Title: Butterfly in Frost
Author:  Sylvia Day
Publisher/Year:  Montlake Romance 8/27/19
Length:  191 Pages

Overview

Once, I would never have imagined myself here. But I’m settled now. In a place I love, in a home I renovated, spending time with new friends I adore, and working a job that fulfills me. I am reconciling the past and laying the groundwork for the future.

Then Garrett Frost moves in next door.

He’s obstinate and too bold, a raging force of nature that disrupts the careful order of my life. I recognize the ghosts that haunt him, the torment driving him. Garrett would be risky in any form, but wounded, he’s far more dangerous. I fear I’m too fragile for the storm raging inside him, too delicate to withstand the pain that buffets him. But he’s too determined…and too tempting.

And sometimes hope soars above even the iciest desolation.

My Thoughts

I’m a huge fan of Ms Sylvia Day and the idea of a new story coming out for months and months is something that i’ve been looking forward to. Honestly, this past Tuesday could not have come fast enough. What we have here is a stand alone story with a new cast of characters, linked slightly to our favs Eva and Gideon, but still stand alone completely.

Teagan has her ghosts – we’re not entirely sure what they are but we know that they stem from a horrid breakup with her ex husband, prompting a move from NYC to Seattle. she’s a successful doctor, linked to the Crosses through reasons that i’m note entirely sure of, although we know that she’s helping Eva create an amazing new skin care line that’s designed to do some amazing things.

Then there’s Garrett, a man who everyone can tell is ‘someone’ but doesn’t know quite what his story is. He moves into the house next door, and we see that he’s quickly moving into Teagans’ world. He’s got his haunted past, and we learn soon into the story during a dinner with Teagan’s friends Mike and Roxy that Garrett was married before and had a son who passed away from reasons unknown. He’s so damaged that it’s something he carries with him as an artist, but tries to move forward with some how.

There’s something interesting that we pick up during their first meeting – when Garrett basically runs into Teagan full tilt that makes you wonder. There’s a flash of recognition, almost a fear in Teagan’s eyes when she sees him, but we are quickly pushed past that into a scene that causes us to forget that moment entirely. What that means, well, that’s something that takes the bulk of the story to bring up again.

Both are magnets for pain and suffering, yet we see that they find this as a means to come together. The way that Ms Day writes the dynamic between them is electric and intense, yet i’m not going to lie – it doesn’t feel like the say way that she typically gives us a relationship. There’s something that’s just slightly out of reach for me to put my finger on that i’m missing here, but i think that regardless, they have a fantastic dynamic.

Throughout the period of this story, we see their paths cross, intertwine, and their relationship move fast. That’s par for the course in Ms Day’s stories, but there are moments that i wonder if there’s truly a need for that. It seems as though they are each relying in each other far too much to be healthy, but some how it works. At the same time, when they let their walls down, the heat and chemistry leaps off the pages.

The last moments of this story really throw us for a loop. There are things brought up from the past that make no sense, yet make complete sense and explain why each is who they are. I think that without that, it would have been a so so story, yet with the resolution here, we have something that’s quite incredible. So, on that note, i’m kind of bummed that it’s just a tease back in to the world of the Crosses, but at least we got something. Enjoy!