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Julie's Butterfly

Greta Milán (Goodreads Author)

4.10 · Rating details · 155 ratings · 33 reviews

When beautiful Julietta meets aloof, handsome photographer Bastian, she immediately feels butterflies in her stomach.

But Bastian has a secret: Since birth, he has suffered from a very rare skin disorder that makes him exceptionally prone to injury. His life is riddled with pain and rejection; his thoughts are dominated by self-doubt and mistrust.

Julie wants to help him sha ...more

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Paperback, 360 pages

Published November 18th 2014 by Amazon Crossing (first published October 2013)

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4.10 ·

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· 155 ratings · 33 reviews

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Mar 13, 2015 Irene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

If you want to read a book with a beautifully painful but enlightening story then this is the one for you.

Julietta attends her best friend Isabelle's opening night at the Schubert Art Gallery. She is introduced to some media people including a freelance photographer there to take still life photos of the event. His name is Bastian and Julietta is strongly drawn to this broody handsome man. After a brief introduction he rebuffs her and carries on as if the first sizzling attraction didn't happen. ...more

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Oct 21, 2014 Aaly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review!
Review to come!

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The blurb about this story intrigued me, the story about Julie and Bastian, complete opposites : Julie, beautiful sociable, carefree, solar, searching for a balance in her life; Bastian handsome photographer, very secretive, cold and putting people at distance. The first they met, they were immediately drawn to each other. Julie feels attracted to him like the m ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review!
Review to come!

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The blurb about this story intrigued me, the story about Julie and Bastian, complete opposites : Julie, beautiful sociable, carefree, solar, searching for a balance in her life; Bastian handsome photographer, very secretive, cold and putting people at distance. The first they met, they were immediately drawn to each other. Julie feels attracted to him like the moth, who’s attracted by the light of the fire.
Bastian is doing everything to escape this attraction; by being an total ass. He acted like she were insignificant. He had his reasons to stay away from people and afraid that they would saw him like a freak, like he used to when he was younger.
Julie noticed that that he hide something behind all this attitude, but she couldn’t put a finger on it.

They thought that they would’t see each other again but all seems to bring them closer.
Julie can’t help herself ; she wanted more from this man, who seemed so wrecked by his past and present life. She understood very quickly his disease by his behavior : why he wears gloves, avoiding crowded places, and his suspicious gazes.
Despite his disease, she saw him as a man not like a freak, accepting all of him. For the first time Bastian is struggling to let her in, overwhelmed by such feelings for her. He only had Elena and Felix, his best friend, attained by epidermolysis bullosa but in different level. It’s hard for him to trust someone intimately.
Through their relationship, Julie tried to teach to Bastian to live again, not despite his disease but by acknowledging it in his life. Bastian tried but each time, bad habits came back and he ran away, blocked out people and especially Julie.She fought hard for them but he’s not ready and still feel that people would scoffed him, avoiding him like plague. But his most fear is that Julie would leave him if she saw how damaged his body can be.
Sometimes love is not enough and Julie can’t stand anymore the constant rejection from Bastian but tried to protect her heart because she can’t reach him. Hopefully Bastian did everything to get her back!I love his romanticism!

This read was emotional,amazing and showed us how people suffering from epidermolysis bullosa had to struggle with it everyday because one contact, even insignificant to us can hurt them badly.Reading about this story made us realize about how mean can people be, afraid of the unknown. This as a beautiful lesson of love and life through the POV of Julie and Bastian.The epilogue was perfect! I will read this book more than once! ...more

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Oct 02, 2014 Happily Ever Chapter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-2014, sweet-contemporary, arc-and-beta

Blog Banner photo banner2_zps0a9ef8c3.jpg

Julie's Butterfly by Greta Milan
Release Date: November 4, 2014

*** Provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ***
*** DEBUT NOVEL ***

Julie first meets Bastian when she attends a gallery opening for her best friend, at which he's the exclusive photographer. She's immediately drawn to his aloof, brooding manner and he's a little wary of the way she makes him feel. Fate seems to throw them together again where she ultimately challenges him. Bastian accepts the challenge only to allow fe ...more

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Aug 09, 2015 Rosie Amber rated it really liked it

Julie's Butterfly is a romance set in Europe around the little know skin disorder called epidermloysis bullosa. It's an hereditary skin condition where normal skin strength and elasticity is missing a few genes and the sufferer gets cuts, wounds and open sores from simple knocks, scrapes and body stresses. People with the disorder are know as butterfly children because their skin is as delicate as the wings of a butterfly.

The version of Julie's Butterfly which I read was a paperback translation ...more

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Oct 13, 2014 Sharlen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, kindle

ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review!

