past, the closer he’ll come to uncovering her own. As Nick spends time with Felicity and her nieces, he realizes the mystery enshrouding this fragile countess and her castle is more intriguing than the ghosts he originally came to find. And perhaps putting his dead to rest and helping her do the same will be his true path to redemption. 

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES:

THE HUMMINGBIRD HEART (Haunted Hearts Legacy #2)

Author: A.G. Howard 

Release Date: August 15, 2017 

Publisher: Golden Orb Press 

Pages: 339 

Formats: Paperback, eBook 

Find it: Golden Orb Press, Goodreads 

Description:

Set 19 years after The Architect of Song: 

Shortly after escaping a circus tragedy, young Italian orphan, Willow Antoniette, seeks refuge at The Manor of Diversions—a holiday resort in England born of a ghost story. For eleven years, she’s raised alongside the children of the resort’s owners: Julian, his twin brother, Nick, and their younger sister Emilia. Now that Willow is of marriable age, she's determined to escape finishing school along with everyone's efforts to make her a proper lady. The only man she wants to spend her life with is Julian, after all. Yet how can she tell him, when he thinks of her as nothing but a friend?  

As a machinist and engineer, Julian Thornton prefers a governable life. He can't allow his ever-deepening attraction for Willow to distract from his amusement park plans to lure a younger, wealthier clientele to their family's resort. In hopes to escape Willow and find investors, Julian sets off on a transatlantic ocean liner headed for the St. Louis World’s Fair, unaware Willow has secretly stowed away on the same ship.  

A tiny, mute orphan named Newton and a pair of haunted Italian shoes bring Willow and Julian face to face on deck. Forced to work together to solve the mystery of Newton and his vindictive, ghostly companion, Julian and Willow can no longer fight their untapped passions. However, time to admit their true feelings is running out, for the ghost and her murderer have enlisted them as unsuspecting pawns in a karmic game of cat-and-mouse that could cost all of them their lives. 

THE ARCHITECT OF SONG (Haunted Hearts Legacy #1)

Author: A.G. Howard 

Release Date: August 15, 2016 

Publisher: Golden Orb Press 

Pages: 425 

Formats: Paperback, eBook 

Find it: Amazon, Goodreads 

Description:

A lady imprisoned by deafness, an architect imprisoned by his past, and a ghost imprisoned within the petals of a flower - intertwine in this love story that transcends life and death. 

For most of her life, nineteen-year-old Juliet Emerline has subsisted – isolated by deafness – making hats in the solitude of her home. Now, she’s at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a twenty-seven-year-old mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name “Hawk” on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton. 

To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton’s secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches … or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton’s interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it’s too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever. 

International and NYT bestselling author, A.G. Howard, brings her darkly magical and visual/visceral storytelling to Victorian England. The Architect of Song is the first installment in her lush and romantic Haunted Hearts Legacy series, a four book gothic saga following the generations of one family as - haunted by both literal and figurative ghosts - they search for self-acceptance, love, and happiness. 

New Adult: Recommended for ages 17+. 

The Glass Butterfly is the third beautiful installment in a New Adult historical series and one that fans are going to love. The author is one of my personal favorites - I have never read a book by her that I haven't adored. This was another novel that held up to my hopes and expectations and then some. I loved every single aspect of this book. The setting was perfect - an isolated castle in Ireland where ghost stories spread like wildfire. It was a great backdrop for historical fiction mixed with a Gothic feeling romance. The characters were rounded and the plot was a perfect mix of romance and historical fiction. The author's attention to detail and vivid imagery made the story and characters come to life before my eyes. I felt like I was right there in Ireland with Felicity and Nick and I didn't come back to reality until I had finished reading the last word.

The characters were all complex and realistic, especially our main characters - Felicity and Nick. I loved getting to know each of them on a personal level - it made connecting with them easy. Even though the author wrote the story in the third person point of view, which I normally don't like, I can see the reasoning behind her choice and it works for this book. I think it would've been amazing to have read the story from Felicity and/or Nick's perspectives, but it managed to capture my heart anyway. The plot wasn't wholly original or unique, but the author put her own twist on things to give it a feeling of freshness. There were some intriguing parts to the story - especially dealing with Felicity and Nick's pasts and their 'ghosts' and I really enjoyed getting to know about them and their lives throughout the novel. Another aspect I don't normally go for is obvious romance because it always seems to take over the actual plot. I think the author did a fantastic job of keeping things focused on the problems and obstacles the characters faced as well as mixing in a swoony romance that doesn't overshadow everything else in the book. It was a great balance, especially because readers going in know there's going to be a romantic element. I actually really liked watching the relationship between Felicity and Nick grow and change throughout the story. It felt natural and not forced or overly done. I very highly recommend this book (and the rest in the series) to fans of romance, historical fiction, supernatural fiction, and those looking to get lost in a long-ago Irish castle.

 

A.G. Howard was inspired to write SPLINTERED while working at a school library. She always wondered what would've happened had the subtle creepiness of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland taken center stage, and she hopes her darker and funkier tribute to Carroll will inspire readers to seek out the stories that won her heart as a child.  When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse. 

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Giveaway Details: All International 

There are four prize packs up for grabs. The image above shows what each one contains. 

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Tour Schedule: 

Week One: 

8/6/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Review 

8/7/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review 

8/8/2018- YA SH3LF- Review 

8/9/2018- Book-Keeping- Review 

8/10/2018- Omg Books and More Books- Review 

  

Week Two: 

8/13/2018- Literary Dust- Review 

8/14/2018- History from a Woman’s Perspective- Review 

8/15/2018- Lisa Loves Literature- Review 

8/16/2018- Pandora's Books- Review 

8/17/2018- BookHounds YA- Review