King Midas and the Golden Touch meets King Lear in a slow-burn, friends to lovers, romance set against the backdrop of the Hollywood music scene.
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About the Book
Gilded Butterfly
Rockin’ Fairy Tales Book Two
by Leslie O’Sullivan
Published 21 July 2022
City Owl Press: Mystic Owl
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Page Count: 290
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
King Midas and the Golden Touch meets King Lear in a slow-burn, friends to lovers, romance set against the backdrop of the Hollywood music scene.
Chorda Lear is a mega-hot pop artist, Internet influencer, and Irish witch who’s poised to inherit a magical family legacy, the Golden Guitar. She’s the fan favorite on a wildly popular reality television show, “Kickin’ It With Midas,” a trendy chronicle of three Hollywood influencer sisters and their aging rock star father, Midas Lear.
Adair Holliday, a Hollywood producer wunderkind, is slated to step up as showrunner of the Lear’s lucrative TV franchise. He must constantly temper his skepticism over best friend, Chorda’s, practice of magic, but his biggest challenge is denying romantic feelings for her.
When Chorda goes disastrously off-script during the live broadcast of the season finale, Lear banishes her from the show and his life. Adair follows his friend into exile with a plan to reconcile father and daughter. Away from the pressures of Hollywood, a steamy encounter under a waxing moon, deepens friendship into romance. Now, the two must reverse Midas’ edict to save both their professional futures and new-found love.
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Review from Megan Van Dyke
Gilded Butterfly by Leslie O’Sullivan is a unique and magical mashup of fairy tales, Shakespeare, and lore unlike anything I’ve read before. At its heart is a beautiful story about family, the destructive power of chasing fame and money, and the healing power of love. The twists, turns, and magic sprinkled throughout create an engaging story that brings a new kind of fairy tale to modern Hollywood.
-Megan Van Dyke, author of Second Star to the Left
Excerpt
This book is in the world of Rockin’ Fairy Tales with some character carryover from Pink Guitars and Falling Stars, Book 1, but it does work as a standalone.
“We’re complicated, Chorda. Our lives are tied up together. There’s risk taking us to a new level. We could decimate a lifelong friendship.”
She relaxes a bit and plops down next to me on the garden bench, staring at the waterfall. With a musical chirp, she whips around to face me. “Okay, my practical rule lover, let’s spell it out right now.” She runs the toe of her sneaker around the edge of a rock. “If we break up…” She shakes her head. “I can’t believe there’s even a need to say this.” She fills her cheeks with air and blows. “If we break up, we agree to give each other a month of space to be pissed or mourn or whatever. After that, we grab cables and jumpstart the friendship.”
I’m surprised jumper cables exist in Chorda’s awareness. “You’re proposing a dead battery scenario?”
“Blunt, but yes, one month to get over a breakup, no matter who initiates, then we hit replay to rebuild what we were before you saw me naked. Problem solved. If leaving the friend zone blows up in our faces, you won’t lose me, and I won’t lose you.”
I’ve never discussed a breakup before a relationship got off the ground. Granted, I’ve never shifted gears from friends to seeing each other naked before. My need to diffuse the intensity of this topic rises to the surface. “Do you discuss naked with all your first dates?”
A sly smile sneaks across Chorda’s plump lips. “Just this one.”
“As much as I enjoy naked talk, I appreciate you indulging my practical side.”
She slides a finger up my neck and tugs at my ear. “I get there’s nothing simple about redefining us.” Her gaze falls on a lavender rose bush growing behind the bench. She reaches to pluck off a bloom. “There’s nothing simple about the pattern of these rose petals, swirling out from the center. They overlap and work together to make an exquisite design.”
As Chorda pets the rose, the golden streak in her hair glows. I want so badly to touch the radiant strands and discover if there’s warmth to its light. In my gut, I know such a touch would be more intimate than we’ve ever been. Stroking her personal gold would be touching her essence. Such a step requires invitation.
Chorda’s eyes drift shut as she inhales the rose’s scent. “A rose is more than a rose. It’s nature’s expression of complexity and elegance.” Chorda rubs the rose petals against my cheek. “We’re a rose, Adair. Let us be a rose.”
It’s killing me not to capture this beat of eloquence for the show. Chorda weaves her point into a graceful outpouring of imagery and emotion.
I burn to take her in my arms and promise we are her rose. I do believe we have a chance. I want to build an exquisite design with her.
About the Author
Leslie O’Sullivan is the author of Rockin’ Fairy Tales, an adult romance series of Shakespeare/fairy tale mash ups set against the backdrop of Hollywood’s music scene. Coming soon is her Behind the Scenes contemporary romance series that peeks into the off-camera secrets of a wildly popular television drama. She’s a UCLA Bruin with a BA and MFA from their Department of Theater where she also taught for years on the design faculty. Her tenure in the world of television was as the assistant art director on “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.” Leslie loves to indulge her fangirl side each year at San Diego Comic Con.
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Giveaway Alert!
Blitz-wide giveaway (INT)
2x signed copies of Gilded Butterfly + Swag (if INT winner books will not be signed)
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nice cover