Butterfly Summer by Toni De Palma
Genre: Coming-of-age, family ties, first love, LGBTQ matters
Hollywood producer for the Bride-to-Be franchise, Anna is on top of her game. She’s helped generations of women navigate the ups and downs of romance. Ironic, since her own love life is a mess.
When the Bride-to-Be finale is relocated to Ischia in Italy, Anna plans to use the opportunity to settle some family affairs. And perhaps solve an old mystery of her own. Delia.
Decades before, at the age of seventeen, Anna had spent a summer with her aunt on the lush island. Far from an idyllic vacation, she made few friends and learned her aunt had been hiding secrets from the family.
Now she’s going back to sell her aunt’s house and finish up the show’s season finale.
As the crew get ready to roll the cameras, all havoc breaks loose. The newest bride-to-be is missing. The groom’s partying has been all over social media. And the sale of the house is shrouded in mystery, with an anonymous buyer.
Both Anna’s personal and professional lives crash in on her. With only hours left until the finale, Anna must find a solution for the show. And face the events that still haunt her from that long ago summer.
About Author
Toni De Palma is the multi-published author of six novels. Her first novel, Under the Banyan Tree, was selected as a Kirkus New Voices Pick and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. Toni holds an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College and is a 2008 and 2026 recipient of a New Jersey Arts Fellowship in Prose. Toni’s writing interests extend to fiction, memoir, plays and screenplays. In December 2019, Toni directed her first short film, Marty’s Calling, adapted from one of her short plays.
My Thoughts
Butterfly Summer by Toni De Palma This is about a young lady named Anna. She goes to the Italian island of Ischia to spend the summer with her Auntie, who is a summer school teacher. It talks about the many adventures that Anna & these kids go on. While on this island for the summer, she realizes she is having feelings of attraction to her female friend Delia. Knowing it is not socially acceptable, she is very aware that things such as admiring her beauty need to happen when others aren’t around. Boy-crazy Delia is constantly seeking the attention of boys, while Anna prefers just to be in her company, going on adventures all over the island. Delia & Anna get into a car with a guy Delia knew. They drop Anna off at her home; that’s the last time she sees her. Many years later, now the producer of the Bride-to-Be franchise. Ischia came up as an option for them to host the last season of the show. Seeing as Anna’s aunt had passed, she could take care of selling the home & finish producing the show. Going back to the island will stir up all sorts of emotions. Would she finally get the answers to her questions? Did Delia ever think about her as well? Great summer read.
Links to Butterfly Summer
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