Stars

Butterfly Trilogy #2

by Kathryn Harvey

The rich, the glamorous, the powerful all come to STARS—to gossip, to make deals…and to indulge luxuriously in their most erotic fantasies. At the magnificent and secluded Palm Springs mountaintop resort, bodies—and souls—are offered up to save fragile careers…or are used to extract the final succulent and satisfying drops of sweet retribution. And above it all, manipulating events from the shadows, is the beautiful owner of STARS—a woman of great mystery, fleeing the tragedy, disgrace, and scandal of a devastating past that haunts her every moment. “Joan Collins could learn a thing or two from Kathryn Harvey”— Chicago Tribune

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Erotica, M F Romance

367 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Barbara Wood was born on 30 January 1947 in Warrington, Lancashire, England, UK. Together with her parents and older brother, she immigrated to the United States. She grew up in Southern California and attended Los Angeles Schools. After High School, Barbara attended the University of California at Santa Barbara but left to train as a surgical technician. During this time, Barbara held numerous jobs, before she sold her first novel in 1976. A few years prior, Barbara met her husband George. To date, Barbara has written 22 books, including two under the pen name Kathryn Harvey, these books are quite different from the Barbara Wood's novels and she, her agent and editor agreed that a pen name would serve to indicate the difference. She is an international best selling author with books translated into over 30 languages. The reader is transported to exotic countries that Barbara has meticulously researched to provide her fans with a true sense of the culture and history relevant to each story. At the heart of every book, is a strong, independent woman. Currently, Barbara is busy working on her next story that will, no doubt, showcase an extraordinary heroine in an exciting and intriguing adventure.
When not writing, Barbara often takes time to enjoy the work of other authors, and that of a certain well-known martial artist, whose name is listed among the "Ten things you might not know about Barbara."

Reviews

[Sherij · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read for me. I absolutely love this series. It's super engaging and has a great and intriguing storyline.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved "Butterfly," the first book in this Harvey series. I quickly turned to 'Stars' to have something else to read and pleasantly delighted when Harvey effortlessly combined the first and second books together in a twist that I didn't expect. I highly recommend this reading!

[Libbie Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't realize this was the sequel to Butterfly which I read years ago in college!!! Easy to get back into and complete the story!!

[Beatriz Rosales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es la continuación de "Butterfly" , para este segundo libro Barbara hábilmente narra la vida de la segunda gemela Christine y en el libro anterior relató la vida de Rachel. Estas hermanas fueron separadas al nacer, las dos se buscan pero al cambiar de nombres no pueden localizarse hasta 40 años despues y luego de pasar por intrigas, fracasos, soledad y éxito , las dos hermanas llevan vidas casi paralelas. Salpicado también de erotismo y suspenso. En esta historia aborda el tema de la obesidad y la carrera por la perfección del cuerpo. Y resalta el valor del perdón y la aceptación personal.

[Rosa Chacón García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esperaba más de la apoteosis final

[Darci Laffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I actually liked this book better than Butterfly! I really liked Butterfly, but having some knowledge of the background on parts of the story definitely helped me with this one. Still, this book took some crazy twists and turns. I can't say what the HUGE twist is...but holy smokes, I just about dropped my book when I read it!!! Knowing how the first book was, I constantly was trying to come up with what might be going on, and how people were tied together and affected by different things. There are a lot of new stories and characters in Stars, as well as some familiar characters. If you read and liked the first book, you'll love this one!

[Susan H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept going back and forth liking the book and not liking the book.
Lots of characters to keep up with, several of the paragraphs where the story changes focus to a different character were tough and confusing.
Some redundancy with the story too.
I did like the few twists that were in the story line, I did think two of the twists were predictable but still good to read.
The doctor-patient relationship storyline I felt could have been left out of the story, which would have led to there not being so many characters to follow and keep up and a few less pages maybe?
All in all it’s good, however I don’t think I’ll read the third book in the series.

[Trudy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another trashy novel by Kathyrn Harvey... real trashy...

I don't remember the overall plot other than Stars is a club for the powerful and elite in Palm Springs. I picked this up after I tore through her other book "Butterfly."

It is on my keeper shelf and I am sure I will reread it at some point in the near future. When I do, I will update the reivew. Until then if you are in the mood for a sexy trashy novel, I say go for it.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book in the (summer beach sort of books category)in the Butterfly Trilogy.

It held my interest throughout, but I felt that the last 40 pages or so were rushed. After drawing out the plots and schemes of the characters over the previous 330, it was like she suddenly HAD to finish it. I found that a bit weird and left me feeling not quite satisfied...

[Adrienne Cleminson · Rating 3 out of 5]

☆☆☆ 1/2
I really enjoyed the first book. This one was written some what differently. It felt like there were so many story lines moving all at once in a hectic way. When the final 50 pages were starting it seemed like she was going to have to squeeze so many things in to wrap up all of what was going on.
I liked it overall but the first one is just better.

[Vikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Katherine Harvey is also Barbara Wood. This was a good, Danielle Steel type genre.

[Michaelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the angle of following Beverlies sister through her path to success. Again another character that is both tragic but inspiring and loved following her through everything.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good of its type. But the moral here is for pete's sake stop focusing on the past! All these people are obsessed with their pasts and waste their presents and throw away their futures for revenge. Everybody is getting revenge on everybody else, too many people are faking their own deaths (which I am willing to bet is not as easy as they make it sound) and switching identities until by the end I had trouble telling who was really who and didn't care all that much. But it is a fun, fast, steamy read and I enjoyed it.