“There’s always more to the story than what meets the eye” is definitely the case with the characters in Greta Milan’s creative and profoundly touching revealing of lives touched by “butterfly children”. Slowly we discover the depths of each person’s character, hidden beneath the abrupt personas, pasted on smiles and layers of scars and secrets. Gently we learn about the everyday struggles of living with epidermolysis bullosa, without the sterile me ...more

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Dec 07, 2014 Amber rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Oh my goodness what a wonderfully emotional book! Couldn't put it down. How difficult it must be to live with this type of disease. It truly takes a strong positive outlook in addition to having the support of loved ones to cope each and every day. Grab the Kleenexes for this one! Bawled my eyes out the entire last 20%. I hope we will have more from this author some day.

p.s. this book inspired me to do some research on butterfly children.

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Jan 27, 2014 Katrin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Das Buch hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Es befasst sich mit dem Krankheitsbild der Schmetterlingskinder und es ist erschreckend zu lesen, was sie alles durchmachen müssen und wie einige Leute und Kinder reagieren.

Die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Juli und Bastian war einfach toll und die Geschichte wird durch die tollen Nebendarsteller abgerundet. Absolut lesenswert.

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Jun 29, 2017 Joy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The story wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. The dialog between Julie and her best friend often sounded similar to a Barbie cartoon. Admittedly this could have been due to the translation or narration as I listened to the audio, but my other complaints definitely weren't.

I didn't quite get Julie as she seemed to have little ambition despite having resources. I wasn't sure if she was supposed to be 19 or 25. Either way she seemed years younger than Bastian but the story made it sound like the ...more

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Jul 18, 2018 Susanna Chin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Very enlightening story and sensitively written about people inflicted by a rare skin disease.

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Mar 31, 2015 Valarauco rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Cover
Mir gefällt das Cover richtig gut. Es ist ziemlich schlicht und mit dem Schmetterling sieht es einfach toll aus. Die junge Frau auf dem Cover sieht genau so aus, wie ich mir Juli vorgestellt habe. Es wirkt etwas mysteriös und hat mich einfach von ersten Moment an total begeistert.

Meine Meinung
Juli trifft während einer Vernissage ihrer Freundin Sophie, auf Bastian. Dieser ist Fotograf und soll das Ereignis in Bildern festhalten. Obwohl Juli Interesse an Bastian zeigt, bleibt dieser sehr kühl Cover
Mir gefällt das Cover richtig gut. Es ist ziemlich schlicht und mit dem Schmetterling sieht es einfach toll aus. Die junge Frau auf dem Cover sieht genau so aus, wie ich mir Juli vorgestellt habe. Es wirkt etwas mysteriös und hat mich einfach von ersten Moment an total begeistert.

Meine Meinung
Juli trifft während einer Vernissage ihrer Freundin Sophie, auf Bastian. Dieser ist Fotograf und soll das Ereignis in Bildern festhalten. Obwohl Juli Interesse an Bastian zeigt, bleibt dieser sehr kühl und distanziert.

Während Juli nicht wirklich weiß, was sie mit ihrem Leben anfangen soll, ist Bastian sich schon sehr sicher, was er machen möchte. Die Beiden treffen mehrmals aufeinander, was zu erwarten war. Ausschlaggebend für die Geschichte ist jedoch ein längeres Treffen, während dem Bastian Kunstgegenstände von Julis Mutter fotografiert. Juli hat den Auftrag bekommen, das Ganze zu beaufsichtigen. Während der Tag in dem Lagerraum, lernen die beiden sich etwas besser kennen.

Sowohl mir als Leser, als auch Juli wurde schnell klar, dass Bastian anderes ist, als normale Männer. Er leidet an einer seltenen Krankheit, Epidermolysis bullosa. Man nennt die Kinder, welche mit dieser Krankheit geboren werden, auch Schmetterlingskinder. Es handelt sich dabei um eine genetisch bedingte Hautkrankheit. Die Kinder werden so genannt, weil ihre Haut genauso empfindlich ist, wie die Flügel eines Schmetterlings. Auch im Buch wird diese Krankheit ziemlich gut und auch genau beschrieben. Da es noch keine heilende Therapie gibt, können die Betroffenen nicht mehr tun, als den Schmerz ertragen und jeden Tag ihre Wunden versorgen. Da es verschiedene Abstufungen und Schweregrade gibt, ist diese Krankheit sehr komplex. Bevor ich dieses Buch gelesen habe, hatte ich noch nie von der Krankheit gehört.

