Private Entrance (Inglés) Tapa blanda – 1 may 2012

First of all, this is not really book three of the Butterfly "trilogy". There is ONE brief mention of Beverly Highland of Butterfly and Stars early in the book, but that was it. If you picked this up, expecting to read more about any of the characters in those two books, you will be disappointed. This book focuses on a group of new characters, yet it does follow the formula that the first two books did. Woman escaping a painful past by living under a new name, with a best friend/sidekick doing the same, coming from humble beginnings to become a successful businesswoman. But life is still not complete unless she settles some issue from her past. In this book, we have Abby Tyler, who was born Emmy Lou Pagan, who finds herself pregnant at 16 and is imprisoned for crimes she did not commit. She gives birth behind bars, is told that her baby died, but later learns that the baby lived, but was taken from her and sold on the black market. Emmy Lou, along with her best friend who she met in prison, escapes, becomes Abby Tyler, reclusive owner of a resort called The Grove, and makes it her life's mission to find the child who was stolen from her.

The Grove is a cross between Butterfly, the private sex club for women owned by Beverly Highland in the first book, and Stars, the luxury spa/resort she owned in the second book. It's a fancy resort that offers sexual services to its guests, and there are racy scenes in the book where some of the guests partake in the sex part. Three of the guests are women who were brought there by Abby on the pretense of having won a "contest" that none of them remember entering. But in actuality, they were all born at the same time as Abby's baby and sold via the same black market ring. Abby wanted to meet with them because she was sure that one of them was her long-lost child. The three women, Coco, Sissy and Ophelia all have their own side storylines that were mildly interesting. But I was more interested in the characters of Jack, a detective who came to the resort to work on a case, and Michael, a Las Vegas casino owner and gangster who had his own reasons for wanting Abby dead. How the lives of these three characters intertwine was what kept me reading, there were some good twists and turns and the ending was a little surprising to me.

However, an epilogue would have been nice, because some stuff was left hanging at the end. We do find out who Abby's long-lost child is, and they are reunited at the end, but nor much else beyond that.

This book is not as good as Butterfly and Stars, but it's still an enjoyable read.

I read (and re-read, several times) Butterfly and Stars, the first two novels in this "trilogy". With Stars, the author revisits people, places and story lines that are familiar to readers of Butterfly. I was so excited to find a third book had been published, but wondered what was left of the story of Rachel/Beverly and Christine. Would it involve Johnny? Maybe Ester? Was there a third sibling? *SPOILER* No, there isn't. Private Entrance has nothing to do with any character (and there are dozens) from either of the first two books! I finished the book, hoping for a surprise at the end that never came. Private Entrance is a stand alone novel, and not a great one at that. I might have enjoyed the (much used) story line had I not been looking for the continuity promised by the word "trilogy". I can only assume it is advertised as a trilogy because Private Entrance involves a sex club and a woman on the run from her past.If you've read Butterfly or Stars, you will very likely know what is going to happen before the next page is turned. All in all, a frustrating disappointment.

I feel like the author either did not want to write this book or phoned this one in and let someone else write it for her. The first two books in the series were amazing and are two of my all time favorite books. This one sounded like it was written by a 16 year old who is not quite sure how all the sex scenes were really supposed to work and left the reader feeling almost embarrassed after reading them. I felt like the author had read a few sex scenes and might have had some experience but NOTHING like the first two books. They were awkward and stilted. It could have been a really great book and followed in the footsteps of the first two. If there is a fourth book in the series, I am sad to say, I will probably read it but I sure hope it is better than this one. I just want to know more about the stolen babies.