One of my "read in the bedroom while Fiona eats" books! It was the perfect antidote to the recent serial killer books I've read! The information on the Monarch Butterflies at the beginning of each chapter was fascinating. The story is about Luz Avila making the journey with her Abuela's (grandmother) ashes to her ancestral village. A sweet story. ( )

The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe is a 2011 Gallery Books publication.

A wonderful story of family, forgiveness, traditions, and personal growth-

Luz tormented by grief and a bit guilty about not agreeing to accompany her beloved grandmother, Abuela, to Angangueo, Mexico on a quest to follow the monarch butterfly. Sadly, Abuela passed away suddenly, prompting Luz to follow through on the pilgrimage her grandmother had so desperately wanted them to take. Despite, her boyfriend’s misgivings, Luz, with her grandmother’s ashes in tow, climbs into her VW bug for what will turn out to be one long, and very eventful road trip…

I discovered Mary Alice Monroe several years back when I fell in love with her ‘Lowcountry Summer’ series. Since then, I have become an enormous fan of the ‘Beach House’ series, too. I’ve always wanted to go back and read some of her older titles too- well, I really want to read all her books, so I decided to hunker down and make that happen.

This title is a decade old, but it has Monroe’s signature style stamped all over it. The author includes a wealth of information about Monarch butterflies in the same way she does spotlights Dolphins in the ‘Lowcountry’ series and Turtles in the ‘Beach’ series.

A few things in the novel are already slightly dated, and this one is not quite as polished as Monroe’s later series, but the story is one that still resonates today. It features four different women who make important life choices, create new bonds and friendships, and begin new chapters in their lives by shaking off the parts of themselves that have been holding them back, as they find the courage to move forward with renewed hope and purpose.

Overall, I enjoyed this ‘oldie but goodie’ from one of my favorite authors. I’m looking forward to reading more of her older titles as well as her new novel due out this coming May!

3.5 stars ( )

I kind of slugged my way through this book, I couldn't pinpoint when I got restless with the plot but I really enjoyed the facts about the monarch butterflies. I'm glad I finished it for that reason. ( )

Book on CD read by the author
2.5**

Luz Avila’s mother abandoner her when she was a toddler, and she’s been raised by her grandmother. Now she sets out on a road trip to take her grandmother’s ashes back to her native village in Mexico, an area near the Monarch butterfly sanctuary.

I knew this was a chick-lit, road-trip, find-yourself kind of novel going in. I was intrigued by the link to the monarch butterfly migration, and by the main character’s journey from Milwaukee (where I currently live) to San Antonio (where I grew up) and on to Mexico.

There were parts of this story which I really liked. I liked that Luz was a young woman with some uncertainty in her past and uncertainty about her future, who decided to take on this trip without help or assistance. Of course, that’s a somewhat foolish goal, and she DOES need help along the way, but she manages to usually figure out a way to keep going without relying on her boyfriend to rescue her. Brava! I also liked the various people she picks up along the way: Ofelia, Margaret, even Stacie. These characters bring a new way of thinking to Luz, and help her to eventually find her own path.

I also liked that the ending, while hopeful, was NOT just wrapped up in a pretty little happy-ever-after bow.

I was not so keen on the way that Monroe basically dropped the additional characters along the way, however. And I really disliked Mariposa, Luz’s supposedly dead mother. I quickly got tired of her self-imposed guilt trip and how thoughtless she was about Luz and the ofrenda she had worked on to honor her Abuela, Mariposa’s own mother.

In general, I would probably give this 3 stars – an enjoyable, chick-lit read. Except…

Monroe reads the audiobook herself. She clearly has the emotional connection to the book and to these characters, and that comes through on the audio. Her pacing is good, as well. However, her pronunciation of Spanish was so bad that it completely distracted me from the book. I kept yelling at the CD whenever she mispronounced “la Virgen de Guadalupe” and other key Spanish phrases. So, she gets only 1 star for her audio performance, and that brings the entire rating down. ( )

Not my favorite MAM novel, but I did addd a little more about butterflies to my knowledge base. ( )