Allerdings steht die Krankheit nicht wirklich im Mittelpunkt des Buches, denn das tut die Beziehung von Bastian und Juli. Es geht hauptsächlich darum, welche Probleme die Krankheit mit sich bringt und wie die Menschen im Umfeld eines Erkrankten damit umgehen. Juli muss ebenfalls lernen mit dieser Krankheit zurecht zu kommen, doch vor allem muss Bastian lernen, dass die Krankheit ein Teil von ihm ist und sie ihn nicht zu einem schlechteren Menschen macht.

Bastian hat ziemliche Probleme damit, Juli zu vertrauen und so setzt sie alles daran, sich sein Vertrauen zu verdienen. Auf der einen Seite ist die Geschichte zwischen Bastian und Juli eine sehr schöne und total niedliche Liebesgeschichte, auf der anderen Seite jedoch hat sie mich einfach in den Wahnsinn getrieben und das leider nicht im positiven Sinne.

Als Erstes ist mir recht schnell die Sprache des Romans sauer aufgestoßen. Es klingt so unfassbar gestelzt und hochgestochen. Da ich dieses Buch als Hörbuch besitze, empfand ich das als noch viel schlimmer, denn die Sprecherin klang die ganze Zeit so, als würde sie den Zuhörer von oben herab behandeln. Das ganze Buch klang so, als würde man unbedingt etwas hoheitlich oder besser gestellt wirken wollen, als der 08/15-Mensch es ist. Hätte mich die Geschichte nicht so interessiert, ich hätte das Buch niemals zu Ende gehört, wahrscheinlich nicht einmal bis zur Hälfte, denn diese übertrieben vornehme Sprache fand ich absolut schrecklich.

Zum Ende hin hat dann leider auch noch die Geschichte stark nachgelassen und ich war kurz vor dem Verzweifeln. Alles wurde so unfassbar tragisch, das ich nur noch den Kopf schüttel und selbigen unter meinem Kissen vergraben konnte. Aus der schönen und zarten Liebesgeschichte hat die Autorin einen Schmalztopf gemacht. Alles trieft nur so vor Tragik, Drama und Tragödie. Jedenfalls kam es mir so vor. Anstelle einmal vernünftig miteinander zu reden, haben sich die Figuren gegenseitig Entscheidungen abgenommen und sich absichtlich missverstanden. Mir hat das Ende das komplette Buch ziemlich verdorben.

Einzig und allein Felix war mein Lichtblick in dieser Geschichte. Er ist zwar nur ein Nebencharakter, aber immer noch der sympathischste und das mit großem Abstand. Traurig aber wahr, ich kann dem Buch einfach keine wirklich gute Bewertung geben, da es mich mit einem furchtbaren Gefühl zurückgelassen hat und ich absolut enttäuscht war.

Wertung (2/5)

www.valaraucos-buchstabenmeer.de ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Jacqueline rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, netgalley

This review was also posted on Chelsea's Book Obsession

I received this book from NetGalley and Amazon Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this review. So I will start with the things I liked about this book. I liked reading a book where one of the main characters has a skin disorder. I haven’t read many books with diseases or disorders. It was different and interesting.

Also, while I was reading I would find myself smiling, laughing or tearin ...more

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Dec 28, 2014 Hattie York rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Julie's Butterfly was definitely a different read for me in that it was written specifically to give perspective on a very rare medical condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa. This condition has varying extremes of presentation and is characterized by bruising and blisters due to the skin not having the appropriate connective tissues. The author, Greta Milán, is married to a "Butterfly Child" which is the name given to sufferers of this disease due to their fragile nature.

In this book the autho ...more

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Oct 21, 2014 ~❤️Minnie❤️~ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-books, netgalley

Wow, what a story. This is really something different and it really shows us what it is for patients of Epidermolysis Bullosa to deal with insensitive and cruel people that don't really understand what their going through.

The story is about Bastian—a reclusive photographer who has EB—and Julie—a woman who is still trying to find her calling in life. Julie is really attracted to Bastian but he is rude to her when they meet at an art gallery for Julie's friend Isabelle's expo. He makes it clear o ...more

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Nov 01, 2014 Carolina Arroyo rated it it was amazing

I was first really excited about the book, unlike many others it sparkled my interest not because of the romance but because of the unknown disease. However, as I kept on reading this book although it might contain to certain points fiction (I am not sure) was very realistic. I grew soo fond of it within the first few chapters because of the main character's (Bastian) mysterious ways that within 2 days of homework and small breaks of reading I finished. I would describe this books as an inspirin ...more

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Jan 08, 2015 Romantic Reads and Such rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Bastian is extremely sensitive about his condition and some very bad early experiences have shaped the way he deals with it. Meeting Julie though shakes up his world. He’s reserved, difficult, emotional, and very proud. He’s also very self-conscious about anyone seeing his body and his heart. Julie sees the man inside and is intrigued by him but she’s going to have a very long battle in front of her to break thru his walls.

