Give Me Butterflies

Author: Jillian Meadows
Title: Give Me Butterflies
Publisher: Avon and Harper Voyage
Date Published: 01/21/2025

Read Dates: 12/15/2024 - 12/16/2024
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 📖 I received a gifted e-book ARC. The following is my honest review✍🏻

Give Me Butterflies is a dual POV grumpy/sunshine workplace romance. Millie loves her job as an entomologist and is up for a promotion, but the museum grump could stand between her and the job she wants! Finn has little time for anything besides work and raising his nieces, but Millie slowly finds her way into his life and heart. It’s a slow burn from coworkers, to friends, to lovers!

I loved this book and could hardly put it down (R.I.P. my attention span at work!) I loved Millie’s optimism and the depiction of her anxiety on page. I thought Finn was absolutely fantastic, the right amount of grumpy and a doting uncle. I liked the found family aspects and appreciated the authors use of CW/TW at the beginning.

Millie loves her job as a kickass entomology curator, inspiring museum visitors every day. She even has an interview for the department director position, so she can take on an even bigger role in the museum. She refuses to be distracted by her grumpy coworker with his permanent scowl, bright blue eyes, and nerdy astronomy ties.

. . . Not that she’s spent much time noticing any of those things.

Finn Ashford doesn’t mean to glare at everyone, but he’s juggling his job at the museum, navigating the grief of losing his sister, attempting to make his nieces smile, and not ruin dinner for the fifth night in a row.

When Millie stumbles through the door of her interview, her eyes scan the committee and land on the one man that could derail her promotion, but it just so happens he’s also the one man that could make all her dreams come true.

Give Me Butterflies is a slow burn, single guardian romance. This steamy story features a handsome grump who seems to only smile for his nieces, an anxious curator finding the confidence to believe in herself, and a cast of endearing, meddling side characters. It’s full of swoony moments, nerdy banter, and enough fiery tension to light the museum ablaze.