[Ariannha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha gustado muchísimo. Hasta más que el primero.
Me encanta la habilidad de la autora de entretejer muchas historias y personajes que no necesariamente están enfocadas al trama principal de la novela, pero que la complementan magistralmente.
Cada personaje hace su contribución, no creo que ninguno sobre.
100% recomendada.

[Liana Thulander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun FUN FUN READ!!!! I loved it!

[Ashley Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sequel to Butterfly, just as smutty but with such a great story. Absolutely loved these two.

[CraftyChara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Butterfly vs the forces of evil

[Janet Ramos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó... Empezaré altiro el tercer libro

[Kathy Budd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keep you guessing great ending

[Jamaica]

Very interesting. The characters were going through a lot. Great story.

[Darling E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno de los libros que dormía el sueño eterno en mi biblioteca. ¡Hasta ahora!

[Angela Trejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Butterfly has been a favorite but this felt overly complicated, forced, predictable. Nowhere near as sexy as Butterfly.

[Kath Zeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5/10

[Marina · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Realizing how late is was,"

[Keksisbaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stars ist die Adresse wo sich Reich und Schön die Klinke in die Hand gibt. Wer etwas auf sich hält, bucht ein Zimmer in diesem luxuriösen Hotel, zumal es etwas Mystisches ausstrahlt. Denn in den 1930gern gehörte die Villa der Sexbombe Hollywoods, bis deren Lover dort ermordet wurde und Marion Star für immer verschwand. Auch heute noch brodelt die Gerüchteküche, denn die Besitzerin Beverly Burgess ist sehr menchenscheu und keiner weiß, woher sie das Geld hat, um Stars den Luxus zu verleihen, den es ausstrahlt. In diesem Hotel kreuzen sich viele Schicksalslinien. So hofft die Besitzerin eines Diätimperiums, Christine Singleton, dort ihre Zwillingsschwester zu finden, eine alternde Schauspielerin durch eine Affäre mit einem Drehbuchautor ihre Karriere zu pushen und eine Agentin ihren eigenwilligen Star Bunny neue Aufträge zu verschaffen. Aber Unheil lauert am Horizont. Der in Ungnade gefallene Danny McKay ist von den Toten auferstanden, um Rache an der Frau zu nehmen, die seiner Karriere ein Ende gesetzt hat.
Eine tolle Fortsetzung von Butterfly, in der Rachel Dwyers Zwillingsschwester im Focus steht. In Stars erfährt man die Lebensgeschichte von Christine Singelton und wie sie es schaffte erfolgreich zu werden. Als Kind pummelig, muss sie erkennen, dass Dicke in der Gesellschaft als Menschen zweiter Klasse gelten und so entwirft sie einen Abnehmplan, der an das Selbstwertgefühl der Frauen appelliert. Mit diesem Konzept hat sie durchschlagenden Erfolg und schon bald gehört ihr ein Imperium.
Dieser Roman spiegelt den Zeitgeist der 1990ger genau wieder: Frauen emanzipiert Euch! Und so ist aus fast jedem Handlungsstrang herauszulesen, dass Frauen dasselbe Recht haben, sich junge attraktive Liebhaber zu wählen wie Männer, dass sie sich nicht von Männern unterdrücken lassen sollen und den amerikanischen Traum zu leben: Du kannst alles erreichen wenn du nur willst! Das Ende war selbst mir eine Spur zu süß. Etwas zu viel Happy End, für meinen Geschmack. Aber sonst hat es total Spaß gemacht, die Lebensgeschichten der vielen Personen zu folgen und Barbara Wood ist nun einmal eine Meisterin des Erzählens. Nicht umsonst sind ihre Bücher auch heute noch so beliebt, wie vor 20 Jahren.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this sequel to Butterfly. Like Butterfly, the book did have some extraneous (and unreal) sex scenes, but all in all, the plot was interesting and there were more than enough characters to keep you thinking.

Like Butterfly, you really do have to practice suspension of disbelief... How could Danny Mackay and Beverly Highland return from the dead? But the book kept you rooting for Philippa and her sister Beverly and praying for the downfall of the evil Danny.

It was a quick read... Even at 500+ pages... With a lot of twists and turns. And it was interesting to see how the 'other half' live...

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is there to say about this book?! It picks up right where Butterfly left off and you get a pretty good shock to the system. Come to think of it, there are a few of those moments throughout the whole book. They aren't all at the beginning or the end - they are scattered through out.

You ahve to make sure to follow all the story lines going on at once through the book or once you get to the end when all the action starts you will get confused.

Now to debate if I want to read the third in the series or not!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The explosive sequel to "Butterfly" was just as thrilling as its predecessor. Sometimes the best laid plans go awry and that's what happens in this book. Without giving anything away just know that all the players are gathered at an exclusive, remote luxury hotel high in the mountains. A huge snowstorm threatens but the danger to the guests is closer than they think. Kathryn Harvey has another winner in this scintillating tale of revenge, loss and death.

[Gosia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good novel... but you have to read Butterfly first to get the whole picture. Although, I think I liked Butterfly slightly better, this book brought up completley different issues then the first novel. It also had a good twist at the end. Worth the read.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not as amazing as the 1st book of the series; felt it wasn't necessary to create this. Although my opinion may be averted since I could not find a paper copy of this and settled for an audio book.