Chrysalis

Chalk Butterfly #1

by Audra Red

Alexander Price, a sweet and stunning young librarian, is trying to get his own bite of the Big Apple. The only thing holding Alexander back from the life he dreams of is a devastating secret; he suffers from a rare skin disease that makes the skin on his hands and feet as delicate as the wings of a butterfly.

Beyond shy, gorgeous Alexander has never been kissed, though his body craves the touch of strong, yet gentle man.

One unusual autumn morning on the subway, Alexander meets the handsome and rugged millionaire Daniel Sommers, who is instantly infatuated by the coy and delicate young man. Daniel longs to be the first man to open Alexander's eyes to love, the joys of sex and a life lived without secrets.

This is the first part of the Chalk Butterfly erotic romance trilogy. It contains 40,000 heart-clenching words that will leave you breathless and begging for more! Erotic fantasies and electric sexual tension promises sizzling sex scenes in part two!

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Disability, Contemporary, Erotica

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 4, 2012

About the author

Audra Red, known for her gay romance trilogy "Chalk Butterfly," is an ex-librarian and copyeditor turned romance and erotica connoisseur. She is currently working on a handful of gay romance novellas along with spicing up her writing catalog by penning pure erotica shorts. Look for both audio and print versions of her works in the near future!

From heart-melting romance to titillating erotica, Ms. Red hopes to help bring the gay romance genre to a more mainstream audience.

Visit Ms. Red online at www.audrared.com for news, banned books and more!

Reviews

[Sheziss · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was promising. A tortured hero with an unusual disease which opens lots of possibilities for the relationship to be developed, but the idea was wronged by the style of choice and the writing.



Alexander Price has Epidermolysis Bullosa, his hands and feet are covered with blisters that appear spontaneously or by stress and anxiety or by physical brushes on the skin. He can’t touch anybody or carry things or dress himself without a high degree of pain. So, in a romance story the logical first question that comes to mind is: how is he going to make love with his partner?



I like reading stories with a hero with some kind of disability but very few of them are real or fair. Mostly because sometimes the disease or handicap is written in an insufferable and sappy way that makes me want to close the book. I don’t like to be manipulated into feeling empathy to the MC just due to organical or psychological matters. I want to be convinced by facts, feelings and thoughts. More showing and less writing. I don’t want for the character to be defined by his/her disease, I want a whole and real person.



I felt that here. I see this book as a vain attempt. I should have read the three novellas in a row but I was tired of this story just finishing the first part. I wasn’t sure if this book was meant to have an omniscient narrator or to follow to the letter the MC exact thoughts.



One big mistake is using both POV at the same time. Not alternating here, but combining both in the same paragraph or even in the same sentence. My head hurt trying to separate each one of their voices, but still I couldn’t feel close to the MC and their words were too basic and showed little soul and personality.



Also, I don’t know why but misfits always have loyal friends with whom they work in a library of a café, above all those friends being their bosses and helping them even when they are antisocial and weird. Here both MC have two friends in their workplaces, one male and one female, and in each pair one of them is in love with the other but do nothing to make the first move. Alex’s mother is the everlasting concerned mother that gave me chills. She reminded me of the obsessed mum in Black Swan.



As a result, the credibility here is in question, as everything is too forced and unnatural. Very true friends, too much coincidence in crushes, too lovely but scary mothers, too confusing writing and too shallow characters.

[Juxian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I'll try to put it tactfully... if you have ANY other m/m books still unread, read them before this one. They can't possibly be worse, and there is every chance they might be better.

[Mtsnow13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has potential. Some of the dialog, and different POVs were a bit disjointed, and at times confusing. I think this story could use a good editor as far as organisation. I do like the cover illustration, though.

I see where the serial will have potential, but so far, not quite enough to pull me in as much as the blurb had me hoping for. I will read the next part of the series to see if it smooths out, but as it stands, there was not enough 'meat' to the story to keep me hooked. It was very interesting to learn about this condition, though, and this is definitely a new approach to the m/m genre. I am curious, due to the main character's condition, as to how he will actually be able to 'have' any kind of human contact/relationship.