It’s a very sweet and poignant journey for them, one that I took with my ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Jackie Wolfred rated it really liked it

"Julie's Butterfly", written by Greta Milan & translated by Alison Layland, is a story about a young woman who falls in love with a man who has epidermolysis bullosa, a hereditary skin disease. Julietta Hoffman was attending her best friend Isabelle's first art show, when she caught sight of the photographer, who immediately intrigued her and sent a feeling of butterflies in her stomach. She was introduced to Bastian and she felt a mutual connection at once. She blushed at the feeling and he ...more

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Sep 02, 2015 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, net-galley-arc

You can find more reviews Mademoisellesnow Blog

In the beginning I felt that this was just your garden-variety romance story but soon I was proved wrong. Each of the characters had a deeper story connected and each of the “butterfly children” had their own back-story making me wanting to know more about them.

This was a deeply emotional book that grabbed my attention from the first sentence. I just couldn’t put it down once I started, just needed to know more about each of the characters. The stor ...more

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May 24, 2015 Kari Lessír rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: german-in-books, lovestory

Das ist mein zweites Buch von Greta Milán, das mich ebenfalls absolut in seinen Bann gezogen hat. Die Autorin erzählt eine absolut berührende zu Herzen gehende Liebesgeschichte zwischen zwei jungen Menschen, die das Schicksal aufeinander treffen lässt. Bastian hat eine Hautkrankheit aufgrund eines Gendeffekts, was ihn zu einem Leben in selbst gewählter Einsamkeit verdammt. Aber Juli ist trotz seines Makels fasziniert von ihm und verliebt sich. Wie die beiden miteinander umgehen, welche Höhen und ...more

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Jun 30, 2015 Kim Pet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Heartwarming, thought provoking and necessary, Greta Milan hit the nail on the head with 'Julie's Butterfly'! In weaving an invigorating romance through the trials of Epidermolysis Bullosa, Milan has successfully educated me on the disease while captivating me with Julie and Bastian's metamorphosis. Both hauntingly painful and touching, Julie's Butterfly will have you reflecting on its characters and subject long after you put it down.

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Nov 16, 2014 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014

The author does a great job allowing the readers to walk in the footsteps of "butterfly children." This is one disorder that not a lot of people know about and you never think of the challenges that these "children" face. I loved this unique book!

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.

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Mar 21, 2015 Samantha rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-books

Wow. This was quite emotional. Bastian has faced alot due to his disease and a lot of it has created a life where is recluse. Julie isn't everything she appears to be either. What I loved is there was so much more to each of these characters and I have to hand it to Greta Milan. This story required kleenex. I really liked it a lot.

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Jan 01, 2015 Barbara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I received this book from Amazon in a contest. I really like this book. This book exposed me to a disease which I had not known existed. The story was handled in a way that let me feel the suffering of the afflicted party. Good story line and likable characters. Good flow and a book I will pass on to others.

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Mar 30, 2015 Das Leseleben rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Meine Rezension: http://das-leseleben.webnode.com/news...

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Dec 08, 2014 Grace Mead rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A well-written novel exploring the debilitating effects of discrimination against those with diseases and its effects, which can be as hurtful as the disease itself.

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Oct 22, 2014 Kim rated it it was amazing

I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Thanks!
This book is a bit sad... emotional.

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Oct 18, 2014 Nellster rated it liked it · review of another edition

Nice easy read. Brought awareness to a disease I did not know existed.

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Dec 06, 2014 Dominique Li rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Einfach nur wundervoll! <3

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Nov 03, 2014 Brittany rated it it was amazing

Way more to this story than meets the eye! It was fantastic and at times heartrending, I couldn't put it down and totally fell in love with the characters especially Bastian!

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Dec 02, 2014 Rachel LivenItUp rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved it! Such a beautiful and heartwarming Story that Made Me enjoy reading very much.

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Nov 25, 2014 Kim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads! It is very good. Suspense, emotion, and mystery...all of which I love!

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About Greta Milán

Greta Milán

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Schon als Kind wollte Greta Milán einen kreativen Lebensweg einschlagen. Zum Schreiben kam sie trotzdem eher zufällig. Seit ihrem erfolgreichen Debüt 2013 arbeitet die gebürtige Thüringerin als freie Autorin. Ihr Fokus liegt dabei auf gefühlvollen Dramen und Liebesromanen. Außerdem veröffentlicht sie unter dem Pseudonym Isabelle Voltaire humorvolle New Adult Romane.

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