THE HOUSE ON BUTTERFLY WAY – Elizabeth Bevarly
Berkley Sensation (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-425-24534-7
February 2012
Women's Fiction

Present Day Louisville, Kentucky

The divorce from her cheating husband left Eugenie Dashner with few resources, so she's moves back to her hometown to start afresh. She and her widowed brother Julien combine to buy an old house that used to be a place of fantasies for Eugenie. Its three stories and an attic give plenty of room for Eugenie and her son Seth, Julien and his two daughters, and Eugenie and Julien's cantankerous mother Lorraine . And that's a good thing, because it leaves space between everyone and Lorraine 's constant complaining and criticizing. (She's made herself unwelcome in most if not all of the town's assisted care homes.)

Eugenie used to ride her bike by the beautiful wedding cake of a house on Butterfly Way and let her imagination people it with exotic inhabitants. Sad to say, however, the house hasn't weathered the years well at all. Major renovation will be needed to bring back its glory, but Julien is in construction, and with the family pitching in and with the help of some of his crew to do the critical work, they're able to move in soon. Now all Eugenie has to do is find a job, try to get closer to Seth who, now sixteen, has drawn away from her even before the divorce . . . and try to get along with her mother. The job she finds is with HeartMenders, a matchmaking firm with a slightly old-fashioned, concerned air that matches her boss. The exact opposite of a competing company, DreamMakers, that Eugenie is asked to investigate. These passages contribute more than a dash of humor.

THE HOUSE ON BUTTERFLY WAY tells a heart-warming tale of a woman, a family, and a house, all in need of renewal. Repairing and updating the house parallels the family's life, both being works in progress. Eugenie carries the bulk of the load, as it's all related from her unique point of view. At the beginning, she's not yet ready to examine the lack in her personal life, though her brother's best friend, her girlhood crush, works on the house.

THE HOUSE ON BUTTERFLY WAY is a smooth and uplifting read that ends on a hopeful note.

Jane Bowers