Give Me Butterflies by Jillian Meadows

I consider myself a pretty avid romance reader. It’s one of my favorite genres and has been since my mom caved and started letting me read them when I was fourteen. I have felt my heart warm to the love stories of hundreds of characters. I’ve laughed and wept over some of my favorite romance books.

And then I picked up Give Me Butterflies by Jillian Meadows. And I just…broke. This is one of the most gorgeous, emotionally impactful romance novels I’ve ever read. It is a forever favorite for me, and I can’t write enough about how much it means to me. I was having a little bit of an emotionally messy week, and I picked this up hoping for something light and happy. And it is those things. But it’s emotional, full of depth and there’s a lot of sadness packed into this book as well. Jillian Meadows has cemented herself as an auto-buy author for me. It’s been awhile since a book hit me quite this hard, so please, do yourselves all a favor and read it.

Millie works as an entomolgist at a museum. She grew up on a farm with a tight knit family and spent her childhood wanting to learn more about bugs. Finn is an astronomer working at the same museum. He loves the stars and the memories tiee to it, of his late sister Clara and her love of the butterfly cluster constellation. Finn is now in charge of raising his two nieces, Avery and Eloise, and he couldn’t possibly love them anymore than he does.

Millie is a ray of light, she brightens the lives of everyone around her. And Finn is serious. He is a grump (Millie’s words, not mine). So when a series of mishaps force them into each other’s proximity (spilled coffee, a fender bender), Millie and Finn start to get to know each other. And it’s not long before sparks are flying and they realize their chemistry is out of this world. But Millie and Finn both have histories their grappling to move past, a future they want to work toward, and they have to decide how to get there.

This is a grumpy/sunshine romance with amazing characters. Finn and his nieces gave me Jude Law in The Holiday vibes. The scene with his parents might has well have been plucked from an episode of Gilmore Girls, it was so perfect. There was so much heart and emotion on every page of this book. Millie and Finn along with Avery and Eloise were incredible. This is a book about love, found family and loving yourself and others for who they are. I cried a lot. I laughed a lot. I smiled a lot. It’s just utter perfection, and I am excited for the next book in this series.