Book Review: Breaking Butterflies by M. Anjelais

Image (c) Chicken House

Breaking Butterflies by M. Anjelais
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2014
Format: Library Book

The closest he will ever come to happiness is when he's hurting her. Will she let him? A beautiful and twisted story of first love and innocence lost--written when the author was just eighteen.

Sphinxie and Cadence. Promised to each other in childhood. Drawn together again as teens. Sphinxie is sweet, compassionate, and plain. Cadence is brilliant, charismatic. Damaged. And diseased. When they were kids, he scarred her with a knife. Now, as his illness progresses, he becomes increasingly demanding. She wants to be loyal--but fears for her life. Only the ultimate sacrifice will give this love an ending.

This book starts off with two little girls, two best friends, who had dreams that they wanted to achieve when they were grown ups. They both wanted kids- one wanted a daughter named Sphinxie and, another, wanted a son named Cadence. They would be the best of friends. Then, maybe, they would be a couple and get married. Then these two best friends would officially be family by marriage. Cute, right?

At least until these two girls grew up as women and they still decided to keep this promise they made as young girls.

This book had an interesting concept but, honestly, the thought of a young teenager having to feel like she had to do certain things because of her mother's childhood wishes just felt... embarrassingly childish. It's like having these pre-set standards that you expect out of your child and hounding them about it all the time to where you feel like that these standards have to be set. You're forced to do it because, well, what child wouldn't want to make their parents happy?

On top of that, this book is incredibly toxic I feel. Especially with both Sphinxie's (wow- unique name but I certainly wouldn't name my child what I wanted to name them when I was a child myself) and Cadence's relationship. I would have never felt comfortable enough to leave her there, even if Cadence is dying, because would I really want to take the chance for my own daughter to be harmed???

The good I found in this book is that it's a good way to make a discussion with your teenager/s about what toxic relationships are, how to identify them, and communicate how to leave one if you find yourself in one. It's a tricky subject and, at least, this would be a gateway into discussion. I think, at the least, it would be good to talk about that. I know for sure I wouldn't have minded to hear that at least a thing like this existed. It might have saved me a lot of heartache... at the least, I would have known that it was a thing.

I love the writing style admittingly. The way it's written really does pull you into the story and pulls you in really well. It's the story concept, in itself, that made me want to throw up.

But, hey, the cover's really pretty... right?

(Originally posted on A Court of Ink and Paper, previously known as Cosying Up With Books)