Butterfly Wishes by Teodora Kostova (Self-published October 10, 2019, 104 pages. Released on audio May 6, 2020. 3 hours and 33 minutes length. Narrated by Michael Fox) A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Blurb:
First love never works out.
Right?
In school, Nico and King are best friends, and each other’s first love. But their lives take a different path and they lose touch.
Now, ten years later, King is a famous musician and Nico is trying to make a name for himself as a journalist. When King’s life starts falling apart, fate brings them together on a private island, and reignites old feelings.
Can they make it work this time?
Or are their worlds too far apart?
Butterfly Wishes is a stand-alone novella featuring friends to lovers, sweet moments on a private island, a tortured musician and a soft journalist, and a very cute dog.
Buy links: Audible | Amazon || Add to Goodreads
I requested a code for this audio because I am a fan of this author’s West End series and her Cookies series. I also love the idea of a second chance at love for the two main characters.
So this is probably going to be a pretty short review because the audiobook itself was fairly short. The beginning of the story is bittersweet watching the two young men fall for each other. Because of a two-year age gap, after high school, King leaves his hometown early just as Nico and he admits to feelings beyond friendship. They actually make the long distance relationship work until Nico heads to uni/college and eventually King’s big break happens. I thought they were a sweet young couple but sometimes happy ever afters are meant to wait and be worked for.
Ten years later, King requests Nico to be the journalist who interviews him. I could feel for King who had had a solid career, but never seemed to have enjoyed his fame or money in all that time. His long needed break opens up a chance that he hopes will lead to rekindling a relationship with Nico.
Even though Nico’s POV is explored in this book, I didn’t feel like I had as much of a glimpse of his feelings as I did King’s. It isn’t quite an easy road for them because Nico does seem to resent that King never contacted him in all those years and now expects to connect again. I am not sure how I felt about that because the phone works both ways, but I also could understand his hesitancy at trying to contact the busy rock star.
What I did get out of this story was a pretty sweet romance. I thought it was good, though like any shorter story or novella, I did wish there were more. I would have liked to see their relationship develop further and to have had more insight into Nico. It didn’t stop me from enjoying the story for what it was, sweet and short. The narrator was new to me, but I enjoyed his voice and thought he did a great job. I look forward to listening to more from the author and the narrator.
8/10 Pots of Gold (80% Recommended) – Compares to 4/5 Stars
Teodora is a bestselling, award winning author writing across genres, but has a soft spot for contemporary romance. As a passionate and vocal supporter of equal rights, LGBTQ+ themes are explored in most of her novels. A Creative Writing and English graduate, Teodora began writing full length novels in college, but only got the courage to show some of them to the world long after she graduated. She’s now been published by several publishers in five languages, and has attended book signings around the world. She loves travelling, and her wanderlust has inspired several of her novels. Her other passion is musical theatre and she can often be found in London’s West End trying to score a last minute ticket for a musical.
When she’s not writing, Teodora loves watching anime, rearranging her enormous bookshelves or walking around London, always looking for a cosy, quirky coffee shop to settle in with her Kindle and a cup of tea.
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