Book: The Patron Saint Of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Purchased for my Nook (320 pages)

Genre: YA: Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Cecilia Galante

Goodreads Summary: Agnes and Honey have always been best friends, but they haven’t always been so different. Agnes loves being a Believer. She knows the rules at the Mount Blessing religious commune are there to make her a better person. Honey hates Mount Blessing and the control Emmanuel, their leader, has over her life. The only bright spot is the butterfly garden she’s helping to build, and the journal of butterflies that she keeps. When Agnes’s grandmother makes an unexpected visit to the commune, she discovers a violent secret that the Believers are desperate to keep quiet. And when Agnes’s little brother is seriously injured and Emmanuel refuses to send him to a hospital, Nana Pete takes the three children and escapes the commune. Their journey begins an exploration of faith, friendship, religion and family for the two girls, as Agnes clings to her familiar faith while Honey desperately wants a new future.

I really liked The Patron Saint Of Butterflies.  The title was intriguing, and I just love the cover.

I loved that we have two narrators- Agnes, who is a huge believer in the community, and Honey, who isn’t.  It worked really well, and you get two very different perspectives on what life is like at Mount Blessing.  Patron saints are really important throughout the book, and it was nice to see Agnes go from believing she needs to be perfect and to atone for any sins she commits, to realizing that doing the right thing is more important.

It’s a really good look at what a religious commune is like, and I could picture everything so clearly.  The grounds of Mount Blessing seem beautiful, and I loved the idea of a butterfly garden.

Obviously, patron saints were pretty important.  And while butterflies were mentioned, I’m not really sure why they were included.  I’m not too sure why Honey is so attached to butterflies and it didn’t really work for me.  Maybe it’s supposed to be a nice contrast or it’s supposed to represent transformation.

Emmanuel refuses to let Agnes’ younger brother go to a hospital after he hurts himself, and that is what leads Agnes and Honey out of Mount Blessing and into the “real world.”  This is where Agnes got really annoying but at the same time, she did try to stick to what she believed in, because it’s the only thing she ever knew.  But Agnes and Honey really were like kids in a candy store.

Of course, there’s a family secret that changes both of their lives…which I predicted at some point when I was reading.  It definitely changes things for both girls.

I thought it was great, and I loved seeing their journey.  They really changed a lot.

It gets a 4 out of 5.  I really liked it, but I didn’t love it.