As far as the secondary main character, I have not seen enough of him to really like him very much yet. The two secondary characters are entertaining, though. I guess at this point, I am glad I received this as a free-read.

[Nancy Carbajal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't feel a connection with Alexander's and Daniel's story. I don't believe I had the patience for it either. Alexander has EB which causes painful blisters on his hands and feet. Part One tells the story of Alexander's and Daniels initial meeting and the obstacles they must work thru to be together. In this story, Alexander's worried about his EB getting in the way of his starting a relationship with Daniel.

[Ayanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all cutesy and adorable and tragic and heart-warming and heart-breaking and I rather like it.

It's a good story.

ON TO THE NEXT PART.

[McGee Magoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually set out to read something with a cliffhanger. If I read a cliffie, it's almost always by accident and it usually pisses me off. But I went into this story knowingly and willingly. I got it free on Amazon and the blurb sounded interesting. But I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to the entire saga, so I tried it out.

Not knowing how it's all going to come out, I'm still giving this a 4-star. I can see a lot of great potential for Daniel and Alex. Granted we've barely scratched the surface here in book 1 and sometimes Alex can seem a tad over-emotional-- but I don't want to judge too harshly because he's suffering from something that I couldn't possibly understand.

Book One wasn't exceptional, but it was good and it was engrossing and most of all it's left me wanting and hopeful. I'm going to read the rest of this and pray that it reaches the expectations I have for it.

[Martina Hargrove · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started off a little odd the MC's in this book where a let down i mean Alexander was a push over and i kind of hated the self pity crying every 5 seconds thing and i hated his mother i wanted to scream at her to shut up and the friends all i have to say is wow and daniel i liked him but come on i really wanted to see him do more i really hope the next book is better then this one.

[Dena · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75*

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first gay romance novel. and it was great! Great! Great! Great! I cannot contain myself here...I will read the next ones in these series, that's for sure!

[Silke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pairing. I love the age gap and the plot. So much angst and hurt/comfort and the slow build is totally killing me. As well as the cliffhanger ^^

[Vfields Don't touch my happy! · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. I bought this at four years ago ... it was time.
2. I like both Alexander & Daniel, the sidekicks Elijah & Elizabeth were funny.
3. Alexander's disease is horrible.
4. His mother is worse.
5. I didn't know it was a three-parter when I bought it but I want to know how Audra Red is going to handle all kinds of situations she created. Fingers crossed.

[Sue Milkovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible, amazing story! This touching uniquely written subject matter had me entranced from the beginning. What a wonderful, special character Alexander is. I am completely in love with him at this point. Daniel is still some what of a mystery to me. I believe he is going to prove to be extraordinary. I am completely captivated by this story so far. I can't wait to get Part Two downloaded. This author has written a magnificent story. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THIS! I can't really see you being disappointed with the story. Yes, there are some editing issues and things of that nature. But honestly don't let that distract you from this terrific story.

[Honey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very sweet beginning to the trilogy but also very repetitive, which is why though I'm curious to see how Alexander and Daniel's relationship progresses I'm also afraid of being disappointed. While both characters are likable, nothing really seemed to happen in book 1 and I'm afraid of reading more of the same in book 2.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet, light hearted read...Alexander is a young guy living in New York, Working at a local library. He has a rare skin condition on his hand and feet they call them butterfly skins... the skin is very delicate it's very painful. He meets Daniel on the train he teaches him to open up showing him his skin condition doesn't have to slow him down.

[Nass Atanasova · Rating 3 out of 5]

All in all it's a pretty good book. The plot is interesting and the pace is good, it even managed to wring out a few tears out of me, but the unmarked change of POV is somewhat confusing, it's hard to tell who is narrating at any given moment.

[Lawrence Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked

I liked the book very interesting story only issue for me is there seemed to be allot missing in parts the story jumped around and could have used more detail in the mains characters relationship

[Azusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 ★'s

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sweet. You can't help but feel for Alexander. I'll probably pick up the next one.

[Camy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

[Mare SLiTsReaD Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great beginning. I totally blushed when Alexander did too

Cute