![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
My New Year's resolution is to attempt to review every full-length published book that I read this year. We'll see how it goes. For my first full-length read of 2026, which is obviously highly symbolic, I have of course carefully selected a beautifully written novel with deep themes and social importance.
Just kidding! I randomly picked up a trashy beach read novel from the 80s, purchased at a thrift shop, while in the bathroom, got surprisingly engrossed in it, and took it out of the bathroom to read on the sofa. Which, to be fair, is probably symbolic of both the year to come and my reading habits in general.
Above an exclusive men's store on Rodeo Drive there is a private club called Butterfly, where women are free to act out their secret erotic fantasies.
I have a thing for "fancy sex club/brothel with highly-paid sex workers who like their jobs and fulfill your erotic fantasies." So I bought this book (50 cents, at a thrift shop) and actually read it even though it's in a genre I almost never read, which is the fat beach read about rich people's sex lives written in the 1980s.
Butterfly follows three women who patronize the club, Butterfly. It's named for the beautiful little butterfly charm bracelets women wear to the store to identify themselves to the staff as patrons of the club, so they can be whisked upstairs to have their sexual fantasies satisfied (just by men, alas), whether that means recreating a cowboy bar complete with sawdust on the floor to a bedroom where a sexy burglar breaks in to a dinner date where you argue about books, yes really. The women are all accomplished and successful, but have something missing or wrong in their lives: the surgeon can't have an orgasm, the pool designer deals with on the job sexism, and the lawyer is married to an emotionally abusive asshole. Their time at Butterfly leads, whether directly or indirectly, to positive changes in their lives.
Though this novel does have a satisfying amount of sexual fantasies satisfied, it also unexpectedly turned out to be an epic revenge story! The brothel, the Butterfly, was created as part of an elaborate revenge plot 20 years in the making! This involves the backstory of the owner, which starts with being raped by her father at age 14 and goes on to her being forced into sex slavery by a sociopathic "boyfriend" who also forces her to have an unwanted abortion. This part is not graphic but it is also very non-glamorized and upsetting, as well it should be. We follow her escape and Cinderella-esque transformation, which also involves helping other women, including some she met in the underage rape brothel, to better their lives.
Butterfly was created to bring down her sociopath ex-boyfriend who has become a huckster preacher and Republican politician! Her elaborate plot, which boils down to making him the legal owner just before the secret brothel goes public, succeeds. He's arrested and hangs himself while she celebrates at a poolside with champagne and caviar and a sexy pool cleaner, yes really. The end!
This novel, while dealing seriously with some serious topics, is also basically a fun beach read. I read it in winter with a space heater and hot cider, which also works. I'm not sure it converted me to the general genre of 80s beach reads, but I sincerely enjoyed it.
Content notes: Child sexual abuse, child sexual slavery (not at the Butterfly sex club, everyone's a consenting adult there), forced abortion, emotional abuse.
Just kidding! I randomly picked up a trashy beach read novel from the 80s, purchased at a thrift shop, while in the bathroom, got surprisingly engrossed in it, and took it out of the bathroom to read on the sofa. Which, to be fair, is probably symbolic of both the year to come and my reading habits in general.
Above an exclusive men's store on Rodeo Drive there is a private club called Butterfly, where women are free to act out their secret erotic fantasies.
I have a thing for "fancy sex club/brothel with highly-paid sex workers who like their jobs and fulfill your erotic fantasies." So I bought this book (50 cents, at a thrift shop) and actually read it even though it's in a genre I almost never read, which is the fat beach read about rich people's sex lives written in the 1980s.
Butterfly follows three women who patronize the club, Butterfly. It's named for the beautiful little butterfly charm bracelets women wear to the store to identify themselves to the staff as patrons of the club, so they can be whisked upstairs to have their sexual fantasies satisfied (just by men, alas), whether that means recreating a cowboy bar complete with sawdust on the floor to a bedroom where a sexy burglar breaks in to a dinner date where you argue about books, yes really. The women are all accomplished and successful, but have something missing or wrong in their lives: the surgeon can't have an orgasm, the pool designer deals with on the job sexism, and the lawyer is married to an emotionally abusive asshole. Their time at Butterfly leads, whether directly or indirectly, to positive changes in their lives.
Though this novel does have a satisfying amount of sexual fantasies satisfied, it also unexpectedly turned out to be an epic revenge story! The brothel, the Butterfly, was created as part of an elaborate revenge plot 20 years in the making! This involves the backstory of the owner, which starts with being raped by her father at age 14 and goes on to her being forced into sex slavery by a sociopathic "boyfriend" who also forces her to have an unwanted abortion. This part is not graphic but it is also very non-glamorized and upsetting, as well it should be. We follow her escape and Cinderella-esque transformation, which also involves helping other women, including some she met in the underage rape brothel, to better their lives.
Butterfly was created to bring down her sociopath ex-boyfriend who has become a huckster preacher and Republican politician! Her elaborate plot, which boils down to making him the legal owner just before the secret brothel goes public, succeeds. He's arrested and hangs himself while she celebrates at a poolside with champagne and caviar and a sexy pool cleaner, yes really. The end!
This novel, while dealing seriously with some serious topics, is also basically a fun beach read. I read it in winter with a space heater and hot cider, which also works. I'm not sure it converted me to the general genre of 80s beach reads, but I sincerely enjoyed it.
Content notes: Child sexual abuse, child sexual slavery (not at the Butterfly sex club, everyone's a consenting adult there), forced abortion, emotional abuse.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I am more than vaguely surprised no one has adapted this novel for film.
From:
no subject
"He's arrested and hangs himself while she celebrates at a poolside with champagne and caviar and a sexy pool cleaner, yes really."
I love that for her!
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject